> Pound and Pumpkin Tales 2
>  by Never2muchpinkie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1: Our own rooms
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hee hee heeeee!” Pound was flying in big circles around the edge of his room. Ever since he had accomplished his first real flight he had seldom been on the ground when he could help it.

“Oh, yeah! Look at me! Who’s the best in the world?”

Pumpkin bit her lip. Pound had been insufferably proud all day of his accomplishment. As aggravating as it was to hear him constantly hyping himself she kept her patience. Her brother had had to wait far longer than her before he started to make significant progress in his racial ability.

“Future Wonderbolt in training here! All bow before my greatness!”

She took a deep breath. He would get over it in time.

“What? You thought I was ugly? Well, how are these swan feathers looking to you now? Jealous? You should be.”

She rolled her eyes. At least she sure hoped he would.

“Rainbow Dash? Who’s that?”

She was fairly certain his bragging would be cut short the next day when he ran into Drill Bit. From what she gathered Pound had only gotten himself onto the level of his least talented classmates. When he was forced to confront the reality that he still had a long way to go she was sure his humility would return. So she would let him have this day absorbed in his victory.

‘Besides,’ she thought, looking up at him with a silly grin, ‘the two of us both wished for this. The two of us both have humongous potential within us, and every day we’re getting a little bit stronger.’

She put a hoof to her horn. ‘My magic has gotten strong enough that I can lift up other ponies for a short while. At first I struggled just to lift up a pencil. I wonder what Pound will be capable of with more practice?

‘Who knows? Maybe one day people really will forget Rainbow Dash for him.’

“Pound, Pumpkin!” Cup called out from downstairs. “Come over here. We need to talk to you."

“We didn’t do it!” Pumpkin responded as they walked into the kitchen. “Well, I know I didn’t do it. Pound probably did, though.”

“Hey!” Pound said, “I didn’t do it either.” He looked at his mom. “So what’s ‘it?’”

Cup genially rolled her eyes. “You’re not in trouble.”

“That’s right,” said Carrot, sitting next to her. “Take a seat, you two. There’s something important we need to discuss with you.”

The twins looked at each other, wondering what it could be. “What you think?” Pumpkin whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

“Maybe we’re going on a vacation,” he responded back.

“One way to find out.” The two of them grabbed a chair and sat down in front of their parents.

“Okay, so what’s up?”

“Well, both of you have been growing up-”

“We know that!” Pound said excitedly, unable to stop himself from flapping his wings and hovering over his seat for a few seconds. “We just turned seven!”

“Exactly,” said Carrot. “And with more age comes more privileges.”

“Ooh!” Pumpkin said, liking where this was going. Pound was similarly excited.

“Now, the biggest thing of all is something that you might not want, which is why we’re leaving it up to you.”

“Why wouldn’t we want to be allowed to do more cool stuff?”

“Because it would mean a pretty big change in your lives.”

Pound shrugged. “We’ve been going through some big changes anyway. That’s life.”

Carrot chuckled. “Listen to him. He sounds like he’s our age.”

“Well, enough with the suspense already,” said Pumpkin. “What’s the big surprise?”

“Well, it all comes down to a simple question. Pound, Pumpkin… how would you two like your own room?”

The two glanced at each other before turning back to him. “What are you talking about, Dad?” asked Pound. “We already have our own room. We’ve had it since we were born.”

Cup was the one snickering now. “No, you silly kids. What would you say to not having to share a room anymore? You would have your own individual rooms.”

“How would that work?” asked Pumpkin. “All the rooms are already taken. Well, I guess you could always put Pound in the pantry closet.” She smirked at him.

“HEY!” he complained, but then his gaze turned thoughtful. “Actually, that doesn’t sound so bad. Reading comics by flashlight, a lot of privacy, and if I want a snack there will always be one right above my head. I don’t even have to go to the kitchen.”

Pumpkin’s head snapped toward him. That actually sounded kinda cool. “Hey! Who said you get to decide? I want the closet.”

“Well, too bad. You offered it to me, and I accept. So there.” He stuck his tongue out at her.

“Yeah, well, what are you gonna do about your giant dog? Tiger Lily is small, so she’d fit perfectly with me.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, what are you gonna do about her litterbox? You want that thing sitting on your bed? And I can so share my bed with Champ. I already do it every night.”

“I’ll just put it on a higher shelf. Cats like to be high up anyway.”

Cup and Carrot both just stared at their argument before they put their hooves to their heads and started laughing. Their kids were another year older but just as ridiculous.

“No one’s moving into the closet!” Cup said incredulously. “Honestly!”

The twins abruptly stopped their argument, then immediately paired up again. “Probably just wants the closet for herself,” Pound muttered under his breath to her.

“What, is she that tired of Dad?” she muttered back.

Carrot rolled his eyes. “Your mother happens to love me a lot, thank you very much. Now can we get back on topic?”

“Fine,” said Pound, crossing his hooves, “but I better not catch either of you sleeping in the closet.”

“You have my word,” said Cup, trying not to sound too sarcastic.

“So what’s the plan, then?” asked Pumpkin. “Like I said before we’re already using all the rooms. The bottom floor is for the shop and the living room, me and Pound share a room and so do you two, and Auntie Pinkie has the top floor.”

“Well, a little bit of work will fix that. Your room is fairly large to start with, so what do you say you divide it in half and call it your own? We’d have a wall installed between your halves of the room and install another door so that Pumpkin can get out.”

“But why would you do that?” asked Pound, pouting a little. “What’s the point? I thought you wanted us to be close. Why are you trying to separate us?”

“This would give you both some extra privacy. When the two of you are angry at one another one of you always avoids your room if the other one is in there, and it’s hardly fair to either of you when it’s where you keep all your stuff.”

“And,” said Carrot, “while your personal friends get along with each other, I’m sure you’ll appreciate the ability to just hang out with them alone. Not every hangout has to involve the both of you. “

“Now,” added Cup, “the two of you are still young, so this isn’t much of a concern yet, but the two of you are a boy and a girl. Like, say Pumpkin wanted to braid Peppermint’s hair. That doesn’t seem like an activity Pound will be very interested in as a boy. However, with a wall between you it will drown out the noise so it doesn’t force Pound to go elsewhere.”

The twins looked at each other. “That… doesn’t sound so bad,” Pound admitted. “But me and Pumpkin are super close.”

“Yeah,” said Pumpkin. “We’ve lived together since we were born. I don’t know if I want a big wall put up between us if I’m not angry at him.”

Carrot snorted. “This from the kids who were just arguing about who gets to move into the closet.”

The twins laughed awkwardly. “Well, I just got caught up in the moment,” said Pound. “I don’t think I’d actually want to live in the closet.”

“Yeaaaah,” said Pumpkin, “same here. It might be fun for a day, but then it would get annoying."

“Anyway," said Pound, "what happens when the two of us want to play with each other? We have one closet on my side and a toybox on Pumpkin’s side. Do we have to keep running back and forth between rooms just to grab something we want? It seems really annoying.”

“Hmm… I can see your point there," said Carrot. “How about this? It won’t be an actual wall dividing the room.”

“Then what?” asked Cup.

“You remember the gym in high school, Honey-Bun? To accommodate for two classes scheduled at the same time it could be divided in two.”

“Oh! Right.”

“How does that work?” asked Pound.

“Foldable panels.”

“Think of it like a huge sliding door that’s hooked up to a track on the ceiling,” said Carrot. “When it’s open the panels stack neatly at the end. When you want to close it you just pull on the end of it and push it until it reaches the other end of the room and clicks into place.”

“Oooh,” said Pumpkin. “That sounds cool. So when we want to play with each other we can, and when we want some privacy we pull the wall closed. ”

“Right,” said Cup. “So both of you are on board?”

They nodded.

“OKAY, THEN!” came the joyful voice of Mayhem as he poofed into sight, making the twins jump.

“Whoa!” said Pound, catching his breath. “Where did you come from?”

“Oh, I was a bug on the floor.”

“Why?” asked Pumpkin.

“Well, your parents told Daddy about their idea, and he was fine with it, but he knows that the three of us are good friends so he sent me instead. AND he gave me an extra bunch of magic so I can make your ideal room for you.”

He grabbed the two of them in a hug. “It’s only been a day, but I was already missing you two anyway.”

The two of them hugged him back. “We love you too, Mayhem,” said Pound warmly.

“Same here,” said Pumpkin.

Mayhem grinned widely. “Well, let’s get to it!” he cried out as he went to teleport them upstairs, but then stopped.

He walked up to Cup and Carrot, bowing to them. “I just wanted to thank you again for giving me another chance to be a better draconequus. I know the first time we met I was a mean, spoiled brat who didn’t understand about love and friendship.” He put his arms behind him, levitating the twins until they were on either side of them, putting his arms around them. “But now I do, and I couldn’t be happier about it.”

Cup grinned down at him. “I saw you were being very mature at the party.” She patted his head. “Keep up the good work, Mayhem.”

He beamed, flashing his teeth at her, before vanishing with the twins.

They arrived in Pound and Pumpkin’s room. “Alright, you two!” He cracked his neck, then his hands. “Let’s begin. To start with…” He snapped, creating the foldable panel walls that Cup and Carrot had been talking about.

Pumpkin observed it, then tried it out. When folded up it didn’t take up too much room. Only about six feet wide, and four feet long.

When it was deployed it did what it was supposed to: put up a barrier between the two halves of the room.

“What do you think, Pound?”

“I think it needs a few little changes,” he replied.

“Like what?”

“Well, for one, I think it needs to be able to lock in place when it’s out. Otherwise, if we’re in a bad mood, it just needs a little push and we can just come right in to annoy each other.”

“Makes sense. What else?”

“I think the panel near our beds should have a door. Then we can still visit each other without moving the wall.”

Pumpkin frowned. “Then what’s the point of having the wall lock? And doors only open one way. Even if we put a lock on the door too one of us is always going to be able to come in to bother the other.”

“Oh…” Pound sucked on his cheek. “Yeah, I see your point.”

Mayhem chuckled. “No worries. I got you covered.” With another snap he created a place for the panels to lock into as well as the door. “Go on the other side and try it out.”

So she did. Now there was a wall between her and Pound. She opened the door by her bed, only to still see paneling blocking her from crossing over.

A few seconds later the panel opened, and now she could see Pound’s side of the room.

“Both of you get your own door that locks,” said Mayhem. “Only when both of you open the door can you go through. It’s the same with the place where the panels lock in.”

“That’s a smart idea,” said Pound.

“Thank you, thank you,” he replied with a little bow. “Anything else?”

“Oooh!” Pound exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. “Can you decorate our ceiling?”

“Sure. What’cha want?”

“I want me in a Wonderbolts costume! Oh! And I’m riding a dragon! Ooh, ooh, ooh! And I’ve got adoring fans cheering for me. And-and nearby is some other horrible monsters that I’ve taken care of. Like a hydra, and an Ursa Minor. ”

Pumpkin stifled a laugh. He really was going overboard with the little bit of talent he had discovered, but she was determined to let him have his moment. Maybe it would inspire him to keep going on if he had a bad day.

“Done, and done!” Mayhem summoned paint cans, opening them up and pouring them down his throat. He took in a deep breath, his body swelling up a bit, then he exhaled hard, paint flying up at the ceiling.

At first it was just a goopy mess, but even as they watched the colors separated until they became exactly what Pound had described.

Pumpkin blinked. She hadn’t expected it to look so cool. It was almost three-dimensional, like it was coming out of the ceiling. “My turn, my turn!” she said impatiently.

Mayhem grinned. “You bet.”

“Um, um, um… hmm…” She tried to think of what would be cool enough. Pound had made something completely ridiculous, so she figured she might as well too.

“I got it! Make us and our friends into superheroes with cool costumes, like the Power Ponies. And Tiger Lily and Champ can be our sidekicks.”

“I like that one!”

Pound watched, interested to see what he would do with the idea. His idea had been simple, but Pumpkin’s would require some creativity.

Mayhem scribbled in the air for a bit, before hitting it with both arms like a volleyball set. It hit the ceiling, forming an image.

Pound and Pumpkin just stared at the ceiling for a little while, before letting out a little, “Woooow.”

Their costumes were based upon their names. For the most part that just involved their namesake being tattoed all over the costume. Peppermint got candy canes, Tree Leaf had foliage. Masky had different masks scattered across it. The twins had cake launchers strapped to their wrists.

Tiger Lily was also dressed up, floating next to Pumpkin. Pound was on Champ’s back, little after-images of the pair behind them, as if Champ had super speed.

Even Flurry Heart was there, a Crystal Heart mask on her face and her wings even larger than before, wrapped protectively around the air in front of them.

“That is so awesome!” said Pound.

“You said it! I didn’t think it would look this cool.”

Mayhem chuckled appreciatively, a smug look on his face.

Pound’s head tilted. “Hey, wait a minute. Where are you, Mayhem?”

He laughed evilly. “I’m glad you asked, Pound.” Swirling his finger in circles he made a mini hurricane, which blew away a dark part of the ceiling, revealing Mayhem on the opposite side, wearing a dark costume and a simple bandana with eyeholes cut out in front of a dark castle, his arms crossed and his cape blowing dramatically in the wind. Lightning was coming out of clouds above the castle, illuminating dozens of creatures behind him.

Pumpkin’s eyebrow went up. “So… what? You turned against us? Why are you all evil looking?”

“Because!” he said simply. “When I first met you I wasn’t a good person. A good friend fights for you, to pull you out of the darkness. Just like Mommy, and all of you.”

Pound nodded. “I get it. So we’re fighting to rescue you from yourself?”

Mayhem nodded too, hugging the two of them. “Yep. Because all of you are my best friends, and I know that you would do whatever it takes to help me.”

The twins thought back to Pinkie’s Pinkie Promise to them. She promised that even if they turned evil she would still believe in their goodness, and it was that belief that allowed them to overpower Mayhem when he tried to make them destroy the ones they loved. They could understand that feeling perfectly.

With their ceiling murals done not much was left to do. Pumpkin got her own door and Pound got his own closet. After that they both got to pick out their own colors for their sides of the room. Pound picked orange, while Pumpkin picked green.

With their rooms suited to their style, the twins took a few minutes just to appreciate the changes. They had shared the same room since they were born, and as babies had shared the same crib sometimes. Now they were growing more independent and responsible. Their room now felt like their own. Now they could choose not to share it with each other if they didn’t feel like it.

Since he had gone through all the trouble of helping them out they played with Mayhem for a while until he left to go visit Fluttershy.

After that they showed off their redesigned rooms to their family, who were quite impressed.

For a time both of them sat on their beds, looking at their ceiling murals, feeling quite content.

“Hey, Pound?” said Pumpkin from her side of the room.

“Yeah?” he responded.

“Being seven is already awesome.”

Pound chuckled. “It sure is.”

“And you remember what our parents said? They said that this was the biggest change. That means there’s other stuff we’re gonna get to do too.”

Pound beamed. “You’re right. I wonder what other privileges we’re gonna get. Maybe we can stay up later.”

“Who knows? Right now this is enough.”

“I agree. We got to style up our room exactly how we wanted it. We picked out our own colors, own ceilings, we have our own door, and we can have privacy whenever we need it.” He let out a sigh. “Today was just awesome.”

Pumpkin sighed too. “Hey, Pound?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

Pound was in too good a mood to playfully react with disgust. “I love you too, Pumpkin.”

When it was time for bed both of them embraced the chance to test their new boundary.

“Rah! I hate you,” Pound said jokingly.

“Grr! I hate you too,” Pumpkin replied in the same tone.

“That’s it! I want a wall between us.”

“You got it!”

Smiling widely at each other the whole way they pulled the paneling until it locked into place and they couldn’t see each other anymore.

“Goodnight!” they called to each other, going to their beds.

Cup, Carrot, and Pinkie found it a little odd to go into a separate door to say goodnight to Pumpkin after seven years of their only being one door there.

When the lights went out the two of them were delighted to find that their murals glowed in the dark. It didn’t have as much detail as it would in the light, but it was like having a constellation on the ceiling.

Once more they just stared at their ceilings, glad for what they had been given. Both of them now had their own, private rooms.

‘This is the life,’ thought Pound, his hooves behind his head. ‘Just me, all by myself.’ He lifted his head a bit. ‘And Champ too, of course.’

‘I’ve got my own room now,’ Pumpkin mused. ‘It’s all mine, and I don’t have to share it with anyone. Well, except for Tiger Lily.’ She rubbed the cats head, getting an appreciative purr in response.

Pound turned on his side, staring at the new wall. Pumpkin did the same.

Later on, as Cup was heading to bed, she noticed both of the twins doors were open. She peeked into Pound’s room, an eyebrow going up. His bed was empty. The bathroom was empty too.

She walked over to Pumpkin’s door, pushing it open more, and her heart melted at the sight. Champ was curled up around Tiger Lily at the foot of the bed, while Pound and Pumpkin were under the covers, snuggled up close to one another.

A warm tear came down her cheek, and she quietly shut the door as she went to her room, her heart light as a feather.
> 2-1: A friend in need
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pound was in a giddy mood as he arrived at school. He quickly said goodbye to Pumpkin as he headed for his pegasus classes.

When they went outside for practice Pound said loudly, “Hey, everyone! I have an important announcement to make.”

“What’s that?” asked Ms. Nimble.

Pound unfurled his wings, flapping hard and rising up, going in a circle around the area. “I can finally fly!” he said, beaming.

“Way to go, Pound!”

Drill Bit chuckled. “Well, it’s about time, you dork! I thought I was gonna have grandkids before you got there.”

“Sorry, you’re not that lucky,” he responded with a giggle. He landed on the ground. “Race me!”

Drill Bit rolled his eyes, then shook his head. “Getting kinda ahead of yourself there, aren’t you? Do you actually think you can beat me?”

Pound shook his head, giving a hearty, “Nope! I know you’re gonna wipe the floor with me without even trying.”

Drill stared at him blankly. “Okay, well, if you understand that then what’s the point of the challenge?”

“For the experience!” he replied, giving Drill a smug look. “Sure, right now you’re way better than me, but I work hard when I’m motivated. Each time we race I’m gonna get a little better, make you work a little harder, until one day I’ll blast you out of the school.”

At first Drill frowned, but then his grin slowly expanded. “Really? Is that how you see things going?” He shrugged. “I guess every kid needs to have a dream, even if it’s an impossible one.”

“Enjoy your time in the winner’s circle while it lasts. One day you won’t even be on my level.”

Even though, skill-wise, Pound was far below him, Drill still felt that thrill that comes from the thought of being pushed to the limit and still coming out on top. Pound acknowledged his own weakness, and showed a desire to make up for it. He had come far from the self-pitying, talentless loser he used to be. Perhaps Pound was starting to get a thirst for competition after all, and that made him interesting.

“Well, boys,” Drill said to his friends. “If Pound wants a race we’ll give him a race.”

They lined up in a row, Drill Bit pointing out several landmarks to use to mark their trail. “Three laps around. And we’ll even give you a handicap to keep it fair. You only need to do two laps.”

Pound thought about protesting, but he knew he’d probably lose regardless of their generosity.

The race began, and Pound took off, the other five leaving him in the dust easily. He pushed himself, but he barely managed to finish his first lap before the others had finished their three.

Drill Bit came up to him. “Well, that went about as expected. For your first race you could have done worse.” Drill gave him a pat on the head. “Keep practicing, newbie.”

Though others might see it as being condescending Pound didn’t take it that way. Drill was teasing him like he did with his friends. In his own way Drill was showing him respect. Through the rest of class and his recess he kept practicing his flying, trying to get used to his new freedom.

When they got home they did their homework as usual, but when they went to do their own thing their parents sat them down again.

“What’s up, Mom and Dad?” asked Pound.

“Do you remember what we said about new responsibilities yesterday?” said Cup.

The twins instantly sat up straighter, their attention focused.

Carrot chuckled. Their eyes were practically sparkling. “Now, this is something your mother and I have been discussing a lot. We’re not sure if you’re ready yet, but we have decided to give you a chance.”

They both nodded a few times, moving forward in their seats.

Cup left the room for a moment, returning with something in her hoof. Sitting down she pulled the white things apart, letting them unfurl, revealing two small aprons. “How would you two like to help out in the shop?”

Both of them practically leapt out of their chairs. “Really?” said Pumpkin.

“You mean it?” asked Pound.

Cup nodded. “I figure once a week we’ll allow you to assist us.”

Their eyes were bright with joy.

“However!” she continued sternly. “There are some rules you have to follow. You break any of these rules, and you’re done. That’s it. No second chances. Am I understood?”

They nodded. “Rule number one is that you don’t touch the cash register. No giving money. No taking money. We don’t want to be losing money because you miscounted or someone ripped you off.”

“Rule number two,” said Carrot, “No touching the oven. The oven is, obviously, very hot, and we don’t want to risk you getting burned.” Carrot let out a quiet groan. “Although…” He stopped, clearly not wanting to say the next bit.

He sighed. “Unlike the rest of us Pumpkin is a unicorn, and thus she doesn’t have to be concerned with burning herself because she can take the product out with her magic. Even so, we would still prefer it if you let us handle the hot things. Even if you can’t get burnt we don’t want you to burn anything else because you set the tray down in a bad spot.”

“And rule three is the simplest but most important of all,” said Cup. “Listen to us! We’ve been in this business since before you were born. If we tell you only three spoonful’s of sugar then only put in three spoonful’s. If you’re going to help out we need to keep our products at the same level of tastiness and edibility.

“And if you’re on the floor then put the products where we tell you to put them. We have some general rules about what gets displayed where. If you have an idea about doing something differently then feel free to bring it up, but we might tell you no.

“I think it’s also prudent to bring up that this is completely optional. With school, pets, and practicing your talents you already have plenty of responsibility on your plate. You won’t be forced to help out, nor denied any privileges if you choose not to do so.”

“Why wouldn’t we want to help out?” asked Pumpkin. “That sounds awesome!”

“Yeah! Yeah!” Pound added right after. “We’re the Cake family, and now we can work together as one every day.”

“Well, it’s good to see you’re enthusiastic,” said Cup, “but I think once a week is more than enough. You’re growing up, but you’re still children. Enjoy this time of being young while you still have the chance to.”

“We weren’t sure what your response would be,” said Carrot. “We asked today to give you a few days to think about it. Me and your mother agreed that if you said yes your work day would be on Fridays.”

That made both of them frown. “Why’s that?” Pound whined.

“Because that’s the last day of the school week.”

“And?” said Pumpkin, crossing her hooves.

“And I don’t want any excuses.”

“Excuses for what?”

“Like saying you’re too tired to go to school because you worked the day before,” said Cup. “Or that you couldn’t do your homework because you were too busy working. Or maybe you’ll stay up later than you should because you feel you didn’t get enough fun time during the day so you want to catch up on it, which ties in with the first excuse.

“We’re not saying you would do that, but we don’t want to take the risk of interfering with your school life by asking you to work.”

Pound let out a huff, crossing his hooves too. “Well, that’s messed up. Getting us all excited and then telling us we can’t have it for a few days.”

“Mmm.” Carrot felt they had a point. “How about this? You can stay up an hour later tonight as long as you spend it in a quiet activity.”

The twins still had sour faces, only looking slightly mollified.

“Oh, no!” Cup said dramatically. “We seem to be overstocked on chocolate ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, and brownies. Who could we possibly get to help us get rid of some of these things on such short notice?”

It only took a few seconds before their angry expressions faded and they started salivating. They almost never got ice cream as an after-school snack. That was usually reserved for dessert. They could forget their anger for a bribe that good.

“Okay,” said Pound. “I forgive you.”

Pumpkin nodded. “Me too.”

The pair eagerly waited as their mother warmed up a brownie for them before scooping ice cream and whipped cream on top of it, and then pouring some hot fudge over it. They were practically drooling as she brought their bowls over.

Grabbing some spoons the two eagerly dug in, all annoyance forgotten. The warmth of the brownie contrasted with the cold of the ice cream made for a delicious combination. If wasn’t long before their bowls were empty, and they both patted their stomachs, feeling very satisfied.

Over the next few days Pound still spent most of his free time practicing.

When it was finally Friday afternoon the twins eagerly trotted home with Pinkie.

Their eyes were sparkling as they could finally put on their aprons.

Even though they were Cakes neither of them knew much about baking, so they spent their first work day in the back, watching how the treats were made. It was odd to see how a few ingredients mixed together that started as a goopy mess could turn solid and delicious.

Under their father’s supervision Pound made a batch of cookies, while Pumpkin made some cupcakes and frosted them. For the most part Carrot just observed them after giving them their instructions, feeling like he should let them make some mistakes along the way.

Usually once a batch of product was done it was taken out to the floor and put in one of the display cases. However, the food they made was kept in the kitchen.

Their father explained that he wanted to be sure their food was up to their usual quality before they started putting it out for customers.

At first they were disappointed, but that faded pretty quickly when they were told they could keep their own work, and that was fine with them. They grabbed a few glasses of milk, the two of them sharing their own snacks with each other.

Pound ate one of Pumpkin’s cupcakes, finding it to be a little heavy on the icing, but otherwise pretty good. Pumpkin felt the same about Pound’s cookies. They were warm and tasty, but he had added too many chocolate chips.

Even with the slightly off taste the both of them didn’t complain, because free dessert was fine in their books.

After their dad’s latest batch came out of the oven they went out onto the floor to put them in the display case.

Here they were left to their own devices, Carrot figuring that if they went searching for where the items went on their own it would stick in their memories more than if they were just told where to put them.

The two hours passed by pretty quickly. Before they knew it the shop was closing down. Pound went around to wipe down the tables, while Pumpkin did the same for the display cases.

Once everything was cleaned up the two of them beamed at each other, hoofbumping.

“That was fun,” said Pound.

“I think so too.” They turned to their parents. “How did we do?”

Carrot and Cup walked over to their children, holding them close. “For your first time you did a pretty good job with everything,” said Carrot.

“I agree,” said Cup. “You were great.”

Both of them smiled as they held their parents back.

Things fell into a fairly normal pattern for the next month. Pound practiced his flying as often as he could, and every Friday they helped out in the shop for a few hours. Every so often they would invite a friend over. 

One afternoon Pound and Pumpkin were in their room, playing a board game together, when their attention was drawn by vibrating noises on both sides of the room.

“Ooh!” said Pound as he looked toward the noise, seeing a glow coming from his saddlebag. “It’s a message from one of our friends.”

The pair hopped up, going to their bags and pulling out their magic journals. Opening the book they went to the proper page, reading the words.

Their excitement turned to frowns as they set their books down.

“You know what this means, Pound?” asked Pumpkin.

“Yep,” he responded.

The two headed downstairs. “Auntie Pinkie!” the two said in unison.

“What’s up?” she responded, looking up from filling a display case.

“We need to see Twilight as soon as possible,” said Pumpkin.

“One of our friends is in trouble,” said Pound.

Pinkie turned to Cup at the register. “Well, Mrs. Cake?”

Cup playfully rolled her eyes at her children’s expressions. “You don’t have to give me the puppy-dog eyes. If there’s a friendship problem to solve then by all means go get it solved.”

The two of them ran up to her and hugged her. “Thanks, Mom! I love you!” they both said.

Cup rubbed their heads. “I love you too. Now hurry up and help your friend.”

“We will!” They ran for the exit. “Come on, Auntie Pinkie!”

Pinkie trotted after them.

Ten minutes later they arrived at Twilight’s castle, both of them slamming on the door until it opened.

“Gee whiz, you guys,” said Twilight. “There’s no need to try and knock my door down.”

“Yes, there is!” said Pound strongly. “Flurry is in big trouble.”

Twilight’s exasperation immediately turned to concern, her heart starting to race. “What happened?” she asked, her head moving forward toward them.

“Flurry wrote us a note in the magic journal that she’s still having trouble making friends in the Crystal Empire.”

Twilight let out a breath, relieved she could dial back her concern from physical danger to a major inconvenience. “I’m sorry to hear that, but what would you like me to do?”

“We’re getting to that,” said Pumpkin. “Flurry thinks if she can just make one real friend back home that they can help convince some of the others that it’s safe to be friends with her.”

Twilight nodded. “Mmm-hmm. Makes sense.”

“There’s one pony that she really thinks she can win over, but that filly is having a hard time with the whole ‘more than just a princess’ thing. Since we’re friends with her, Flurry thinks that we can help convince her that Flurry is just a pony like anyone else.”

Twilight sucked on her cheek. “Flurry is my niece, and I know that Shining and Cadance both trust me with Flurry’s well-being, so it wouldn’t be much of an issue to teleport her over here for a day.

“However, I’m not sure how the filly’s parents are going to react to me asking to take their daughter halfway across the continent just for a playdate.”

Pound rubbed his head awkwardly, forcing a smile. “They’ll say yes, of course, because a request from one princess, let alone two, is going to terrify them into accepting it no matter what they think about it.”

Twilight let out a deep sigh. “I wish I could say I disagree, but you’re probably right. If Princess Flurry Heart wants to bring her friend to Ponyville for a day at the request of Princess Twilight, that’s probably the exact reason they’ll allow it to happen.”

Pumpkin let out a groan. “I’m sorry you have to go through this.”

Twilight could see both of them looked bad. “Look, you guys, it’s just something that I have to deal with. I already feel awkward enough about it myself. You don’t have to feel awkward on my behalf.”

“But it’s not fair!” said Pound. “So many ponies don’t know how amazing you really are.”

“That’s true, but there are enough ponies that know who I really am, like you two.” She put her hooves out, and the two ran up to her and hugged her. “I love you two!” she said warmly.

“We love you too, Twilight!” they responded.

Releasing them she asked, “I do have to ask why you made it seem so dramatic, though. I thought Flurry was ill, or got into an accident or something. I’m glad to know she isn’t in danger.”

“But she is in danger!” said Pumpkin. “Flurry sounded really discouraged in her letter. She's been trying really hard, and after all the pain she was in we don’t want to see her give up again."

“That’s right!” Pound said strongly. “I still remember what you told me about Moondancer. I don’t want to see her give up on friendship.”

“And we still remember how sad you were at the party about Flurry’s problems. We don’t want to see you crying anymore.”

Twilight’s eyes grew shiny. “I’m afraid it’s too late for that,” she said in a croaky voice. She pulled them to her again. “Thank you both so much for caring so strongly for my niece. She’s lucky to have friends like you.”

“Anytime, Twilight!” said Pound with a big grin. “It’s our jobs to help spread joy and friendship like you and Auntie Pinkie.”

“So we’re gonna do all we can!” Pumpkin said strongly.

Pinkie beamed. They had come so far since last year.

Returning home they waited for their mother to finish with a customer.

“Mom, Mom!” said Pound.

“How did it go?” Cup responded.

“It didn’t go anywhere yet.”

“Can we bring Flurry Heart over tomorrow?” asked Pumpkin.

“I guess so.

“Are you going to fill me in on the problem?”

They nodded, explaining the situation.

“So Flurry is still having trouble finding a keeper, huh?”

“Yeah,” said Pound. “She thinks that her friend will be more comfortable around her if she’s hanging out with other normal ponies, instead of just an alicorn. I figure we’ll grab all our other friends and make her feel really welcome.”

“Mmm…”

She took care of another customer before getting back to them. “I would advise against that plan.”

“Why?” asked Pumpkin. “It seems like a good idea to us.”

“The reason you went to your room to deal with Flurry was because you felt there would be less pressure than if she was in the party area. If your goal is to show Flurry interacting with others like a regular pony then having the two of you there is enough to accomplish that.

“You throw in too many ponies, and it’s only going to increase the likelihood she’ll put on an act or wind up feeling ostracized from the group.

“The whole goal is to help Flurry become better friends with this filly, not for her to learn to interact with a group. You don’t want to wind up driving a bigger wedge between them because you’re overwhelming her with meeting so many new ponies at once."

The twins got thoughtful looks on their faces. “I guess you’re right,” said Pumpkin.

“Well, our mom is pretty smart,” said Pound. “She married Dad and let Auntie Pinkie live here.”

Cup blushed slightly at the praise. “And then I had you, who are working hard to spread friendship.”

“Oh, yeah!” He pumped his hoof. “Future heroes of Equestria right here.”

"I believe it. You do what you have to do to help Flurry, and I'll support you one hundred percent."

"You know it!" said Pumpkin, the two of them putting their hooves around each other.
> 2-2: Sharing of hearts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pound and Pumpkin were standing by the front entrance to the shop, waiting for their guests to arrive. Twilight had told them that Flurry and the filly’s parents had both given their approval.

They wondered who the filly was, and what she was like. What had drawn Flurry to her compared to some of the other possible friends she could have made? They were eager to find out. After all, before they had started school the only friend they had around their own age was each other, and now they had four peers and Mayhem.

It was all very exciting. They had barely been able to do their homework.

At about three o’clock the door opened, and the twins eyes lit up as they saw Twilight.

Behind her were Flurry Heart and a filly they had never seen before.

“Flurry!” they called out, running toward her.

Flurry met them halfway, all three of them hugging. “Hey, you guys!”

“We missed you,” said Pound.

“I missed you guys too. It’s so good to see you again.” After a few seconds Flurry released them, pointing behind her to the filly. “This is the friend I was telling you about.”

Pound gave a little bow. “Hello, there. I’m Pound Cake.”

Pumpkin mimicked the gesture. “I’m Pumpkin Cake. Nice to meet you.”

The filly looked around furtively, like she was trying to find a place to hide. She gulped, then said in a near whisper, “I’m… C-Crystal Mine.”

Crystal was a light white. Being outside of the Crystal Empire, her coat didn’t have the usual shine that was common of crystal ponies.

Looking at Crystal the twins were strongly reminded of when they had first met Flurry. She looked for all the world like she would rather be heading home at that moment.

“There’s no need to be nervous,” said Pound. “Our home is your home.”

Pumpkin gestured around to the display cases. “Just look around. Our family runs a sweet shop. Cakes, cookies, pies, ice cream sundaes; you name it, we probably got it. What would you like?”

Crystal still looked on the verge of bolting, but gradually she walked forward, taking in the store. She looked up at Pinkie. “C-could I get a slice of strawberry pie?”

“Yeparooni!” Pinkie said cheerfully. Winking at her she said, “I’ll even let you have two.”

Once all of them had a snack the quartet headed upstairs to the twins room.

Sitting on the floor they began digging into their desserts.

Crystal looked slightly less uncomfortable now, no longer looking like she was about to have a panic attack. It was a good sign. They thought that it was likely because they were away from Twilight. An adult alicorn she hadn’t met before was probably more scary than one around her age she had met a few times. Even so, she was still very subdued.

The twins shared a meaningful look, nodding at each other. They had already discussed a course of action for this. They weren’t going to confront her about her feelings. They were just going to treat this like a day with any other friend, and wait for Crystal to come around on her own.

When they finished their snacks Pound moved the plates against one of the walls to bring down later.

“Do you like animals?” asked Pound as he sat down again.

Crystal gave a timid nod. “Y-yeah.” She looked at Tiger Lily sitting on the bed. “I… I like your cat.”

“That one’s mine,” said Pumpkin. “Her name is Tiger Lily.” Pumpkin gave a little whistle. “Come here, Tiger.”

Tiger opened an eye, considering Pumpkin for a moment.

“Come on, Tiger Lily. Introduce yourself to our guest.”

She got up, stretching, before hopping off the bed, her tail elevated as she walked over. She rubbed up against Pumpkin as she passed, giving a sniff to Crystal.

The filly tentatively gave her a pet.

Tiger crawled up onto her lap, spinning in a circle and curling up. That brought a small smile to the filly as she started petting Tiger Lily, causing her to purr.

So far, so good, they thought.

Champ walked up to her as well, causing the filly to jerk and push him away with a cry of surprise.

“Hey,” said Pound calmly. “What did you do that for?”

“Cats and dogs fight, don’t they? I don’t want them going at it on my lap.”

“Oh. No worries there,” said Pumpkin. “The two of them are good friends. We got both of them from the same mare, so they’ve been together for a while.”

As if to demonstrate Champ licked Tiger’s cheek, and she nuzzled him in return.

Champ then lay down next to her.

“Aww, they like you,” said Flurry.

“I guess they do,” Crystal responded. “What’s the dog’s name?”

“Champ,” Pound responded. “He’s mine.”

“I don’t have a pet. I suppose my parents might let me have one if I asked. I just never spent enough time with animals to think about it.”

Pumpkin giggled. Her horn lit up, and from across the room a brush came to them. “Tiger will be your best friend if you give her a good brushing. It helps to get rid of loose hair and just makes her so happy.”

Crystal took the brush, gently bobbing as she brushed the cat. Tiger’s purring grew louder, her eyes closing.

Pumpkin grinned widely. Things were going great. Crystal looked as content as Tiger Lily. It was a good start.

“We haven’t had our pets too long,” said Pumpkin. “Just a little over two months.”

“Yeah,” said Pound. “But even though they’ve only been in our lives a short time they’ve brought us both so much joy. Having a pet to cuddle up with at night feels great.”

“The thing is, we didn’t even want pets in the first place.”

“Why not?” asked Crystal.

“Well, the day before we got our pets Flurry’s parents brought her newborn sister over here.”

“Why?” she asked, looking a little less enthused as they got onto the topic of princesses. “That seems an awfully long way to travel just to show off a baby.”

“That’s simple,” said Pound. “Princess Cadance is married to Shining Armor, and Shining Armor is Twilight’s brother, making Flurry and Skyla Twilight’s nieces. She wanted her family to meet her new child.”

“Oh. I didn’t know they were all connected like that. Guess that explains why Princess Twilight came to ask about this hangout instead of Princess Cadance.

“So where do you two fit into this?”

“Twilight is friends with our family, so we were one of the first ones to meet Skyla after she was brought here,” said Pumpkin.

“Well, that ties everything up. So you met Skyla and Flurry then.”

She shook her head. “No. We didn’t meet Flurry until our birthday party. She didn’t feel like coming then.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, we played with Skyla, and she really took a liking to us. We played and cuddled and sang, and it was really fun.”

“The next day,” said Pound, “we were playing pretend, where me and Pumpkin were a mommy and daddy, and we decided we didn’t want to just play with a stuffed animal baby. We wanted the real thing. But our parents said it would be too much of a hassle, and even if they did say yes it still would take a long time for the baby to arrive.”

Crystal caught on. “So they let you adopt some pets instead?”

They nodded.

She extended a hoof, running it through Champ’s fur. “That sounds like it was fun. They seem really well behaved.”

“Well, our friend is really good with animals,” said Pumpkin. “She can actually talk to them.”

Crystal’s eyebrow rose. “Anyone can talk to animals.”

“I guess you have a point there, but Fluttershy can understand them like they’re speaking our language.”

Now her eye’s widened slightly. “That sounds like a cool gift.”

Pound moved over, petting Champ. “Well, even if we can’t hear animals like she can the two of us still understand our pets pretty well.”

“So how did you meet Flurry?” asked Pumpkin.

“We met at the playground near my house.” Once more Crystal’s enthusiasm leaked out of her. “She had fallen off the swing, and I went to check up on her.”

“That was nice of you.”

“Turns out that pushing yourself with magic is a little harder than I thought,” said Flurry awkwardly. “I tried pushing the swing, and accidentally went and shoved myself right out of the seat. I had been holding onto the bars, but that only slowed me down a second before my weight pulled me off and I fell right on my knees. “

“She wasn’t really hurt,” said Crystal. “She thanked me, and then we started pushing each other on the swings. At the time I didn’t even realize who she was. Or what she was.”

“What she was?” asked Pound.

“An alicorn,” she responded. “I certainly didn’t expect a princess to be just casually hanging out at the regular old playground.”

That caused both of them confusion. “Wait,” said Pumpkin. “You never knew what Flurry looked like?”

“It’s not too surprising,” said Flurry. “I don’t go out too often, and when I did it was usually with Uncle Sunny or Aunt Starlight. Neither of them are as well-known as my parents.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.”

“I needed a break from studying, so I asked Uncle Sunny to take me to the playground to play.”

Crystal moved Tiger Lily off her lap and curled up, putting her head on her knees. “It was fun. We went on the swings, chased each other around, and went up and down on the teeter-totter. Everything was good.

“When I had to leave she left with me to find out where I lived, and we agreed to play together again.”

The twins confusion only grew. Crystal had already spent time with Flurry as a regular kid, and they had had a blast. So what was different? What had changed?

“So what happened?” asked Pound. “It sounds like the two of you got off to a great start.”

Crystal held herself a little tighter. “Imagine my surprise when the next time Flurry came over to hang out it was with her mother. I had the leader of our entire kingdom in my living room. And that was when I realized we had been having so much fun together we had never asked for each other’s names.

“I already felt pressured to keep Flurry happy, but I screwed up. Only a short while into our playdate I went to bring her a drink. I tripped, getting it all over her.” She let out a sigh. “After that she just glared at me for a bit and stormed out. That was the last I heard of her for over a month.”

Flurry got an awkward look on her face.

“And then she suddenly returned to apologize and ask if we could start over.” Turning her head away she said, “Well, who was I to refuse a princess's demand?”

“Twilight asked us if Flurry could come to our birthday party because she was having trouble making friends,” said Pound. “They knew there was something eating away at her, but they couldn’t figure out what.

“It took a little time to get her to trust us, but eventually she opened up and told us her secret, and it was a pretty big thing. It wasn’t your fault. Once we helped her through her problems she felt ready to give friendship another shot. That’s why she came back to you.”

Crystals' eye's moved toward them, narrowing. She took in a sharp breath through her nose.

Pumpkin noticed her cold expression, wondering what the cause of it was. Maybe it was time to back off. They had the basic picture of how the two had met and been broken apart. Now it was time to mend that friendship.

“Well, I think that’s enough talk. Why don’t we play a game together?”

Pumpkin went into the closet, pulling out a few board games. “How about this one?” She lifted up Hungry, Hungry Parasprites. “Flurry enjoyed this one the last time she was here.”

“Okay,” said Crystal, her gaze becoming more neutral.

Taking out the board she put it in the middle of the four of them. “This game is really simple. We drop the marbles with food items on them onto the board, and everyone tries to get as many as possible into the parasprites mouth. The one who collects the most marbles wins.”

Crystal stared at the little parasprite, gently pushing the switch that made its head go forward to 'eat’ the marbles.

Pumpkin levitated the bag of marbles over the board. “Ready?”

Flurry nodded. “Oh, yeah.”

“Let’s do it,” said Pound.

“I guess I’m ready too,” said Crystal.

“Okay,” said Pumpkin. “Three, two, one… GO!”

She emptied the bag onto the board, and there was a flurry of activity as they all hit the switches.

The other three were fully into the game, doing their best to win. Crystal, however, was more anxious, holding back. She didn’t want to beat Flurry. They didn’t notice.

When the game was over they all counted up the marbles.

Crystal came in last, then Pumpkin, then Flurry, and Pound won by a single marble.

“Argh!” Flurry called out, collapsing to the floor dramatically. “So close!”

“Not close enough!” said Pound with a triumphant expression. “The winnerrrrrrrrrrrrr!” Pound pumped his hooves.

Flurry put him in a headlock, giving him a noogie. “I’ll get you next time.”

“Yeah, right,” he called out, wrestling with her, both of them laughing.

Pumpkin playfully shook her head. “Just look at those two,” she said, looking at Crystal. She noticed Crystal looked on the verge of tears. She patted the filly’s head. “Aw, come on,” she said comfortingly. “Everyone loses sometime. Cheer up.”

That made Flurry and Pound disengage. “Don’t be sad,” said Pound. “You’ll do better next time.”

“I don’t care about the game,” said Crystal.

“Then what’s wrong?” asked Flurry. “I thought we were having fun.”

Crystal didn’t answer, turning and petting Champ, who was still lying nearby.

None of them were sure what to say. 

“Excuse me, you guys,” said Flurry, clenching her back legs a bit. “I need to use the bathroom.”

“Okay,” Pumpkin responded. “You remember where it is?”

She nodded. “I remember.” She got up and left the room.

Crystal let out a long sigh, her body relaxing a bit. “How do you do it?” she asked quietly.

“Do what?” asked Pound.

“Do what? You know what! How can you just act like it’s no big deal having royalty in your house?”

He shrugged. “Because it’s not.”

Crystal blinked, giving him a dirty look. “Oh, it’s not, huh? I suppose this store is just packed everyday with the most important ponies in the world. I’m sure yesterday all the Wonderbolts stopped here after training for a quick snack. And Princess Celestia needed some cake. And Princess Luna stopped here for some moon pies.”

Pumpkin felt like they were getting to the issue. It was a fine time to talk to her one-on-one. Or two-on-one, considering Pound was there too. “We’re not that well-known, but we do have some important ponies in our lives. You remember the pink-coated pony at the register who gave you the pie?”

“Yeah...”

“That’s our Auntie Pinkie Pie. She’s one of the Elements of Friendship.”

Crystal’s eyes widened, her mouth hanging open a bit. “Her?” she asked incredulously. “What is one of the most important ponies in the world doing ringing up customers?”

“Auntie Pinkie is a hero, sure, but when she’s not out saving the world she’s just a pony like the rest of us.”

“She’s the Element of Laughter,” said Pound. “And her life’s goal is to make as many ponies happy as possible. So, like Pumpkin said, when she’s not doing important stuff for the world she’s doing what’s important to her: throwing parties and spreading joy.”

“And because the other Elements of Friendship are, obviously, her friends, we’ve met all the rest of them a bunch of times. One of them is a fashion designer, one of them is an animal caretaker, one of them is a flight instructor, and one of them is an apple farmer. It’s the same with them. They just go on with their normal, everyday lives until they’re needed.”

“And then, of course, is Princess Twilight. She’s super cool.”

Crystal shook a bit. “I know who she is. She’s the one that took me here. What else was I supposed to say when I had two princesses asking me to come out here?”

“You could have said ‘no,’ you know?”

Crystal gave a humorless laugh. “Oh, yeah! Just say no. No way that would have backfired, right?”

“What do you think would have happened if you declined?” asked Pumpkin.

“Who knows? I didn’t feel like finding out. If I went and upset their daughter again Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor probably would have made things hard for my family. Better to play it safe.”

The twins looked at each other, sharing a sad look. Twilight had told them they didn’t have to feel bad on her behalf, but they couldn’t help it. Pound had been teased and bullied for being different until he finally flew. Pumpkin hadn’t experienced ostracizing herself, but she had seen the effect it had on Pound, as well as Flurry Heart during their birthday party. Both of them understood the painful feelings Twilight and Flurry had to go through, even if indirectly.

“What do you think about Flurry Heart?” asked Pumpkin.

“I don’t know,” she said, starting to fidget. "She’s a princess, and an alicorn. What else do you want me to say?”

Pumpkin shook her head. “That’s just stating facts about her. I asked what you think about her.”

“Do you think she’s smart?” asked Pound. “Funny? Interesting?”

“What does that matter?” Crystal asked, getting up and starting to pace a bit.

“It matters because there’s more to Flurry than being a princess or an alicorn. In fact, those are the two least important things about her.”

Crystal stopped her pacing, looking at Pound like he had three heads, her head tilting. “What is the matter with you?”

“I could ask the same to you," Pound replied defensively. "Why do you think Flurry’s parents or Twilight are some evil ponies that would ruin your life just because you said you didn’t want to play with Flurry? The Princess of Love and the Princess of Friendship. These are the ponies you think you need to 'play it safe' with?”

Crystal flushed, looking away.

“Flurry is a nice pony,” said Pumpkin. “She wants to be friends with you. What’s the big deal?”

Crystal’s face went crimson as she glared at them. “What’s the big deal? Maybe it escaped your notice, growing up and being besties with important ponies like the Elements of Friendship, but not everyone is that lucky.

“Not everyone feels comfortable just casually visiting Princess Twilight’s castle to hang out, or has them living in the same house as you. I don’t expect you to understand my feelings. How could you?

“Maybe it’s not a big deal to you just having royalty in your house, but it’s a big deal to me!”

That gave Pound and Pumpkin pause. They couldn’t exactly dispute that. If Auntie Pinkie hadn’t moved into Sugarcube Corner they might never have had any real, personal interaction with most of the Elements of Friendship, let alone Princess Twilight.

Having grown up with it, that sort of thing was normal to them. They didn’t think twice about treating Twilight like they would anyone else the majority of the time.

“You’re right,” Pound said slowly. “We don’t understand how you feel.”

Crystal’s glare grew less pronounced.

“However,” said Pumpkin, “you don’t understand how Flurry feels either.”

“And how does she feel?” she responded.

“Flurry wrote to us about how she was having difficulty making friends. She really wanted to make things work with you. That’s why she went to all the trouble of bringing the both of you here. She was hoping that being around some other regular ponies doing regular things would help you see she’s more than just her outward appearance.”

Pound put a hoof to his chest. “That’s what I meant when I said those were her least important qualities. Being a princess or an alicorn doesn’t make someone good or bad. What’s the most important is their heart.

“I know you feel afraid of Flurry because of her status, but if that wasn’t an issue does she seem like the kind of pony you’d want to be friends with? I mean, you said before that before you knew who she was you had a great time together.”

“I… I don’t know,” Crystal replied, looking awkward now. “The few times we played together after she apologized I was always nervous about screwing things up or upsetting her again. Even though it’s gone well… I just don’t feel close to her. I can’t really call her a friend. Even so, she keeps coming to visit and asking for us to play together.” She shrugged. “I don’t get it.”

“I get it,” said Pumpkin. “The reason she keeps coming back to visit, the reason she brought you here… it’s because she believes you’re a friend worth fighting to keep.”

Crystal winced hard, her eyes clenching shut as she let out a quiet sob. “Why? What does she care? I’m just some nobody. She could have picked any kid in the Crystal Empire and she-”

“AND she chose YOU!”

Crystal was panting. “L-like I said, I’m not like you two. I didn’t grow up hanging out with important ponies like princesses. I was just some kid. And then to my surprise Princess Flurry Heart stopped me by the playground and asked if I wanted to play with her.” She sniffed. “That time it didn’t really matter to me that she was a princess, but then she came to my house. I just wanted everything to go right... but of course things never go right.

“I brought some snacks and juice for us to enjoy, and I wound up tripping over something on the floor, both cups going flying and landing right on her, soaking her mane and coat.”

She clenched again, quietly sobbing. “I felt so horrible, and I just grew so afraid. She just stared at me for awhile, and then without a word she just stormed off.”

She sat down, hugging herself. “Sure, I thought we could be friends, but she didn’t come talk to me again for like two months after that. She must have been furious at me. What kind of friendship would we even have if she’d get so mad we wouldn’t speak for months just for a simple mistake?

“Then she tells me she wants to try again? What’s different now? I know I’m not perfect, so now I’m just waiting for the next mistake to break our ‘friendship’ for good.”

“I’m sorry, Crystal,” came the voice of Flurry from the door.

The filly jumped, her head turning rapidly to the noise.

Flurry had a guilty look on her face. “I didn’t know that’s how you really felt.”

Crystal was trembling again. “H-how long have you been listening?”

“From the beginning. I didn’t actually need the bathroom. I just knew you wouldn’t be honest about your feelings as long as I was in the room.”

Crystal wasn’t sure how to respond, so she defaulted to anger. “Spying is a bad habit, little princess!”

Flurry just met her gaze, and said again, “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

“Well… well, you did! Okay?”

Flurry sat on the ground in front of her. “If you don’t want to hang out with me again after this that’s okay, but can you at least give me the chance to explain myself?”

Crystal was letting out some heavy breaths through her nose, but after a minute she sat down too. “Fine, then. Talk.”

“I was going through a really bad time in my life that day. I was feeling so stressed out that even little things like spilling some juice was too much. I just needed some time to cool off.”

Crystal crossed her hooves. “And then what about later on? You never came back.”

Flurry closed her eyes. “I just… I just couldn’t deal with things then. You were terrified of what had happened. You even told me yourself to just pretend we had never met.”

Crystal bit her lip. She had said that.

“I was just giving up on everything that didn’t involve studying and learning magic. I didn’t have the strength to try and convince you it was okay.”

“So what was going on? Why were you so frazzled?”

Flurry sighed. “I felt like I was being crushed by pressure. Everyone had so many expectations for me, like taking my mother’s place, or fighting threats to the Empire. I was feeling so overwhelmed.

“I put on a brave face, but I was so scared every day. Since I was born an alicorn, and each alicorn is a ruler of something big, I was afraid of not only losing my parents, but then being put on the throne myself, and at my age.

“That’s why I was so busy studying. I felt like I had to be prepared, so I had to know as much as I could. Every so often my mind would get so filled up I felt like I couldn’t take in any more. I’d want to unwind, so I tried to make some friends, but each of them ended badly, only making me feel worse.

“Most of the time it was my fault. With the pressure I was under I just wanted a perfect friendship, so when something bad happened I just let the friendship go. I couldn’t take any added stress, and I didn’t want to get into a shouting match with anyone. The last thing I wanted was to lose control.

“I didn’t really care that you spilled juice on me. Accidents happen. But I knew if I stayed I would only make you feel even worse, because I didn’t think I would be able to keep my temper.”

“So that’s it, huh?” asked Crystal, her expression inscrutable.

Flurry nodded. “I was living in fear every day, hoping with all my heart that nothing happened to my parents.” She let out a huff. “If only I had told my parents how I was really feeling I wouldn’t have had to go through so much pain.”

“So… why didn’t you?”

“Like I said, when my head got too full I wanted to just relax and have fun. I was afraid if I told my parents about my feelings they would even take that privilege away, and tell me the only thing I was allowed to do was study and learn. I already felt guilty when they didn’t say it.”

“That’s ridiculous! Why would your parents ban you from having fun?”

Flurry sniffed. “I was so stupid. I didn’t know what to think. It sounds crazy now, but back then even the possibility they might say it was too much.

"My parents brought me to the twins birthday party because Aunt Twilight thought they could help me. I was being pretty loud when I opened up, so my parents heard my true feelings, and they told me that all the things I was afraid of had already been planned for and taken care of, so I didn't have to worry about them. It was a huge weight off my shoulders."

Crystal took in a sharp breath. “A birthday party with three alicorns, a prince who is also the captain of the Royal Guard, and probably all the Elements of Friendship?” She put a hoof to her head. “Makes me dizzy just thinking about it.”

“Four alicorns, actually. My baby sister was there too, even though she slept through the whole party.”

Crystal's eyebrow went up. “Was that supposed to make me feel better about things?”

“Mmm.” She thought that maybe that wasn’t the best time to be corrective. “Well, the whole point I was trying to make is that all of them came for two ‘regular’ ponies.”

“Well, good for them, but like I told those two behind you they’ve grown up with these ponies. It doesn’t surprise me that Pound and Pumpkin are in good with Princess Twilight if one of her best friends lives here.”

Pound gently tapped one of his hooves. He wanted to say something, but he held himself back. This was between the two of them. Now that they had made their dent it was time to stand aside and not interfere.

“It wasn’t only big shot ponies there, you know? They also invited a few of their peers, and none of them made a big fuss because they had all met Aunt Twilight before, so they knew what she was like.

“Just like Pound and Pumpkin said, when they’re not on-duty they’re just regular ponies. Even Aunt Twilight likes to just read books and learn new things.

“I’m not any different, but people treat me like I am because I’m an alicorn. I probably like the same kinds of things you like, but you’ll never know that if you don’t give me a chance to prove it.”

“What do you want from me?” asked Crystal.

“I don’t want anything from you except for you to treat me like you would anyone else.”

“How can I? We have a difference in status. No matter what happens in our life you’ll always be a princess, while I’ll just be a subject.”

A tear came down Flurry’s cheek. “But that’s not the way I want it to be! Don’t you get it? I want us to be closer than that. Just like Aunt Twilight has earth ponies, pegasi, and a unicorn as part of her Elements of Friendship I want you to be part of mine.”

“Why?” she responded heatedly. “Why me? What makes me so special? Of all the ponies in the Crystal Empire why pick a nobody like me?”

Flurry stomped a hoof. “Because I don’t think you’re a nobody! I think you’re really cool.”

“Compared to you, I doubt that.”

Flurry let out a scoffing noise. “You want to try this? Tell me how ‘cool’ it really is to be an alicorn. After a few days you’ll be begging to be regular again. Everywhere I go, having to endure the stares and the mocking. 

"Knowing that my mother and my aunt both did something incredible to be transformed into alicorns just makes me feel so unworthy of these wings. I haven’t done anything special. I was just born this way.”

Flurry’s eyes clenched shut as she let out a sob. “Pound and Pumpkin and their friends went out of their way to help me, just because Aunt Twilight asked them to. They didn’t know me then. They had no reason to care about my feelings, but even though I was being rude and dismissive they still helped me to face my problems and get rid of all the stress I was going through.

“That’s the kind of friendship I want to have with you.” She looked into Crystal’s eyes, her own shimmering. “I've had several friendships fail because they couldn't see me for me. I picked you because, even though you were scared of me, you seemed like the most real pony out of all my potential friends. I was sure that if you could just look past your fear we could become close friends. I brought you all the way to Ponyville so you could see me just being a regular pony. 

"I don’t want you to treat me like a princess, or as someone who’s better than you just because I have a few extra appendages. I want us to treat each other like equals, just like Aunt Twilight does with her own friends. I don’t look down on you for being an earth pony, so I don’t want you to put me on a pedestal because I’m an alicorn. I mean that. The both of us… we’re just ponies.” She put a hoof over her chest. “And I want to fill this hole in my heart with you.”

Crystal blinked, her mouth hanging open slightly. She looked down at the floor. “I don’t know if I can do that,” she said quietly.

“Like you said, you’re not like the twins. I understand it won’t be as quick to get to that point as it was with them.” She blinked the tears out of her eyes. “But can we give it a shot? I’m willing to wait until we build up our relationship. I want you to be real with me. I want you to feel safe getting angry or upset with me. I want us to be true friends, so I’ll wait as long as it takes for you to trust me.”

Crystal was quiet for about ten seconds, then turned away from her, curling up and putting her head on her knees.

Flurry wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. All she knew was that it would be good to give Crystal a little time to think.

Pound could feel Pumpkin squeezing his shoulder, and he knew that she was as eager as him to see Flurry make things work with her friend.

A few minutes passed, and the tension felt thick in the air as the three of them waited for Crystal’s response.

Flurry was biting her lip. Should she say something, or just keep quiet? Was there anything left to say?

She noticed Crystal start shivering, one of her hooves going up to her mouth as she bit it. Before she could ask if Crystal was alright the filly jumped up, turning around toward her with a heated expression.

“You know, you’re not the only one who has feelings, PRINCESS!” she said angrily. “I tried to make the best of things, having someone so high up on the social ladder as a friend. I don’t care if you were going through problems at the time. It still didn’t make the way you treated me right! Some friend you were!”

“Pound!” Pumpkin said sharply as she saw him start walking forward. “We can’t.”

Pound stopped, though he didn’t want to. Even though Crystal deserved to express her feelings he still felt his natural protective instincts kicking in seeing the hurt look on Flurry’s face.

“You complained that no one saw you for you, but you’re a stinkin’ hypocrite, because you certainly didn’t see me for me. You didn’t care about friendship. You only tried to make friends to take some of the pressure off yourself.

“And you know what? I GET that you left because you didn’t want to take your problems out on me. But you still couldn’t even do me the courtesy of apologizing to me until months later, when you made some other friends who helped you.”

She took a step forward, tears coming down her eyes. “If WE were supposed to be friends then why didn’t you trust ME like you did them? Why didn’t you tell ME about all these horrible things you were going through so that I COULD BE THERE FOR YOU? If you had done that maybe you could have gotten through this without their help.

“You think I don’t understand why you brought me here? Even after you fixed your problems you still didn’t trust me enough to tell me about your true feelings. And then you make your friends solve your problem for you because you were too much of a coward to do it yourself?

“What makes you think you’re even worthy of being my friend? Huh? Do you really think I want to be friends with someone who treats others like you do?” She panted slightly.

Pound was now the one squeezing Pumpkin. He felt like they had royally blown it.

Pumpkin had her head against his, both of them quietly crying. They couldn’t force Flurry and Crystal to be friends, but they had hoped they could make it happen.

Flurry looked into Crystal’s eyes, tears coming down her own eyes as well. She stood up, bowing her head. “I understand,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t being a good friend to you at all. I’m not going to make any excuses.”

She sniffed, wiping her face. After a few seconds she said, “I’m a filly of my word. I said you didn’t have to hang out with me again after this. I won’t keep you any longer. I’ll get Aunt Twilight to take you home.”

Pound's teeth clenched. Was it really going to end like this?

Flurry walked a few steps toward the exit, then stopped and returned to Crystal. “Crystal?”

“What?”

“I just... I just wanted to say ‘thank you.’ That’s all.”

That got all three of them looking at her strangely. “Why are you thanking me?” Crystal asked incredulously.

Flurry got a sad smile on her face. “It does hurt to know that I ruined our friendship, but at the same time… I just feel… so happy.”

“Happy?”

“Even if you don’t want to be friends, I really appreciate you being honest with me about your feelings. You did what I wanted you to do all along: treat me like a pony instead of a princess. You called me out on my bad behavior, talking to me like my equal.” Her eyes shimmered, her smile becoming more genuine. “I can’t tell you how good that feels.”

She shook her head, letting out a little laugh. “Oh, forget it. I’m just being silly. Let’s get you home.” She walked with her head held high. If she had gotten nothing else out of today she was grateful that she had finally gotten Crystal’s respect, even if it had come about in a negative way.

The twins felt an odd sense of respect for Flurry. She had taken rejection in such a mature fashion.

Crystal just stared at her oddly. That certainly wasn’t the reaction she had been expecting. “Flurry, wait!” she called out, trotting towards her.

Flurry stopped, turning around. “Yeah?”

Crystal took in a big breath. “Do you know how scary that was for me, saying all of that?”

“I bet. And that’s why I admire you so much for doing it.”

“Look… I’m not really angry at you, alright? I know you were going through some rough times, and you weren’t at your best. I understand that you were confused and scared and you screwed up. I just… I had to know.”

“Know what?” Flurry responded.

“You said that you want us to treat each other like equals, and be honest with our feelings. I was really scared of upsetting you or getting you angry, but I knew we couldn’t really be friends until I let out the anger in my heart toward you and saw how you responded. I didn’t know if you were gonna blast me off the face of the earth, or throw me in a dungeon, but I had to see what would happen if I yelled at you, and see if you really meant what you said.

"I was feeling jealous of Pound and Pumpkin, the way they were so casual with you. I was jealous how the three of you seemed so close. I want us to be like that. We both shared our hearts with one another, and I think it's the first step to a true friendship.” 

Crystal smiled, tears coming down her eyes. “I forgive you, Flurry.” She hugged her. “Let’s be friends. For real this time.”

Tears welled up in Flurry’s eyes, and she began wailing as she returned the hug. “Thank you!” she cried out. “Thank you!”

The twins put a hoof around each other, seeing another bond of friendship forming.
> 2-3: Close friendship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight was pacing around back and forth, letting out some heavy breaths from time to time.

“Do try and calm yourself, Princess,” said Cup. “There’s no point in getting yourself all worked up like this.”

Twilight paused for a moment, started to pace a few steps, then stopped again, turning to the mare. “How am I supposed to be calm? My niece is struggling with friendship. I grew up without the benefit of real friends until I came to Ponyville. I’m just afraid Flurry is going to go through the same thing. That’s the last thing I want for her.”

Cup chuckled. “What happened to your faith, Twilight? After going above and beyond for Flurry during their party do you doubt Pound and Pumpkin’s ability to succeed now?”

“No!” she said strongly. “I do believe in them, but… but just because I believe doesn’t mean they’ll succeed. Some ponies just can’t be won over.”

Cup walked over, putting a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “I know it’s hard, Princess, but you just have to have faith.

“My children broke the hardness of Flurry’s heart, allowing her to make friends with them. Even if this friend can’t be won over Flurry won’t be alone. Pound and Pumpkin will continue to fight for her, along with the rest of their friends.

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

Twilight slowly smiled. “You’re right. They’ve all exchanged a part of their hearts with Flurry. Even if it’s hard I’m sure the two of them will succeed.”

As Flurry and Crystal released each other they looked into their eyes, smiling. “Thank you,” Flurry said calmly. “I really mean it. I haven’t decided yet if I want to take over as the new ruler of the Crystal Empire when I grow up, but I need ponies by my side that aren’t afraid to call me out when I do something stupid.”

“I want to be a good friend to you,” said Crystal, “but you have to do the same for me. I want to hear about the things that are bringing you down so I can help send those rainclouds away. I couldn’t have done anything about what you were afraid of, but I could have listened to your problems and hugged you tight.”

“I know. I had a hard time opening up to everyone, but when they proved themselves to me I started to trust them and let them see my pain.

“Because they had already helped me with my problems I didn’t think it was important to bring it up to you. I’m sorry if you thought I didn’t trust you. I was only trying to move on and not dwell on the past.”

“That’s okay.”

“I’m glad the two of you made up,” said Pumpkin. “I didn’t want to have to tell Twilight we had failed.”

Crystal looked over at her. “Oh?” she said curiously. “Why’s that? I thought you weren’t afraid of her.”

“We’re not,” said Pound. “But she’s still a friend of ours, and we didn’t want to deliver bad news.

“When we first met Flurry she drove one of our friends away in tears shortly after showing up.”

Flurry winced, letting out an awkward laugh. “Yeah, not the best first impression.”

“What did you do to them?” asked Crystal.

“Well… I said something quite unkind. Their friend was… different. They weren’t a pony. They were a creature called a draconequus.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a being made of different animal parts put together.”

“That sounds weird.”

“It was, at first. I wound up calling him a freak, and he left because he was afraid of doing something bad to me if he stayed.”

“Anyway,” said Pound, “after that me and Pumpkin were understandably angry. We brought Twilight into the kitchen and basically told her to throw Flurry out before she upset any more of our friends.”

“Twilight took us by surprise,” said Pumpkin. “She actually bowed to us and begged us to give Flurry another chance.”

Crystal’s eyes widened. “She didn’t!”

“Well,” said Pound, “she told us that knowing that her niece, her brother, and her sister-in-law were all hurting made her hurt just as much, and she felt like we were all she had to rely on to get through to her.”

A tear came down Pumpkin’s eye. “And seeing Twilight hurting over all of them made us hurt as well, so we agreed to try again. And it all worked out in the end.”

“She even said that it wasn’t an order from a princess, but a request from a friend. Twilight is really humble and has taught us great lessons on friendship. That’s what makes her our favorite princess.” After a moment he added, “No offense, Flurry.”

Flurry waved a hoof. “I know my aunt is super-cool. At my age I can’t expect to compare to her yet, but I’ll get there someday.”

Crystal got a troubled look on her face again. “Doesn’t it bother you at all? I know that Princess Twilight is your friend and all, but she’s still a princess.”

Pumpkin was about to say no, but then she got a thoughtful look on her face. “Honestly, yes. There have been times when we’ve been at our worst that we thought like you do. I accidentally put Pound in the hospital when I lost control of my magic, and I swore off ever using it again.

“Our parents went to Twilight to help me past that fear, but when I first saw her in my living room I felt for sure that she was there to banish me.”

“If you want proof that Twilight is very forgiving,” said Pound, “then you should know that I threatened to attack her if she did anything bad to Pumpkin, and she just brushed it off.”

Crystal’s eyes widened.

Pumpkin’s smile became strained. “Threatened, nothing. On a different occasion I actually attacked her.”

Her mouth was hanging open now. “Why?” was all she could get out.

“Well, I had just gone through my first heartbreak. I found out that the colt I had a crush on had just been pretending to love me, and I went and attacked him in my rage. Twilight put me in a magic bubble to stop me, but I was too mad to stay there, so I used my own magic to make her faceplant and break her concentration so I could hit him some more.”

Crystal let out a whistle, shaking her head with a look of wonder. “And how did that turn out?”

Pound let out a sigh. “That was the scariest moment of my life. I had never seen Twilight so mad. I really was afraid that Pumpkin was going to be banished at that moment, or something else horrible. I bowed and begged for forgiveness for Pumpkin, knowing that it was the only thing I could do.

“She understood that Pumpkin was acting out because she had lost control of her feelings, but she was still really mad, so she sent the colt home before letting Pumpkin free. She reassured me that nothing bad was going to happen to Pumpkin, and she knew she was too mad herself to handle matters with a clear head.”

“That’s just crazy to me,” said Crystal.

Flurry looked slightly incredulous too. “Oh, boy. I can’t believe you actually hurt Aunt Twilight.”

Pumpkin got a guilty look on her face. “I feel terrible about it now, but I was so hurt by what he did to me I didn’t care about the consequences. I just wanted to see him in pain, and I wanted to do it with my own bare hooves.”

“So I guess we slightly understand what you’re feeling,” said Pound. “But even as bad as what we did was Twilight still kept her temper and focused more on helping us improve than punishing us.”

“And that’s what makes her such an amazing princess.”

“C’mon,” said Flurry, taking Crystal’s leg and pulling her up. “We need to continue your growth.”

“What do you mean?” said Crystal.

“I think you should talk to Aunt Twilight. You’ve seen that I am just a pony, so I think you need to see that Aunt Twilight’s the same.”

Crystal groaned. “Do I have to? Isn’t it enough that we became friends?”

“And because we are I’ll be by your side the whole time so you won’t be as afraid.”

Crystal looked into Flurry’s encouraging smile and let out a breath. “Okay,” she said, reassured.

As the quartet came down the stairs Twilight looked to see how everyone appeared. “How’d it go?” she asked.

“Piece of cake!” said Pound, grinning.

Flurry had a bright expression on her face. “It turns out that what we needed wasn’t her seeing me being a regular pony, but for us to share our hearts with one another. When she found the courage to get mad at me and express her feelings it broke the barrier that was stopping us from truly connecting.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” said Twilight.

“Now I have the first member of my Crystal Empire Elements of Friendship.”

“So you do.”

Crystal interlocked one of her legs with Flurry’s before saying, “I’d like to talk to you about something.”

Twilight sat down. “Sure.”

“How did you feel when the twins were attacking you? Pound said that he threatened you when he thought you were coming to banish Pumpkin, and Pumpkin said that she actually attacked you to get to this colt she was mad at.”

“Hmm.” She got a thoughtful look on her face. “Before I answer your question I have one of my own.”

“Okay.”

“From what I can tell you and Flurry dissolved the wall between you, allowing you to treat each other like equals. If you understand that being a princess doesn’t make one so different from you then why do you still seem wary of me?”

“Because you’re different than Flurry. Flurry is a kid like me, and she hasn’t done anything world-changing like you have.”

“Aah.” Twilight closed her eyes. “I suppose our age difference and experience do make me and Flurry quite different from one another, but it doesn’t change that I’m simply a pony like her.

“How did I feel? Pound back then was quite aggressive when it came to his sister. Though I don’t agree with his behavior I could understand his fear that I had come to punish Pumpkin, so it didn’t bother me much.

“Pumpkin’s attack on me did get me pretty angry, but again I understood the root cause. One of the reasons I left was so I didn’t lose my temper and set a bad example. It was one of the only times that Pound switched from talking to me like Twilight to talking to me as just a princess. That shift in tone, addressing me like a stranger, only made it clearer that I wasn’t in the right state of mind to address the issue.”

Twilight opened her eyes. “A few months ago Pumpkin’s friend Peppermint came to me, wondering the same sort of things I’m sure have gone through your head. Before we got into the matter I had her pick out a short comic for us to read together. Before long we had hit it off, and I told her the comic reading was so she could see me as a regular pony. It was the same sort of idea the twins had for you to help you bond with Flurry.”

Crystal looked at the ground. “It’s just… hard for me to think of you like I’m starting to think of Flurry.”

“Is there a specific reason why, or is just what you brought up before?”

Crystal looked up into her eyes. “You… you saved us all. I mean, I wasn’t born yet when it happened, but you defeated King Sombra and saved our entire kingdom. All of us crystal ponies are forever in your debt.” A few tears came down her eyes. “And I don’t have any way to repay you for saving my parents.”

Twilight smiled warmly, closing the distance between them. She took Crystal’s free hoof in her own. “I don’t do good deeds like that for fame and to inflate my ego. I do it so that other ponies can live in happiness and friendship, and love can flourish.

“Just look at your other leg. You’re holding onto a friend for support, and she’s gladly providing it. That’s all I ever want as ‘repayment.’ It has nothing to do with Flurry being my niece. This joy I feel applies to everyone who can form meaningful connections with one another.”

“But doesn’t it mean anything to you at all?” she asked, looking at Twilight’s hoof in her own. “How can I treat you like anyone else when you’ve done so many amazing things?”

“Come on, Crystal,” Pound said gently. “Can’t you see how Twilight is?”

Twilight sat down on the floor, back legs crossed and her front extended. “Come here, Crystal.”

Crystal stared. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Twilight, but in order to sit on Twilight’s lap she’d have to release Flurry. After a few seconds she said, “Stay close to me, okay?”

Flurry gave a big nod. “I will.”

Releasing Flurry she immediately felt more vulnerable. She missed the connection already.

She sat on Twilight’s lap, feeling uncomfortable. Flurry sat behind her, hugging her neck. That gave her her feeling of security back.

Twilight grinned to see how they were supporting each other. “I’d like to tell you something, Crystal. You’ve heard of my world-saving exploits. I’ve defeated terrible threats, and saved the Crystal Empire. That’s true. However, you’re blinded by my accomplishments because it’s what is most associated with me.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You always hear about my successes, making me seem perfect and beyond your understanding. What do you know about my failures and mistakes?”

Crystal stared at her a few seconds. “I… don’t.”

“Exactly. I’ve done much in my life, but not all of it is good.” She gestured to the twins, who came to stand on either side of her. “Look at these two. What would you say if I told you they taught me a very valuable lesson about friendship? I had screwed up, and they called me out on it.”

Crystal got an interested look on her face. “I’d like to hear that story.”

Twilight could already see the pedestal Crystal had placed her on starting to come down. Not in a negative way, but simply that the filly was starting to see her in a more realistic fashion. “Pumpkin told you about the accident where she hurt Pound, and I recommended them to school so they could learn to master their magic and flight.”

Pumpkin let out a little sigh. “The two of us got into a physical fight with some of the other kids when they began insulting our sibling, and we got kicked out of school.”

Twilight nodded. “I got an angry letter from the principal about their behavior, and I came to scold them after arguing with the principal for a while about not kicking them out for good, managing to talk her down to a week’s suspension.

“After being scolded by the principal, their parents and Pinkie, and finally me, the twins were emotionally exhausted. They believed they weren’t loved or wanted anymore, and they ran away from home.”

Pound sighed. “It felt so horrible.”

“Thankfully, my friend Fluttershy spotted them, and provided enough comfort for them to speak their minds, allowing us to renew our bond.

“Now, I am not completely at fault here. I was simply the breaking point after being scolded by everyone else. But what they said made me realize that I needed to change the way I approached discipline with small children. I was, rightfully, angry at their behavior, but my response to them was belittling and critical. I was the one that pushed them over the edge, when I could have been the one to stop them from falling into despair and thinking they had to leave.”

She sniffed, a tear coming down her eye. “And even if I know it wasn’t all my fault, there was still a period of time where I felt annoyed rather than concerned when I heard they had ran away.”

Crystal blinked. “Annoyed?”

Twilight nodded. “I thought they were running away from their punishment. My friend Pinkie got mad at me for that, until my friend Spike pointed out that what they did was similar to something that happened with him. He had once had a situation where he felt unwanted by me, and had ran away. That made me realize I had gone too far.

“Even though we searched the twins eluded us, and then it began pouring rain, making it all but impossible to find them. All of us were miserable.”

Pumpkin beamed. “After we got everything settled with our parents and Auntie Pinkie we were still nervous about Twilight. That was another time we were afraid of her princess status.”

“She showed us her Friendship Journal,” said Pound, “where all of them wrote down the lessons on friendship they learned, hoping that it could help someone going through the same thing one day.

“Twilight wrote down what she learned on one page, and then asked us to write down what we learned on the opposite page.”

“Twilight felt that even kids as young as us could have important lessons to teach, just as important as a princess’s, and what we learned is that everyone makes mistakes, even princesses.

“But even if you make a really, really big mistake you still deserve to be loved.”

Flurry said, “That’s pretty fascinating. I didn’t know about that.”

Crystal hesitated, then said, “I can understand that ponies can say mean things when they’re angry, but Pound and Pumpkin did do something really bad, and you said yourself that you were just the last person to scold them. That doesn’t really seem like a failure on your part. Just bad luck that you were the last one.”

“Fair enough,” said Twilight. “So let’s continue.

“I spent the week of their suspension trying to teach the twins about peaceful conflict resolution. Pound had an overprotective streak that stopped him from remaining calm when he felt his sister was being hurt.

“When we all went to the beach Pound met a colt named Tree Leaf. Although they hit it off pretty well they still hit a major snag in their friendship when he threw sand in Pumpkin’s eyes deliberately.

“Pound did manage to stop himself from being violent, but only because Pumpkin’s pain made him put caring for her over hurting Tree Leaf. Once Pumpkin was being cared for Pound expressed regret for not beating the colt up.

“When Fluttershy talked to them she was patient, letting them open up on their own time. When she heard about their behavior she was understanding, not condoning their behavior but still loving them all the same. I knew I needed to do the same.”

“Twilight was pretty amazing there,” said Pound. “Even though I yelled at her and called her names she never lost her temper, only focusing on getting me to change my mind.”

“And wouldn’t you know it? When I succeeded in showing him the way his thinking was flawed-”

“By threatening to beat me up!” Pound said with a chuckle.

Crystal and Flurry’s eyes both went wide. “You what?” said Crystal.

“Why would you do that?” Flurry asked.

“She wasn’t really going to hurt me," said Pound, "but she acted like she was to help me understand.”

Twilight nodded. “Pound’s logic was that if he beat up those that hurt Pumpkin they wouldn’t do it anymore, but because he himself at times hurt Pumpkin it meant he should be beat up too.

“Anyway, once everything was settled he told me I had passed my retest with flying colors.

“I thought that I had learned my lesson about small children, but what happened next showed me I still had a long way to go.”

“What happened?” asked Crystal.

“As I’ve told the twins I can’t show special treatment to my friends, so just like I helped Pound I wanted to help Tree Leaf. However, because of my ignorance I wound up causing the both of them unnecessary pain.

“I thought the best course of action would be to get them together to talk out their problems. Pound was tired of the bad feelings that had been going around, so I pressured him into going because I believed it was best. Tree Leaf didn’t even know we were coming, so he got pretty steamed when we showed up.

“What happened next was a total disaster. I completely failed at keeping things under control. The two of them spent the majority of their talk insulting, belittling, and yelling at each other. They were only interested in ‘winning.’ That is, seeing who could cause the other to break first. Sometimes they would talk about the issue, but they were both so heated up nothing was getting done.

“Finally, Pound said the magic word that pushed him over the edge, and Tree Leaf demanded that he leave, expressing the notion that friendship was a lie and he didn’t need any.”

Flurry let out a breath. “As the Princess of Friendship I’m sure that must have been hard to hear.”

“It was even worse, because I had just got through telling Pound about a friend of mine named Moondancer that I had hurt who did give up on friendship for a long time because of my carelessness.”

“So then he was left alone?” Crystal asked somberly.

“I didn’t want to forgive him,” said Pound, “but when I thought about Moondancer I knew I didn’t want him to end up like her. And seeing how upset he was finally allowed me to stop being angry and just… talk with him.”

“The two of them were able to renew their friendship,” said Twilight, “after which he apologized to Pumpkin as well, and they’ve been friends ever since. But what if I hadn’t told him about Moondancer, thus allowing him to empathize with Tree Leaf’s situation? It was just a matter of luck that my friend brought up her name, and that Pound happened to ask about her right then.

“What happened between them would have turned out better if I had been more considerate of both their feelings before arranging for them to meet. As it was, both of them called me out for getting in the middle of their problems and trying to force them to settle their differences, and they were absolutely right.”

“I couldn’t imagine doing that,” said Crystal.

“But you just did!” said Pumpkin. “You yelled at Flurry because she had hurt you.”

Crystal squirmed a bit. “But she’s a child too.”

“Well, no one said you have to yell at me,” said Twilight. “The point I was trying to get across with these stories is to show you that I’m not perfect, and I’m not afraid to admit when I screw up. I would like to be respected for the things I’ve accomplished, but not if it means you put me so high up you forget that I have a negative side too.

“Even I am still learning. When the twins ran away from home it made me realize I knew little about small children, and I used that experience to help Pound change his thinking. When it came to him and Tree Leaf it made me realize that I was looking down on them, thinking their feelings were too simplistic. Those two events helped me to adjust the way I treated them, and ever since that day the twins haven’t run away again, nor have they taken issue with my behavior.

“Even if indirectly, these children taught me something I needed to learn, filling in a gap in my education.

“As I said to the twins, I can’t teach others to overcome their own issues if I pretend that I don’t have any myself. I want you to have a realistic view of me, and that means acknowledging that even our heroes are capable of great errors.”

“Mmm.” Crystal put her hooves over Flurry’s. “I think I understand now. Even though she explained it I still didn’t really get why Flurry thanked me for yelling at her.”

Flurry gave her a little nuzzle.

“All that being said,” said Twilight, “I do think it’s prudent to bring up that not everyone will want to interact with you at ‘eye level.’ Me and Cadance and even Flurry want to treat everyone like equals despite our status, but not everyone is like that.

“A perfect example is King Sombra. He thought his position entitled him to treat his subjects like slaves. He definitely looked down on them as being lesser than him.”

Crystal nodded.

“But not everyone is out to rule the world in their ego. Some have just been petty, or arrogant, thinking too much of themselves but otherwise mostly harmless.

“If you make an assumption about someone you may put an unnecessary barrier between you that doesn’t need to be there, but it might also lead to anger if they’re not as friendly or forgiving as you think. The only advice I can give is to find a balance between caution and openness, and the best place to start is to observe the way they talk and act first, and then form your own opinion on the kind of pony you think they are.”

“When I first met Flurry at the playground I didn’t know who she was. She kept her wings folded up, so I didn’t even notice she was an alicorn. It wasn’t until her mother came to drop her off that I even realized who she was.”

Crystal let out a little sigh. “Now I know how badly she was hurting back then, and I just wish I could have done more to help.”

Flurry gave her a little squeeze. “No worries. Even if it hadn’t been for that little accident I don’t know if I could have opened up to you. Aunt Twilight told everyone that I had a problem that needed solving, so the twins and all their friends were ready for me.”

She laughed awkwardly. “There was a reason I kept them at my side.”

“What’s that?”

She blushed, still self-conscious as she released Crystal. “Look for yourself.”

Crystal spun around in Twilight’s lap, waiting.

Flurry took in a deep breath. “This drove some of my other friends away, or at least caused them to make fun of me.”

Crystal waited, but Flurry still just stood there, blushing and making nervous gestures. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m… a little scared. I just started a real friendship with you, and I don’t want to ruin it now.”

“Flurry,” said Twilight, “you won’t be able to avoid it forever. Eventually she’ll see it. If it’s enough to drive her away from you then you might as well get it out of the way now rather than stick around her. And if it isn’t, then all you’ll be doing is worrying yourself over nothing. Either way it goes, showing her now is the better option.”

Flurry looked into her eyes. “I… I know, but…”

“Do you remember what you said the day after our birthday?” said Pound. “You said that if someone can’t accept you for all of you like me and Pumpkin do then they’re not the kinds of friends you want to have.”

Flurry groaned. “I know that! And I meant it, but I still… I mean, it’s easy to say that when nothing’s going wrong, but after everything we just went through to get this far-”

“Then you should trust your friend that she will love you the same, just as she asked you to do,” said Pumpkin. “Unless, of course, you don’t believe in her?”

Flurry winced.

Crystal looked between everyone. Everyone seemed to know something about Flurry that seemed devastating. Did she have a horrible scar that she kept hidden? What could possibly be causing her such distress?

“I want to know!” she said firmly. “I don’t want to be the only one not in the loop. And if everyone else here still cares about you despite knowing your secret then I can too! I trusted in your words enough to be honest with my feelings. Please… trust me too.”

Flurry took in a deep breath. They were right. They were all right. It wasn’t something that could be avoided forever. “Forgive me, Crystal. I should have trusted you more.” With one last steadying breath she unfurled them, showing her oversized wings.

Crystal just stared. Every single pony in the Crystal Empire was an earth pony. The only exceptions were Shining Armor, Cadance, the two unicorns that had taken Flurry to the park, and the members of the Royal Guard that had been transferred over from Canterlot, most of which were all unicorns.

Thus, she didn’t exactly have much of a frame of reference for average wing size. But even so, she could tell that they weren’t right. They seemed way too large for her body. She thought it was no wonder that Flurry always kept them concealed.

Flurry had her eyes closed. It wasn’t so much that she didn’t trust Crystal, but a lot of children had mocked her for them.

Crystal could see the shameful look on Flurry’s face. Flurry’s sensitivity to them had to come from somewhere, and she could only guess that there was a time when Flurry showed them off regularly before being teased to the point she always kept them at her side.

Standing up, she closed the difference between them, and gave Flurry a big hug. “I think you’re perfect just the way you are! Thank you for showing me.”

Flurry sniffed, tears running down her eyes as she hugged her friend back. “Thank you.” She extended her wings, hugging her with them too. “I was right to choose you. You’re an amazing friend.”

Crystal blushed.

Twilight was glad that Crystal was such a good fit for Flurry. As Cup had said to her before, the twins and the rest of their circle of friends would still be there for Flurry even if this didn’t work out, but even if they could communicate across long distances through the magic notebooks it still wasn’t the same as a hug in person. Flurry needed a friend at home to be there physically for her, and it was clear that Crystal was a perfect choice.

Pound whispered in Twilight’s ear. She nodded.

Her horn glowed as she concentrated, several objects appearing: a quill, a bottle of ink, and a book. “Flurry, Crystal!” she said brightly.

They broke apart from their hug. “Yes, Aunt Twilight?” she asked, wiping her eyes.

“The both of you have had a big day today, so I think you should take advantage of it.”

“What do you mean?” asked Crystal.

Twilight opened the book to two blank pages. “This is our friendship diary, where we write down all the important lessons we learn. I’d like both of you to write down what you learned today about the magic of friendship.”

“Okay,” said Flurry.

Crystal looked uncomfortable. “I… I don’t think I can.”

“Why not?” asked Pumpkin. “You’re not still thinking you’re worthless compared to Flurry, are you?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not that, but… I don’t know how to write all that good yet.” She moved one of her hooves in small circles. “I don’t know how many ponies go through that book, but I don’t want everyone looking at my mistakes.”

“That’s no problem, “ Pound said brightly, throwing a hoof around her shoulder. “When me and Pumpkin wrote our entry into the friendship journal Twilight wrote it for us. You just tell her the words you want her to write down, and she’ll take care of the rest.”

“Oh.” She looked reassured. “In that case it’s fine.”

“What about you, Flurry?” asked Twilight.

Flurry sucked on her cheek for a few seconds. “Well, I do a lot of studying, and I understand a lot of words, but I’m not so good at writing them myself, so I think it would be better if you wrote mine too.”

Twilight nodded. “Very well. I can do that.” Dipping her quill into the ink she said, “Who wants to go first?”

Flurry pointed to Crystal. “She’s the guest, so I think she should choose.”

Crystal let out a little whimper. “You can go first… you know, so I can see how it’s done.”

“Well, this is new to me too, you know.”

“Mmm.”

Twilight set her quill down. “You don’t have to worry so much about doing it ‘right.’ You don’t have to write in a certain way, or make it super long. Just express your heart. But maybe it would be helpful if you read a passage or two to get a feel for it.”

She browsed through a few pages before stopping on one. “I think you’ll find this one appropriate. It’s the one that the twins and I wrote.”

They read both sides. Twilight’s expressed her ignorance of little kid’s feelings, and how it led to her hurting them, as well as the desire to plug that gap in her education not to make the same mistake.

Pound and Pumpkin’s admitted their screwup, and how a bad pony is different from a bad action, and that as long as you feel guilt over your wrongs you still deserve love.

When the two finished and looked up at her again she said, “The twins felt quite unworthy of their page, considering it was right next to mine, but lessons can come from anywhere. There are things they’ll experience that I never will, which means that they can help in a situation that I can’t.

“It reminds me of the Cutie Map.” That got questioning looks from them. “The Cutie Map is a special part of the castle in the throne room. Every so often our cutie marks will glow, telling us to visit it. The thing is, except for our first time, it very rarely calls all six of us. Usually just two at a time, and the map tells us what location is in need of a friendship lesson.

“For example, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were sent to the homeland of the griffons. They were once united by a statue that filled them with pride and stopped them from being so greedy and self-serving. When it was stolen that unity broke.

“During the course of their adventure they actually found the idol, and one of the griffons, an old friend of Rainbow’s named Gilda, was put in a situation where she had to choose between saving the idol or saving her friend, as one of them was going to fall into an abyss, and she chose her friend. That selfless action, combined with some encouragement, allowed Gilda to make friends with another griffon, and thus they found something else to bond over.

“I wasn’t sent there, even though I wanted to go. How do you think things would have been different if I had gone?”

“Well,” said Flurry, “you have magic, so you could have just poofed it and the rest of you out of there.”

“And you can fly,” said Crystal, “so you wouldn’t have to worry about falling to your doom.”

“Exactly,” said Twilight. “But if I had done that it wouldn’t have solved the problem. Bringing back the idol might have allowed them to be united once more, but it would only last until the next thief stole it, or some accident caused it to break. Then they would be right back where they started.

“What was needed was something to replace the idol, something that wasn’t a physical object that could be broken or stolen. Hence, despite all my magic and skills I wasn’t fit for the job, but my friends were.”

She pointed to the book again. “And that’s why the twin’s words are just as valuable as mine, because they dealt with a problem far different than I did. And that means they could help someone in a way that I can’t.”

Flurry smiled. “The same way that they helped me open up about my problems.”

Twilight nodded. “Exactly.”

Crystal slowly shook her head. “Everything feels so different than what I expected it to be. Did you really bow to them and beg them for help?”

“Indeed I did. I learned my lesson when it came to Pound and Tree Leaf. I couldn’t force them to make friends with Flurry, and it was rather rude to expect them to deal with her issues during their birthday party. So it was the only option I had available to me. They had to freely choose to do it, so I opened my heart and showed them how much I was hurting, allowing them to get over their bitterness to give Flurry another chance.

“I know that doesn’t sound very princess-like to you, so if it makes you feel better it isn’t the kind of thing I’d do outside of my close circle of friends.”

“I guess it does.”

“So, anyway, let’s get your friendship reports.”

“I’m ready,” said Flurry.

Twilight readied her quill.

“Life can be difficult for me sometimes. It can be hard when you feel like you’re different than everyone else. I was born an alicorn, and my wings are adult sized even as a child. I’ve had ponies call me a freak, and it was very hurtful.

“For a while I was scared of all the pressure put on me, until my awesome Aunt Twilight brought me to a party with friends that loved me just the way I am. They helped take the pressure of me so I could just be a kid and goof off.

“I learned that real friends accept you for who you are, no matter what you look like. I also learned that sometimes we can hurt our friends without realizing it.

“My friend Crystal got mad at me for not trusting her enough to tell her my secrets like I did with everyone else, and she told me off for it. Luckily, she accepted my apology, and now we’re both getting closer.

“So my advice to anyone reading this is to keep searching for your real friends, and be honest with them once you find them.

“Signed, Princess Flurry Heart.”

Twilight nodded in approval. “Very good, Flurry.” She looked toward Crystal expectantly.

Crystal let out a little sigh. “I’m ready, I guess.

“I… I never spent much time around royalty, or famous ponies.” She hesitated, blushing slightly. “I thought that they were almost from a different world, stuck-up or scary. Before I knew Flurry was a princess everything felt normal, but as soon as I realized who she was it felt like a huge wall went up. I didn’t feel safe around her. I… I thought horrible things would happen if I got her mad.

“Even though she tried to be nice to me I just couldn’t relax around her, until she brought me to play with some of her other friends. I couldn’t understand how they could act like it wasn’t a big deal to have a princess in their house. They made it look so easy, and it made me kind of… jealous.

“I liked Flurry, but… I just didn’t know how to treat her like Pound and Pumpkin did.

“In the end, we finally talked things out. I had felt hurt and angry towards her, but I didn’t realize it because I was too scared. When I finally showed her my feelings she surprised me by thanking me for it, telling me it’s how a true friend should act.

“Even though it was one of the scariest moments in my life, I did it because I wanted to trust Flurry, and be by her side.” She sniffed, a few tears coming down her eyes. “I wanted to be her friend, someone that she can rely on. Even if I didn’t feel I deserved it, she had chosen me out of everyone else, and I wanted to prove myself worthy of being a true friend.”

Flurry put a hoof around her shoulder, putting a wing around her as well.

Crystal put her head against Flurry’s, nuzzling it a bit. “I learned that even ponies that you think are scary have feelings too, but if you can get past those differences that’s where the light of friendship truly starts to shine.

“I’m glad that the two of us opened our hearts to each other, and even though we might fight sometimes, I hope we remain friends the rest of our lives.

“Signed, Crystal Mines.”

Flurry was the one crying now. “Me too!” she said in a croaky voice. “I hope we’re friends forever too.”

Crystal put her hoof around Flurry’s shoulder, pulling her closer, their eyes closed as they held onto each other.

Twilight felt her own tears start. She didn’t know what the future would hold for them, whether their friendship would remain strong in the years to come, but she sure hoped it did. Regardless, the future was in the distance. Right now, before her eyes, she could see the bright spark of friendship between them, and that was enough.
> 2-4: A true, true friend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Mmm… come on, Crystal,” said Flurry. “Do we really have to do this?”

“Yes!” she replied strongly.

Flurry sighed, her cheeks rosy.

“Just relax. All we’re doing is going for a walk.”

“It’s not ‘just a walk’ and you know it!”

“It will be if you’d stop making such a big deal out of it!”

“But… but you know how I feel about this.”

“Exactly! And that’s the point!”

Flurry groaned, a tear coming down her eye. “But it’s scary.”

Crystal hugged her. “And that’s why I’ll be by your side the whole time, so that it won’t be as frightening.

“Yelling at you was scary, but it allowed us to be real with one another, and made us true friends. And as your friend I don’t want you to let this one thing bring you down. I told you already: I think you’re perfect just the way you are. And if anyone can’t see that then it’s their problem, not yours.

“You got that?” She nuzzled Flurry’s cheek with her own. “You have nothing to be ashamed of for being who you are, so be more confident in yourself.”

Tears came down Flurry’s eyes as she hugged her friend back. “Thank you, Crystal. Your words mean a lot to me.”

“You chose me out of everyone else, and that means I have to show I’m worthy of calling myself your friend. And it all starts with helping you through your problems.”

Flurry was quiet for a while. “O-okay. I… I trust you.”

***

Things had been strange for Crystal since the day they had gone to Pound and Pumpkin’s house. She had seen the depths of Flurry’s heart and learned about the pain she had been going through, and her conversation with Twilight allowed her to see how skewed her thoughts were.

She had somehow seen the princesses as perfect, incapable of mistakes. Calling out Flurry had been the first step to seeing that her beliefs were wrong, and then hearing Twilight be real with her about her own errors towards the twins further dispelled that notion. Although their status did put some distance between them they were still ponies in the end.

When they returned to the Crystal Empire Flurry took her to properly meet her parents. It was somewhat scary, being in the presence of the rulers of their entire empire, but it wasn’t as terrifying a prospect as it had been before. She kept in mind that they were ponies too.

Without her bias coloring her thoughts she was able to interact with them fairly normally, but she just wasn’t as comfortable with them as she was with Flurry. She needed some more time.

She also was properly introduced to Flurry’s caretakers, Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer.

Having resolved her issues with Flurry the two of them had become fast friends, spending every few days together.

As they had spent their days together Flurry told her about her previous attempts at making friends and about some of the hurtful words lobbed at her, as well as about the crazy birthday party where she had made friends with the Ponyville ponies.

Crystal was especially interested in Mayhem and Discord. Their power to change reality to suit their whims sounded incredible, but scary. That kind of power could be used for great good, but also for great evil. She was glad they were on their side.

Flurry opened her wings halfway, moving them in front of her. “Mayhem actually offered to shrink my wings to a normal size, but I turned him down.” She sighed. “Maybe I should have accepted his offer.”

“Why didn’t you?” Crystal asked.

Flurry rubbed her hoof across one of her wings. “All of my Ponyville friends still loved me even after they saw them. I felt like if I had to change who I was just to be liked then it wasn’t worth it to be friends with those kinds of people.”

She let out another sigh, folding her wings up. “It’s easy to say in front of a whole bunch of people that already care about you, but I just don’t feel as confident about it now. A part of me would rather just be liked.”

She rubbed her front hooves against each other in small circles. “It feels like I’m always going to have to put in a huge effort with everyone just to get past those barriers, just like it did with you.” She hung her head. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just be more normal to make friends easier?”

Crystal’s eyes narrowed. “Sure it would, but would those friends actually care about you like I do?”

Flurry looked up, surprised at the venomous tone in Crystal’s voice now.

“You were right the first time! A true friend cares about you and loves you for all of you! If you changed your wings just to be liked then the whole time you’re interacting with others you’re going to know it’s a friendship based on a lie!”

“But-”

“No buts!” She hopped up, walking in front of Flurry. She extended her hooves, pulling on Flurry’s wings until they opened. “This is you! These wings are a part of Flurry Heart. They make you unique.”

A tear came down Flurry’s eye as she pulled her wings out of her grip and folded them back up. “What if I don’t want to be unique?” she said quietly.

“Then you’re being foolish. If you’re not unique then you’re common and boring. It’s the ways we stand out that makes us who we are. Didn’t you say you chose me because you thought I was different?

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Flurry.” She pulled on Flurry’s wings again, extending them as far as she could. “Just like I said when I saw them it doesn’t change how I think about you at all. I still think you’re an awesome pony, and as your friend I don’t want you fussing over something so unimportant.”

She could see a fire in Crystal’s eyes. “I’m glad it doesn’t make you look at me differently, but not everyone feels that way.”

“WHO CARES?” she shouted. “You didn’t choose to be born with big wings. If they look down on you for something you can’t help that’s their problem, not yours!

“I don’t care what it takes, but I’m helping you past these feelings about your wings, because that’s what being a good friend means to me.”

Despite herself, Flurry smiled. Crystal really was everything she had hoped she would be.

***

Flurry’s heart was pounding as they went out onto the streets of the Crystal Empire, Sunburst keeping his distance but being observant.

“Come on, Flurry,” Crystal said sternly. “You know what you have to do. Once you find confidence in yourself then you won’t care what they think.”

Flurry let out a heavy breath, gathering her courage, and then unfurled her wings. She already felt awkward.

Her face felt red hot as they walked. She could hear the mocking words of ponies she had tried to befriend, calling her a freak. It felt like every passing pony was looking at her derisively.

Flurry groaned. “Crystal, ponies are staring at me!”

“Then let them stare,” said Crystal comfortingly, rubbing Flurry’s head. “They’re probably just jealous, anyway, that they can’t have wings as awesome as yours.”

Flurry let out a tiny laugh. She couldn’t imagine anyone envying her giant wings, but Crystal’s suggestion did make her feel a little better.

Even with Crystal’s encouragement she still couldn’t go longer than five minutes before she felt too embarrassed to continue. Crystal congratulated her on the effort.

That became their daily routine. Flurry came to dread Crystal’s appearance for a little while, knowing what was expected of her.

Slowly, so gradually she didn’t notice it at first, she began to lose the stigma she had attached to her wings. It began to feel more natural. She could go longer and longer before her embarrassment got the better of her.

Crystal was endlessly encouraging throughout it all.

Eventually she got to the point where she barely noticed it, and her and Crystal would just chat as they walked, her wings out for the whole world to see.

She started to feel that Crystal was right. What did it matter what the rest of them thought? She had a close friend that was dedicated to seeing her improve, someone that was willing to fight for her and was comfortable with her. It was everything she could ask for in a friend.

She remembered her Aunt Twilight’s words. “Out of a hundred children you may only find three that see the true Flurry and appreciate you for all you are, but you’ll treasure those three far more than three hundred pretenders.”

Crystal really was a true friend, broadening her horizons to help her stay true to her own words. She was who she was, and she would rather put more weight on the words of her friend that loved her than on the jerks who treated her like trash just for being a little different.

In the end, she was still Flurry Heart, big wings and all. And she wouldn’t have it any other way.

After their latest walk Flurry was surprised they had been walking for a whole half hour. In the past it had felt like every second was an hour, all her attention outwardly focused on the ponies they passed. Nowadays her attention was focused on Crystal and just being with a good friend.

As they reached Crystal's house the pair went inside. "Hello again!" Flurry said politely to Crystal's parents, her cheeks flushed with joy. Their walk had felt so invigorating.

"Hello, Princess," they replied, giving her a little bow.

Flurry laughed. "Come on, now. I told you like a dozen times. You don't have to bow to me. I'm just a pony like your daughter. i don't need special treatment."

Crystal put a hoof around her shoulder, laughing too. "Aw, they'll understand one day, just like I did."

They went to Crystal's room. "That was fun!"

"Wasn't it, though? Don't worry about my parents. I can understand how they feel because I used to be that way too." She rubbed her chin. "Maybe we should have a picnic with your family and mine."

"That sounds cool. Our families can get to know each other."

"My parents still find it hard to believe that I netted a princess as a friend. They even asked me some of the questions I asked, like how could I be so relaxed around you?" She let out a small sigh. "That's why this picnic is important. I want them to see you the same way that I do."

“These things just take time,” Flurry said, shrugging. “I have you here with me, and that’s enough for now.”

She extended her wings out and up. “I’m sorry for being so weak before.”

“What do you mean?”

“I told you about how Mayhem offered to shrink my wings. Even though the offer was tempting I said no because I’ve seen ponies that cared about me regardless, and I thought the friends I choose should be the same way.

“I was so self-conscious about these things that a part of me felt like I’d rather just be whatever made people like me, even if it meant not being true to who I was.”

She smiled. “You were right. I was being foolish, and I shouldn’t regret my decision to keep my wings the same size. You’ve shown me how much you care about me, by yelling at me again.” Joyful tears came down her eyes. “I truly appreciate what you’ve done for me, and I am honored to call you my friend.”

Crystal smiled back, her own tears starting. “That’s what friends are for, Flurry.”

“You know, these wings are really good for one thing.”

“What’s that?”

She extended them towards Crystal, pulling the filly to her. “They make for great hugs.” She put her hooves and wings around her.

“I love you, Crystal!”

Crystal let out a quiet sob, holding back with all of her strength. “I love you too!”
> 3-1: Burnout
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Come on, nerd! Keep up!” Drill Bit called out.

Pound was panting slightly as he tried to keep pace with the colt.

Drill did a loop-de-loop, allowing Pound to get in front of him, before quickly retaking the lead. “Not too much further now.”

Pound gritted his teeth, ignoring the ache in his wings as he pushed with his last bit of strength, touching down at the edge of the gate. He was breathing heavily now, his wings drooping. He couldn’t even lift them up to close them.

“Better,” said Drill. “Much better.”

Pound wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead. “N-nothing to it,” he said weakly, lying down to catch his breath.

“Well, I think that’s enough practice for today. You look wiped. I’m gonna go race with the real competition,” he said with a wink before taking off.

He was wiped. Drill Bit kept pushing him to his limits. Maybe it was pride, or maybe it was because he had finally gotten off the ground, but he didn’t want to turn down any opportunities to challenge Drill Bit.

He was quickly learning there was more to flying than just moving up and down or turning. He wanted to learn some of the advanced tactics Drill knew, but the colt told him he had to focus on building up his skills first.

He turned over onto his back, looking up at the sky. Drill Bit had been a lot nicer to him lately. His insults were now like friendly banter, used to pump himself up and dare his opponents to muster the energy to challenge him.

He tried his hardest, but he knew his weakness wouldn’t just disappear overnight. He had already made decent progress. There wasn’t anything he’d say he was particularly gifted at, but there was always time to find where his talents lie.

Weeks passed, and it felt like with every day his determination to knock Drill Bit off his throne increased. With every bit of improvement he felt like another one of his duck feathers fell off. It might take a year or more, but he would throw off his ugly duckling status and become a swan. He would prove himself worthy of Drill Bit’s time.

His stamina had increased, letting him go longer without running out of breath, as well as his wings not burning so badly as he pushed himself.

One day they were racing again. Drill Bit was in front of him, flying around. As he went between two swings he turned sideways, lowering himself and extending a hoof, pushing off and doing a full rotation before getting back in the air.

Pound didn’t trust himself to do such a maneuver. He had improved, but he wasn’t nearly that skilled yet. Still, he wanted to try something interesting. As he flew past the swings he curved himself upward and tried doing a loop-de-loop. Although he was successful he wasn’t used to the mechanics of upside-down flying, and he quickly went off course as he came back down again.

He let out a yelp, trying to slow or stop himself, but for all his efforts he still crashed face-first right into one of the poles stabilizing the swing-set.

For a few seconds everything went dim, until he felt something gently but firmly slapping him.

“Hey! Hey! Are you alright?” Drill Bit asked.

Pound groaned, putting a hoof to his eye. “That didn’t feel fun.”

Ms. Nimble trotted over, pushing Pound’s hoof aside to check out his face. “Ooh. I think you’re gonna have a bit of a bruise there. I need to get you to the nurse so she can get you an ice pack.”

“I got it, Ms. Nimble,” said Drill Bit, helping Pound stand up. “No need to disrupt the whole class for one student.”

She thought it over for a few seconds. “Very well,” she replied.

The two walked inside, Drill Bit supporting Pound as they walked. Drill Bit chuckled. “That was some crash. I’m impressed.”

Pound groaned. “You don’t have to rub it in.”

He laughed again. “Don’t take it personally. You pulled off your maneuver perfectly on your first try. You only lost control after you were done. You’ll get it with some more practice.”

Pound winced as his face throbbed painfully. It passed after a few seconds. “Since when are you so nice?” he asked.

He adjusted his position a bit. “Hey, I’m not completely heartless. You at least attempted a stunt, and you’ve proven you’re not so much of a loser as I thought.”

Pound gritted his teeth, letting out a low moan. “D-don’t think I’m gonna let you get the better of me forever. Once I get some more experience I’ll take you down.”

Drill chuckled. “Come on, brat. Just drop the bravado for now and walk. Although, I do appreciate it a little. It’s better than the whining you used to do.”

Pound laughed weakly. “I’m finally coming into my own. I don’t want to whine anymore. I have to be tougher if I ever want to win.”

“Glad to see you’ve got the right idea. Challenge me as often as you’d like until you get it into your head that I’ll never let you surpass me.”

Pound’s eyes shut as another wave of pain went over him. He was losing interest fast in being macho. He just wanted to get to the nurse and lay down.

Another few minutes later he was lying down with a soothing ice pack over his face. It was a relief. “Thanks, Drill Bit,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” he replied.

“I’ll be fine. You can go back to class.”

“Nah. I’ll stay for a little while.”

Pound gave him an odd look. “Don’t you have better things to do than hang out with a wounded loser?”

The colt shrugged. “Sure I do. But I’m curious how you’re going to take this accident. Is it going to affect your drive and determination, or make you hesitant to try out tricks in the future?”

“No way!” Pound said strongly. “Unless I lose one of my wings nothing is going to stop me from growing up and kicking your butt.”

Drill chuckled into his hoof. “Still on that, huh? Glad to hear it, but words are cheap. You’ll have to prove it the next time we go out there.”

“Hmph. Well, you’re not going to get the answers to your questions by watching me in a bed. So why are you really staying?”

Drill shrugged again. “Honestly, I don’t know. There’s something about you that intrigues me. I talk big, but I have the skills to back up my words. You acknowledge that you’re weak, but you sure brag about what you’re going to be like in the future. I wonder if you really mean what you say.”

He looked down at his knees, an uncharacteristically somber look on his face. “If you want to be the best it means a lot of hard work and effort. It takes sacrifice and being willing to take pain.”

Pound looked at him quizzically. “So are you telling me you weren’t a naturally gifted flier?”

“Everyone has potential. Some people just have more of it than others. But potential means nothing if you don’t put forth the effort to master it.

“All my other friends were already skilled before I got there and started competing with them, but you’re different. So far you’re managed to jump over all the hurdles put in your path and keep running, and it’s interesting to see how you’ve grown since then.”

Pound shook his head. “So I’m just a joke to you? Someone to waste time with before you get a real challenge?”

“I didn’t say that, did I? Look, it’s a fact that you’re inexperienced, and you still have a long way to go before you catch up to me. I guess it just reminds me of how determined I was to become a better me. Even from a young age my parents pushed me to be my best self. I feel like it made me strong. And it shows! My room is littered with awards for contests I’ve won.” 

He leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. “Even if I don’t want to admit it a part of me is actually jealous of you.”

Pound looked at him strangely. Twilight had once told him that their time together was having an effect on Drill Bit, even if he didn’t realize it, but he certainly never expected the colt to actually say such a thing. “Jealous?”

“Hmph. Listen to me. It feels like your weakness is infecting me.”

Pound wasn’t going to let it go. “Why would you be jealous of me?”

“You’re getting better all the time, but nobody has any expectations for you.”

“That’s not true!”

“Sure it is. It was the same thing when you were trying to fly. Our teacher, your parents… everyone was patient with you. They told you to just wait, and that you’d fly when you were ready. There was no pressure from them to fly. It was just something you wanted.

“It’s no different here. If you were put in a contest for flying or whatever I’m sure you’d just be told to do your best, and that it wouldn’t matter what place you came in as long as you had fun. I’m not so lucky.

“Being a loser sucks, but being the best isn’t easy either. There’s a lot of pressure to excel. People have certain expectations of you that you’re expected to meet.”

Pound closed his eyes, trying to focus. Something about that sounded really familiar. He was sure that he had heard that somewhere before.

He was jerked out of his thoughts by a hard slap on his side. “Ow! Hey! What did you do that for?”

“Because,” Drill Bit responded, “you took a hard hit to the head. I wanted to make sure you weren’t passing out on me.”

Pound felt oddly touched. “I’m alright. I was just thinking.”

“Well, don’t strain yourself. You’re supposed to be relaxing, dummy.”

“Right.” It grew quiet between them for the next minute. He found that he couldn’t take it. Laying down and being silent only made him want to close his eyes and rest, and he didn’t feel like being slapped into alertness again.

“Do you actually like competition?” he asked.

Drill Bit looked at him curiously. “What kind of question is that? Have you not seen what I do every day? Shoot, even you have started to enjoy the thrill of competition, or so I thought.”

“I don’t know. It sure sounds like you think something is missing in your life. You said that you felt jealous of me because your family has high expectations for you and mine don't. It sounds like you’re growing tired of it.

“Really, just the fact that you even told me that is strange. It’s not like you.”

Drill Bit put his head on his hoof. “I love competition. There’s just a thrill that comes from it that I can’t get with anything else. Each loss pushes me to see where I went wrong, and where I need to improve. That’s why all of us are always challenging each other.”

“Except lately all your focus has been on me. Ever since I succeeded in flying you’ve been spending every day training me. You train me until I'm too exhausted to get off the ground anymore before you go to your other friends. When did I become so important?”

Drill Bit leaned back, staring at the ceiling again. “I don’t know. Messing around with those guys has just gotten a little… predictable. It’s more interesting to help you develop your skills, because I really do want to see how far you’ll go.

“Will you continue to push past every boundary, or will you give up? Every single day that question must be answered.”

Pound just stared at Drill Bit, trying to figure out what had gotten into him. He was acting so different from his usual persona he didn’t know how to respond to him.

Masky’s face flashed in his mind. When the colt had first showed up he had put on this cool, aloof persona in order to hide his inner pain. Maybe Drill Bit was putting on an act too. Without his friends around perhaps Drill Bit felt he didn’t have to put on his invincible façade.

“Hey, Drill Bit?” That made him turn his head. “I think you make for a fantastic teacher. I wouldn’t have come this far without you. Thank you so much for pushing me.”

Drill Bit’s expression became unreadable, before he looked back up. “You’re welcome, I guess. Don’t look too deeply into it. I’m only helping you because I was bored.”

Pound didn’t believe that. The more he thought about it the more sure he was that Drill Bit was hiding his true feelings. “You don’t really care about competing anymore, do you? It might have been important to you once, but now you’re putting so much time on me.”

“And?” he said dismissively. “There isn’t much point in competing with my friends. There are no awards for that. There’s no proof of my victories.”

“And why does that matter? If you know you beat one of them in a race why do you need a medal to prove it?”

“I told you already that words are cheap. It doesn’t cost anything to say you’re the best. The medals are proof that I excelled and trounced everyone else.” He leaned forward, his hooves crossed. “A real competition is a blast. When you have someone of similar skill to fight with, and come out on top, it just feels so satisfying. Everyone cheers for you as you walk up to get your trophy, and my parents are always overjoyed when they see me win.

"But… I guess a part of me just wants to take a break from all that for a little while. That’s why I’m training you. You’re far below my skill level, so I don’t have to worry about losing. It’s a refreshing change of pace to do something besides competing.”

Pound knew something was troubling the colt. He couldn’t put his hoof on it, though. “Hmph. I offered you that before I started flying. I invited you to my birthday party, remember?”

Drill Bit looked over at him again, looking more like himself. “Don’t tell me you’re still bitter over that? Grow up.”

“No, I’m not. I’m just pointing it out. Although given the crazy stuff that went on you surely would have had a blast.”

“Is that right? And what 'went on' there?”

“Why should I tell you?” He stuck out his tongue. "If you had gone you would have known all about it."

Drill Bit sucked on his cheek, seemingly unable to decide whether to be annoyed or amused. “Whatever.”

Pound chuckled.

Drill Bit just rolled his eyes.

Pound found their conversation to be quite interesting. He kept reflecting on it throughout the day. He was glad when school was over and he returned home, giving him some privacy. He quickly pushed himself through his homework and went to his room, closing the panels to divide his side from Pumpkins.

Even though they had the option now they rarely used it. They hadn’t gotten into a big fight for quite a while, and they still enjoyed playing with each other most of the time.

Now that he didn’t have any distractions he was free to really think. Drill Bit had dropped his guard around him. Just the way he talked seemed off. The colt always seemed strong and untouchable, but Pound was starting to think that he was right about Drill being like Masky.

When he had talked to Twilight about Drill turning him down to his party she expressed the thought that maybe his parent’s valued his accomplishments more than they valued him. He spoke of being under a lot of pressure to succeed, and that he enjoyed training together because he, Pound, wasn’t a threat at his skill level, allowing him to take a break from competition.

Maybe his fantasy had been right, and Drill Bit's parents only treated him lovingly when he was victorious. And when he wasn't...

Whether his theory was true or not didn't really matter. It was more about what Drill Bit believed. Just like Masky he probably never brought up his feelings because he didn't think there was a point. 

He knew that Drill and his four friends hung out together outside of school, considering that time they confronted him at the park, but he didn’t think that any of them were close like he was with his friends. Competition and showing off seemed to be the only thing holding them together as a group. Of course, he could be wrong about that, seeing as how it was only one occasion, but he didn’t think he was too far off the mark.

Twilight had told him that just because he hadn’t won over Drill Bit back then didn’t mean that he hadn’t changed at all, and that, given more time, it didn’t mean he wouldn’t change even more.

Drill Bit really did seem to need a close friend, the kind he could share secrets with, or hug when he was feeling down.

As long as Drill Bit was his teacher it provided them time together where the colt could just take it easy, and for the moment that was how he could be a friend to him. Drill had already opened up to him, even if he didn’t intend to, and if he was patient he was sure he could pass the test of making him a better pony this time.

He thought about Mayhem forgiving Flurry Heart for her hurtful words. Mayhem said that he knew there was a good pony inside of her that could only come out when she got the bad things out, just like Fluttershy did for him and Pumpkin and Masky. Maybe he could do the same for Drill Bit. 

It was going to take some more work, but he would succeed.
> 3-2: Practice and pressure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, Pumpkin,” said Pound. “Could you help me out with something?”

Pumpkin set down the book she was reading. “Sure. What do you need?”

“I want to practice doing some loops, but I’m not comfortable doing it by myself.” He pointed to his face, where he had a nice black and blue from where he had crashed into the swing set pole. “So I figure you can use your magic to stop me from going out of control.”

“I can do that.”

The two of them went outside.

Pound took off, going about twenty feet before turning and heading back toward her. As he was about to pass her he angled himself upwards, staying in that position as he looped around. Or tried to, anyway. He tried making too big of a loop, and didn’t wind up making the full rotation, leaving him flying upside-down ten feet in the air.

Pound gulped, feeling slightly dizzy, unsure of how to correct himself so he just kept flapping before spinning around and heading straight toward the ground.

Pumpkin focused, stopping Pound’s momentum until he could regain control.

Pound let out a sigh of relief, giving her a grateful smile. Pumpkin returned it.

Pumpkin was patient with him, spending a full hour helping him with his practice. She didn’t want him to get another large bruise.

Pound went slower through the motions, counting on Pumpkin’s magic to keep him airborne as he got more used to the process.

When they were through he ran over to her and gave her a big hug. “Thanks so much, Pumpkin!” he said brightly, nuzzling her face. “I love you!”

Pumpkin hugged him back. “I love you too, Bro.” She let out a little sigh. “I’m glad that you’re doing so much better with your flying, but I'd appreciate it if you spent a little more time with us at school. Me and Masky feel kinda lonely without you.”

“Oh,” he responded, pulling away to look her in the eyes. “I didn’t think of that, but we spend our last class together.”

“I know, but it would be nice if you’d stop working until you drop during lunchtime. You spend the rest of recess exhausted.”

Pound bit his lip, looking away for a few moments before turning back to her, putting his hooves on her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Pumpkin, but this means too much to me. Now that I’ve gotten off the ground and I’m finally making real progress I can’t slow down now.”

Pumpkin mimicked his action, turning away before returning her gaze to him. “I understand, Pound. But why is it so important that you beat Drill Bit?”

“I don’t know. I just…” He looked down at the ground. “I felt like a total loser before I started flying. I was jealous of my classmates and jealous of you. I guess I’m just scared that if I slow down I’ll be exactly like I was before.”

“It’s good to take a rest to recharge yourself every so often, you know?”

“I know, but that’s not the only reason.”

“What else is there?”

He told her about his conversation with Drill Bit in the nurses office. “Something is off in his life, and I think I can get to the bottom of it. Just like you helped Masky to confront his parents over his real feelings I think I can do the same with Drill Bit.

“I felt terrible when Drill Bit turned me down about going to our birthday party and then said he didn’t get what his brother changed for. I went to Twilight because I felt like a failure again. She cheered me up by telling me she was proud of me for doing my best, but I feel like I’m going to get a second chance to do things right this time.”

Pumpkin chuckled. “You’re such a dork.” She hugged him again. “But that’s what I love most about you.”

Pound smiled. “Thanks for understanding.”

He let out a little sigh. “It’s not going to be easy. Drill Bit has a lot of pride. If I try to just ask him about things he’d say nothing was wrong. I have to wait for the right opportunity.”

“Well, if anyone can do it then I know you can, Pound.”

“Thank you, Pumpkin.”

Pound continued his training over the next two weeks, with Pumpkin devoting time after school to help him stabilize when he practiced his upside-down flying. Knowing Pumpkin was there as a safety net allowed him to put all his focus on mastering doing loops, because he knew she wouldn’t let him fall. It took the better part of a week before he felt he had it down.

Although he waited his prime opportunity didn’t come. Drill Bit hadn’t disclosed any more of his real feelings to him.

As unfortunate as that was he was still proud of his growth. As he thought of his ugly duckling philosophy again he reflected on who had taught him about it in the first place, and he knew there was something that needed to be done that was way overdue.

He went up to Pinkie Pie and asked, “Can you take me to visit Scootaloo?”

***

“Hey there, Pound,” said Scootaloo as she opened the door. “What’s up?”

“Are you busy?”

She shook her head. “No. Not right now.”

“Cool. Can we go for a walk?”

“Sure.”

Pound was walking with his head held high, so Scootaloo didn’t think he was upset about anything. Still, she didn’t break the silence, letting him decide when to talk.

“Scootaloo?”

“Yes?”

He looked up at her warmly. “I just wanted to say thank you.”

“Thank me? For what?”

“Do you remember the last time I came over?”

It took her a minute, but the memory came back to her. “Oh, yeah. You were feeling down because you were being teased about not flying.”

Pound nodded. “I don’t actually want to go for a walk.”

She looked at him questioningly. “Then why did you bother asking?”

Pound giggled, unfurling his wings. “I actually want to go for a fly!” he said, jumping up and gaining air, hovering near the roof of a house.

Scootaloo’s eyes widened a bit before she returned his warm expression from earlier with one of her own. She took to the air, getting on his level. “So you finally did it, huh?”

He nodded. “I actually started flying the day after my birthday, but I’ve been working really hard to make something of myself. A lot’s been going on recently. I made sorta-friends with my bully, and now we’re sorta rivals with each other. He’s the one that helped me get the hang of things until I could start doing it on my own. And now that I’ve started flying he’s finally really interested in me.”

“Very cool. So you want to tell me about it?”

“Sure.”

As the two flew around Ponyville he gave her the rundown of his history with Drill Bit, how Pumpkin had framed Drill, how he had impressed the colt with offering to take the beating he wanted to give to Pumpkin, and how Drill Bit accepted his offer to train him.

“It was a big mess for a while, honestly. Even with his help I didn’t seem to be getting any better. It felt like every time I tried to get into the air I just panicked because I was too nervous about falling. So one day he gets his friends to fly up in the air holding me above them, and then he had them suddenly let go of me.

“It worked… for a few seconds, but just that little bit of hovering by myself was all I needed to give me a huge confidence boost, because I knew now that my wings weren’t defective. I was just getting in my own way. It was all downhill from there. And then the day after my birthday it finally happened for real. I could hover and glide, but before that but I couldn’t gain air.”

Scootaloo chuckled. “I’m glad to hear that. Like I told you when you came to talk to me I was almost twelve before I started flying for the first time. I nearly gave up so many times, but you know Rainbow Dash. She wouldn’t let me quit. She told me that I just had to keep trying and practicing, and eventually I would capture my destiny, and she was right.

“The very first time I flew… it was one of the happiest moments of my life. Like with your story, just a few seconds of true success was all it took for me to get inspired to soar higher and higher.”

Pound landed, Scootaloo following. Pound’s eyes grew misty as he looked at her. “I owe it all to you, Scootaloo. That pep talk you gave me did more for me than you’ll ever know.

“You were right. I was an ugly duckling, and only I could make myself shed those duck feathers to become a swan. Whenever things started getting hard and I felt like quitting I just had to keep reminding myself that it was my responsibility to make myself grow.”

He threw his hooves around her. “I love you, Scootaloo!”

Scootaloo let out a breath, warm tears coming down her eyes as she returned the gesture. “Love you too, kid. Keep on kicking butt.”

He looked up at her with a toothy grin. “You got it. My classmate is running circles around me no matter how hard I try, but I know one day I’ll take him down.”

“I sure hope so.”

***

“Come on, Drill Bit,” said Sound Barrier. “You don’t want to be late.”

“Yes, Mother,” Drill replied.

“Shouldn’t be much trouble for you, huh?” said Finish Line.

“No, Dad. I’ll be sure to win the race.”

Finish looked at him oddly. “Something wrong, Son? You don’t look that fired up today.”

Drill just shrugged. “It’s boring to always win. And I’m just more interested in other things these days.”

“Nonsense!” said Sound. “Your future awaits, and it’s only going to be as great as it should be with those accomplishments on your record. Your brother will soon be going back to the Royal Guard, and not long after he’ll be the new captain. If you ever hope to take his place one day it all starts now.”

“Your mother’s right. Drill,” said Finish. “You’ve been a champion since you were a toddler, and the more you win the better your odds of attaining your dreams. Whether it be for a sports scholarship, the Wonderbolts, or the captain of the Royal Guard, it’s your resume that is going to catch their eye. It proves your determination and skills before you even walk in the door to apply.”

“And,” she winked, “it gives us plenty of opportunities to brag about you.”

Drill smiled a little at that.

His father rubbed his head. “Our son isn’t going to grow up a loser. You’re worth far more than that.

“We don’t have great wealth or connections to make things easier, so all we can do is help put you on the right track to achieve your dream on your own merits.”

“And honestly,” said Sound, “it’s better that way. Victory should be achieved through your hard work and nothing more. And you definitely have the skills for that.”

Drill felt conflicted. He enjoyed the praise, but something just felt wrong and he didn’t know how to explain it.

His smile became a little more forced. “I won’t let you down.”

Both of them beamed. “We know you won’t, Son.”

He let out a quiet groan as he headed toward the starting line.
> 3-3: Need to be great
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

At school the next day Pound was in high spirits, ready for another day of training. But when they all went outside for practice he noticed that Drill Bit looked bummed out.

“Morning, Drill Bit!” Pound said brightly to catch his attention. “You feeling all right?”

Drill let out a dismissive noise, turning away from him as he started his warm-up exercises.

Pound followed suit, deciding not to push him for the time being. Once they got going and the adrenaline started pumping he was sure Drill’s mood would improve.

He did his wing rotations and his wing-ups, feeling in great condition. When he finished his warm up he decided to start practicing on his own for a little bit, figuring Drill would come along when he was ready.

He took to the air, making his own little obstacle course for himself. He went around trees, bushes, and the playground equipment, incorporating some loops into the mix before he descended back onto the ground.

“That was pretty good,” came the voice of Drill Bit behind him, still sounding down.

Pound turned and smiled. “Thank you.”

“I guess I never really thought about it much, since we always trained together, but you really have come a long way from where you started. Watching you flying solo like that makes me feel like you’re almost ready to be on your own.”

Pound chuckled. “No way. I need you.”

Drill blinked. “Why?”

“To be the tall wall I need to fly over. You keep me on my hooves, and that keeps me inspired to keep going.”

“I see…”

“Come on.” He gestured upwards. “Let’s take to the skies. I don’t know what’s got you upset, but I’m sure the exercise will make you feel better.”

Drill let out a heavy breath. “My parents enrolled me in another race yesterday. I won first place again.”

Pound looked at him oddly. “You don’t sound very happy about it.”

“I guess that’s because I’m not.”

“I thought winning was what you lived for. What, was there no good competition?”

“Not really, but that’s not the real problem. I’m… confused.”

“About what?”

As Drill started to answer Ms. Nimble called out to them. “Come on, boys,” she said, slapping her hooves together. “This is class time. You’ll have plenty of time to talk at break.”

The vulnerable look on Drill’s face vanished, and he looked grumpy again. “Well, let’s go, loser!” He took to the air.

Pound looked after him, a curious look on his face. He wanted to know the answer to his question. Now he was going to have to wait, which meant that Drill would have to suffer longer.

He did his best to keep up with Drill Bit as they went through their daily routine, but it was obvious Drill wasn’t going to wait for him today. It seemed like he was trying to outrun his feelings.

Although he ached inside he knew there was nothing else to be done for now. Because everyone had different skill levels and they were only in kindergarten there wasn’t any structured lessons. You were just expected to keep on the move. It didn’t mean you weren’t allowed to rest, but there weren’t a whole lot of opportunities to just sit and talk.

It was obvious that it was what Drill Bit needed, though. As much as it stunk that he had to wait maybe this was the golden opportunity he had been waiting for, the chance for Drill Bit to lower his defenses and speak honestly about his feelings again.

Drill Bit spent most of class just pushing himself relentlessly until he was gasping for breath and had to sit down to catch his breath.

Pound just continued feeling worse and worse, wanting to help relieve his distress.

When lunch time arrived Pound grabbed a tray and stuffed some food into his mouth without really tasting it or even processing what he was eating in the first place.

Pumpkin noticed he looked down in the dumps, but he just told her he didn’t want to talk about it when she asked. She did notice his eyes keep moving over to a certain part of the cafeteria, and she could see Drill Bit looking glum as he slowly ate his lunch.

It didn’t take much thought to put the pieces together. Either the two of them had had a fight, or Drill Bit was having a problem and Pound felt sympathetic to him. All she could do was be supportive and adhere to his wishes.

When Pound finished his lunch he went to a relatively secluded part of the playground area and waited for Drill Bit to come out. Luckily he didn’t have to wait too long.

Drill Bit looked around, seeing Pound sitting off by himself, seemingly waiting for him. It annoyed him.

He flew over towards Pound, saying, “Don’t give me that look,” he said angrily. “I don’t want your pity.”

“I’m not pitying you,” he responded. “I just care about your feelings, that’s all.

“You said you were confused before. What are you confused about?”

Drill Bit gave him a glare. “Why should I tell you? You think you understand what I’m going through?”

“Maybe not, but I can listen.”

He gave Pound a shove. “It’s none of your business, now back off!” He stomped away about twenty feet and sat down, crossing his hooves.

Pound groaned. Having to hold in his feelings for most of the day Drill had had time to bury them behind a tough façade, much like Masky.

He walked over and sat down next to Drill, but gave him some space so he was out of shoving range, and he just waited, knowing he’d have to let Drill come to him on his own time.

He was reminded of how Pumpkin became friends with Peppermint. She had had to be patient to allow Peppermint to drop her guard.

He didn’t know how long he waited, but eventually Drill spoke again.

“This is your fault, you know that?”

Pound glanced over at him. “What did I do?”

“You’ve always been a weak pony, and my parents told me to stay away from the weak ponies with no motivation. Look where it’s gotten me. I’ve gotten so weak lately.”

“Helping other ponies isn’t being weak. That’s what we have teachers for: to teach us the stuff we haven’t learned to do ourselves.”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m training you because it’s easy. It lets me take a break from trying or putting in real effort.”

“Everyone needs a break from time to time.”

“I’m not allowed to take breaks,” Drill said darkly. “The only way I can move is forward.

“I never used to have a problem with my life. I thrived on competition and winning. It was so much fun. The only thing that has changed in my life is you, so it has to be your fault I’m not happy anymore.”

Pound took in a breath and let it out. “When you took me to the nurse you said that you were getting tired of competing. Maybe you’re just seeing that there’s something you’d rather do with your life.”

“That isn’t an option for me!” he replied sharply. “My parents want me to be the best. Even though I’m just a kid right now they’re thinking of my future, and if I ever want to make it big when I grow up it all starts now!”

He scrunched up a bit, burying his head in his knees. “I can’t be a loser. My brother is already in an extremely important position as the second-in-command in the Royal Guard. I have to be at least that good someday. My parents certainly expect me to take over when my brother retires.”

“But is that what you want?”

“It was… but now I’m not so sure. My brother used to just be another opponent to beat. I knew the only real thing he had on me was age and experience, and I would crush him too one day.

“But then he changed. He told me that story about how some worthless loser saved his life when he got too full of himself and buried himself in a rockslide.

“For the longest time I didn’t get it. I started training you at first because you stuck up for your sister, and because I thought it would help me understand my brother, but nothing changed… at least at first.”

Looking up towards the sky he continued, “I thought my brother was an idiot for changing because of one weakling. Now… now I feel like I’m starting to understand it. With my other four friends what brought us together was fighting against each other and the spirit of competition that pushed us to be our best.

“But our relationship is completely different. I hated you when I first met you. I kept trying to push you to see what you were made of, but all you did was cower and cry. It annoyed me so much.

“Then I started training you, and you still annoyed me because of your lack of progress. My brother pushed me to keep at it, but even when you started making progress I still didn’t think it was a big deal. It was nice to see you stop being such a huge loser, but that was about it. I certainly didn’t consider us friends. We just had a common goal in mind.”

Pound moved a little closer. “Like I said earlier, you had a good point about everyone else. They just expected me to be patient. You were the one who pushed me to become who I am now. I couldn’t have done this without you.

“You’re a little rough on me, and it can be a little uncomfortable sometimes, but I’m only this good now because of the way you are. I had to stop feeling sorry for myself and just work hard, accepting there weren’t any shortcuts to becoming great. That’s why I said I want you to keep training me. Without you to keep me on my hooves I might start slacking off, and I won’t become as great as I could be. You’re a great teacher.”

Drill glanced over at him. He looked like he wanted to say something, but then he turned his head away.

“What’s wrong?”

He let out a huff. “I’m… actually… enjoying training you.”

Pound blinked. “Really?”

“I guess there’s something more to it than just me growing weaker. When I think of where you started out compared to how you looked when you were practicing alone I felt… well… I don’t know how I felt. I guess… I just… felt good seeing your progress, knowing I helped to bring it about.”

Pound could see him blushing slightly. “It’s okay to feel proud of yourself for other things than just beating other ponies, you know?”

Drill let out another huff. “So what? It doesn’t change anything. I’m still just slacking off.”

“OR you’re starting to see that there’s other things you want to do with your talents than just destroy everyone in your way. Twilight, as the Princess of Friendship, works to teach other ponies how to make friends or repair friendships. In the same way you’ve been teaching me because you’re the most qualified to do so.”

Drill growled, standing up. “Just forget it!” he said angrily. “This sappy talk is OVER. I need to be great. I don’t have any other choice, so there’s no point in talking about this. I can’t believe I’ve been wasting my time with this nonsense.

“Just leave me alone! You’re on your own from now on you stupid weakling!”

He opened his wings, taking off towards the other side of the playground where his circle of friends were hanging out.

Pound watched him go, feeling an ache in his heart. It wasn’t his words that got to him. Drill regularly insulted him, if usually in a joking way. No, what got to him was seeing the disconnect between what he wanted and what he thought he had to do that was causing him such distress.

He was starting to get it. Drill’s pressure stemmed from family expectations. Or, at least, what he thought his parents expected of him. Drill’s brother being a personal protector of Princess Celestia herself had to weigh on Drill’s mind. He probably didn’t think he could ever compete with his big brother, or that his parents could care about him as much as his important brother. Not unless he did something just as amazing.

He didn’t know Drill enough to say for sure, but having grown up around dominating others in competition he probably equated victory with love. He wondered if Drill only got affection from his parents when he won a contest. He thought that would be pretty sad if that was true.

Just like the last time he talked to Drill he had a familiar feeling, like he had heard this before. He thought it was just about Masky, but there was definitely someone else he was thinking of.

Pressure, high expectations, the thought of taking over a family position…

The answer came to him then. He knew just where he had heard this from. When he came to that conclusion he thought of his talk with Twilight where she told them about how the Cutie Map only chooses certain ponies because they’re the ones best suited for the job. Even though he sympathized with Drill’s situation he really couldn’t understand what he was going through, because he hadn’t gone through it himself.

Sure, there was a time he felt like his parents loved Pumpkin more than him because he hadn’t flown yet while she could use magic, but just like with Drill neither of their real issues really had to do with their siblings. He hadn’t been bothered by Pumpkin’s magic until he started getting bullied for not flying. He had been fortunate enough to be reassured by his mother that she loved him regardless of his accomplishments, or lack thereof.

The only thing he knew for sure was that he wouldn’t be as helpful to Drill Bit as she would.

As soon as he returned home he grabbed his magic journal and started writing.

“Dear Flurry Heart…”
> 3-4: Flurry returns
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pound went to school the next day in high spirits again. After helping her twice with personal problems Flurry was all too eager to return the favor. And when he told Twilight about the situation she agreed to teleport Flurry over after school so he could implement his plan.

The only thing left to do was get Drill Bit to agree to meet Flurry. Obviously it couldn’t be at school, so it had to be afterward. He didn’t think it would be too difficult. He just had to present him with a challenge.

As he expected Drill Bit ignored him when they started class. He left the colt to his own devices, focusing on practicing his flying.

During lunch Drill was messing around with his friends, and he thought it made the perfect opportunity.

He flew over to the group. “Hey, Drill Bit!” he called out.

Drill gave him a dirty look. “What do you want, nerd? I’ve got better things to do than waste my time with you.”

“There’s a friend of mine who wants to meet you.”

“Why should I care?”

“She’s heard about how good you are, and she wants to test herself against you.”

Drill rolled his eyes. “Again, why should I care?”

“Well, I think it would be good manners to at least meet her. After all, she is a princess.”

That got his attention. “A princess?”

He nodded. “Her name is Flurry Heart. She lives in the Crystal Empire, and she’s the daughter of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor.”

Nimbus whistled. “Wow.”

“Seriously?” asked Sandstorm.

Pound nodded again. “Yes, indeed.”

Drill gave him an odd look. “You’re telling me she’s traveling halfway around the country just to challenge me to a race?”

“Well, the distance really doesn’t mean anything. Twilight can just teleport there and back with her. Even so, I think it’s a great honor that you’ve captured her attention.

“You said that you want to be great and impress your parents. Trouncing an alicorn in a race would do wonders for your rep, don’t you think?”

“Go for it, dude,” said Cumulus, slapping Drill on the back.

Pound knew he had to accept, if for no other reason than it would make him look bad in front of his friends.

Drill shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. “Eh, sure. Why not?

“She any good?”

Pound shrugged now. “I don’t know. I’ve never actually seen her race someone. As you can expect, the difference in locations makes it hard for us to see each other too often, even with Twilight’s help.”

“How do you know her, Pound?” asked Heavy Downpour.

“My aunt is good friends with Princess Twilight, and Twilight’s brother is the father of Flurry. So it’s a friend of a friend kinda deal. She came over for my birthday party.”

“Pretty cool.”

“And where did I come up in this?” asked Drill Bit, sounding a little suspicious. “How does she know about me?”

“That’s easy. If you remember I only started flying right after my birthday, so I told her about my training and how you’ve been training me.”

“And how old is she?”

“She’s six. It would hardly be fair if she was an adult.”

Drill got his game face on. “Sounds interesting. An alicorn as an opponent.”

He sat out on the competing for the rest of lunch, wanting to save his strength for the race.

Pound mentally pumped his hoof. That had gone smoothly.

The only thing he was concerned about now was Flurry. He knew how sensitive she could be about her wings. And, honestly, he had no idea how a race between the two of them would go. Her bigger wings might give her better acceleration, but he didn’t know if she had any flying talent.

Of course, he knew the race itself was unimportant. It was just the means to bring the two of them together outside of school. However, Drill might not listen to Flurry if she lost. Or if she won, either. That might just anger him to the point he stormed off. The only thing he could do was wait and hope that everything turned out okay.

After their final class ended and he went outside he was glad to see she was already there, along with Twilight.

“Hey, Pound!” Flurry cried out as she ran over and hugged him. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Same here,” he replied, hugging her back.

Flurry’s horn glowed, pulling Pumpkin over and including her in the hug as well.

“I’m here too!” Crystal Mines said as she trotted over.

“Oops,” said Pound as he released Flurry. “I missed you.”

“That’s okay.”

“What brings you here?” asked Pumpkin.

Crystal put her hoof around Flurry. “Hey, she’s my best friend. Where she goes, I go.”

Pumpkin grinned, glad that their friendship was still going strong.

Drill kept his distance, sizing Flurry up. Regardless of her personality she was still an alicorn. Her potential was almost unlimited. The only question was how much of it she had tapped. Was she naturally gifted and pulled off stunts like nothing since she got off the ground, or was she someone who had to spend every day training to make something of herself?

He could feel his heart beating in his chest, a sense of tension through his body. It was the anxiety that always came before a big race. Train or teleportation, she had travelled so far just to meet and race with him. There was no way he couldn’t be nervous.

“Something wrong, Drill?” asked his mother.

Drill blinked, pulling his gaze away from Flurry. “I’m not going home today,” he said. “I have a big race to take care of.”

“Oh?” she asked curiously. “But we haven’t signed you up for any competitions today.”

“I know, but someone went out of their way to challenge me, so I have to go take them down.”

Sound Barrier looked towards where Drill had been looking before, and her eyes widened. “I sure hope you’re not talking about Princess Twilight.”

He shook his head. “Nope. The one with the blue and purple mane.”

His mother sounded a little skeptical as she said, “Her?”

“According to my classmate she’s Princess Twilight’s niece and the daughter of Princess Cadance.”

His mother’s eyes bugged out as her head whipped back toward him. “Are you serious?” She looked back at Flurry with newfound wonder. “That’s hard to believe.”

“Well, it’s true.”

She stomped a hoof in frustration. “I really do have to be getting to work. I was just supposed to bring you home real quick. I can’t believe I have to miss such a fine test of your skills.”

Drill’s eyes looked away. He wouldn’t say it out loud, but he was glad she wasn’t going to be there.

Pound directed Flurry towards Drill Bit. “Hey, there!” he said to Drill. “I want to formally introduce you to Princess Flurry Heart of the Crystal Empire.”

Drill respectfully bowed. “Hello there,” he said in an unnaturally stiff voice. “My name is Drill Bit.”

Flurry playfully rolled her eyes. “You can drop the forced politeness bit. I’m no snob. Just treat me like you would treat your other classmates.”

Drill eyed her suspiciously, wondering if this was some kinda test.

Flurry chuckled at his look. “Look, the way I see it I’m only a princess through birth. I haven’t earned it by doing amazing things like my mother and my aunt. So I don’t need special treatment.” She gave him a playful shove. “You got that, loser?” She winked.

Drill frowned at first, but then his smug grin quickly popped onto his face. “If you insist. Just don’t blame me when I send you home crying.”

“No problem.”

He gestured to his mother. “This is my mom, Sound Barrier.”

Flurry bowed her head. “Nice to meet you.”

Sound sighed. “Wish I could say the same. Nothing to do with you, Princess, but I have to get to work so I’m not going to be able to watch the two of you go at it.”

“That’s a shame, but from what Pound tells me your son is already a champion. Do you really need to see yet another victory?”

Sound look pleased with that statement. “I guess not, but aren’t you selling yourself short?”

Flurry shrugged. “I’ve never raced Drill before, so I have no idea how his skills match up to mine. That’s partially why I’m here.”

“That’s quite a ways to travel for just a race.”

“Well, I’m friends with Pound and Pumpkin, and my Aunt Twilight can just teleport me out here when I want to play with them. I figure since I’m here already I might as well see what Pound’s trainer is like.”

“Trainer?” she asked, her eyebrow going up and her expression growing haughty.

Pound saw Drill freeze. Now wasn’t the time for this kind of confrontation.

Laughing awkwardly he put his hoof behind his head and rubbed it. “I keep challenging Drill when he’s not busy trouncing his friends, but I stink right now. I haven’t beaten him once.”

He wasn’t sure if he said the right things to defuse the situation, but Drill looked slightly less uncomfortable.

Sound had a bit of a dismissive look on her face as she gazed down at him. “Perhaps you should consider challenging someone more among your own skill level then. Drill is trying to reach his full potential, and he can’t reach that without the toughest opponents. He doesn’t have time to pick up someone else’s slack.”

Although her voice was polite enough, her wording made it clear that she thought he was unworthy of Drill’s time.

He knew he couldn’t afford to get hotheaded. This wasn’t about him. This was about Drill’s happiness.

Flurry seemed to grasp she had said the wrong thing, because she didn’t pursue the topic.

Twilight approached. “Hello there,” she said, addressing Sound Barrier. “I hope you’ll entrust your son to my care for the next few hours.”

The disdainful expression on Sound’s face faded, and she inclined her head respectfully. “Of course, Princess. I know you’ll take good care of him.”

She let out a rough sigh before forcing a smile on her face. Putting her forehead on Drill’s she nuzzled him, saying, “Do your best. I’ll be waiting for the good news. Sure wish I could see it, but I guess I’ll have to live with the thrilling tale.”

With a kiss on the top of his snout she said, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom,” he replied dully.

“Aw, there’s no need to be nervous. I have absolute faith in your abilities.” She gave him an encouraging smile.

Drill felt like his mind was being pulled in two directions. He loved her praise, but it also gave him a sense of anxiety.

He tried to smile back, but he didn’t quite manage it. It was overwide and not very convincing, but she didn’t notice before she said goodbye and flew away.

Flurry put her hoof over her heart as a tear rolled down her cheek. It was like looking at a real life version of her deepest fears. It was no wonder Pound had sought her out specifically. She could practically feel his inner turmoil.

There was only one thing to do, and that was to show him a different path. She had no desire to see someone sinking in the same pool of despair she had been submerged in not too long ago. It was time to start earning her alicorn status.
> 3-5: Self confidence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group went to Ponyville Park, the best place for a race. Drill Bit’s friends got permission from their parents as well to join them, considering it wasn’t every day a princess drops by to hang out with one of your friends.

When they reached a fairly open area they stopped. “Aunt Twilight,” said Flurry. “You go sit down and let me take care of this, okay?”

“Of course,” Twilight replied. “From what Pound said you understand better about his feelings than I do, so you’re the best candidate to get through to him.

“I’ll keep my distance and let you handle things the way you think is best. After all, I’m aware of how prideful that colt is. I know he’s not going to make it easy and I expect he’ll hold back on his true thoughts if I’m too close by.”

She leaned over and kissed Flurry’s forehead. “Don’t push yourself too hard, Flurry. I’ll try not to interfere but if things seem like they’re getting out of control I’ll have to step in to bring things back in order.”

“No problem, but I won’t be needing your help,” she said confidently. “I’ve grown a lot since you’ve last seen me. I’m not the same weak filly I used to be.”

“I never thought you were weak, Flurry. You had to be strong to hold in all those terrible feelings for so long.”

“I guess so, but Crystal has helped me so much to become stronger than I ever thought I could be.”

“Is that right?” she asked warmly. “I guess you chose well.

“Well, everyone’s waiting for you, so I won’t keep you any longer.” She retreated to a safe distance where she could keep an eye on things while still giving them privacy.

Drill called out to her. “Hey, you done stalling over there?”

Flurry turned to him and closed the distance between them. “Are you in that much of a rush to lose?”

Drill chuckled. “Sassy. I know alicorns are skilled with magic, but they’re not really known for their flight capabilities. Do those wings of yours even work?”

She chuckled back. Without hesitation she unfurled her wings, extending them out as far as they could go. “Yeah… I think they do.”

Drill Bit and his friends gaped at her. Her wings were gigantic.

Pound and Pumpkin were shocked too. Even with her wings out she hadn’t lost her smile. She wasn’t blushing or trying to hide them. She looked perfectly at ease.

“Something wrong?” Flurry asked smugly. “Don’t tell me you’re intimidated already?”

It took Drill a moment to refocus. He shook his head, getting his brain back in order. “Those are some wings. You steal those from your mother?”

Flurry gave them a few flaps. “Oh, these old things? They’re nothing special. Sorta like you.” She winked at him.

“Ooooh,” Cumulus said, his eyes twinkling. “I think she just said she’s ready to throw down.”

Drill quietly growled. He knew she was just trash-talking, but for some reason it got him heated up.

“What’s wrong?” asked Flurry. “I thought you were going to send me home crying? Where’s that fire you had just a short while ago?”

He didn’t know himself. For some reason he couldn’t get himself to respond. There was just something about her that was throwing him off, and he didn’t know what. Was it because she was an alicorn, or that she was royalty? Was that making him subconsciously hold back, even though she told him to just treat her like any other kid?

“Oh, I see,” she continued. “You’re intimidated by my inner strength.”

‘No way!’ he tried to yell out, but it was only in his head.

“You see, Drill Bit, Pound’s told me about you. I’ve walked the path you’ve walked.”

“What are you talking about?” he responded, finally finding his voice again.

“I saw it before, when you were talking to your mother. She didn’t approve of you training Pound because I guess she feels you could be spending your time on ponies she feels are more worthy of you.”

Drill let out a huff.

“I used to be the same, holding in my real feelings and hiding who I truly was. Pound and Pumpkin helped me to talk to my parents about the way I really felt, and Crystal helped me to become comfortable with who I was.” She flapped her wings a few times.

She put a hoof over her heart. “Those two things helped me to achieve a sense of inner peace and self-confidence. I’m Flurry Heart, from my head to my tail, and I refuse to be ashamed of something I can’t help.” She pushed her wings out as far as she could again. “I’m proud of who I am, these wings included, and no one can take that away from me.”

“Flurry…” Pumpkin was impressed.

Crystal let out a joyful giggle.

Pound was speechless. She was like a whole different pony. He knew he didn’t have to worry about her being self-conscious anymore.

Drill Bit and his friends couldn’t respond either.

Flurry folded her wings back up. “How about you? Do you have that sort of confidence in yourself?”

Drill was feeling frustrated again.

“The thing is, your weak confidence can’t begin to match up to mine. As long as you remain chained to expectations and don’t confront your fears nothing will ever change. So I can already say for certain that it’s impossible for you to beat me.”

He gritted his teeth, quietly growling. He hated the way she talked like she could see right through him.

“When I finally got the courage to confront my parents they showed me that I had had nothing to fear, and they told me I could walk my own path. Now I know that if I’m going to rule the Crystal Empire it’s going to be because I chose to do so of my own free will, not because it was forced on me or because it’s what everyone expects me to do. It was a huge relief, and I couldn’t be happier now.

“How about you? Do you have the guts to face your fears like I did? Not right now you don’t. Even if you win this race it won’t make a difference. You’ll still be scared of losing and letting your parents down. The only thing you can do is win and win, because losing is unacceptable. After all, you don’t want to be a loser.”

Drill was shaking a little, a bead of sweat coming down his face. Why couldn’t he stand up to her? He kept yelling at himself to confront her, but still he just stood there… afraid? No! He wasn’t scared.

Leaning forward a little she continued, “But it goes further than that, doesn’t it, Drill Bit?” She extended a wing, putting it under his chin. “I know you feel like walking a different path than the one you’ve been walking, but you’re terrified that it’s going to be a lonely path. After all, your parents worked so hard to make you into a champion. Maybe you’re scared they wouldn’t care for you anymore if you decided to do something else with your life? How sad would it be if your parents love wasn’t waiting on that other path?”

A cold chill went through Drill Bit, a sharp, shaky breath escaping him as he shuddered. Mindful of the massive display of weakness he just showed in front of his friends he felt his frustration turn to rage. “ENOUGH!” he yelled, swinging his hoof toward her.

Flurry could have stopped him with her magic, but she chose not to. She recoiled a bit as he connected.

“Hey!” Pound called out.

Flurry put a hoof in front of Pound to quiet him down.

Drill was huffing. “Enough of this! Enough! I’m sick of you and your stupid words. You don’t know anything about me! I came here for a race, not a conversation. Now shut up and get ready, or just go home! I’m done listening to this.”

Flurry shrugged. “Very well. But we both know it won’t make a difference. Even if you beat me here you won’t get the victory you’re looking for.”

Drill took to the air, breathing heavily and muttering to himself as he looked around. He returned to the ground a minute later.

With barely contained rage he created a course for the two of them to follow for five laps, then ignored her as he did his warmup exercises far more aggressively than usual.

Pound did a countdown for them when they were ready, and watched as they took off.

Even from the very start Drill did poorly. He was so distracted he took off without flapping his wings, landing heavily on his stomach. Blushing heavily he stood up and set off.

The colt just didn’t have the sharp skills he always did. He wasn’t as fast as he usually was, and messed up tricks that he had done flawlessly hundreds of times. He crashed into a bush as he went to loop around it, then he skimmed his wing on a tree branch and came within a hair of slamming his head into a tree before he corrected.

“What is going on with him?” Cumulus asked with some exasperation.

“I guess Flurry really got under his skin,” said Heavy Downpour.

“I guess so,” said Sandstorm. “He’s never been this pathetic before.”

“I can’t really blame him,” said Nimbus. “Flurry threw me off too. If Drill Bit was an iron wall, she seems more like diamond.

“Her power just seemed to radiate off her. I guess that’s an alicorn for you.”

“Of course!” Sandstorm said strongly. “No pegasus could reduce him to this mess.”

“You think what she was saying is true?” asked Cumulus.

“Who knows?” Nimbus replied. “It doesn’t seem likely, given how the five of us have been competing with each other for so long. I mean, if he doesn’t want to be a racer any more then what else could he possibly want?”

“No idea,” said Heavy Downpour. “He certainly hasn’t mentioned anything to us about wanting something new in his life. The only thing that’s changed is that he spends time training Pound every day before we go at it.”

“I just think the pressure got to him. It’s pretty rare to race a princess. And with his mom expecting him to win it’s no wonder it’s throwing him off.”

Cumulus shook his head. “Well, it’s obvious he’s going to lose with this sorry display he’s putting on. He won’t even be able to tell her it was a close race. It’s just sad.”

“No kidding,” said Heavy Downpour. “I expected so much more out of this.”

Sandstorm and Nimbus nodded in agreement.

It made Pound feel like crying to see Drill fall so far. Flurry had really gotten to him. Although he could be really obnoxious at times Drill was one of the strongest kids he knew. He was naturally gifted and always striving to improve himself.

Maybe it had to be this way for Drill to understand, but it didn’t make it any easier to see. It was like he had lost all confidence in himself. And with every error he only seemed to grow more frustrated and frantic.

It wasn’t hard to see what was on Drill’s mind. His mother expected him to win. He might not have realized it before, but Flurry had illuminated his deepest fears to him, bringing them to the forefront. The more he tried to excel the more the pressure got to him.

Even if it was for Drill’s own good, he couldn’t escape that Drill was so flustered because of him. All of his friends were there, watching him fail. They had heard Flurry reveal what lied in his heart, and they were only there because he had pressured Drill to come by posing the challenge in front of them so he couldn’t turn it down without losing face with them. It was exactly what Twilight had done to him to get him to meet with Tree Leaf.

He didn’t know if Flurry was holding back, but at the speed she was going he didn’t think she was faster than Drill Bit. She finished her fourth lap as Drill finished his third, and he seemed to be on the verge of just bolting or giving up on the race altogether.

He couldn’t take it. He couldn’t bear to see Drill go down like this. “DRILL BIT!” he yelled. “As my teacher you’ve never backed down from a challenge, and you’re not going to start now! GOT THAT?

“You’re better than this, now get it in gear. I know you can win! I believe in you!”

Drill Bit paused for a moment as he turned towards Pound, taking in his words.

He felt a strange warmth in his chest at Pound’s determined expression. What was he doing, getting so worked up over an opponent’s words? He was setting a bad example for his student. Pound had confidence in him, and he couldn’t let that down.

He took in a few deep breaths. Personal issues were for their own time. When he was competing nothing else should matter but him and his opponent.

He silently thanked Pound, feeling renewed confidence. He would come from behind to win for Pound. He was finally feeling that tingling thrill of anticipation that came from an uphill battle. If he was going to win now it would take all his skill.

As Drill took off again Pound saw a markedly different pony. Drill was almost a blur as he flew around now, pulling off precision moves as he zoomed past their group, finishing his fourth lap and rapidly closing in on Flurry.

“Wow,” said Pumpkin. “You really got him fired up, Pound.”

Pound let out a sigh of relief. Even if he lost now he wouldn’t look too bad to his friends.

“About time,” said Cumulus. “I thought we had lost him for a while there.”

“I won’t lose this!” Drill said with gritted teeth, heading between branches as he folded his wings for a moment to avoid clipping them before opening them back up. He did this for the next three trees.

He pushed himself to his utmost. The race was almost over. There was no need to hold back. He didn’t even know if Flurry was aware of how close he had gotten. She hadn’t tried to speed up since Pound had shouted his encouragement, but if she was so assured of her victory she wasn’t paying attention to her opponent that was her own fault.

The finish line rapidly approaching he ignored the stitch in his side and focused all his attention solely on winning. There would be time for breathing later.

Flurry glanced behind her, and saw Drill Bit rapidly gaining on her. She quickly set her face forward, but Drill wasn’t going to let her get away with her lapse of attention.

He pushed himself still harder, to the point even his wings were burning, something he couldn’t remember happening for a long time.

He blew past Flurry just as she started to speed up. With her larger wings they carried her further with less effort, but with the lead he now had it remained to be seen whether it would be enough to let her claim the win.

She was closing the distance on him now as she pushed herself. Drill’s reckless disregard for anything but victory started catching up to him. He began slowing down.

He was starting to feel a little lightheaded, but the finish line was so close. Just a little bit further. He took in one final breath, as much as he could, and used everything he had left for that final push.

Pound had no idea who was going to win. Drill Bit had definitely overexerted himself, and Flurry was quickly catching up to him.

Seconds passed, his heart beating hard, and Drill Bit just barely crossed the finish line first, too tired to stay airborne. He landed hard, his momentum carrying him as he went rolling over and over and he nearly slammed into a tree before a pink aura from Twilight stopped him.

Drill Pant was gasping for oxygen, turning over onto his back. The pain of the crash felt like nothing with adrenaline running so high.

Pound ran over to him. “Are you alright?”

Drill didn’t answer at first, too focused on getting oxygen back in his body. When he could finally speak a few words the first thing that came out of his mouth was a slurred, “D-did I… win?”

“It was a photo finish, but you won by a hair.”

Drill Bit let out a delirious laugh, feeling slightly lightheaded as he kept taking in big gulps of air. He hadn’t pushed himself like that in ages. There was nothing like a hard fought conquest, snatching victory from the grasp of defeat.

Drill’s friends trotted over, congratulating him on his win. He didn’t have the energy to respond. He felt too dizzy at the moment, closing his eyes as he recovered.

It took a few minutes, but Drill Bit finally rose to a sitting position, and then a short while later he stood up, his breathing steady. His heart was still hammering, but it was also slowing down to a more natural rhythm.

Flurry walked over now, putting a hoof out to him. “Well, it looks like you won. Good job.”

Drill Bit stared at her outstretched hoof, and for some reason he started to get irritated again. He met it regardless. “Good race.”

“Oh, well. I wasn’t really expecting to win. You have a lot of experience with this sort of thing. I’ve always spent most of my time focusing on magic rather than flying.”

“You weren’t expecting to win?” Drill dropped his hoof, his eyes narrowing. “What kind of attitude is that? Don’t you realize that victory is the only thing that matters?”

“Back on that, huh? Maybe in a life or death situation like Equestria being in danger, sure, but you can learn as much from your failures as your victories. Do you feel satisfied now?”

“No! As a matter of fact I don’t. The only reason I struggled with you is that I let you get into my head and let it interfere with my performance. It’s obvious you don’t have what it takes to compete with me. If I had flown at my best from the start I would have creamed you without breaking a sweat.”

Flurry shrugged. “Probably.”

Drill Bit growled. Her nonchalance over the whole thing just annoyed him more and more. “Don’t you even care that you lost?”

“Why should I? I had fun. And after all it’s not like I have someone back home expecting me to prevail.”

Drill tensed. “Well, good for you. And honestly this was all just a big waste of time. I got my victory, so we’re done here.”

“Hold on!” Pound called out.

“Save it, loser! In my world the winner is the one who wins, obviously. Flurry lost the race, so whatever junk she said before is meaningless.” He lifted his hoof, laughing. “No one cares about the words of a loser.

“Later!” He took off without another word, a little wobbly as he flew from pushing himself so hard earlier.

“Eh, tough luck there, kid,” said Cumulus. “But our boy can’t be beat.”

“See you around,” said Sandstorm, the four of them going on their way.

Pound felt a sense of gloom as Drill Bit vanished into the distance. He had failed again. And worse, it was all his fault. “I’m sorry, Flurry,” he said sadly, tears coming down his eyes.

“Why’s that?”

“I ruined everything! If I had only kept my big mouth shut this wouldn’t have happened. He would have lost, and then he would have had to accept what you were saying.”

Flurry smiled, unfurling her wings. “I told this to Crystal before, but you know what these wings are great for?”

He didn’t know why she was asking, but he shrugged. “No.”

She extended them towards him, pulling him close as she wrapped them around him. “They’re great for giving hugs.”

She lifted her hooves, hugging him with them too. “Don’t feel down, Pound. Just like I told him, winning or losing didn’t matter. I’ve already succeeded in what I came here to do.”

“But if he had lost-”

“Then he would have felt humiliated and embarrassed in front of all his friends, and terrified of the reaction of his mother. In fact, it’s better that he won. Now he can’t use that as an excuse to turn away from his true feelings.

“Now no more tears. You did what you felt was right in your heart, and you can’t do any better than that.”

Pound settled into her hold. “How did you do it, Flurry?” he asked. “You’re calm and relaxed and confident. I don’t feel any of those things.”

“It wasn’t easy, I assure you. Every day Crystal made me go for a walk with her with my wings out for as long as I could stand it.”

She released him, standing there with her wings unfurled. “It was so embarrassing and humiliating at first, and all I wanted to do was hide. But she kept pushing me and pushing me, and eventually I stopped paying attention to the stares.

“As our bond grew I knew that I had a friend I could trust to the end, so what did their hurtful words mean to the love that we shared? I became determined to make myself a better pony, so that when the time comes I’ll be able to protect my friends.

“Not all villains are mindless and destructive. Feeling humiliated by my wings left a large weakness that could be exploited. I had to ask myself a hard question: would I be willing to let harm come to my friends because of my shame toward my wings? The answer, of course, was a big NO!

“So, as difficult as it was, I knew I had to overcome that weakness, and learn to accept myself for everything that I am. I chose to keep my wings this size when Mayhem offered to shrink them, and I want to stay true to the reason I did so.

“Good day or bad day, success or failure, I want to love myself through it all.”

“Wow, Flurry,” said Pumpkin, beaming. “I think that’s really inspirational.”

Flurry chuckled. “I still don’t know whether I’m going to be the ruler of the Crystal Empire or not, but I am an alicorn princess. I might not have all the feats that the other princesses do, but I feel that the main role of a princess is to inspire others to do better and feel confident, and I can’t teach others to feel that way if I don’t feel it myself.”

Off to the side Flurry heard clapping. She turned and saw Twilight sitting nearby, a dreamy expression on her face. “Oh, Flurry, you’ve matured so much since I last saw you.” She let out a little sigh, her smile fading a bit. “I remember how much you were suffering just a few months ago. Just look at you now.” A tear came down her cheek.

“Well, Aunt Twilight, I couldn’t have done it without the support of all my friends.

“As for you, Pound, I stand by what I said before: I think you did the right thing. If you hadn’t shouted out when you did he would have felt all alone, humiliated and ashamed.

“Sooner or later Drill Bit is going to have to face his heart, but it’s nearly impossible to do that all alone. You showed Drill that you were on his side regardless of whether he was behind or ahead. I think that will be crucial in the days ahead.

“I can’t promise any particular result, but we’ve done all we can. The rest is up to him. He has to be the one to make the choice, just like I did.”

She looked towards the sky. “You haven’t failed to help him change. You just haven’t succeeded yet. You told me that in the past he was just a bully, but then you stood up to him, and he started to train you. Then he told you that the time you spent together didn’t mean much, but you said that he’s been spending more and more time focusing on you. Whatever his mouth is saying, it just doesn’t line up with his actions. He definitely is changing, whether he wants to admit it or not.

“I’m sure that today is no different. You can’t force him to change, but you can be supportive of him as he does. So long as you do that you have something to be proud of.”

Pound slowly smiled. “I was feeling pretty bad before when he took off, but you really did help me to feel hopeful that Drill Bit can still be saved.

“Your words… they kinda remind me of Twilight’s. When Drill told me that our time together didn’t help him understand why his brother changed I felt like a failure for letting Twilight down. She told me that the only thing I could do was to give it my all, because I couldn’t force his mind or his actions to change. So she told me that as long as I did everything I could she’d be proud of me.”

“And I still am,” said Twilight. “I also told you that with more time Drill Bit might come around. He still hasn’t reached that place yet, but he seems a lot closer to it than the last time you spoke about it with me.

“We’ll just have to see what the next few weeks hold.”

Pound was feeling calm. Flurry was right. Drill Bit had gone through a lot of changes since he first started school. He just had to be patient, and hope that Drill Bit got something out of their race.

***

Drill Bit landed in front of his house, his wings dully aching. He let out a sigh as he folded his wings up. His mind had been curiously blank as he had took off for home, but now he felt a weight in his stomach.

He just stood there, unable to bring himself to open the door. Why was he acting like this? He had won the race and his mother wasn’t even home.

Where was the sweet thrill of victory? Where was his sense of accomplishment? If he had won, then why did he feel like he lost?

He let out a sigh, his head drooping.
> 3-6: Brother to brother
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Drill Bit was just staring aimlessly at his front door, feeling paralyzed. What was wrong with him lately?

“Drill Bit?” called out a familiar voice.

The colt turned to see his brother trotting toward him. “Noble…”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry?” he responded, confused.

“Mom told me you were going to be gone a few hours. I thought I could slip out for a little lunch. Hope you weren’t waiting long.”

“Oh. No. I just got here a few minutes ago.”

“That’s a relief.” He went up to the door and unlocked it, going inside. He waited to hear the sound of the door closing, but when he didn’t he turned around to see his brother still in the same spot, his gaze unfocused. “Hey, Bro. You alright?”

“Huh? Oh.” He walked inside, shutting the door behind him.

“You got home pretty quick. I thought you were going to be gone longer. You leave early because you finally lost one?”

That snapped Drill out of his stupor. “No! I won! She wasn’t worth my time. It was boring.”

Noble gave him a searching look. “If you won then why do you look so out of it?”

Drill Bit glared at him. “None of your business, loser! Your bones are healed up, so why don’t you just get back to your Royal Guard position already?”

Noble knew something was bothering his brother, but he wasn’t sure what. Him losing his race was the only thing he could think of that would get his brother so worked up.

He smiled down at Drill. “I guess I just exaggerated my injuries so I could spend more time with my family.” He grabbed Drill in a hug. “After all, I’ve been living in Canterlot for the past few years in pursuit of my dream, and I rarely get the time for an extended stay with all of you.”

Drill wanted to get mad and shove him away, but he couldn’t. He had enjoyed having his brother back for the past few months. He had expected Noble to leave over a month ago, and didn’t complain when he didn’t. “Well, that’s good for you, but I’m feeling a little tired, so I’m gonna go to my room.”

“Of course.” Noble let him go.

Drill went to the kitchen first to grab some water and refresh himself before heading towards his room.

“Hey, Drill Bit?” Noble said as Drill walked past him.

“Yeah? What is it?”

“If you need to talk you know I’m here for you, right?”

Drill paused, looking like he wanted to say something, then let out a huff and his expression grew cold. “Whatever.” He continued walking around the corner, his door opening and closing.

Noble watched the area he had just been standing at, knowing his brother probably needed a good talk. He couldn’t help but think of how it was for him growing up. He had had to be tough, and opening up wasn’t easy.

Drill Bit sat on his bed, looking aimlessly at it. “Flurry Heart,” he muttered out loud. Just saying the name made him see red for a moment. “Stuck up snobbish jerk! Thinks she’s so hot just because she’s royalty.”

She had nothing on him. Nothing! He couldn’t believe he had ever let her words get to him. She had no talent, so her words weren’t even worth thinking about. She had failed and he had won, and that was all that mattered. It was all that ever mattered.

So then why… why couldn’t he get her out of his head? Why did he keep hearing her words? He grabbed one of his pillows, squeezing it as he bit the corner. He had never felt this irritated after winning before. She didn’t even care that she had lost. She was so casual, acting like it didn’t even matter. Even though she had lost she didn’t act defeated. She was completely indifferent to it, and that irritated him even more.

Where was his sense of satisfaction? Winners were the ones who won, so why couldn’t he feel that way? Why did it feel like Flurry had won? It didn’t make any sense.

‘It has to be because Pound helped me,’ he thought. ‘Stupid idiot should have kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t his place to interfere.

‘I didn’t need his help. I should have been on top of my game from the beginning.’

“Something wrong? Don’t tell me you’re intimidated already?” He growled as her voice echoed in his mind. “Oh, these old things. They’re nothing special. Sorta like you.” He squeezed tighter on his pillow. “Oh, I see. You’re intimidated by my inner strength.” He let out a large snort through his nose. “The thing is, your weak confidence can’t begin to match up to mine. So I can already say for certain that it’s impossible for you to beat me.”

He threw his pillow across the room. “SHUT UP!” he yelled. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” He was breathing heavy. “You lost! I won! I want my victory! I want back what you stole from me!”

He jumped off his bed, grabbing whatever was nearby and throwing it as hard as he could. Why couldn’t he get her stupid words out of his head?

Again her words echoed in his mind. “Maybe you’re scared they wouldn’t care for you anymore if you decided to do something else with your life? How sad would it be if your parents love wasn’t waiting on that other path?”

A hard tremor went through him much like before. He screamed, punching his dresser. “Get out of my head! Get out! Get out! Get out!” He yelled again.

“Drill Bit!” Noble called out as he opened the door. “What in the world is going on in here?”

His brother looked on the edge of a nervous breakdown, panting heavily as he looked toward the door, not knowing how to react.

He closed the door behind him, picking up his unresisting brother and sitting on the edge of his bed. “We need to talk, Bro.”

Drill didn’t respond.

“Look, I know that our parents put a lot on your shoulders, but every so often you’re going to lose one. There’s no need to freak out like this.”

“I didn’t lose…”

“Drill Bit-”

“But I feel like I did.”

“Why?”

“Flurry Heart…”

“Flurry Heart? Is that the name of the pony you raced?”

“She wasn’t anything special as a racer, but…” As he thought of her words again he felt like raging, but he couldn’t muster up the energy. He put his head on Noble’s chest. How long had it been since he had been on someone’s lap? It felt nice.

He let out a long breath. “Ugh. It feels like everything I’ve ever known has turned upside-down. A strong pony stands on their own and doesn’t rely on others more than they have to. I’ve always been skilled and strong, but I can’t make myself leave your lap.”

Noble felt a pain in his heart as flashes of his past came back to him. He moved Drill Bit so he was sideways on his lap, and then put his hooves around him in a hug. “No one is strong all the time. Even the princesses have had moments of weakness.”

“Mom and Dad would be ashamed if they saw how pathetic I’m being right now.”

“Look, Mom and Dad are both working right now, so it doesn’t matter what they think. It’s just the two of us, so you feel however you want to feel. I’m here for you, Drill.”

He was too weak to resist, so he just enjoyed the feeling. “This Flurry pony… she talked to me like she knew me… like she could see deep inside my heart. I didn’t like it.”

“And what did she say?”

So he explained the gist of her comments. “She was so confident in herself. Nothing I did fazed her. Even when I beat her she wasn’t bothered at all. I’ve never faced an opponent like that. And I… she…” He blushed. “I was afraid of her. She seemed like she was in control the whole time.

“And what she said… it really got to me.” He squirmed in embarrassment. “When I tried to take off at the start I forgot to flap and landed right on my face, and I was a total wreck during most of our race. I’ve never been that bad at anything.”

“But it seems you rallied at the end.”

He let out a sigh. “No, I didn’t.”

“So then how did you win?”

“Well… you remember when you first showed up here, and I told you about that colt from my class? You told me how you got injured and said that you owed your life to a weak pony.”

Noble nodded. “Yes, I remember.”

“Well, I took your advice. I kept on training him. I discovered where his weakness lied, and with some adjustments he started improving. He’s been flying for a few months now.

“I… I’m starting to see what you were talking about back then. Throughout our training I’ve belittled him and insulted him. It was more serious at the start, but not so much now. You’d think he would have been happy to see me get knocked off my pedestal and suffer a crushing, humiliating defeat.”

Some tears hovered in his eyes. “And yet he didn’t. The weakling came to my aid. Instead of standing up for his princess friend he chose to encourage me instead. He shouted out that I wasn’t the type to back down from any challenge and he knew I could win.

“His words… they got me fired up, and I pushed to my utmost, coming in a hair ahead of her. It just annoys me that I had to rely on his help to win a race I should have won on my own.”

Noble rubbed his back a bit. “I think it goes deeper than that. What you experienced is just like what I did. Hawkeye taught me what it meant to be part of a team, standing up for me despite the way I treated him. He stood up for you because you needed it. Had this Flurry pony been behind he would have likely shouted encouragement to her instead.”

Drill let out a huff. “And that’s the problem! I was acting like a total loser! I shouldn’t have needed his help in the first place.”

“And yet you did. No one is strong all the time. And when you have to face that reality it’s always nice to have someone by your side to help lift you up.”

“No! Not me! There’s too much riding on me! I can’t afford to be weak! EVER!”

“Look, Drill, I grew up in the same house as you and with the same parents. I get exactly what you’re talking about. I always pushed myself to my limits and beyond. For the longest time I thought that made me happy, but looking back it wasn't as glamorous as I thought it was.

“It was hard and uncomfortable, but I put all my self-worth into my accomplishments, feeling like I could never slow down or stop or something bad would happen. This was the first time in my life that I’ve been forced to stop. With my recovery it’s allowed me to just spend time with my family without any expectations. It’s really helped to let the message sink in that there’s more to life than being the best.

“From what you told me that filly overcame her weakness to find true strength. Until you can temper that pride of yours and truly own your own failings you’ll never overcome her.” Drill grimaced. “Or me, for that matter. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my future as I’ve healed. I had to decide whether I wanted to continue being part of the Royal Guard or if there was something else I wanted. For the longest time I made that my goal for our parents sake. Of course I enjoyed the prestige that came as I rose through the ranks, but I was a different stallion back then.

“The conclusion I came to is that I want to go back. My team is waiting for my return, and it would be a waste of what I learned if I quit. In the past I wanted to become the captain of the guard because it would make me look good and to show off. Now, I want that position to help others and for the good of our country. It’s something I’m choosing to do on my own terms, not just because it’s what’s expected of me.”

“Well, that’s all good for YOU!” Drill Bit replied. “You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to. You could do something else even if Mom and Dad hated you for it. I can’t.”

Noble could see what was troubling him now. “Well, Drill, what is it you want? If you desire to focus on something else then what are you going after? You know the way our parents are. If you tell them how you’re feeling and they ask what else you want to do you can’t very well say ‘I don’t know.’ That would only anger them.”

“I know that much.” He nuzzled his brothers chest, thinking back to the time before his brother left for the Royal Guard. They had been so close. He looked up to his brother as the coolest pony around.

He had shown natural skill in flight at only three, but it wasn’t until he was five that his parents started putting him in races. As he began winning and his brother was getting ready to leave he considered it a bit of a betrayal. He didn’t hate his brother for it, but he was jealous. He wanted the same amount of recognition and attention his brother got, and so he declared Noble his rival, determined to usurp him one day. He couldn't admire an opponent. His only goal was to knock them out of their position and take it for himself.

Before that competitions were mainly for fun. His parents encouraged him to win, and he knew every win would bring him closer to toppling his brother.

Everything had made sense then. His parents liked to see him win, and he liked to win. What made them happy also made him happy. He grabbed friends who had the same interest when he was enrolled in school.

Where had everything gone so wrong? He was doing something his parents didn’t approve of in taking the time to train Pound, and Flurry called him on it like she knew exactly what he was thinking. She dug deep into his heart and frightened him with her composure. He hadn’t been able to find any weakness in her to exploit, and everything she said got under his skin. Now he was freaking out, unable to enjoy his victory, having had to rely on someone else to help him get it. And he was letting himself be cuddled.

Maybe Flurry was right. Maybe he really was weak. The thought of confronting his parents was too scary to consider. It felt like she was towering above him, crushing him with her power.

“Drill, what’s on your mind? You’ve been pretty quiet.”

“I… I know what I want, but… I don’t know if I can tell them about it.”

“Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, why don’t you tell me about it?”

“At first training Pound was something I did for amusement, or to make myself feel superior. As he’s grown, though, I’ve found myself dedicating more and more time to him.

“I like training him to find his potential, but you should have seen the expression on Mom’s face when Flurry mentioned it. He played it off as him just challenging me all the time, but it was obvious Mom thought he was trash.”

“From what you’re saying it doesn’t sound like you’re too far off from where I am. You’re helping him grow, and you’ve even inspired loyalty in him considering he went out of his way to root for you when you needed it. It sounds to me like you’re beginning to understand true teamwork.”

“But what does it matter? Our parents don’t approve of me wasting time helping out some loser when I should be challenging the best in the world.”

“Then it falls on you to talk them down. It’s like Flurry said: unless you find the courage to be honest about your feelings then nothing will change.”

Tears brimmed around his eyes again. “B-b-but what if she’s right?” He sniffed. “What if I tell them and they ruin my life? What if they hate me for not being what they want? What if they pull me out of school to force me to train more and to keep me away from Pound?

“I’m scared! I don’t want to be a loser. No one could love a loser!” 

He clenched, trying to hold back his feelings. He had learned pretty quickly that the less he cried the happier his parents were with him. Tears were a sign of weakness. As he trained his crashes fazed him less and less, because he knew sympathy wasn’t waiting down that route.

He had grown tough, dismissing his tears until they just stopped showing up entirely. The overwhelming feelings bubbling up inside were pushing him over the edge. Though he screamed at himself to stop before he showed a shameful display of weakness he couldn’t stop himself from sobbing.

Noble felt a sympathetic tear come down his eye as Drill broke down. How long had it been since he had cried like this himself? He squeezed tightly to his brother, glad that their parents were out right now. 

He quietly endured the pain, knowing he needed to be strong for his brother now.

When it started to grow quiet Noble said, “I love you, Drill Bit. No matter what happens I’ll protect you, you got that?”

Drill was still too busy dealing with his feelings to respond, though Noble’s words were comforting.

“My team back in Canterlot is important to me, but they can always find another leader if it came down to it. You’re more important to me than any of them, and it’s obvious you need me more right now. I’d quit in a heartbeat for your sake.”

Drill wiped his eyes. “You can’t do that!”

“Sure can. I want to blaze my own path now, and I want you to do the same. I want you to take your fate into your own hooves, just like Flurry Heart, and accept yourself for who you are. If our parents can’t accept you just because your interests are different than theirs then that’s their loss.

“If it comes down to that then I don’t mind becoming your guardian. We’ll get our own house where you’ll be free to be the you that you want to be.”

Drill looked at him wide-eyed. “You can’t be serious.”

Noble met his gaze. “Do I look like I’m joking? I grew up with the same parents you did, and it wasn’t until I had a world-changing experience where I was shown how foolish my worldview was that I started to change. I don’t want you to spend your life feeling the same way I did. So, yes, I’m dead serious.”

Drill opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to vocalize his feelings. He used to worship his brother for being so cool before dismissing him as just another rival. Now he was starting to remember why he looked up to him so much. He was willing to be hated by their parents and quit one of most important jobs in the world, simply for his sake.

He still wasn’t looking forward to confronting his parents, but just knowing that his brother was on his side and that there was a backup plan made things seem not as scary. In his heart he really hoped their talk went well. He loved his parents, and didn’t want to be separated from them.

For the moment he didn’t want to think about it. He set his head on Noble’s chest, nuzzling it a bit as Noble kept a comforting hold on him. Without a doubt, his brother was the most awesome pony around.
> 3-7: A bad start
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After some time passed Noble moved his brother so they were eye to eye. “So do you have a plan?” he asked.

“Not exactly,” Drill responded, looking unsure.

“Well, why don’t I get the ball rolling, then?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll talk to Mom and Dad first, preparing them to talk to you. I can’t do all the work for you, but I’ll let them know that you want to look into other interests.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Yes, of course. But… there is a catch.”

“You blackmailing me here?” Drill asked with a touch of amusement.

“It’s the opposite, actually. I’ll help to bridge things so you can have your talk, but that’s all that I can do. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Not really.”

“If Mom and Dad don’t approve of your choices I can’t come in and rescue you, even if it’s thoroughly miserable for you. As you said yourself my wounds are already healed. If I interfere in your conflict they might push me to leave and get back to the Royal Guard. If that happens I won’t be able to protect you.”

Drill stared into his brothers eyes. “I thought you said you would take me away if it came down to that.”

“I said that, and I meant it, but that is the absolute last resort plan. If things can be worked out over time that would be for the best. I’m sure you don’t want to have to leave home and avoid our parents the rest of your life?” Drill shook his head.

“I don’t expect the first talk to go well, or even the second. I won’t interfere during your conversations, but if things go poorly I’ll be there to comfort you when it’s over. That’s the most I can do for you right now.”

He put a hoof on his brother’s shoulder. “Just know that I’ll never abandon you. Brothers have to stick together, you know?”

Drill gave him a small smile. “Thanks, Noble.”

The two of them went out for a walk. Drill knew he wouldn’t be able to just sit still the rest of the day. The tension already felt unbearable.

“Yknow, the two of us have never trained together,” said Drill Bit.

“That we haven’t,” Noble responded. “Though you had a natural talent for flying to start with, so there wasn’t much for me to do.”

“It feels like that would be fun to do for a day. I wouldn’t mind spending more time with you. Too bad I pushed myself so hard at the end of the race. My wings are sore.”

Noble chuckled. “Wow, I hardly recognize you without that rampant pride of yours. How long has it been since you talked to me like your idol instead of as just a rival?”

“Hmph!” Drill turned his head away. “Don’t kid yourself! I just want to train with you so I can trounce you. The only thing you’ve got on me is your adult body. If the size of our wings was equal I’d have no trouble taking you down.”

Noble good-naturedly shook his head. “Come on, Bro. Can’t you just drop the macho act for a little while?” He put his head under Drill’s stomach, throwing his brother onto his back before taking to the skies.

Drill glanced down at Ponyville passing by beneath him. “Am I supposed to be impressed? I’m not the little brat who was impressed by everything you did back then. I’ve grown up since then and started walking my own path.”

“I know you have. It doesn’t mean we can’t just spend some time together as brothers. I can’t put off going back to the Royal Guard forever, and once I’ve left there’s no telling when I’ll be able to come back again.”

Drill got a melancholy look on his face, protesting no more. “I know.”

They went to grab some ice cream, Noble talking about some of his exploits in the Royal Guard, while Drill talked about his history with Pound.

Noble noticed Drill looked pretty down. “What’s on your mind, Bro? Our parents getting you down?”

Drill shook his head before putting it on his elbows. “It’s been too long since the two of us have been able to just have time together like this. A part of me hated you for leaving, so I stopped thinking of you as a brother and made you only into an opponent.

“I’m starting to remember the good times we shared… which only makes it harder knowing that eventually you’ll be gone again.”

Noble aimlessly stirred his shake. “I know it’s hard for you. It isn’t any easier on me. I’ve missed all of you terribly as I’ve steadily risen through the ranks, but to accomplish one’s dreams requires sacrifice. As unpleasant as it is both of us have to just take the hurt and keep moving.

“I do have to say, though, that I have no intention of leaving until you can resolve things with our parents. I know for now you need me more than Equestria does, and someone who can abandon their family when they’re in need is someone who is unworthy of protecting the world.”

“Mmm… that only makes me want to put things off even more, so that you’ll never leave.”

“Buuuuut I know you won’t do that.” He gave Drill an encouraging smile. “You’re a tough kid, Bro, and you’re not the type to ever back down from a challenge, no matter how difficult. So I know you can handle this.”

Drill gave him a half-smile back. “Personally, I think I’d rather face down a monster than our parents.”

Noble’s head tilted back as he laughed. “I feel you there. No worries though. All you have to do is believe in yourself.”

Drill’s smile became strained. “Except that’s becoming harder to do these days.”

Noble spooned some of his shake and chucked it at Drill.

The colt recoiled as he felt the cold. “Hey!”

“Stop whining, or next time the whole shake goes.”

Drill gave him a dirty look before giving him an evil grin. “Oh, is that how you want to play? Well, ONE OF US has to be the mature one here, so I shan’t retaliate.” He grabbed a napkin, cleaning his snout.

Drill got so wrapped up in his time with his brother that he forgot all about his impending talk with his parents for a while. They just went around town until it started getting dark.

It wasn’t until they came upon their house that it all came running back to him.

His dad was home, but he was surprised to see his mother there too.

“Hey there, Drill… Noble,” said their dad.

“Hi,” Drill responded. Turning to his mother he asked, “What are you doing here, Mom? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

His mother looked a little giddy. “Oh, I know I should be, but I made an excuse to come home early.”

“Why?”

“For you, of course! I wanted to hear all about your big race as soon as possible.”

Drill’s face fell a bit. “Oh… right.”

“Your mother told me that you had an alicorn from the Crystal Empire as an opponent,” said Finish. “Sounds pretty exciting.”

“Eh-heh.” Drill’s expression grew strained. He wasn’t ready for this yet. Noble hadn’t even gotten them prepared for what he wanted to say. And yet… they were both here talking to him. If he put it off it would only be more difficult.

“Soooooo?” His mother was moving up and down. “Tell us the good news.”

“Oh, well, uh… I won.”

His father pumped his hoof. “Of course you did!”

They were both looking at him expectantly, but when Drill didn’t keep talking their expressions grew curious.

“Well, come on!” said Sound Barrier. “Details, details! I didn’t get out of work early just to hear the obvious.”

“Your mother’s right,” said Finish Line. “We want to hear all about it.”

Drill gulped. There wasn’t anything he wanted to tell them about the race other than that he won. “I’m sorry, but there really isn’t much to tell. Alicorns are skilled in magic, but her flight abilities weren’t much. The only thing she had going for her were her special wings.”

“Special wings?” Sound asked, an eyebrow going up.

“Seems she was born with gigantic wings. Like, imagine your adult wings on me.”

“That sounds pretty strange, indeed,” said Finish.

“I… I just couldn’t get into the race,” Drill said, being careful about the way he worded things. “I expected so much out of her considering how far she came to challenge me. Even holding back and with her having a whole lap ahead of me I still got my two laps in before she got her one.

“I mean, really, you didn’t miss anything worth seeing.” He smiled awkwardly.

Sound sighed. “That’s a shame. I was really expecting more. I thought I was going to hear a tale of incredible skill and a match too close for comfort.” She shrugged. “I guess alicorns should just stick to magic.”

She sighed again. “What a disappointment. I bailed on work for nothing.

“Oh, well.” She walked over and kissed his forehead. “At least you got your bragging rights. I suppose that’s enough. I knew you could win.”

She looked at the clock. “I suppose I should get back to work, then. I’ll just tell them everything was fine.”

Drill quietly groaned as his mother started preparing to leave. If he didn’t do this now…

“Wait!” he called out, conscious of Noble behind him. He knew his brother couldn’t interfere, but it was still a comfort knowing that he was behind him. “I… I… I need to talk to you two.”

Sound stopped. “Well, sure. I mean, I don’t think they’re expecting me back anyway. What’s a few more minutes?”

“What’s on your mind, squirt?” asked Finish.

Drill gulped, feeling their gazes like they might tear him apart, even though they were both relaxed and curious.

He took in a deep breath, gulped again, and said, “I… I’ve been thinking…”

Sound waited, but he didn’t continue. “Thinking… about what?”

Noble put a hoof on his shoulder. “The two of us were talking today, and Drill expressed a desire to try out other things. He’s starting to lose the spirit of competition.”

Drill’s heartrate went up as he waited for their reactions.

Finish said, “You expressed this sentiment before your competition the other day. I suppose if you’re growing bored it’s only because you don’t have opponents that match up to you. If even an alicorn couldn’t match you I don’t blame you for feeling a little lackluster.”

“Unfortunately there’s not a whole lot we can do there,” said Sound. “I think you might have some fun challenging some foals a few years above you, but unfortunately most competitions have age ranges to keep things ‘fair,’ not realizing that the naturally talented can take down those above their ages.”

“It’s not just that,” said Drill. “I just… I don’t care about that much anymore. I… I want to do something else with my life.”

Their attitudes quickly shifted. “Is that so?” asked Sound, her eyes narrowing. “And just what is it that you want to do?”

Drill remained silent. He thought of the way his mother had interacted with Pound once he had mentioned that he, Drill, had been teaching him, and he knew he couldn’t say what he really wanted to.

“Well?” asked his father. “We’re waiting.”

“Well,” he started quietly. “I… I don’t know yet.”

Both of them rolled their eyes. “You don’t know?” Finish asked with annoyance. “Really? You express the desire to throw away everything you’ve been working toward your whole life, and you have no clue what it even is you’d like to be doing?”

“Honestly!” said Sound. “Is this supposed to be a joke? Because it’s not very funny. In any challenge, you should always play to your strengths, and your strength is in flying. There’s absolutely no question about that. Your trophies and medals are testaments to that.

“As we’ve told you countless times your future starts now. We know you have the skill and talent to be part of the Royal Guard just like your brother, and there’s no higher of a position you can be in than that, protecting the ruler of all of Equestria from harm.

“And yet you want to discard all of that for nothing? You have no plan, no thoughts other than just ‘I don’t want to do this anymore?’ You can’t even come up with an idea?”

Finish shook his head, letting out a sigh. “This is ridiculous. It’s a colossal waste of your skill and capabilities.

“Well, when you find something that you’re just as talented at you be sure to let us know. But, then again, considering how you’re just throwing away everything you’ve strived for now what’s to stop you from doing the same for your new, unspecified hobby? Hmmm? You planning to just ran back and forth your whole life, never committing to anything?”

Sound turned away. “Let us know when you’ve come to your senses. By all means, explore other areas of expertise. I think you’ll quickly find that nothing you aspire to will come out as well.”

She shrugged. “But, hey, maybe you’ll prove us wrong. Maybe you will find something you have even more talent for than flying.

“You do that, and we’ll support you just as vigorously as we did for your flight. But, as your father said, what’s to stop you from just throwing your new hobby away if you get tired of that? Really, I expect so much more out of you.”

She let out a huff, grabbing her bag. “I have to get back to work.” Her steps were heavy as she walked towards the front door, slamming it behind her.

His dad just shook his head, leaving the room without another word.

Drill Bit stood there, quietly crying.

Noble sighed. “Drill Bit…”

He tried to hug his brother but Drill slapped his hoof away. “Don’t touch me!”

“No can do, Bro.” He pulled Drill close as his brother fought the contact. “I told you I was gonna be there for you, and I’m not going to break my word. I know you need me now.”

Drill slowly stopped fighting him.

“I warned you, Drill. I told you if you didn’t have a plan of action that our parents were going to react this way.”

Drill sniffed. “I know.”

“But you had a plan. You told me it yourself earlier. Why didn’t you bring it up?”

He wiped his face. “Because I know they wouldn’t approve.”

“Having a plan they dislike would still be better to them than no plan at all.”

Drill slowly shook his head. “You don’t get it.”

Noble ran a hoof through his brother’s hair. “What don’t I get?”

“I’ve been training Pound. If they told me I wasn’t allowed to do it anymore then what would that fool do? It’s like I told him at the start when he first asked me to train him: he’s such a loser that he’d never accomplish anything without me holding his hoof the whole way.

“He still needs a lot of training to become decent, and no one else is going to push him like I do.” He sniffed again. “He needs me. And if I was going to be yelled at either way at least this way I can keep on helping him make something out of his pathetic life.”

Noble closed his eyes, gently smiling as he hugged his brother. He knew his brother didn’t mean his harsh words. Drill just didn’t know how to turn down his pride enough to say he cared for someone else.

“Y’know, Drill Bit, choosing to suffer for someone else’s sake is the essence of self-sacrifice. It’s an ideal leadership trait. I had to nearly die to learn that lesson from one of my subordinates, but you’ve already begun to grasp the concept in your heart. Looks like you’ve blazed ahead of me in that department.”

Drill glanced up at his brother, unsure what he wanted to feel. He didn’t know if he was ready to be coaxed out of his sad feelings. Hearing Noble admit he had beaten him at something did make him feel better though.

He wasn’t in the mood to brag at the moment. He snuggled in close to his brother, saying, “Well, I guess that’s because I had a good teacher.”

He suppressed a chuckle at hearing his brother actually be humble. He opened his eyes, getting a serious look on his face. “Right there, what you said before that, hold onto that with all of your might.”

Drill got a questioning look on his face. “What are you talking about?”

“This Flurry Heart you told me about. She found something to hold onto that gave her true courage and self-esteem. She’s found pride in who she is, regardless of what anyone else thinks. It seems to me that you’re starting to find your own path. So, like I said, hold onto that thought tightly and don’t let it out of your grasp. I think you’ll find your courage there.”

Drill still wasn’t quite sure what his brother was talking about. So he had taken some heat for concealing he was training his classmate. His mother had already made it clear she didn’t approve of that when she met him. It was just pragmatism that he didn’t speak up about his new ambition.

Everyone else was too easy on Pound. Only he could train the colt properly. It wasn’t anything more than that.

Even so, he couldn’t help but think about Pound training alone when he was in a bad mood. Once more he felt that odd warmth inside. It was an odd sensation, feeling pride for someone else’s accomplishments.

Noble could see a carefree smile on his Drill’s face now, feeling like he knew what was on his brother’s mind.

Now that Noble had brought her up Drill couldn’t help but think of Flurry Heart. He needed to talk to her again. He thought it might help him understand what to do.
> 3-8: The rematch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following day Pound was anxious as he walked into school. He wondered whether Drill’s talk with Flurry had done any good at all, or if he was only going to become more stubborn.

He knew he couldn’t have a proper talk with Drill Bit during class time, but Drill Bit seemed normal enough. They went through their usual warmup routine before they began practice.

When they went outside for lunch Drill Bit approached him first. “Hey there, Pound,” Drill started in a pleasant tone.

Pound gave him a quick wave. “Hey.” Then he waited.

“I believe you told me that the distance between here and the Crystal Empire means nothing, right?” Pound nodded. “Well, you tell that Flurry Heart that I want another go at her.”

“Mmm.” Pound wasn’t so sure that was a good idea. “Already? What’s racing again going to accomplish? You already said she wasn’t worth the trouble.”

“Hmph. I’m a competitive colt. Racing isn’t all I succeed at. It’s not in my nature to remain a loser.”

Pound stared into his eyes, trying to understand what he was getting at. “Okay, so then what do you want to challenge her to?”

“It’ll be a clash of ideals. She presented herself as a powerful filly. It threw me off a bit yesterday, but now I’m prepared. I’ll see whether she really means what she said. I’ll test her worth for myself.”

Pound just stared again. “Look, I… I don’t think this is a good idea. You played it off, but I know yesterday wasn’t pleasant for you.”

Drill nodded. “Sure it wasn't. I don’t need you to tell me the obvious. Haven’t had a challenge like that in a long time. But, as I just told you, it’s not in my nature to lose. I understand my opponent better, so there’s no way I’ll let her take the win again.”

“What are you trying to accomplish with this? What if you don’t ‘win’ this time, either?”

Drill shrugged. “Well, that’s not something you have to worry about, is it? This isn’t between the two of us, after all. This is between me and her.”

“And I care about both of you!”

Drill smirked, patting his chin. “That’s cute, but I’m not going to back down from this. Besides…” He got right in Pound’s face. “What you’re really saying is that you don’t think I can handle it. I don’t want your pity.”

“That’s not what I-”

“Be quiet!” Drill said sharply, frowning now. “Your alicorn friend didn’t care one bit about the race. It was obvious it was just a deception to get us to fight with our minds instead. And because I lost that contest now you’re worried about me.”

“And what if I am? Maybe you don’t consider me a friend, and that’s fine, but I care about your well-being. I don’t want to see you hurt again.”

Drill smirked again, rolling his eyes as he released Pound and walked a few steps away from him. “It seems like you’re a big fake, Pound.”

Pound eyed him curiously. “What do you mean by that?”

Drill shrugged. “I thought you were supposed to believe in your friends and encourage them. And yet here you are, being discouraging and telling me you don’t believe I have what it takes. Is that the form your ‘care for me’ takes?”

Pound felt a weight in his stomach. “T-that’s…” He let out a little moan. “That’s not what I was trying-”

“WELL!” he said, speaking over him. “If you actually DO believe in me then just do what I tell you and get Flurry over here. And make sure she brings that friend of hers, okay?” With that he took off, going to his friends.

Pound just stood there for a few moments before his legs got weak and he sank to the ground. What was he supposed to do? Not for the first time he felt conflicted about the nature of right and wrong.

Yesterday Drill had fallen short against Flurry, requiring him to encourage the colt to give him his confidence back. But today, when he had the chance to encourage him, he had hesitated. It wasn’t his intention to make Drill feel bad, or to give the impression he didn’t think Drill could handle it. In trying to spare Drills feelings he had inadvertently driven the colt away.

Guilt began blossoming in his stomach. He was supposed to be the one that Drill could turn to, but he had let the colt down. Even though Drill didn’t sound angry or upset he didn’t stay to train him during their lunch hour as usual.

He thought it over during the rest of recess, but he kept coming to the same conclusion, and that was he had to consent to Drill’s request. He just feared for what Drill would do. If Drill ‘won’ their contest it meant that Flurry was going to get upset. And if Flurry ‘won’ then Drill would feel like a loser. Either way it went someone was going to be miserable.

And yet he knew he had to let it happen. He didn’t like it, but he knew he couldn’t help Drill in the same way that Flurry could. She understood him and his situation more.

So, with a touch of reluctance, he wrote to Flurry and told her Drill wanted to talk with her again. He could only hope that things would turn out better this time.

He didn’t wind up hearing from her until school was almost over. She told him she’d be glad to come again.

After school was over Pound saw Pinkie was there to pick them up, as well as Flurry, Crystal, Twilight, and Cadance.

“Hey, Pound!” Flurry said brightly as she hugged him.

“Hi, Flurry,” he said glumly.

“Aw, c’mon! Cheer up! Everything is going to be fine.”

“I sure hope so.” He looked up at Cadance. “How are you, princess?”

“I’m doing great,” she responded. “Seeing my little girl so happy recently fills my heart with joy. Thank you again for all you’ve done for her.”

That got a small smile out of him. “You’re welcome.”

Drill Bit walked over. “What’s up, Flurry?” he said genially. “Hope it doesn’t bother you getting dragged out here again?”

“Not at all,” she responded, though she found his pleasant attitude odd. She figured there would be a barely hidden rage in his forced politeness, but he looked pretty calm. She didn’t think he was faking. Still, she sensed something was off. It was like he was too calm. Given his competitive nature she thought he would be more, well, competitive.

Then again, from what Pound had said he wanted to challenge her personally, making it a contest of egos or self-control. In that regard he couldn’t let his emotions get to him or he’d already be at a disadvantage.

“Well, it’s a nice day out. It would be a shame to spend it cooped up indoors. Why don’t we go to the park again?”

“That’s fine with me.”

Twilight looked around. “What about your parents?”

Drill’s relaxed attitude faded for a moment, but he quickly brought it back. “Well, me and my parents didn’t exactly see eye to eye yesterday. They’re a bit upset.”

Twilight frowned. “So they were just going to leave you to walk home by yourself?”

“Well, Masky used to walk home by himself all the time,” said Pumpkin.

Twilight glanced over at her. “Be that as it may, there’s a difference between not picking up your child because you’re working and ignoring them because you’re mad at them.”

As if on cue, a pony suddenly came out of the sky, panting. It was Noble. “H-hey! Sorry I’m late. Lost track of time.”

Drill chuckled. “Well, there you go. I guess you got upset for nothing.”

Twilight let out a breath. “I guess I did.”

Turning to his brother he said, “You can go home, Noble. I have business to attend to.”

“Like what?”

“Would you be… Drill Bit’s brother?” asked Twilight.

Noble turned to her. “Yes, I am. And who-” He paused as he saw the two alicorns in front of him. “Princess Twilight and Princess Cadance.” He bowed to them. “It’s an honor to meet you for the first time.”

“Same here,” said Twilight. Turning to Cadance she said, “Noble here is a part of the Royal Guard in Canterlot, and he’s risen up to be second in command of the whole thing.”

“That’s impressive,” said Cadance as Noble stood up.

“Well, it’s my ambition to take the top spot." said Noble. "Frankly I felt I’ve deserved it for a while, but because of a situation a few months back I finally found out what it was I was lacking.”

With a serene grin she said, “I suppose now that I’ve stolen my husband from the Canterlot Royal Guard you actually have a chance.”

“I sure hope so.” A flash of recognition went through him, as he remembered Drill telling him how Flurry and Cadance were related to Twilight and how Pound knew her. He glanced down, seeing a filly and yet another alicorn, and he knew instantly that she had to be the Flurry Heart that Drill told him about.

“Pleasure to meet you, Flurry Heart.” He inclined his head toward her.

“Thank you,” she replied. “I have a lot of respect for the Royal Guard. They put their lives on the line to keep the princesses safe. And, of course, my daddy is the head of the guard in the Crystal Empire.” Her brow furrowed. “But if you’re such a hotshot in the Royal Guard what are you doing here in Ponyville?”

“Couldn’t be helped. During a training exercise I got into a bad accident and nearly died, so I’ve been recovering at home.”

“Oh!” She slapped a hoof over her mouth. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Well, I’m not… much.”

She looked at him oddly. “Why would you say that?”

“Well, the pain was no fun, obviously, but it was a learning experience. It woke me up and taught me a lesson I desperately needed to be taught about what being a team leader really means. And it was that lack of knowledge that stopped Princess Celestia from thinking of letting me be the captain of the guard.

“So, all things considered, I think things worked out pretty well.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re able to see the bright side of things, Noble,” said Twilight. “There’s always a meaningful lesson to be learned in anything if you think about it.”

“Okay, okay!” said Drill Bit, a little annoyed. “Can we please just get down to business? I’m tired of waiting.”

Noble looked over at him, getting serious. “And just what are your intentions here, Bro? You told me about your confrontation yesterday, and now you want to go at it again? For what purpose?”

Drill shook his head. “It’s nothing nefarious. Me and Flurry just have some unfinished business, that’s all. I just want to match myself against her and see where I stand.

“I mean, she trounced me yesterday. The only reason I bounced back was because of Pound yelling his support.” He lifted a hoof, shaking it. “I can’t just let that go. So after thinking on it yesterday I want to see something.”

“See what?”

“To see if Flurry can actually take the heat. She claims to have gained self-confidence in who she is and she wouldn’t be ashamed of the things she can’t help, but is that really true? If she really thinks that she’s that powerful inside then I’m going to put her to the test.”

Flurry looked at him thoughtfully. Was that what he really wanted? She didn’t know what angle he would take. She had lost her shame over her wings through repeated exposure and Crystal’s support. Besides that she was a perfectly normal pony appearance-wise, so she didn’t think he’d make any headway there. He also didn’t know about her personal life besides that she was friends with the twins and Crystal, so what exactly was he going to test her on? Was his plan to simply insult her in every way he could think of repeatedly, hoping to wear her down?

She didn’t mind going through with his little test, but she couldn’t help but wonder what he would get out of it. Was it really nothing more than pettiness that made him want to see her falter emotionally? She couldn’t tell.

Noble was thinking along the same lines. He didn’t think it was a wise idea, but if Flurry and the other two princesses had no objections then he wasn’t really in a place to argue.

Pinkie said, “Well, there’s still work to do at the shop, so if you’re going to look after the twins for me then I’m gonna go back to work.” With some goodbyes Pinkie left.

As they began their walk towards the park Pumpkin asked Cadance, “Are you coming with us, Cadance?”

The mare nodded. “I don’t get to see my sister-in-law too often, so I figured I’d hang around for a little while and see how this all goes. After all, my daughter filled me in on what’s been happening. Seems that Drill kid is in need of some guidance.”

Pumpkin nodded.

Noble remained behind Cadance and Twilight as they walked. He wasn’t in uniform, or under the employ of either of them, but he was still a member of the Royal Guard. Hence, he considered it his duty to protect them and keep an eye out for potential threats.

When they arrived at the park they got into much the same position as before, the adults giving the children space so Flurry and Drill could work things out. Twilight and Cadance sat down on a bench, Noble standing behind it and remaining standing.

Drill and Flurry were both looking each other in the eye, neither of them speaking.

Pound looked between the two of them, wondering how things were going to go. He found it a little odd how Drill had admitted so readily to Flurry coming out on top yesterday. Given his proud nature he didn’t think Drill would be able to accept losing.

Pumpkin tapped her hoof, slowly getting impatient.

Flurry finally spoke. “Well? You wanted me, so here I am. So why all the silence?”

Drill grinned. “A winning strategy takes time.”

“So what is this great strategy of yours? You know almost nothing about me, so how are you planning to get your ‘victory?’ Hmm?”

“Why, you’re going to help me, of course.”

Flurry’s eyebrow rose. “So… you want me to help you to hurt me?”

Drill shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous. That would just be silly. I want to learn.”

“Learn what?”

Drill turned away. “I’ll acknowledge it. You thrashed me yesterday. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was intimidated by you and your inner strength. Having reigned supreme over the competitive circuit, and rarely losing at anything, it was a rare event to meet someone like you.

“I was furious when I went home yesterday. I had to rely on outside help to win the race, and I wasn’t satisfied with the end result. There was no feeling of victory. Your indifference to losing just made me angrier. So, all things considered, it was a total defeat on my part. I’ve never been destroyed so thoroughly, and boy was that a sting to my pride.”

He looked up towards the sky. “And it got me to thinking… what is it that she has that I don’t?” He spun around back towards her. “And the answer is that I just don’t know enough. I only got a few small details of your transformation. So that’s what I want to know. Where does this strength of yours come from?

“You may have beaten me yesterday, but that might just be because I’ve gotten too used to victory and have forgotten what it’s like to be actually challenged. I adapt quickly, though, so I’m ready for you. That being the case, I want to see which of us is actually right. Whether you’re the stronger one or me.

“So what do you say, Flurry? Are you down for another round, or are your morals so weak they won’t stand up to a little examination?”

Flurry stared at him seriously. It seemed that there was something more than just pettiness driving him. From what he was saying it looked like he wanted to test her resolve.

After a minute she said, “Very well.” She gave him a rundown of what her life had been like before she met the twins. How she was afraid to talk to her parents about her feelings and feeling crushed under incredible pressure and expectations, and putting all her time and effort into studying because she didn’t know what else to do.

The whole time Drill was sitting down, his eyes closed and listening hard.

When she got to the twins party she talked about the support they all gave her, but left out Mayhem’s reality-breaking antics, figuring it would be too distracting a topic.

“When Aunt Twilight came to take me home I felt better than I had in months. I knew now that it was okay for me to be a kid, and I knew I had friends who loved me for who I was.

“Getting Crystal on my side, though, was really difficult. I tried hard, but by myself I just couldn’t break down the wall she had put up between us. And so I brought her with me to visit Pound and Pumpkin, hoping that it would let her see me as the ordinary pony I was.

“It worked, just not in the way I intended. Crystal felt really jealous of the twins because of how casual we were with one another. She wanted that sort of friendship between us, but it wasn’t until she finally opened up with her real feelings of being upset with me and seeing I could accept that that we began to have the sort of friendship she wanted.”

She finished up with Crystal’s efforts to help her overcome her feelings toward her wings and how she didn’t want to let those feelings interfere with her protecting her friends.

“Thinking of how much all my friends meant to me I knew I couldn’t let those feelings stay. I wouldn’t be able to bear it if one of my friends was hurt because I was too shy about my wings. I might need to fly to rescue them, and if being mocked for them led me to not being my best I wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

“At first I went along with Crystal because she basically forced it on me. I hated every moment of it, always feeling like I was being made fun of. Even though ponies didn’t say it out loud I was sure they were disgusted in their minds. Slowly, I got used to it until it meant nothing to me. It became a challenge that I embraced, because it was like asking myself how much was I willing to endure for my friends. The answer, of course, was anything.”

Drill Bit finally opened his eyes. “So you think your life has become better because of your friends?”

Flurry nodded. “Yes. My friends have helped make me stronger.

“So I told you my story. I explained how I’ve changed from the weakling I used to be. Now what?”

Drill Bit began walking around. “When it comes to competition there are two things you can do to give yourself an edge. You can find your strengths and use them to your best advantage, or you can find your opponents weakness and use it against them to diminish their effectiveness."

Flurry kept an eye on him. “Makes sense, but where are you going with it? I’ve lost the weakness I had.”

“Not quite.” He stopped in front of Crystal. “And what do you have to say about all this? What does Flurry mean to you? Do you actually care about her as much as she thinks you do, or have you helped her out just to enhance your own standing?”

Crystal’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Flurry told you about the colt that only tried to befriend her because his father wanted special treatment. I’m not like that. I hang out with Flurry because I like her and I want to see her succeed. I don’t have any other reason.

“If your plan is to try and put a wedge in our friendship to weaken Flurry then forget it.”

“Oh, I have no intention of doing that. If the two of you start fighting it will interfere with my competition with Flurry. It won’t get me what I want.”

He moved so he was standing next to her, putting a hoof over her neck. “Besides, this is a contest between our beliefs. I was brought up to believe that a pony should be strong and stand on their own four hooves without relying on others. And Flurry over there appears to be of the opposite viewpoint, that she needs friends to be at her strongest.”

“So what’s your point?” asked Flurry. “Where is this all headed?”

“Well, the thing is… I’ve figured you out. I know exactly where to strike to bring you down in this fight.”

“Okay. I guess in response I’ll say that I’ve overcome a lot of things to become who I am right now. I don’t think there’s anything you can do or say to me that would break me.”

Drill’s heart began beating faster. “Oh, I agree.”

Flurry looked at him in confusion. “Okay… so then-”

She gasped as Drill Bit suddenly whacked Crystal hard in the back of the head.

Crystal let out a cry of pain as she held her head, quietly crying.

Pound stomped a hoof. “What did you do that for?”

Flurry’s horn was sparking, and he could practically feel the rage pouring off of her in great waves. “How dare you,” she said darkly. “HOW… DARE… YOU!”

Pumpkin was feeling angry too, but it faded when she looked at the crazed look on Flurry’s face. She had too many memories of Pound attacking others in protection of her, and she couldn’t ever forget the time she had sent Pound to the hospital when she had lost control of her magic in anger.

Drill Bit got a twisted smile on his face, a bead of sweat coming down his cheek as he took in Flurry’s expression. She was mad, alright. ‘Now the real contest begins,’ he thought.
> 3-9: A clash of ideals
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry was steaming. “You just whacked my friend hard enough to make her cry. And for WHAT? To get a reaction out of me? To see me lose my carefree attitude? For your so-called ‘victory?’ “

The sparks coming out of Flurry’s horn grew larger, her horn beginning to glow with a bright light.

Pound’s heart was thumping. He didn’t like where this was going. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu from the time Pumpkin accidentally sent a bookcase crashing onto him when she was mad.

“H-hey, Flurry!” Pound said, trying to sound upbeat. “It was wrong what he did, but revenge isn’t the answer. Twilight taught me YAAH!”

With a small flash from Flurry’s horn Pound was knocked on his back. “Shut up, Pound!” she said fiercely.

Pumpkin helped Pound up, both of them looking panicked. “What do we do?” she whispered.

Pound looked toward the adults. Twilight and Cadance were deep in conversation, Twilight laughing at something. “Use your magic,” he whispered back. “Give her a tug.”

Pumpkin nodded.

Twilight wiped her eye of a tear. “Oh, boy! I can’t believe Shiny did that! It’s so-huh?” She broke off as she felt something pulling at her hoof. She looked down, and saw a blue aura around it.

Glaring at Drill Bit Flurry said, “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t blast you into next week.”

Drill chuckled, still smiling despite his terror. “I guess I was right. I found your weakness. It hurts, doesn’t it?”

Flurry’s eyes grew fiery as she growled, wind whipping around her as her aura grew larger.

Twilight finally recognized the aura as belonging to Pumpkin, and as she looked up her eyes bugged out of her head. Flurry looked about to blow.

With a flash she teleported over to the kids. “What is going on here?” she said.

“Who asked you to butt in?” Flurry said nastily.

Cadance came over too, quickly followed by Noble. “Calm down, Flurry! What are you getting so worked up over?”

“Oh, nothing! That JERK just attacked Crystal and made her cry.” Unconsciously things around her began lifting up around her, some of them changing into different things entirely. “I won’t forgive him!”

For Twilight it reminded her too much of her entrance exam to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. It looked like Flurry was so lost in her emotions she couldn’t even contain her magic.

“I’ve had ENOUGH!” she yelled at Drill Bit, who was still smirking. “Wipe that stupid smile off your face before I wipe it off for you!” She tilted her head forward, ready to shoot a spell at him.

Noble’s heart was racing, unsure what she was going to do to his brother.

Before Twilight or Cadance could intervene Crystal put herself between the two of them.

“Flurry!” said Crystal calmly, putting a hoof on her horn. “That’s enough.”

Flurry wanted to lash out, but Crystal’s relaxed expression made her feel calmer too. The intense glow from her horn slowly faded. “But he hit you for no reason!” she said angrily, stomping a hoof.

She shook her head. “No, you’re wrong there. He did have a reason, and you fell right into his trap. His actions may have been bad, but he was right that if you can’t hold onto your temper that someone can take advantage of that.”

Flurry averted her eyes. “Well, what was I supposed to do? This is the first time I’ve been in a position where I needed to actually protect someone. And after everything you’ve done for me, going so far out of your way, what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t stand up for you?”

“Look at me, Flurry.” When she complied Crystal continued, “I appreciate it, truly, but it seems obvious to me that he wants to provoke you. He’s challenging your ideals. I know you’re more than this, so don’t let him get to you.” She gave Flurry a big hug. “Show him the power we developed together. Show him the strength of your heart.”

Flurry took in a deep breath, slowly letting it out. She hugged Crystal back, feeling at ease again.

She released Crystal, standing in front of Drill Bit.

“Well!” Twilight said firmly. “Now that things have calmed down I guess I have to ask you, Drill Bit, why you felt the need to attack Crystal?”

Before he could answer Flurry said, “Aunt Twilight, please stay out of this.”

“Excuse me? You almost had a royal temper tantrum. I don’t think you’re in the right state of mind to be making requests here.”

“I let Drill get to me. I admit that, but this is still my battle. I want to finish it by myself.”

Cadance sat down. “If you’re determined to continue this then fine, but we’re staying right here for the rest of it. I can’t have you exploding on anyone with alicorn level magic.”

Twilight waited a few seconds, wondering whether to speak up. In the end, Cadance was Flurry’s mother, and she ultimately had the final say in her daughter’s behavior. So long as the two of them were there they could at least stop things before they began getting out of hand again.

Sitting down herself she said, “Very well. If Cadance has given her permission then I won’t stop this, but I agree that both of us will be monitoring this little contest of yours from now on.”

Sitting down, Flurry put a hoof over her heart. “Do or say whatever you want, Drill Bit. I won’t let you rattle me again, not so long as I have my friend’s heart with me."

The colt stared curiously at her. “Do you really believe that?”

“Yes!” she said without hesitation.

“It seems to me that nothing has changed with you. You’re just as weak now as when you started.”

Flurry now considered him as she lowered her hoof. “How do you figure?”

“You told me earlier that your wings used to really bother you. You weren’t able to overcome those feelings by yourself. You were forced to rely on someone else to help you do so.”

“What’s your point?”

“The ‘point’ is that you still have a massive weakness. Sure, through your friend’s help you got over your embarrassment about your wings. You knew you needed to be stronger because you didn’t want that to be a weakness an enemy could exploit.

“However, as you just showed, you’ve only traded one weakness for another. You traded sadness for anger, both of which can equally be used against you. All it took was one little slap to set you into a rage. You were on the brink of exploding.”

Flurry pulled Crystal closer to her to keep her cool. “So you’re saying that’s why you attacked her? To try and prove a point?"

Drill nodded. “What if I was a decoy, used to get all your attention on me so someone could attack you from behind? Your feelings would stop you from focusing on anything else but revenge, and a real enemy wouldn’t stop at something so slight as just a slap.

“So, had you had the strength to overcome your feelings on your own, you wouldn’t have either problem. You wouldn’t need a worthless friend dragging you down and holding you back from exerting your true strength.”

“Worthless?” Flurry clutched harder to Crystal, not wanting to rise to his bait.

“The truly strong are those who rise above everyone without relying on others, and develop their skills on their own merits.” He pointed at her. “People like you are held back by friendship. In fact, everyone is. You always expect friends to be your safety net when you fall, when sometimes you just have to land on your belly and dust yourself off."

He sat down, shrugging and shaking his head. “So long as you rely on friends you’ll always be a pathetic weakling, because one day your friends won’t be there to bail you out of a jam, and then you’re done for because you never learned to be independent.

“If you’re smart you’ll throw away that dead weight of a weakness you’re holding onto while you still can. She’s only going to hold you back.”

Twilight let out a huff of outrage. As the Princess of Friendship such words were deeply offensive to her, and she wanted to speak up right then and there to tell him how wrong he was. Even disregarding her title and princesshood she still would find it insulting to everything she stood for, as her friends had always been the ones to support her. She wouldn’t be the pony she was today without them.

Even so, she forced herself to keep her mouth shut. After all, Drill was obviously trying to get a rise out of Flurry. Or, at the very least, to put his worldview against hers.

If Flurry couldn’t defend her point of view she might very well be swayed toward his line of thought. And, while that was the last thing she wanted considering how much Flurry had grown, she knew that she had to let the two of them have it out without her interference. She couldn’t always be there for Flurry, and if her niece couldn’t hold true to her beliefs under pressure then it only meant that Drill was right that she had a glaring weakness to exploit.

She crossed her hooves, letting out another huff. She was finding it extremely difficult to retain her impartiality when the thing she wanted most was for Drill Bit to lose. She had to remind herself that this was the way he was raised to think.

Cadance shook her head. She had heard about Drill Bit from Flurry, but that he would take things this far…

She didn’t feel angry like Twilight, though. She was more disappointed.

Noble let out a small groan. After their conversation yesterday he really thought his brother was on the verge of a breakthrough. He truly believed his brother had started to internalize the lesson that he himself learned following his accident, but it seemed Drill was still holding true to the beliefs their parents instilled in him.

He could see the princesses weren’t pleased, and though he wanted to speak up himself he also held his tongue, hoping that Flurry could help him understand.

Pound wasn’t surprised by Drill’s words. Even though Flurry was the one who could best understand his situation he was the one who had spent the most time with him out of everyone there. He knew he couldn’t do anything else now that he had brought them together. All he could do was wait for Flurry’s response.

Like Drill had done earlier when she was telling him her story Flurry was sitting down with her eyes closed, taking in his words. Knowing what she did, about friendship, about her mother and her aunt, and about the closeness she shared with Crystal, she found she just couldn’t understand his beliefs at all.

“My friends… my friends…” She started shaking as she looked at the ground, her mind filling with memories. Pound, Pumpkin and all their friends pulled her out of a river of despair, helping her resolve the pain in her heart. They treated her like a pony instead of putting her on a pedestal, and gave her a magic notebook so they could always be there for her, no matter how far apart they were. Each of them had accepted her for who she was, and it brought joy and happiness to her life again.

The twins had helped her again, allowing her to dissolve the barriers that were preventing her and Crystal from becoming true friends, and ever since that day Crystal and her had been as close as could be.

Crystal had been by her side since that day, helping her overcome her shame over her body and teaching her to accept herself exactly as she was.

Maybe it was true that if she had been a bit stronger that she wouldn’t have had to suffer so much. She could have told her parents her true feelings earlier, and it would have saved her so much pain. Or maybe it wouldn’t have bothered her at all. But the truth was that, no matter how much she theorized about what she could have been like if she had been different, it didn’t change the fact that she hadn’t been strong enough.

She had already tried going it alone, and found it a thoroughly miserable experience. Before befriending all of them she had suffered in solitude, avoiding her feelings by putting everything into studying. It had been so dark inside her heart until they had shown her the light. Even now she could feel them circling around her, encouraging her and smiling at her.

With tears streaming down her eyes she glared at Drill. “My friends ARE my strength! They’ve always done so much for me, helping to improve my life. I would NEVER consider them a weakness, and certainly never think them worthless. They mean EVERYTHING to me, and I would never throw them away. Not for anything in the whole world.

“And maybe you’re right that a friend can always be kidnapped or hurt in order to get to me, but no matter what it takes I’d do what I had to in order to get them back and save them.”

Drill stared blankly at her. “I see…”

Like the first time Flurry spoke to him about her feelings he could feel an immense power radiating off of her. It wasn’t magic. It was something different.

“You feel like your friends are your strength,” said Drill, “but what if one of them dies? What if you get into a terrible fight and break apart? You’re giving away a delicate piece of yourself that’s always at risk of being shattered. Wouldn’t it be better… not to take that risk?”

Flurry met his gaze for a short while before looking away. In a subdued voice she said, “You’re right. I’ve given a lot of my heart to Crystal, and while I sincerely wish we’ll always be friends I know there’s a chance that it won’t remain that way.”

“So,” said Crystal meaningfully, “are you saying you wish we had never become friends?”

Flurry shook her head. “Not at all.” Putting a hoof on her heart she said, “I told you that I wanted to fill the hole in my heart with you, and I did. You’re a true friend that I can’t replace with anyone else.

“Even so, I have to acknowledge the possibility that our friendship won’t last. But… even if…” She took a deep breath. “Even if something happens that destroys our friendship I might regret that I lost you, but that’s all. The memories we shared… the laughs… the smiles… even the arguments and the tears…” Even as she said that a few tears came down her eyes as she looked warmly toward her friend. “I’ll cherish them all forever.”

Crystal smiled back at her, putting a hoof over her own heart.

Turning back to Drill, Flurry said, “Maybe I wouldn’t feel the pain of loss if I had never went out of my way to develop my friendship with Crystal, but then I’d also never get to experience a whole new world of experiences either.

“Even if someone told me that in the future the two of us would get into a fight we never recovered from I wouldn’t care. I wouldn’t believe them. I’d hold onto my friendship with all my strength until that time came, if it ever did.

“I’d never have come as far as I did without her. Even now, I can feel her inside of me, giving me strength. So, no matter what happens, I will NEVER give up on our friendship, and I will NEVER regret having her in my life.”

Twilight was beaming. It seemed she had nothing to worry about, after all. Flurry did understand the value of friendship well.

Cadance was relieved as well. She was proud that Flurry understood the importance of friendship.

“If you want to spend your whole life alone, thinking it makes you powerful, then be my guest. I can’t stop you… but you’re going to be very lonely, and you’ll never be as strong as you can be. There are some things you just can’t overcome yourself. That’s where your friends come in. Even as alicorns my mother and my aunt both rely on and put their trust in earth ponies and pegasi, even if they have no magic.”

Flurry looked around her at her family and friends. "With the exception of your brother everyone here is close to me and help give me the courage to go on. They make me want to fight harder than I’ve ever fought. Without even saying a word in my defense I know they’re all on my side, and because of that I know I’ll never lose to someone like you.

“What about you? What do you have to fight for? What gives you strength? Another trophy as a monument to your ego?

“Like I told you yesterday I know there is fear in your heart towards your parents. Maybe things might be a little different if you actually had a few friends holding you up.

“So let’s hear your response. Let’s see you try to prove me wrong.”

Noble stared at his brother, wondering what he would say now. Surely he had to understand things a little better now.

Drill stood there, his face a mask. When he finally spoke he said just two words: “You’re wrong.”

Flurry waited, but he didn’t elaborate. When it became clear he wasn’t planning on saying anything more her eyes narrowed. “Hmph! After everything I said THAT’S all you have to say in return? I guess you HAVE to know you’re completely beat if you can’t even say anything more than just that I’m wrong.

“Honestly, I feel like bailing, just like you did yesterday. Either back up your statement with words or just admit you’re wrong with some grace for crying out loud!”

Drill sat down, looking at the ground. “My parents always pushed me hard to succeed. They saw my potential early on and trained me to be the best. They taught me to rely on myself, and not to whine when I had accidents. And I’ve DONE that! I’ve worked my butt off, winning competition after competition. When I’ve banged myself up I’d just suck it up or bandage myself up and get back to work. It was hard at times, but I pushed through it all.

“B-but… t-this… this goes against everything I was raised to believe.” He put his hooves to his head. “If you’re telling me this, and it’s right… if it’s right…”

Pound gasped as tears began coming down Drill’s eyes.

Drill’s voice grew croaky. “I thought they pushed me so hard because they cared for me and just wanted me to succeed. I thought they wanted me to be strong and independent, b-but if what you’re saying truly is correct, then… then…” His body clenched as he shrunk, his eyes closing as he let out a shuddering breath. “…then maybe my parents never loved me after all, and they wanted me to fail this whole time.” He held himself as he began quietly sobbing. “T-that’s why you HAVE to be wrong! You HAVE to be!”

All of them were at a loss for words. Seeing such a proud colt reduced to tears threw them off.

Noble recovered first, going over and giving his brother a hug.

Pound opened his mouth, wanting to say something comforting, but nothing came out. He didn’t know what he could say.

A tear came down Flurry’s eye as she looked at the ground, any animosity she had toward him vanishing as she remembered the reason they were going through all this in the first place. She had been brought here to help him. She knew his fears well, having lived with them for months. But his situation wasn’t exactly like hers, and she didn’t think her solution was going to work for him.

When she had brought up Drill training Pound his mother’s eyes had grown cold. It wasn’t that his parents were ignorant to his feelings, like her and Masky, but that they seemed to actively dislike them.

That being the case she didn’t know what to do. She could be his friend, but she didn’t know that it would be enough to help Drill get them to change their minds.

Twilight let out a heavy breath. She understood now what Drill was trying to accomplish. When Drill first met Flurry he won the race but was defeated by her inner strength, which she got from her close friends aid. It ran completely at odds with his upbringing, which said the greatest strength comes from one’s own self only.

All that he had done today in order to get under Flurry’s skin, she believed it wasn’t to triumph over her, but to try to understand. In truth, she felt like he understood since yesterday that Flurry was right about the greatest strength lying with the hearts of friends, and that there was a greater strength that can be obtained when fighting for others rather than yourself. But, as he had just said himself, if that was true then how should he feel about his parents who raised him to believe the opposite? That was why he couldn’t accept her philosophy.

In any case, she felt that Flurry had made her dent. She had gotten into his heart, and now that he was vulnerable she felt it was time for her to take over. Drill Bit definitely was in need of a friendship lesson.
> 3-10: The light of friendship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Drill Bit was starting to settle down, still wrapped in his brothers hug.

Twilight noticed he wasn’t fighting the affection. “I see your brother cares for you quite a bit. It must feel nice to have someone to hold you as you cry.”

Drill Bit growled, pushing his brother away. “So what if it does? I wouldn’t need him if I wasn’t so pathetic.”

“Bro, you’re not-” Noble started.

“Oh, shut it!” He glared at Flurry. “You happy now? Did it feel nice to see me reduced to a crying mess?”

Twilight let out a sigh. Earlier she had been eager to see the colt get his comeuppance because of his words going against everything she stood for. Now, though, she could see the pain he kept hidden inside.

She had hoped to get to him while he was still vulnerable, but he was already throwing up his walls again. It couldn’t be helped. She still had to help him.

Twilight walked over, sitting down in front of him. “Drill Bit, I think we need to talk.”

“Hey!” said Flurry. “What about me? I can still handle this.”

Twilight looked over toward her. “Flurry, I think it’s about time we stop looking at this like a competition. This isn’t about winning or losing or who’s right and who’s wrong. It’s about helping out a pony in need.

“The only true victory we’ll get out of today is by soothing Drill’s feelings. Since you spoke so passionately about relying on your friends for strength I ask now that you rely on me, and not stubbornly attempt to do everything yourself.”

Flurry couldn’t argue with that statement. “Okay, Aunt Twilight. I trust you.”

“Thank you.” She turned back to Drill. Were he not such a prideful type she would have sat on the ground and put him on her lap as she talked, but she didn’t think he would agree to such a thing. He had already exposed his weakness once. He wouldn’t want to appear weak a second time.

“I’d like to share my thoughts with you, Drill Bit.”

He made a show of snubbing her. “What makes you think I care what you have to say, jerk?”

Noble let out a huff. “Drill Bit! That’s not how you address a princess!”

“Noble!” Twilight said firmly, getting his attention. “His words are borne of his pain, and a pony in pain needs understanding and to be heard, not to be shunned and disciplined. He can say what he wishes. It doesn’t bother me.”

Noble looked like he wanted to argue the point, so she continued on, “As I’ve tried to emphasize many a time I consider myself just another pony who has more responsibilities than most. I want to help not because of my title but because I want to see him do better, and I know he can be. A few negative words in exchange for freeing him of his burden is a small price to pay.

“As you work for Princess Celestia I have no authority over you, but I ask that you put your trust in me and keep quiet while I work.”

He bowed his head. “Very well, Princess.”

Now that all the distractions were out of the way she could finally focus on Drill Bit.

Drill Bit got a twisted smile on his face again, much like before. “I can say what I wish, huh?” He chuckled. “I know some worse words than jerk. I’m sure I’ll start bothering you before long.”

Twilight shrugged. “I’m sure you do, but what purpose would it serve to be foul-mouthed? Ultimately, it would accomplish nothing other than to prove how much you need my help.”

He growled loudly. “I don’t need your stupid help! What makes you think you can do anything for me? HUH?”

“I can tell you that I believe your parents DO care for you.”

He recoiled a bit, his body clenching. “So then you’re admitting Flurry is wrong?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Not at all.”

“Then there’s NOTHING to talk about. If you’re right then my parents hate me.”

“Not everything is about winning, Drill Bit. Things aren’t always clear cut. Ponies can be partially right and partially wrong. It doesn’t have to be just one way or the other.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t think your parents hate you. Based on what you’ve said I believe it’s quite the opposite. I believe your parents care about you very much. It’s just that their affection is very narrowly focused, and that is where your pain lies.”

She could practically see the question marks on top of his head.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with the lessons your parents taught you. It’s not the lessons themselves that are wrong, it’s that there’s a lack of balance that is sorely needed.”

He scratched his head. “I have no idea what you’re trying to say. Could you please explain it better?”

“Let me put it this way. I’m the Princess of Friendship. I love my friends and hanging out with them. But despite my title and the affection I have for them it doesn’t mean that I want friendship all the time. There are days when I like solitude and curling up with a good book and days when I feel like going out and hanging with them. That's what I’m talking about with balance.

“Think of it like a scale. When one puts too much weight on one side of the scale it tips. If I spend too much time with my friends I can get burned out and feel annoyed by them. On the other hoof, if I spend too much time alone I can feel lonely and sad.”

“Okay…”

“Now let’s talk about your situation. To a certain extent your parents were correct. One does need to be self-sufficient to progress, but total self-reliance is impossible. Everyone can use help now and again.

“And while being able to pick yourself up and keep walking after a failure is an admirable trait, it should also be acceptable to cry sometimes. Everyone has a limit. When one seals away a part of themselves it stops you from being a whole pony and causes all of you to suffer in return.

“It is also true that if one wishes to excel in a certain category that it is beneficial to train with others who are around or above your skill level, but that doesn’t mean you should treat others who are below that level as trash unworthy of your attention. Pound told me you used to be quite the bully.”

Drill rolled his eyes. “Do you really want to bring that up right now?”

“I’m not saying that to make you feel bad, but I do have to point it out to show how that imbalance has led to you hurting others. Everyone deserves respect, even if you wind up losing at something.

“And speaking of behavior…” She looked up towards Drill’s brother. “I’d like to speak to you, Noble. In talking with Pound he told me you used to be the same way as Drill Bit.”

Sheepishly Noble said, “I’m not proud of it. I just-”

Twilight put up a hoof. “I’m not here to judge you on the way you used to be in the past. If you found a fresh start that’s good enough for me. I’m not here to discipline, anyway. As I said earlier this isn’t about right and wrong. It’s about helping a pony in need.

“I don’t know your parents personally. I only briefly met your mother yesterday, and while it does seem to mesh with what I’ve been told, a first impression is hardly enough to judge a whole pony’s life on.

“So I ask you, Noble, what you think of my words. Based on your life growing up would you agree with me?”

Noble got a thoughtful look on his face. After a few moments he nodded. “Yes… I would. There’s no denying that I didn’t exactly have an easy childhood, but just like my brother I had an early talent for flying that they saw my potential for. They pushed me to excel, and I can’t say that it didn’t produce results.

“As you know I am the second in command of the entire Royal Guard, and Princess Celestia told me following my accident the main reason she wouldn’t allow me the top spot was because of my poor team attitude.”

He looked up thoughtfully again. “I suppose you could argue that they did it to mooch off my success or something, but I haven’t seen evidence of that. To me, they’ve always been proud to show me off and see me stand in the spotlight that they felt I deserved.”

Returning his gaze to Twilight he said, “I believe they meant well, but if I could do it over I wouldn’t want to live my life the same way.”

Drill Bit piped up. “I’ve been pretty successful myself. They told me they expected me to take over my brother’s spot once I grew up. It seemed like a great honor to serve as a protector to a princess. They like to tell me that my future is now.”

“Hmm… I remember getting that same line as I grew up.”

Twilight gently shook her head. “Another good life lesson ruined by the unbalanced nature of its implementation. It’s smart to think of your future, and to have a goal steady in your mind to work towards. However, it doesn’t do to focus so hard on the future you forget that there’s still a present to live through.

“At the end of the day, Drill, you’re still a child. Striving towards your future goal of being in the Royal Guard is fine, but there’s more to life than that.” Drill Bit was staring at her, and she could see a thought pulling at him. “Go on. If there’s something you wish to say then by all means.”

“What you’re saying doesn’t make any sense!”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“You told me you think my parents really do care for me, but you also said they’ve been teaching me all wrong. You can’t have it both ways. And in case you weren’t paying attention to what my brother was saying their methods worked just fine.”

Twilight met his gaze. “That may be so, but can you say that you’re truly happy? Just a few minutes ago you broke down out of your fear that your parents don’t really love you. That says to me that you aren’t.”

Drill Bit looked at the ground.

“In your mind success and love are clearly linked. When you’re successful you get praise and love. What happens when you lose? How do your parents treat you then?”

“They… they’re disappointed. They tell me I should do better. But I haven’t lost a competition for a while, so they’ve been pretty happy with me.”

“And yet from what Pound has told me you’re sick of it all. Lately you’ve lost interest in competition, which says to me that you’re searching for a new path in life.”

Drill Bit let out a sigh, his head drooping. “But how can I? My parents expect me to take after my brother. The whole reason my parents are mad at me is because I tried bringing it up.”

“I was there for that,” said Noble. “Since our parents are big on our success I told him they would get upset if he didn’t tell them about his plans. As it was, he kept silent about his new goal, making it appear as if he was just planning on wandering around aimlessly until he finally found something worthwhile.”

Drill glared over toward his brother. “And I told you that it came to the same thing if I did tell them.”

“And just what is it you’re after?” asked Twilight. “What is your new objective?”

Drill met her eyes, but he didn’t speak.

“Well, don’t keep her waiting,” said Noble.

“Oh, be quiet!” He turned his head toward Noble again. “It’s none of her business what I want to do.”

Noble got an exasperated look on his face. “Would you please stop being so rude-”

“That’s correct,” said Twilight, making both of them look over at her. “So long as you’re not harming others it isn’t my business to poke into your life or force answers out of you. However, Drill Bit… please remember that I’m only trying to help you.”

“Well,” Drill Bit started, “maybe I don’t believe you can help me.”

“And that’s okay. Help can be defined in a number of ways, though. Maybe I can’t change your parents or make them accept your new goal, but perhaps I can help you think of things a new way, which is what I was trying to do for you earlier.”

Though he tried to hide it his expression grew sad. “You really think… that my parents love me… or are they only interested in my accomplishments?”

“I don’t think your parents are trying to hurt you. They want to help you, but are just going about it the wrong way.

“Pound, Pumpkin?”

“Yes?” they responded.

“Tell him about your friend Masky’s parents.”

“Okay!” said Pound.

“Masky… he’s that unicorn kid Pumpkin’s always hanging around with, right?” asked Drill Bit.

Pumpkin nodded. “He was sorta like you. His parents and him traveled the world for business, but eventually Masky got sick of it because he kept losing friends and his parents didn’t pay enough attention to him. He was too scared to tell his parents, though.”

“And so,” said Pound, “he put on a ‘mask,’ and acted cool just to make the most of the time he had wherever they traveled, becoming quite popular.”

“Because of that act his parents thought he was fine, when really he was miserable.”

“And it wasn’t until he finally told his parents how he was really feeling that they realized how sad he was.”

“And so they stopped traveling and moved into Ponyville so he wouldn’t have to lose any more friends.”

Pound smiled. “So his parents weren’t trying to hurt him. They just didn’t know what he was really feeling.”

“Now,” said Twilight, “I expect that isn’t going to be enough for you, considering you already tried talking to your own parents.” Drill Bit nodded. “So let me continue with my story, because I believe it illustrates my point better.

“Think of a pony like a painter. You can only paint the colors you have. Could you imagine someone trying to do a painting of me without any purple? What would that even look like? Even if they had my hair and my tail down pat I wouldn’t recognize myself if they were forced to color me green and yellow. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Drill Bit looked around, his face furrowed in thought. “Yeeeessss… but what does that have to do with anything?”

“What I’m trying to get at is that even if there’s a genuine passion for what they’re doing the end result just won’t come out right without the right knowledge. And sometimes another issue comes from trying to paint another pony with the same brush as they used before. In this case, your parents tried to ‘color’ you the same way they did your brother.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your parents raised your brother a certain way. As he pointed out their methods got results, and your brother has gotten a high ranking position in one of the most important jobs in the world.

“And then you came along, born with the same natural talent for flying as him. Is it any wonder they colored you the same way, expecting you would be just as successful? Again, just like with him, you have gotten results and shown that their faith in your skills was not misguided, but for all your success neither of you are very happy with the way your lives have been going.

“I do not believe your parents acted with malice or ill intent towards either of you, but I also believe that they’ve put too much pressure on you.”

“So… then… what are you trying to say? Do you think they’re good or bad?”

Twilight let out a gentle sigh. “Let’s stop talking about them for a moment. I’d like to share a little story that I told to Crystal over there, because I feel it will help you understand what I’m getting at.”

“Okay.”

“Pound made a friend at the beach named Tree Leaf, but things went sour when Tree Leaf grew jealous of Pumpkin and threw sand in her eyes to try to get Pound all to himself. Naturally, Pound was pretty steamed.

“A day or so later I talked Pound into trying to patch things up with the colt. With a lot of bad things happening recently he told me he didn’t want anymore, but I overrode him, using Pumpkin to get him to agree.”

Drill Bit gave her a look. “That doesn’t seem very polite.”

“Well, I’m glad you’ve already spotted the issue, because it doesn’t get better from there.

“Tree Leaf and Pound are very similar ponies. They wouldn’t cooperate at all, and spent the entire talk fighting.

“In the end, they did manage to work things out, but the reason it went so poorly was because of me not taking their feelings into consideration. I thought I knew what was best for them, so I put them together to work things out without once stopping to think that it might not be the best method.

“I haven’t spent a lot of time with children. The only children I’ve spent a significant amount of time with are three fillies that are sisters of my friends. When I first met them they were nine. I assumed that nine year olds weren’t all that different from six year olds, but I was wrong. I tried painting them with the same brush as I did my friend’s sisters, with the end result being a giant mess that left everyone unhappy.

“I think you’re starting to get the picture, right?”

Drill Bit nodded. “You’re trying to relate my parents to your situation and Masky’s.”

Twilight nodded too. “In the end, it was never my intention to hurt the two of them, but it doesn’t change the fact that I did. And that pain came about because of my ignorance. But, now that I understand where I went wrong, I’ve been able to use the correct brush to paint situations with.”

Pound gave a hearty nod. “That’s right. Twilight’s been a lot better at understanding us. You remember when she came to our school for a week? That was the reason.”

“Oh.” Drill remembered that. She had talked about just wanting to watch their classes for a little while. He had thought she had to have better things to do, and couldn’t understand why she’d want to observe kids at kindergarten.

Drill stared so hard at her it was like he was trying to see through her. “So… you think… that my parents really do love me? And they’re only raising me like that because they don’t know there might be a better color to paint me with?”

Giving him an encouraging smile she nodded again. “They painted you with the colors they knew, doing what they thought was best for you. I believe they earnestly want to see you succeed and be someone great, but they’re going overboard. ”

Drill looked relieved. “So… what should I do?”

“I think you should sit down with them and just be honest. Maybe they won’t like what you have to say, but if you truly have another passion you want to go for then you need to let them know.”

"What I want… is to just keep helping Pound with his flying practice. He was a joke when the year started, but because of my help he’s gotten pretty good. I don’t think he’s the worst in the class anymore.”

That got surprise out of everyone after he had so stubbornly kept it hidden before.

Pound took it more in stride because the colt had told him most of this before.

Twilight noticed that Drill Bit looked a lot calmer now. She had to guess he was being more open because he no longer felt his parents hated him, so he wasn’t being nearly as defensive.

Flurry smiled. “I think that’s a fine goal! The reason I was able to grow as much as I did was because I had a friend to show me the way.”

Drill sighed. “But you were there yesterday. You saw how my mom reacted when you mentioned it. That’s why I didn’t want to tell them.”

Noble put a hoof on his shoulder. “When you talked to our parents yesterday they said that if you found something you were just as skilled at as racing they would support you as hard as they did for that. If you can show your dedication and resolve I’m sure they’ll at least admire that, even if they don’t agree.”

Pumpkin put a hoof to her chin. “I don’t think there’s any reason Drill Bit can’t train Pound and be a part of the Royal Guard later on.”

“I guess the question that should be asked,” said Cadance, “is if he even wants to be part of the Royal Guard in the first place.”

“True enough,” said Twilight. “Is that what you actually want, or do you only want it because it’s what’s expected of you?”

Drill Bit looked uncertain. He had never thought about it before. He had mainly wanted it to show his brother up, but while that was the main job they had suggested for his future they had also entertained the idea of him being a Wonderbolt.

He looked over at his brother, thinking about what a comfort he had been recently. He had seen pictures of him in his Royal Guard uniform, and he had always thought he looked cool. That is, when he wasn’t dismissing him as just a rival.

He lifted and stomped his right hooves before saluting. “Being a Royal Guard sounds awesome! And if my brother stays there long enough maybe we could even work together. That would be so cool!”

Noble ruffled his mane. “Well, don’t think that means I’ll take it easy on you, bro.”

Flurry saw the way his eyes shined at the idea. He had become a lot less abrasive. It reminded her of herself and what had happened with Mayhem. Even though she was sensitive about being called a freak she had called Mayhem one.

Later on, when she went to make up, the little draconequus forgave her easily after seeing the pain she held inside. When she asked why he forgave her so quickly he had talked about a similar situation with Masky, where after taking his "bad things" away he had been able to see the good pony that lied underneath.

Drill Bit had done some mean things in the past, and even today he had hit her best friend to try to prove that friendship was a weakness, but she was starting to see the good pony he could be.

“Don’t forget,” said Cadance, “that just being talented in flying, in itself, won’t get you very far.

“Once you’re promoted past the bottom ranks one of the jobs of a Royal Guard is to help train the new recruits. That ties in nicely with your current goal. Thus, I see no reason they should object to it.”

“Oh!” Drill Bit blinked. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“As Twilight said it’s all about finding a balance. You can help Pound and still go to competitions. It falls on you to get your parents to understand that.”

Drill let out a sigh. “What if… I’m scared to?”

Flurry walked up to him. “That’s what your friends are for. Even when Crystal isn’t right next to me, I can still feel her heart with mine. She makes me want to fight, so it gives me courage.”

Twilight nodded. “I feel that the greatest strength of all comes from fighting for others. If helping out Pound is truly what lies in your heart, then I believe that you’ll find a way to convince your parents if you just keep that idea in your thoughts.”

Drill Bit thought of the time he confronted Pound at the park during his suspension. He had thought Pound was so pathetic until that point, but as soon as his sister was threatened he turned into a different pony entirely.

Just like Flurry, Pound’s aura had glowed ferociously as soon as he felt his loved one was in danger. When it was just between them Pound had looked pathetic, but as soon as he mentioned wanting to take out his anger on Pumpkin then Pound grew strong.

It was the first time he had ever felt intimidated by Pound. The ferocity in the colts eyes left him unable to match up. Pound had even offered to take a beating if it meant he’d leave Pumpkin alone.

Even Pumpkin had shown inner strength for the sake of her family, striking herself to make it convincing that he had attacked her.

Fighting for the sake of others was a bit of a foreign concept to him, but he had seen Pound’s transformation with his own eyes, and heard about Flurry’s.

Crystal stood next to Flurry. “All of us want to see you succeed, so we’ll add our hearts to yours. Right, Flurry?”

Flurry gave a hearty nod. “You bet!”

“Same here!” said Pumpkin.

“Training with you is awesome,” said Pound, “but I also just want to see you be happy.”

Pound, Pumpkin, Flurry, and Crystal all stood before him, putting their hooves on top of one another and staring at him expectantly.

“Teamwork, huh?” said Drill Bit, his eyes growing misty. He could feel their support as he added his own hoof to the top. “I guess… just this once… I’ll let you help me.”

“Group hug!” Flurry called out.

“Group hug!” the other three repeated.

Drill Bit started to protest, but he was too late before he was covered in legs. From there his complaints died in his throat as he felt a sense of comfort he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

He closed his eyes, enjoying the love surrounding him.

Twilight beamed as they all hugged him, feeling like the spirit of friendship was being passed along to another.
> 4-1: Foalsitters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pound was sitting on his bed when he heard the buzzing of the magic journal. Opening it up he read it, his eyes lighting up.
Going to the door to their room he yelled out, “PUMPKIN!”
Pumpkin opened the door to Pinkie’s room. “What is it?”
“Come here! Quick!”
Pumpkin turned behind her. “I’ll be right back, Auntie Pinkie.”
“No problem,” Pinkie replied.
Pumpkin came down the stairs, seeing Pound practically jumping up and down in excitement. “What’s got you so hyped?”
Pound shoved the journal in her face, making Pumpkin back up a step before she took it in her hooves. 
She scanned the few lines of text before she got that same ecstatic look on her face.
The pair ran downstairs. “MOM!” they called out.
Cup looked up from wiping down a table. “Yes, my dear children. What is it?”
They held up the notebook, and Cup set down the rag she was using to take it in her hooves and read it.
“Hey, you guys. It’s Flurry Heart. 
“My mom and dad want to come visit Aunt Twilight this Saturday. Since you got along so well, and since you didn’t get to play with her during your party, they want to know if you’d be interested in babysitting Skyla for a few hours.
“No pressure. Uncle Sunburst is free to watch her, but they figured you might want to play with her again.
“Let me know as soon as possible.
“Flurry Heart.”
Cup lowered the book, seeing the bright, anticipatory looks on her children’s faces. They didn’t even need to say anything.
She wasn’t too worried about their ability to take care of a baby. They had done a fine job of that the last time they had cared for Skyla. But…
She took in a small breath. “I have complete confidence in your ability to watch over Skyla.” That made both of them beam. “However, I do have some reservations.”
That made their faces fall a little. “What do you mean, Mom?” asked Pound. “What’s the problem?”
“The problem is that she’s an alicorn.”
Pumpkin scowled. “Are you still on about this problem with royalty?”
“Honestly!” Pound said exasperatedly. “How many princesses have you had in this house? Just get over it already.”
Cup shook her head. “No! That’s not my issue. What I’m trying to say is that we have no way to control her if she starts getting rambunctious. You were the same way, Pumpkin.
“Oh, sure, if Skyla is as agreeable as she was the first time you three played everything will go great, but what if she’s fussy? Or goes on a tantrum? I’m just a little nervous about having an alicorn baby here without a means to rein her in.”
The twins looked mollified by her explanation. “Is that all?” asked Pumpkin calmly. “That’s not even an issue.”
“How do you figure?”
“It’s simple. All Flurry has to do is loan Cadance her magic notebook. If there’s trouble we just jot a small note asking for help, and Cadance or Shining or Twilight can poof over here to take care of the problem.”
Cup sucked on her cheek. “Mmmm…” After a few moments more she said, “Alright, then. I grant my permission.”
The twins got their look of joy back. “WOOHOO!” they both yelled, slapping each other’s hooves. Both of them started dancing in excitement, making Cup chuckle.
She let out a small sigh. She was still a little anxious, but at least this hangout was occurring on the weekend, when the store would be closed.
The twins wrote back to Flurry, giving her the good news, and the next day the two of them were sitting in front of the entrance, waiting anxiously for the trio to arrive.
It was a little after nine. “What do you think is taking so long?” asked Pound.
“I know. I thought they’d be here by now.”
Pinkie chuckled. The two were like stone statues. “Come on, you guys. Have some breakfast.”
“Breakfast can wait!” Pound said strongly.
“Yeah!” Pumpkin replied right after.
Pinkie walked over, sitting in front of them. “Keep in mind that they have to take the train all the way from the Crystal Empire. That’s quite a trip.”
“Why? The two of them can teleport, can’t they?” 
Pinkie nodded. “Maybe so, but do you really think they’d be comfortable teleporting the baby?”
Pound opened his mouth, started to answer in the affirmative, then stopped. “No. No, I don’t.”
“Babies are delicate,” said Pumpkin. “I wouldn’t want to risk Skyla’s health just to save some time, so I don’t think they would either.”
Pinkie hugged the two of them. “I’m glad that the two of you are so eager to commence your duties, but you’re not being very responsible right now.”
“Why not?”
“As a caretaker it’s your job to watch after Skyla.”
“But she’s not even here yet!” said Pound. “So how are we being irresponsible?”
“It certainly is very important to care for the baby, but that all starts with taking care of yourself. If you’re too distracted being hungry it might cause you to miss something that Skyla does that’s dangerous.
“You want to be at your mental and physical best so you can best watch over Skyla.” Releasing them she continued on, “Wouldn’t you agree?”
The twins looked at each other, then gave a nod. “You’re right, Auntie Pinkie,” said Pumpkin.
“I want some waffles!” Pound said excitedly.
“Sounds great.”
As they started walking toward the kitchen Pinkie suddenly paused, making the twins stop too.
“What’s wrong?” asked Pumpkin.
Pinkie looked at her flank, seeing her buzzing cutie mark. “Mmm. I was hoping to play with the baby too, but I guess the map has other plans.”
“Aww, that’s too bad. Maybe you’ll be lucky and you won’t have to go too far.”
Pound bit his lip. “The map always calls at least two ponies. If Twilight is one of the ones its calling then our plans might be ruined already.”
Pumpkin’s face fell. “Oh, no! That would stink.”
Pinkie smiled. “And why would that be?”
Both of them looked strangely at her. “Isn’t it obvious? If there’s no Twilight then they don’t have any reason to be here.”
“And? After spending a few hours on a train I don’t think they’re going to be eager to get right back on. They’ll probably be hungry after their trip, so I don’t see any reason you can’t play with Skyla for a few hours while they eat. 
“I doubt they’d want to waste this trip, so I think they’d just hang out here while you took care of Skyla.
“Buck up. Everything will be fine.”
They looked a little uncertain, but they weren’t as worried as they were before. 
She went to Cup to tell her that she had been summoned by the Cutie Map and to start breakfast for the twins before departing.  
Pumpkin went into the kitchen. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hello, Sweetie,” she replied. “Pinkie told me your brother wanted waffles for breakfast. What about you?”
Pumpkin got a thoughtful look on her face. “Mmm… I could do waffles too.”
“Okay. Coming right up.”
After about ten minutes the two were at the table eating their breakfast.
As Pumpkin speared a piece of waffle she said, “Wow. It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve seen Skyla.”
Pound nodded. “It’s been a few months, yeah.” He put a piece in his mouth and chewed. When he swallowed he said, “I mean, she was at our birthday party, but as Flurry said she slept through the whole thing.”
“Just think about it, Pound. If it wasn’t for Skyla we wouldn’t have our pets.”
Pound chuckled. “I don’t know so much about that. It was more like Mom just found it easier to get us some pets instead of having another baby.”
Pumpkin rubbed her waffle in syrup, lifting up her fork. “Yeah, but we wouldn’t have gotten the idea to ask for her to have another baby if we hadn’t played with Skyla first.” 
As Pumpkin ate her latest piece Pound shrugged. “I guess you’re right. We sure proved how responsible we could be.”
“And we’ve kept proving it since then. Even on our bad days we always make sure to take care of our pets.”
Cup smiled. “No doubt about it. You two have showed your growth magnificently over the past few months.”
The two beamed.
When they finished their breakfast they washed their own dishes and silverware before going back to sitting near the front door. 
It was about twenty minutes later that they heard the knock on the door. The two of them exploded with energy, rushing to open the door. 
“Hello!” they said pleasantly at the sight of Cadance, Shining, and Skyla. Both of them were trotting in place.
Cadance could easily see how overjoyed they looked. After how well they got along last time she wasn’t worried about letting them watch over her daughter again.
Pound’s smile got a little strained. “I have an important question.”
“Yes, Pound?” asked Shining.
“Can we still watch Skyla if Twilight is busy?”
“What do you mean? Of course she’s going to be busy. With us.”
Pound let out a breath. “Well, Auntie Pinkie got called by the map a little while ago.”
“And we don’t know who else it called,” said Pumpkin. “It might not be her, but it could be.”
Shining and Cadance looked at each other. “Mmm…” 
Shining’s horn began glowing. “Well, better get this settled right now. Either way, we made this long trip, and we wouldn’t want to let you down by taking this opportunity away from you.”
Looks of relief crossed the twin’s features as Shining vanished.
Cadance levitated Skyla off her back, setting her on the ground in front of the twins.
“Hello, Skyla!” Pound said with a big grin.
“Do you remember us?” asked Pumpkin. “I’m Pumpkin.”
“And I’m Pound.”
“We played together.”
“And then we sang you a lullaby and held you until you fell asleep.”
Skyla looked at them uncertainly, though a vague memory stirred inside her.
Cadance rubbed her daughter’s head. “She’s still a baby, so her memory isn’t that good yet. You only interacted with her once, a few months ago. It’s not too surprising that she doesn’t remember you.”
They weren’t deterred. “Well, then!” said Pound.
“If she doesn’t remember us,” said Pumpkin, “then we’ll just have to jog her memory!”
Lifting her up in her magic she set Skyla on Pound’s back.
At first Skyla looked a little frightened, but once Pound took off trotting Skyla let out a squeal of delight. She leaned over, holding onto Pound’s neck. “Fas’er, fas’er!” she called out. 
“No worries, bro,” said Pumpkin. “I won’t let her fall.”
Pound nodded before he started running around, Skyla giggling joyfully.
Cadance grinned, glad they were already getting along.
After a minute Shining returned with Twilight in tow.
“Hello, there,” said Twilight to the twins.
The two trotted up to her. “Hi, Twilight!”
Skyla frowned as Pound stopped. She tapped his head. “Run! Run!”
“Hold on, Skyla,” he replied.
“Well,” said Twilight, “I don’t want to keep you from your fun, so I’ll give you the good news. Fluttershy was the other pony called by the map, not me.”
“Woohoo!” they shouted out, jumping into the air.
“Wah!” Skyla called out as she went into the air for a moment, her loose grip bucking her off of Pound’s back.
Twilight quickly enveloped her in her magic before gently setting her back down on the floor.
Pound blushed deeply. “Sorry! Sorry!” He hoped he didn’t just ruin everything.
Cadance took a deep breath. “I understand that in your excitement you had a lapse of memory that you had a guest riding on you, but do try to keep that in mind in the future. I am counting on you to keep Skyla safe while I’m with Twilight.”
Pound gave a nod, his face still red.
Pumpkin, wanting to change the subject, asked, “So what about Flurry Heart? I figured she’d come along too to play.”
Shining said, “Of course, but she said that she already gets plenty of time to play with Skyla, so she didn’t want to take that time away from you two.”
Pound took a deep breath and stood up straight, saluting. “I promise I’ll do better. I certainly don’t want to see Skyla get hurt.”
“That’s all we can ask for.”
Cadance and Shining both gave Skyla a kiss. “We’re going to go out with your Auntie Twilight for a little while, Skyla,” said Cadance. “So you get to play fun games with Pound and Pumpkin, okay?”
Skyla gave a big nod. “Play! Play!” She unfurled her wings and took to the air for a moment before landing on Pumpkin’s back. “Run! Run!”
“I think they’re got everything under control,” said Twilight as she looked at the happy trio.
Shining nodded. 
Cup came out of the kitchen, also watching her children for a short while before giving a quick bow to the princesses. “Greetings.”
“Hello there, Mrs. Cake,” said Twilight. “Everything is on track, so we were just getting ready to go.”
“Well, you three have a good time. We’ll be fine here… hopefully.”
Cadance’s horn glowed, a notebook coming out of her saddle bag. “As per your suggestion we have the magical notebook with us. If Skyla starts getting out of control just give us a quick message and we’ll come as soon as we can.”
Cup nodded. “Sounds good. From what I’m seeing so far things are going to go much as they did the last time Skyla was here.”
Twilight grinned as all of them turned to look at the three children again, having a blast. “Looks like it to me.”
“Which I’m glad for,” said Shining, “considering it’s the reason we made this offer in the first place rather than just leaving her with Sunburst.”
Cadance bowed her head. “Even if they wanted this I still want to express my gratitude to you for agreeing to this.”
“Oh, it’s no problem, Princess,” said Cup. “After all, our children have gotten increasingly more responsible lately. They’re really growing up.”
“And Flurry’s doing the same, thanks to the help of your kids. As a parent, it’s a lovely feeling, isn’t it?“
Cup nodded. “It sure is.
“Well, you three have a good time.”
“We’ll try our best,” said Twilight.
With a few more goodbyes the three of them left.
Cup closed the front door as Twilight, Cadance, and Shining left. She didn’t feel there was anything for her to do. The twins were having a great time, and she knew they wouldn’t deliberately do anything to put Skyla in harm’s way. She also had a feeling they weren’t going to share her without a fight, so she just had to check in on them every now and again.
“Kids, can you come over here for a second?”
“Now, Mom?” asked Pound.
“The quicker you come the quicker you can get back to your fun.”
“Come on, Skyla!” Pumpkin said brightly, levitating the alicorn over to her so she could hold her. She gave Skyla a kiss. “We need to go see our mama real quick.”
“Mama?” said Skyla, looking around the room.
Pound gave Pumpkin a gentle slap in the back of the head. “We don’t need to remind her that her mom isn’t here. Don’t go upsetting her now, dummy.”
“I wasn’t trying to upset her,” Pumpkin replied, throwing Skyla up in the air to distract her. That got a laugh out of the foal.
Pound looked up at his mother. “Yes?” he said impatiently.
“I just wanted to remind you that Cadance did bring that notebook from Flurry, so if Skyla starts getting out of hoof then you just have to write her and she’ll come and help.”
Pumpkin nuzzled Skyla’s face. “I don’t think we’ll be needing help with this little angel.”
Cup rolled her eyes before shaking her head. “You’ve heard Pinkie’s story about you two. Babies can be very problematic when they get in the right mood.”
“We’ll keep that in mind,” said Pound. “Can we go now?”
Cup let out a little sigh. “Fine.”
In moments the sound of laughter rang through the room as Pumpkin threw Flurry up in the air again.
“I really would prefer it if you didn’t do that. If Skyla gets hurt you’ll see what I mean about baby temper tantrums.” 
Pumpkin said dismissively, “Oh, come on, Mom. It’s fine. I’ve got my magic.” She threw the baby up in the air again, catching her to another round of giggles.
“Hmph. That’s fine if you feel you’re going to miss her, but one wrong move and you might headbutt each other, or you might scrape her with your horn. An accident is one thing, but if you deliberately do something that’s dangerous for the baby, and you have to call them back, then Cadance and Shining might feel you’re not mature enough to care for their daughter. 
“You don’t want to lose this opportunity to have fun with her, do you?”
“No, Mom!” they both said quickly.
“That’s fine,” said Pound. “There’s plenty of other stuff we can do with her.”
“Yeah!” said Pumpkin, setting the foal on the floor. 
Pound trotted away. “Here I come!” He let out a little roar. “I’m gonna get you!”
“Eek!” Pumpkin cried out. “Come on, Skyla.”
“Eek!” Skyla said before laughing, her and Pumpkin trotting away from Pound.
Cup felt they had things under control now. She looked around the shop. Weekends were usually devoted to family time, as well as preparing things for their Monday opening. With the kids looking after Skyla family time was out, so it made a prime opportunity to start the set-up process. She just wasn’t in the mood to do it. 
She felt like she was always working, whether it be the shop or at being a mother or a good wife. She could use a little unwinding time.
She directed her gaze back to her children. Would they be alright without her? She reminded herself that if things got out of control they always had the magic notebook. There was no need to worry.
“Pound, Pumpkin?” Cup called out to her children.
“Yeah, Mom?” they replied, not breaking from their chase.
“Would you mind if I went down to the spa for a few hours? I could go for a little pampering.”
“Sure!” said Pound, pouncing on Pumpkin.
“Oh, no!” Pumpkin cried out dramatically. “He got me.”
“Oh, no!” Skyla said right after. “Punkin!”
“Have fun, Mom,” said Pumpkin as Pound got off her and she got back up.
Skyla scraped her hoof on the floor a few times before barking like a dog. “I monstah! Heres I come.”
“Oh, no!” the twins said as they began to run away with her, Skyla continuing to bark as she ran toward them. 
Cup went upstairs to get some money, hearing the sound of the shower as she passed by it.
When she went back downstairs she called out to her children again. “Pound, Pumpkin, your father is in the shower so just tell him where I’ve gone, okay?”
“Sure, Mom!” they replied as Skyla caught them.
“I gots you!” Skyla said happily, letting out another bark.
“You sure did!” said Pound, pulling her into a hug.
Cup smiled. If things stayed like this she thought that she wouldn’t need another spa trip right after this one.
“Bye, kids.”
“Bye, Mom!” 
Pumpkin began to roar now. “Grrrr! I’m a dragon.”
Pound gasped. “Uh-oh!”
“Uh-oh!” said Skyla. “Gotta wun!” Pound and Skyla got a small head start before Pumpkin began to chase them.
“Ah, to be young again,” said Cup as she walked out the door.
A few minutes later Carrot left the bathroom, feeling refreshed from his shower. He walked downstairs, following the sounds of happy children.
He looked at his two children playing with the baby. Skyla was smiling and laughing like crazy. Everything seemed under control. 
He went up to his kids. “Hey, there.”
“Hi, Dad,” they replied, barely giving him a look.
“Look, it’s a pretty calm day so I’d like to go out and do some shopping.”
“Okay.” Once more they were barely paying attention, having too much fun.
“Just remember that if things start getting out of control you can always call on Cadance.”
“We remember,” said Pound.
“Bye, now,” said Pumpkin.
“And make sure to tell your mother where I’ve gone,” said Carrot.
“O-kay!” said Pound.
“Bye, now!” Pumpkin said with a touch of impatience.
Carrot giggled before gently shaking his head. They were completely entranced with the baby, but he didn’t think there was any need to worry, as Skyla seemed to love them too.
He gathered his money and a few things and headed out.
Five minutes passed before the realization hit.
“Hmm?” Pound suddenly stopped trotting after Skyla, getting a confused look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” asked Pumpkin.
“Is it just me, or did Mom and Dad just leave us all alone?”
Now Pumpkin had an odd look on her face. Sure enough, she remembered that their parents had both left, thinking the other parent was there.
Pound crossed his hooves, a thoughtful look on his face. “Well, this isn’t good.”
Pumpkin went to the front door, opening it and taking a look around. There was no sign of their father anywhere. She closed the door. “I don’t see him.”
“Mmm.” Pound tapped a hoof on the floor. “You think we should call Cadance?”
“Hey!” said Pumpkin. “We’re responsible children, right? We’re just gonna do the same stuff we were already doing anyway.”
Pound’s eyebrow went up. “I guess…”
“And since we are responsible kids that means we have to do all we can to keep taking care of Skyla until they return, and that starts with making sure she’s safe.” She went to the front door and locked it. “There. Now no one can get in. We don’t open the door for anyone unless we know who they are.”
Pound gave a hearty nod. “Right.”
“Besides that…” Pumpkin put a thoughtful hoof to her chin. “Hmm, I guess there’s just more playtime, right?”
Pound nodded again. “That sounds good to me.”
> 4-2: Babies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skyla trotted over to the twins, seeing they weren’t continuing their chase game. “Hungwy!” she said with a whine.
Pound gave Skyla a hug. “No problem.”
He went over to the diaper bag, pulling out some formula and a bottle. He read the label. “This looks simple enough. A little water, a little formula, mix it up, and bang! One bottle for the hungry filly.”
Pound went to the kitchen as Pumpkin kept Skyla calm. Following the instructions he mixed up the bottle, humming to himself. 
When he returned to the living room he held up the bottle. “Here we go. One full bottle.”
Skyla let out a whimper. “Hungwy!” Her horn lit up.
The bottle flew out of Pound’s hoof and towards Skyla.
“Hey!” Pumpkin cried out as she saw the speed at which the bottle was heading towards them. She put her hoof in front of Skyla’s face, wincing at the impact as the bottle slammed into it.
“Are you alright, Pumpkin?” asked Pound. 
Pumpkin shook her hoof. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.
“You have to be more careful, Skyla. You hurt me.”
Skyla was distracted for a moment. “Huwt?” She kissed Pumpkin’s hoof. “There! All bettah!”
Pumpkin couldn’t help letting out a laugh. She’d seen it before when they were chasing each other around, but Skyla was definitely copying the people in her life.
Pound grabbed the bottle off the floor, checking the nipple for dirt and wiping it off. “Well, I don’t know if kissies alone are gonna be enough for that hoof. I think I should feed her.”
“Okay,” said Pumpkin. Her hoof was still stinging a bit. 
Pound sat down, pulling Skyla onto his lap. He put the bottle by her lips. “Okay, Skyla. Open up.”
Skyla eagerly complied, her eyes closing as she began to drink.  
Pound smiled down at her. She was so adorable. He gently rocked back and forth.
Pumpkin stared at the pair, feeling something strange. 
A few minutes later Skyla finished off her bottle, and Pound lifted her up over his shoulder, patting her back until she let out a little burp. 
“Good girl, Skyla!” Pound said as he pulled her back and nuzzled her nose.
She nuzzled him back, looking content, before she let out a little yawn.
“Aww, looks like someone is a little tired after running around and eating.” He set her down into the crock of his front legs and began to rock her. “And here’s a little something special to help you go to dreamland.”
He cleared his throat before he began to sing. “Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to go to bed.”
As Pound continued singing Pumpkin began to feel worse, that feeling inside her intensifying.
When Skyla began to snore Pound lifted her up and gave her a little kiss. “Goodnight, little Skyla. Well, it’s the middle of the day, but let’s ignore that.
“Hey, Pumpkin? Can you go grab a blanket and pillow for Skyla?”
“Huh?” she replied. “Oh, um… sure.” She got up, heading upstairs. A minute later she returned, setting them on the floor in front of Pound.
Pound heard a deep sigh, and turned to look at his sister. Pumpkin had a forlorn look on her face as she stared at Skyla.
“What’s wrong, Pumpkin?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I was just thinking.”
He continued to rock Skyla as he asked, “Thinking about what?”
“I don’t know… it’s kinda hard to explain.”
Gently setting Skyla down on the blanket he said, “Try me.”
She rubbed one of her hooves in a small circle on the floor. “I guess… I was just thinking that it wasn’t too long ago that we were still babies.”
Pound’s eyebrow went up. “That was five years ago.”
“Not really. I’m not talking about age here. You’ve said the same thing yourself, you know, about how things have gotten so complicated ever since we started going to school.”
Pound moved Skyla a little so her head was on the center of the pillow. It took him a little while to respond. “Yeah, I guess so. But… what’s your point?”
“I guess… I mean…” She looked around, trying to think of the best way to explain herself. “Looking at you taking care of Skyla… it reminded me of a simpler time, when things were easier. Back then it was just the two of us, playing without care. Except for keeping our room clean or taking our dishes to the sink we didn’t have any responsibilities. We’d fight, sure, and we’d get in trouble, but it was always over quickly.
“Now, though, things are so difficult. Tree Leaf, Peppermint, Masky, Flurry… we’ve helped a lot of ponies and made some lifelong friends, but it feels like every single one took so much effort. It was very painful.
“A part of me just… misses that simpler time, you know. For just a little while I want to go back to that.”
Pound gave her a searching look. “So what are you saying? You want to be a baby again?”
Pumpkin blushed slightly, but she nodded. “I mean, our parents and Auntie Pinkie are out. It’s only us here.  I know we can’t actually get rid of our responsibilities, but… I mean… maybe for like the next two hours or so I can pretend like it’s like it used to be.”
She let out a sigh. “Even then, it’s not going to be how I want. I just want to be taken care of, you know? Get the back rubs and the lullabies and just not care about anything, but it feels too embarrassing to ask our parents for something like that.”
Pound just stared at her for a little while. 
Pumpkin wondered if he was going to make fun of her.
Pound finally got a devious grin on his features. “Well… alright, then, Baby Cake. If you want to be a baby again then by all means. I’ll play along, ‘daughter,’ but if you’re going to do it you’re doing it properly.”
Pumpkin’s head tilted, an eyebrow going up as Pound went towards the bag with Skyla’s supplies in it. “What does that mean?”
Pound pulled something out of the bag, then before she could react he had shoved her to the ground.
“Hey!” she complained. “Whoa!” she said right after as Pound lifted her back legs. She felt something going up her legs. “What are you doing?” After a few more seconds he released her, and Pumpkin looked down to see he had put a diaper on her. 
“Oh, no way!” Her face was now beet red.  “I’m not wearing that!”
Pound got in her face, his grin wide. “You’re the one who said you wanted to be a baby again, so you need a diaper.”
“Why? So you can tell everyone in school? Or take a picture so you can blackmail me?”
The devious look on Pound’s face faded. “Oh, come on! You know me better than that.”   Pumpkin just gave him a flat look. 
Pound rolled his eyes. “Give me a break. We’re siblings, which means whatever affects one of us affects the other. You think I want to be known as the colt whose school-age sister was wearing a diaper? It would be just as humiliating for me as it would be for you.”
Pumpkin considered that, and thought it sounded plausible, but she still wasn’t sure. 
Pound let out a sigh, shaking his head. “Fine.” He moved his hooves in the usual way. “I Pinkie Promise I won’t tell anyone at school about this. Now can I just get to enjoy this? You’re ruining the hilarity.”
That was that. If Pound had Pinkie Promised that meant she was safe. Even so, the idea of wearing a diaper wasn’t too appealing, but it was for the game. “Fine.”
“Finally!” Pound said. His annoyance faded as Pumpkin stood up and he began chuckling to himself.
Pumpkin tried to ignore him, but she couldn’t help but blush a bit.
Pound had a big grin on his face. He had no intentions of publically humiliating Pumpkin for this, but he thought he’d personally enjoy this sight for a long time.
Getting his merriment under control he said, “Well?”
Pumpkin pulled her eyes from her diapered rear. “Huh?”
“You’re a baby now, right? I mean, that’s what all this was for, right? So act like a baby.”
Pumpkin sucked on her cheek. She was starting to regret this. With Pound’s Pinkie Promise she knew he wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about this, but from his mocking grin she had a feeling he wasn’t going to let her live this down regardless. 
But wasn’t that the point? To let go of everything for a little while? If she didn’t follow through then she had put herself through this embarrassment for nothing. She had gone this far, she might as well take it all the way. 
She began crawling on the floor, hoping that this wasn’t going to go horribly.
“Aww, isn’t that cute?” said Pound, walking up to Pumpkin and rubbing her head. “You’re just precious.”
Pumpkin resisted the urge to bite him. She forced a smile, copying Skyla as she said, “Hungwy!”
“You too?” He let out a sigh. “And you just ate a little while ago. You’re gonna get fat. Well, fat-TER.” He laughed at himself until Pumpkin’s horn lit up, knocking him onto his back.
“Oh, no!” she said sarcastically, still trying to keep her baby voice. “Magic surge. Oops.”
Pound stood up, a smug look on his face. “Magic surge, my flank.” He slowly shook his head. “Maybe the naughty baby needs a spanking to remind her how to behave.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, her horn lighting up as she hovered in the air. “If you can catch me.”
Pound unfurled his wings. “Have you forgotten? I can fly now.” He took off, charging toward her as Pumpkin’s horn stopped glowing and she landed on the ground.
As Pound flew over her she took off toward the kitchen, laughing. 
“Get back here!” Pound called out, chasing after her as Pumpkin went through the sliding doors.
He avoided the doors entirely, flying over them. He looked back and forth, not seeing any sign of his sister. “Hmm… now where could the naughty baby be?”
He heard the creaking of a cabinet door. “Aha!” He flew towards it, opening it only to find some pots and pans. 
On the other side of the room he heard another door move, and raced towards it, only to once again see no sign of his sister. It occurred to him that he was being played for a fool. She was using her magic to move the cabinets.
He sucked on his cheek for a few moments before getting an idea. “Oh, forget it!” he said loudly, flying towards the sliding doors and bucking them open. He quickly flew to the top of the fridge, landing soundlessly.
He only had to wait a short while before another cabinet opened, and Pumpkin came out, laughing victoriously to herself. 
Pound smirked as he began to flap his wings and hovered until he was in a good position behind her, then he descended.
“Got you!” Pound called out as he grabbed his sister, making her let out a scream. 
His triumph didn’t last. He wasn’t used to flying with the weight of an extra pony on him, and he quickly fell to the ground, both of them tumbling over and over a few times.
Both of them were feeling a little sore from the impact. It only got worse for Pound when Pumpkin gave him a hard smack.
“Pound, you dummyhead!” she said angrily. “What did you do that for?”
Pound wiped his cheek. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t think it would be so hard to fly with another pony.” Despite the pain he couldn’t help but chuckle. “It’s been forever since you called me dummyhead. You’re really getting that baby mindset going, huh?”
Pumpkin glared at him.
“Alright, alright!” He looked back towards the kitchen. “Why don’t I get you some nice chocolate chip cookies and milk?”
“Hmph! Fine!” She stomped off to a kitchen seat.
“Mmm. She’s pretty mad.” Unfurling his wings again he went to one of the upper cabinets to grab a plate and an empty glass. Not for the first time he was glad he could fly. It just made doing things so much easier. 
Once he had everything ready he set it on the table in front of Pumpkin, who began digging in silently.
After a few cookies Pound said, “I’m sorry, Pumpkin. I guess I just wasn’t thinking. I’m still getting used to this. I didn’t think it would be so difficult to stay airborne holding another pony.”
Pumpkin didn’t respond. He waited for a little while until it became obvious she had no intention of speaking, then he left the kitchen to return to the living room. 
He sat down in front of Skyla, seeing her still sound asleep. He let out a sigh as he gently ran a hoof through her mane. “Babies have it so easy, don’t they?”
Pound got a strange look on his face, much like Pumpkin did earlier. He felt like he was starting to understand what Pumpkin had been talking about. He had gone through a lot of stress when he first started school. He had to endure constant teasing from bullies about the fact he was the worst in his class. Then he got into that big fight with Pumpkin and felt like he never wanted to go back to school again. 
He had been the one who felt like he had lost the most. He had felt so outclassed by his sister, when earlier he had been the leader.
Now Pumpkin was mad at him for accidentally hurting her. No one would stay mad at a baby for making a mistake like that. It wasn’t like they could help what they did.
A few minutes later Pumpkin returned to the living room too. She was in a better mood now. 
She could see he looked pretty bummed out. “Hey, you big dummyhead,” she said cheerfully. “I guess I forgive you. I mean, it’s not like you can help being stupid.”
He knew she was joking with him, and that made him feel a little better.
“Hey, Pumpkin?” he said.
“What’s up?”
“I… well, I, um…” He blushed slightly. “I guess I want to play too.”
Pumpkin blinked, a little surprised. “Really?”
He nodded. “It would be fun to go back in time for a little bit.”
“Aw, Pound.” She gave him a hug. “I’m really glad to hear that.”
“You are? Why?”
Pumpkin’s horn started glowing, a diaper coming out of the diaper bag. Much like he had done to her she pushed him onto his back as she grinned down at him, sliding the diaper up his legs. “Oh, I feel SO much better now.”
“Hey!” Pound complained.
Pumpkin put her face right in front of his, looking at him smugly. “Hey, if you’re going to pretend to be a baby then you’re doing it properly.”
Pound got a sour look on his face as she repeated his words from before. He crossed his front legs. “You better watch out or I’ll mess myself. How’s THAT for doing it properly?”
Pumpkin backed up in disgust, her tongue sticking out her mouth as she fought not to gag. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
Pound sat up. “Duh! That would be completely gross. I’m not THAT interested in playing the part of a baby.”
A few seconds passed, then Pound said, “Well, now what? If we’re both babies who is supposed to be the parent here?”
“Why do we need a parent? We’re babies, remember? We do whatever we want without thinking of the consequences.”
“Well, I don’t mind getting a little wild and crazy, but I think we need to agree that Skyla must come first.”
Pumpkin nodded. “If anything bad happened to Skyla then Flurry would probably kill us.”
“Yeah.” After a few seconds Pound chuckled a bit. “You look ridiculous.”
Pumpkin giggled in return. “Same to you.”
They both began to laugh harder.
Pound wiped a tear from his eye. “So now what? I don’t feel like making a huge mess because we’re gonna have to clean it up anyway and we don’t know when Mom and Dad are gonna be back.”
Pumpkin scratched her head. “I get what you mean. I started all this because I wanted to get away from our responsibilities for a little while, but most of the stuff I can think of would be harmful or make a mess. And we definitely don’t want either of those if we ever want a chance of foalsitting Skyla again.”
Pound tapped a hoof. “This would be easier if there was someone around to annoy. What’s the point of doing bad things if there’s no one around to get mad for it?”
“Well… babies don’t really do ‘bad’ things. They just don’t know any better yet. That’s why they can’t get in trouble for anything.”
“I guess…” Pound slowly moved his head around. “Well, let’s just do whatever comes to mind. We’re thinking about it too much. Babies don’t really think. They just do stuff.”
They began chasing each other around, doing baby talk, but it didn’t take long before Pound came to a stop, causing Pumpkin to do the same.
“What’s wrong, Pound?”
He shrugged. “This isn’t as much fun as I thought it would be. I mean, I want to let go and just not care, but I can’t.”
“Hmm…” Pumpkin walked over to the diaper bag and began rummaging through it. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying. It’s just not as much fun if both of us are pretending to be babies.”
She stood up, her horn glowing as she turned back to him. “So I got a solution for that problem.”
“And what’s that?” he asked. “Mmph!” Pound backed up as something suddenly went into his mouth. He looked down and saw that Pumpkin had levitated a pacifier over to him.
“There you go! A good way to settle down the whining baby.”
Pound gave her a dirty look as she laughed at him.
The expression on his face only made Pumpkin laugh harder.
Pound tried to pull the pacifier out of his mouth, but Pumpkin’s magic held it in place.
“Aww, wook at da widdle baby with his widdle pacifier.”
Pound growled.
“Uh-oh! Da baby is getting mad. I guess that pacifier’s not working too well. Maybe the grumpy baby needs a nap.”
As Pumpkin’s head went back with her laughter Pound tackled her to the ground. When Pumpkin’s magic faded he spat the pacifier at her, hitting her on the head. “Is it still funny now?” he asked fiercely.
Pumpkin returned his angry look. “You sure you want to do this?”
Pound got his face right in hers so their forehead’s touched. “You bet, coward.”
“Coward?” she asked, confused despite her annoyance.
“All you unicorns are stinking cowards. Us pegasi and earth ponies have to use our own strength to fight, but all you do is light up your stupid horn because you don’t have the guts to fight yourself.”
Pumpkin met his stare for a few moments before she suddenly lifted her back hooves and flipped him off of her.
He landed on his back, quickly standing up as they once more glared at each other. 
Pumpkin’s horn lit up, pulling him closer until their foreheads touched again. “You talk like I need magic to beat a loser like you. So have it your way. No magic it is.”
Pound got a smug look on his face. “You just lost.”
Pumpkin got into a ready stance. “Bring it on. Mom and Dad aren’t here to save you today.”
The pair began to wrestle, both of them trying to get up top.
Pound growled as he pulled his sister to the ground, both of them rolling around.
Eventually Pound got the upper hand, sitting on top of Pumpkin as she lay on her stomach, pulling on her front legs painfully with his own.
Pound let out a victory laugh. “Come on, Pumpkin! Let’s see that magic of yours. You know there’s no other way to beat me.”
Pumpkin let out a cry of pain as Pound gave another yank to her legs. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of surrendering or using her magic, but in the position she was in she didn’t have any good leverage.
“Give up!”
She refused. After another bit of pain as he pulled on her again she got an idea. She tilted her head, jamming her horn against his leg. It wasn’t sharp, so it didn’t cut him, but it did hurt enough that he released her.
With one leg free she pushed off and turned, knocking Pound onto his back again. The lingering pain from his rough treatment of her legs made her lose restraint, and she socked him one.
Pound rubbed his cheek for a moment, but then the pain only added fuel to his fire.
Now it was just a straight-up fight. Both of them grunted and yelled and cursed as they strove for dominance.
After a minute they both became aware of a rumbling on the floor, though at first they paid it no mind.
That quickly changed as a scream came from nearby. “BE QUIET!” 
Turning to look their eyes went wide as Skyla began flying in the air in a sphere of magic, lightning coming off of it and her eye’s pure white. Her growl of frustration sounded magically amplified, echoing like there were two of her.
The pair gulped as they realized their fight had woken Skyla from her nap, and she clearly wasn’t happy about that.
> 4-3: Caught
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skyla was steaming, magic pouring off of her as she floated in the air.
“Uh-oh,” whispered Pound. “We woke the baby.”
“Not good, not good,” Pumpkin whispered back.
She quickly scanned the area. “Um… the notebook?”
Pound grimaced. “I left it upstairs. I didn’t think we were actually going to have any trouble.”
Pumpkin let out a whimper. “Pound, if we get out of this alive remind me to call you a dummyhead.”
Pound gave a timid nod. “You bet.”
They both began to tremble as Skyla got a little closer to them.
“C-can’t you go get the book?” asked Pumpkin.
“I-I-I’m scared to move,” he replied.
“I don’t blame you.”
Pound looked around, spying Skyla’s diaper bag. “Um, um… Pumpkin, grab the bag with your magic.”
“Why?”
“Flurry told us she had a favorite stuffed animal as a baby, and I think I spotted one in there before.”
“I sure hope you’re right.” She gulped, hoping that her horn’s glow wouldn’t draw Skyla’s fire.
Instead of pulling the bag over Pumpkin tilted it on its side, causing most of its contents to spill out. 
Skyla’s head whipped around at the noise. “QUIET!” she screamed, making both of them flinch.
Pumpkin was slowly panting, her heart racing a mile a minute. She quickly rummaged through the stuff as quietly as she could until she uncovered a stuffed dog.
She lifted it in the air, putting it near Skyla. It took three tries to get her voice to come out as more than a whisper.
Pound was holding tight to Pumpkin, hoping this would work.
Finally, Pumpkin was able to adopt a silly voice as she made the dog dance, hoping that Skyla wouldn’t fry them both once she began talking.
“Oh, Skyla, why so sad?” She began moving the dog left and right, and Skyla followed its progress with her head. “I think someone needs a big hug to make them smile. Smile, smile, smile.”
Both of them waited with bated breath, still shaking all the while.
Slowly, the sphere of magic surrounding Skyla vanished and her eyes returned to normal. She hugged the dog to her as she slowly sank down to the ground, and then started crying.
Pound and Pumpkin sank to the ground, getting oxygen back in their systems.
Pound wiped sweat off his brow. “C-crisis averted.”
“Y-yeah,” Pumpkin replied. “Oh, boy. That was scary.”
Once they caught their breath they returned their attention to Skyla, who was still crying loudly and hugging her stuffed animal.
“We broke our word,” said Pound guiltily. “We said that Skyla would come before our game, but we were both being so immature we woke her up. And now she’s really sad.”
Pumpkin hung her head too. “Well, we made a mistake. Now we can start making up for it.”
They approached Skyla.
Pound adopted a sugary-sweet voice. “Oh, Skyla, I didn’t mean to wake you up. I’m so sorry.”
Pumpkin took on the same tone. “I’m sorry too. We’ll be quiet now.”
Skyla suddenly stopped crying and glared hard at them, freezing them in place again.
She got up, stomping over to them. She lifted the twins up in the air, putting them into separate corners. “You fight. Fight bad! Now you sit in the cornah an’ tink about what you did!”
The twins looked at each other, shrugging. If that was the worst Skyla did to them then that was fine.
Pound turned towards Skyla, seeing her sitting down with both sets of legs crossed, fuming.
It was kind of awkward, being punished by a baby, but neither of them wanted to set Skyla off further. She was definitely cranky after being woken from her nap. 
For a few minutes they stood there, staring into the corner, hoping that Skyla would fall back asleep. Or, at the least, calm down.
They got their wish soon enough. They were suddenly floating again as Skyla set the two of them down in front of each other. “Now you say you sorry!”
Pound bowed his head. “I’m sorry, Pumpkin.”
“I’m sorry too, Pound,” said Pumpkin.
“Good!” said Skyla. “Fight bad! No mo’ fight!”
“Okay, Skyla,” Pound said soothingly. “We won’t fight anymore.”
He picked up the filly and began to rock her much like before. “I’m sorry we woke you up.” He nuzzled her face. 
Skyla didn’t return the gesture, looking like she wasn’t sure whether she was ready to be coaxed out of her bad mood. She pushed his head away, saying again, “Don’ fight.”
“We won’t.” He threw her up into the air, catching her on the way down. That got a small laugh from the foal, but nothing like the barrel of laughs it got before. He knew his mom had warned him about the dangers, but he had to do something to get her in a happy mood again.
She was looking a little less cranky, at least.
“You want to go back to your nap now?”
“No!” she said, giving him a sour look. “Want to play!”
“Okay, then.” He set her on the floor.
“Why don’t we be animals?” said Pumpkin. She got into a squatting position and began to hop. “Ribbit!” she called out.
Pound copied her.
Skyla watched the two of them for a short while before she got into the same position. “Dibbit!” she said as she hopped, looking a little happier.
She wasn’t used to hopping, and so on her third hop she fell flat on her face.
The twins got panicked looks on their faces.
Skyla had a grumpy look on her face again as Pumpkin lifted her back to a sitting position. 
“Oh, no!” Pound said, holding onto her. “You fell down.” He rubbed her forehead, desperately hoping she wasn’t about to have another meltdown.
“No want be frog!”
“Okay, okay!” Pumpkin said quickly, scared of setting Skyla off again. “Would you like to go for a ride again?”
Skyla glared at her for a few seconds before giving a small nod. 
Pumpkin helped Skyla onto Pound’s back, and Pound took off. 
At first Skyla was stone-faced as Pound trotted around, but as Pound went faster she began to smile, and it wasn’t long before she began giggling again. 
Skyla ran the pair ragged. Every time they stopped to catch their breath she would get furious. She wasn’t nearly as cooperative as before, having little patience for not getting what she wanted immediately. They were too frightened of angering Skyla to try and talk her out of her fun.
They began switching off when they’d grow tired, Pumpkin using her magic to quickly swap Skyla between her and her brother.
They were the ones doing all the work now, so any hope they had of Skyla tiring herself back out didn’t seem likely.
Eventually, even their combined efforts weren't enough. Pound flopped to the ground with Skyla on his back, exhausted. He was panting up a storm.
“Hey!” the foal complained. “Giddyup! Giddyup! Wanna run!”
“Too… tired.”
Pumpkin tried to lift Skyla up in her magic, but she was pooped too. “C-come on, Skyla.” She lay on her belly near Pound. “We need a break. I feel like I need a nap now.”
Skyla moved back and forth on Pound a few times, still trying to get him to continue running around with her, but he remained immobile. 
She pouted as she got off Pound’s back, and went to grab her stuffed animal, hugging it to her. All the running around had gotten her into a better mood now, so she wasn’t as explosive as before.
As she stared at the twins she thought of what Pumpkin had said about needing a nap. Memories of things her mother had done for her surfaced, and she got a little smile on her face.
She set her toy down and walked over to the overturned diaper bag, grabbing a few things.
The twins had been glad for the brief reprieve, but that went right out the window when Skyla lifted them up in the air.
They glanced at each other in a panic, thinking Skyla was about to do something bad to them, but it quickly changed to confusion as Skyla began to gently rock them back and forth in the air.
Pumpkin let out a cry of surprise when she suddenly had a pacifier in her mouth.
Pound did feel a certain sense of satisfaction after the stunt she pulled earlier that started their fight in the first place, but it didn’t last when Skyla pushed an empty bottle in his own mouth.
Skyla began to gently bob back and forth as she began to sing.
She didn’t know half the words and her singing voice wasn’t that good, but they both recognized it as the lullaby they had been singing to her earlier. 
The two shared a look. There really wasn’t anything they could do. Skyla was finally allowing them to rest, and they didn’t want to kick up a fuss when they were so tired from the exercise.
Pound pretended to drink from his empty bottle, while Pumpkin absentmindedly sucked on the pacifier, too tired to think about what she was doing.
Her eyes began to droop from the constant gentle rocking and her own fatigue.
***
Cup was feeling refreshed as she walked home. That spa treatment had really done the trick. She just felt so relaxed. 
She turned the final corner to her home, and she paused for a moment at what she saw.
Carrot had completed his errands. He had a few things in his saddlebag neatly tucked away. He turned the corner to Sugarcube Corner, and stopped.
“Cup?” he said in surprise
“Carrot?” she responded back.
The two began quickly walking towards each other.
As they reached their front door they stopped, and began talking at the same time.
“What are you doing here?
“I went out for a little while.
“But I thought you were home!
“Didn’t the kids tell you I left?”
The two of them stared at each other for a few moments. “Wait a minute,” said Cup, a rising horror building up inside. “If we both went out then that means that Pound and Pumpkin were-”
They gasped, Carrot grimacing and Cup putting a hoof to her mouth as they realized they had left their children all alone.
Carrot tried the door, finding it locked. He let out a sigh of relief. “Well, at least they were smart enough to do that.”
Cup went into her bag, pulling out her key as she unlocked the door.
Opening the door the two of them went inside.
They started to call out to their children when they stopped dead, confusion and bewilderment on their faces.
They expected to see their kids still playing with the baby. What they didn’t expect was seeing them acting like babies themselves, with the actual baby seemingly taking care of them.
Skyla was levitating them in the air, gently rocking them and, while she didn’t really know the words, was seemingly singing them a lullaby.
Cup put a hoof to her cheek, amusement playing across it now as Carrot bit his lip as he tried not to burst out in laughter.
“So who’s the baby, and who’s the foalsitter here?” asked Cup, causing the twins eyes to widen as they glanced towards their parents, their cheeks turning crimson.



> 4-4: Humiliation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The twins were mortified. Their parents had just walked in on them looking like babies and being rocked to sleep by Skyla.
Carrot began laughing as Cup shook her head. “I guess the baby really is in charge here,” said Cup.
“Which one?” asked Carrot, making both of them laugh.
Skyla stopped her singing as she set Pound and Pumpkin onto the pillow, saying, “Nigh-nigh, Pound. Nigh-nigh, Pumpkin.” 
The twins jumped up, Pumpkin’s horn glowing as she tried to covertly remove her and Pound’s diapers.
Carrot smirked. “Y’know, Pumpkin, that doesn’t help much when you still have the pacifier in your mouth.”
Pumpkin blushed red hot as she spat it out. She felt like she was going to die of embarrassment.
“Well,” said Cup, “it sure seems like you found a way to entertain yourselves while we were gone, although I thought I left two kindergartners in charge of a baby, not two other babies.”
Neither of them answered her, too humiliated to speak.
Pound let out a groan, covering his face with a hoof.
Skyla began to grow angry. She didn’t quite understand what was going on, but she did understand that the twins were getting upset. 
She put a hoof to her mouth. “Shhh! You makin’ too much noise.”
That got everyone looking toward Skyla.
Pound and Pumpkin let out a yelp as they were placed back on the floor, the blanket following. “Is nap time. Have’ta go seep.”
“Skyla,” started Cup, but she wasn’t able to get out any more.
“SHHHHHHHH!” she said, louder. “You is gon’ wake dem up. They go seep now!”
Pound sat up, his face still burning like the sun. “Skyla, I don’t feel tired anymore.”
“Me, neither,” said Pumpkin, sitting up as well. “I can’t sleep now.”
Skyla’s eyes widened and her mouth hung open for a few moments. Then her eyes narrowed as she glared at Cup and Carrot. “Now wook what you did! When pony go seep they need QUIET! You did a bad!”
Skyla’s horn began glowing, and Cup and Carrot were lifted into the air.
“Hey!” said Pound, uncertain of what she was going to do.
But their panic was unfounded, as Skyla simply put their parents in a corner like she had done to them. “You do bad! Now you sit in da cornah and tink about what you did!”
The twins began to laugh a little. They still felt embarrassed beyond belief, but seeing Skyla be the disciplinarian towards their parents did take the sting out just a bit. 
Cup chortled to herself. “You aren’t really expecting us to let a baby tell us what to do, are you?”
Pound rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. “Well, Skyla almost had a meltdown earlier when we woke her from her nap. She’s been pretty cranky ever since. I wouldn’t anger her.”
Carrot playfully rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Well, you two get back to your nap and your diapers, then. We’ll be here.”
The twins both groaned. Pumpkin had thought it was bad enough when just Pound knew about this. 
They flopped to the ground, letting out sighs.
Skyla saw the miserable looks on their faces, and she started feeling sad. She turned her head, lifting up her stuffed dog and bringing it over to her. She hugged it to her, hesitating for a few moments, before she held it out to them.
“Is Woof Woof. You hug. Make you feel bettah.”
A hint of a smile crossed Pound’s mouth for a moment. Skyla didn’t understand the cause of their distress, but she was still trying to cheer them up. It quickly faded. He might have taken her “Woof Woof” if only to humor her, but he didn’t want to give their parents any more reasons to mock them.
Pumpkin was feeling much the same. She rubbed Skyla’s head. “Thank you, Skyla, but Woof Woof is your toy. You keep her.”
Skyla frowned as she hugged Woof Woof to her.
After a minute Cup asked, “Have we been punished enough, Skyla?”
The foal looked over, distracted by the twin’s sadness. “Say sorry.”
Cup and Carrot went over by the twins. “So sorry we woke you,” Cup said in a humorous voice.
“I just feel terrible,” said Carrot in the same tone.
The twins were so subdued that neither of them had it in them to keep teasing them.
Cup gave Pound a kiss on the forehead. “We’ll let you get back to your business.”
The pair went upstairs.
Pound and Pumpkin played with Skyla for the next half hour, but their hearts weren’t in it anymore. They put on a brave face, acting cheery on the outside for her sake, but on the inside they felt terrible.
It was a relief when Twilight, Cadance, and Shining came back earlier than they expected.
“Hello!” Cadance said when Pound opened the door.
Skyla’s head whipped around at the sound of her mother’s voice. “MAMA!” she said happily, her horn glowing as she zoomed toward her.
Cadance pulled on her with her own magic to reduce her speed so the foal didn’t knock her over. She held Skyla to her, kissing her forehead. “Hello, Skyla,” she said lovingly. “Did you have fun?”
Skyla gave a big nod. “Uh-huh! Big fun! Run ‘round. Go fast.”
“Glad to hear it.”
Cup peeked down the bottom of the stairs. “Did someone knock?”
Twilight called up. “Hey, there! We’re back.”
“Hello, Princess!” She walked down the stairs. “How was your day?”
“Just great.” She grinned widely. “It’s always lovely to spend time with my brother and the world’s best foalsitter.”
Carrot left his room and came down the stairs too. 
Shining took his daughter from Cadance, nuzzling her nose. “Hello there, my beautiful Skyla.”
Skyla giggled as she nuzzled him back. “Daddy!” she said happily.
“So did everything go well?” asked Cadance, looking down at the twins.
“Just fine,” said Carrot. “These two really know how to get into the mindset of a foal.”
Cup snorted, putting a hoof to her mouth.
The twins faces went red, both of them silently praying their parents weren’t about to spill the scene they had walked in on. To their relief their father didn’t continue, so they thought they might be safe.
Cadance gave them a questioning look, feeling like she was missing something. “Well, Skyla seems perfectly fine and happy, so it seems you did a great job.”
“No,” said Pound, hanging his head. “We were terrible foalsitters.” 
“Come on,” said Twilight. “I doubt it was that bad. The house is in one piece.”
Pumpkin shook her head. “That’s only because we got lucky. We were supposed to be responsible and mature, and we screwed it up royally.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Shining. 
“We were too busy playing to pay attention to our parents, so we were left alone for a few hours when they each left the house to do some stuff.”
“What?” asked Cadance, her eyes going wide.
Pound sighed. “We were supposed to tell Dad that Mom had left, but we didn’t even realize it until a few minutes later, and by that point it was too late.”
Pumpkin continued, “And Skyla almost went on a rampage when we woke her from a nap because we were annoying each other and fighting.”
“Come on,” said Shining. “Do you really think you’re the only ones that have woken her up from a nap? There’s no need to beat yourself up over that.”
Cadance flipped through the magic notebook. “Did we miss your message?”
Pumpkin shook her head. “There wasn’t any message. Skyla was so happy and fun that we didn’t think she would be any trouble, even though Mom warned us about the things we did when we were babies.”
“I left the notebook upstairs in our room,” said Pound. “And with Skyla looking like she was going to go berserk we were both too afraid to move.”
Cadance did a quick sweep of the living room. “From what I can tell Skyla didn’t cause any damage to the store.”
Pumpkin shrugged. “Pound remembered a stuffed animal in the diaper bag, and I pulled it out and did a silly voice with it. It calmed her down before she could destroy anything. She didn’t want to go back to sleep so we gave her rides until she cheered up.”
“So what’s the problem?” asked Twilight. “You were left alone, but you thought on your hooves and stopped a disaster before it happened. It sure seems you made the best of a bad situation. I don’t know how many times I have to remind you, but no one is perfect, especially not me.”
“Twily is right,” said Shining. “I’d never call myself a perfect parent. I remember a time when Cadance had just gotten Skyla to sleep, and I came in excited and loud. Cadance got pretty mad at that. These things happen.”
Cadance turned Skyla to them. “Skyla said she had a lot of fun with both of you. She clearly thinks you did a good job, despite your mistakes.”
Pound bowed. In a subdued voice he said, “Thank you for your words, but it doesn’t make me feel better. What happened with Skyla isn’t even the real issue.”
Pumpkin bowed too. “Yeah, that has little to do with what we’re feeling.”
“So what is the issue then?” asked Twilight curiously.
Getting back to an upright position neither of them answered the question. “Goodbye, everyone,” said Pound, turning towards the stairs and heading toward them.
“Goodbye,” said Pumpkin, following him. “Thanks for letting us watch Skyla.”
“Hey!” said Twilight. “Hold on now. If there’s a problem you have let’s work on it together.”
Pound stopped and shook his head. “But you can’t help us. This isn’t a problem you can fix.”
Pumpkin stopped as well. “What was it you said to Crystal? That there are problems you can’t solve because you’re not the right person for the job?”
“Yes,” said Twilight. “I said that. But even if I can’t solve it myself I might be able to direct you to someone that could.”
“But they’re already here,” said Pumpkin. “And we’re not sure we want to talk to them right now.”
Cup and Carrot glanced at each other, guilt upon their faces.
“So that’s it,” said Pound. “We’ve done our job, so we’re going.”
As the twins began to walk again Skyla pulled out of her father’s grip and flew in front of them holding Woof Woof. 
She lifted it up in her magic. “Why so sad?” she said in a silly voice, making it dance. “Smile, smile, smile!”
The pair stared at her. Even in the midst of her breakdown earlier she still remembered Pumpkin’s words enough to copy them once again. 
Both of them sat down, hugging Skyla. It did make them feel a little better.
Skyla smiled as she hugged them back. 
When they released her they had small smiles on their faces. “Thank you, Skyla,” said Pumpkin. “We needed that.”
“Thank you,” said Pound, rubbing her head.
Seeing them smiling made Skyla happy. She waved to them. “Bye, Poun’. Bye, Punkin’.”
They waved back. “Goodbye, Skyla,” they replied as she ran back to her mother.
With that out of the way they continued where they left off, going upstairs to their rooms.
When they were gone Twilight turned to Cup and Carrot. “So what’s going on? Going by their words it seems like they have an issue with you that needs to be settled.”
Cadance had a thoughtful look on her face. “I noticed that when you mentioned the twins being good at getting into the mind of a foal that Cup laughed and the two of them looked uncomfortable. I thought it was odd, but now I’m thinking it has something to do with this.”
Cup sighed. "Well, me and Carrot both came back at the same time, and when we walked in Pound and Pumpkin were…” She stopped. After a few moments she said, “Well, I don’t want to say what it was, but they were in an embarrassing position. It was so unexpected we couldn’t help but laugh at it. It seems they’re taking it harder than we thought.”
“So they’re feeling a bit humiliated?” said Twilight.
“It seems that way,” said Carrot.
Twilight closed her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them she said, “As Pound and Pumpkin said it doesn’t seem I have any role to play here. This seems like the sort of thing that needs to be sorted out between the four of you, so we should go and let you take care of that.”
“Right,” said Cup with a  nod.
“Good luck,” said Shining. “And thank you again for looking after our daughter.”
“You’re welcome,” said Carrot. “Farewell.”
Once the four of them left Cup and Carrot began to walk up the stairs towards their children’s rooms.
> 4-5: Intimacy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cup and Carrot were standing outside Pound and Pumpkin’s room.
The door wasn’t closed, so they peeked in. Both of their children were on their bellies facing away from them. 
Carrot gave a gentle knock on the door. “Hey, there,” he said in a quiet voice. “Can we come in?”
He didn’t get an answer, but they weren’t barred from entering either, so they walked in, both of them sitting on the edge of the bed. Cup sat on Pound’s bed, while Carrot sat on Pumpkin’s. 
“Listen,” said Cup, “we’re sorry if we upset you earlier, but we couldn’t help laughing.”
“I’m sure everyone else got a great big laugh out of it when you told them,” said Pound, sniffing.
“We didn’t tell them anything,” said Carrot.
“Why not?” asked Pumpkin emotionlessly. “Was the crowd not big enough? Or did you just want to do it in public so everyone can laugh at us forever?”
“Come on, now,” Cup said gently, putting a hoof on Pound’s back. “I’m sure if you came home from school and saw us in diapers you’d be laughing your heads off about it.”
“Probably,” said Pound. “So what’s your point? You gonna tell all your friends about it so they can laugh at us too?”
“Of course not, Pound! We didn’t tell Twilight and the rest. What we walked in on will stay between the four of us.” She stood up and went to the side of the bed so he could see her, and moved her hooves in the usual way. “Pinkie Promise.” 
Pound turned his head, moving to a sitting position but not looking at her.
“Pinkie Promise,” said Carrot, also going through the motions.
Pumpkin let out a sigh of relief before she too got to a sitting position. 
Cup looked at her sons face. “Even though we’ve said that you still don’t look too happy about it.”
“You just don’t get it!” Pound said angrily.
“I know we don’t. So please talk to us.”
“That was so humiliating!” Pumpkin said in frustration, tears welling up in her eyes. “And you don’t even know why it happened.”
“So tell us,” said Carrot, gently rubbing Pumpkin’s head.
“Earlier, when Pound was making formula for Skyla she got too eager and nearly smacked herself in the face with her bottle and I blocked it with my hoof, and it hurt, so Pound had to feed her. And as I was watching him, feeding her and rocking her and singing to her and just being so loving, I just… I started feeling kinda jealous. Or, I don’t know, that I missed being a baby.”
Carrot hesitated a moment, then he reached his hooves out and gently tugged at her. For a second it looked like she was going to throw his hooves off of her, but then it passed and she let herself be picked up and put on his lap.
Cup saw Pound staring at his sister, and sat down again. Without any prompting from her he quickly climbed up onto her own lap.
“So go on,” said Cup as she put her hooves around his belly.
“The whole diapers thing wasn’t our own idea,” said Pound. “When Pumpkin said that I forced one on her because I thought it would be funny. And later on when I said I wanted to play too she returned the favor.”
“The pacifier and the bottle were Skyla’s idea,” said Pumpkin. “Trying to imitate her mom she took care of us like Cadance does for her.”
“Well, going by her behavior earlier we can definitely see that Skyla’s at the age where she’s copying everything she sees,” said Carrot.
“So what does this all come down to?” asked Cup. “What is the main issue?”
Pound sighed. “We just… wanted to get away from responsibility for a little while. We already went through this with me, back when me and Pumpkin got into that huge fight the day she got her glasses. Everything just feels so different now that we’re going to school. I took forever to fly, and things are so much more complicated.”
“We’ve made a lot of friends,” said Pumpkin, “but only after a lot of pain and sadness.”
“And even if I was the one who asked for it, I still had a princess giving me an order to reform someone.”
“And it’s not only that!” Pumpkin shivered. “During Fluttershy’s party, when Mayhem was still evil, he took over us and tried to use us to kill you!”
Pound winced, tears coming down his eyes. “We almost lost you forever, and the only way to stop him had US almost dying.”
“We’ve just been through so much since last year, and things are only going to get harder.”
“Sometimes it feels like it’s too much to take!”
Cup and Carrot both hugged their children tightly. They had seen Mayhem’s growth with their own eyes, his affection for Fluttershy outweighing his desire for destruction. And so, while they didn’t hold his past against the little draconequus, they also couldn’t forget the day he had come into their lives.
It was the closest they had ever came to death, and Mayhem had tried to use their own children to do it. They had been able to get the twins to overcome his influence through encouragement, but the kids knew they couldn’t maintain that control for long and so shrunk from their giant sized forms to regular size, hoping an overload of magic in their bodies would kill them and deprive Mayhem of a host.
They could easily say that was the worst day of their lives. Their six year old children, putting their lives on the line… trying to sacrifice themselves. They could still remember the screams of agony coming from them as Discord’s magic began to take its toll on their bodies. 
Even after Discord’s magic had been purged out of them they had still taken an extensive amount of damage, burns covering their body.
“You have been through a lot,” said Cup. “You’ve been through things no kid should have to suffer through.”
“But how long have you been feeling this way?” asked Carrot. “I hope this isn’t something you’ve been keeping buried for months and months.”
“No,” said Pumpkin. “It really only started today.”
“We already know that we can’t go back,” said Pound. “There’s always another pony that’s going to need help, after all. 
“We just… wanted to get away from it all for a bit, even if it was just pretending.”
“But… it didn’t really make me feel better. Acting like a baby wasn’t that much fun.”
“Yeah.” Pound nodded. “It didn’t give us what we wanted.”
Pumpkin sighed. “I don’t blame you for laughing when you came home. You’re right. We would have found it hysterical if we saw that.” That did get a small chuckle out of her as she tried to imagine it, but like earlier the brief happiness didn’t last.
“I agree. It would have been funny to see, but you laughing at us, and being scared you were going to tell everyone… it just added even more stress.”
Carrot took in a slow breath. “Are you mad at us?”
“What?” said Pumpkin, looking surprised at the question. “No… no. We’re not mad. It was just really embarrassing. And since you Pinkie Promised not to tell anyone else there’s no reason to be mad at you.”
It was quiet for a few moments.
“Let me give my thoughts,” said Cup.
Pound looked up at her. “Okay.”
“From what you’re saying it seems to me like you feel something is missing in your lives. As you yourself said just acting like a toddler didn’t alleviate the uncomfortable feelings inside of you.
“If I had to guess I’d say you feel there’s a shortage on intimacy.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Pumpkin.
“Pinkie is a delight, and we’re thankful for her being in our lives every day, but you have to admit that there isn’t a whole lot of quiet time with her.  Our weekend family time is usually packed to the brim with fun activities. There’s nothing wrong with that, since it’s always a blast, but it does seem you’re both craving more personalized attention.”
“Think about it,” said Carrot. “What stared off this whole foal behavior? Pumpkin said it herself. She saw the personal, tender care Pound was giving to Skyla, feeding her and rocking her and singing to her, and she became a little jealous.”
“It seems to me that what you were really after wasn’t to be babies again, but just to be babied.  Does that make sense?”
“I… I don’t know,” said Pound. “Maybe?”
“As you say, you’re growing up,” said Carrot, “and things are different. But maybe for today we can suspend some rules to give you what you want.”
“Like what?” asked Pumpkin.
“Well,” said Cup. “Your brother mentioned the huge fight you got into last year, and I think he’ll remember how much joy he got while you were off visiting your friend.”
“Hmm?” Pound’s head tilted. After a moment his face lit up. “Oh! Oh, yeah!”
Pumpkin looked over at Pound. “What? What happened?”
“Since I was so sad they put me in charge for a while. I put on a crown and pretended I was a king, and they were my servants.”
Pumpkin chuckled. “That seems pretty silly.”
“Yeah, but I like to think I made a good king.” 
“You did,” said Carrot.
“Aw, it’s a shame I missed out on that,” said Pumpkin.
“Well, you wouldn’t have got to play anyway,” said Pound. “The only reason they gave me that privilege was because they knew I was going through a harder time than you.”
“I wouldn’t mind playing that game for a while,” said Pumpkin. “But I don’t get it. I thought you said we needed more intimacy and less playtime together.”
“I did say that,” said Cup, “but I wasn’t talking about King Pound earlier.”
“You weren’t?” asked Pound.
She shook her head, giving Pound a tender smile. “Don’t you remember what happened in the middle of our game?”
Pound gazed into his mother’s eyes, feeling a sense of comfort and security. A memory came to him, and he gave a teary nod. “Oh, so that’s what you meant.” He blinked tears out of his eyes. “I sure wouldn’t mind having that again. “
Now Pumpkin was really curious. “So what-”
There was a sudden slamming of a door downstairs, causing all of them to look in that direction. After a few moments there was a stomping up the stairs.
Cup and Carrot each held tighter to their children, unsure what was coming up the stairs.
Their worry vanished as Pinkie passed by. She stopped and backed up a few steps, turning to them with an uncharacteristic frown. 
“Hello!” she said in a high-pitched  strained voice. Without giving them a chance to greet her back she continued, “I’d just LOOOOVE to tell you about the adventure I went on today.
“What’s that? ‘You’re very busy, and I should tell you tomorrow?’ That’s a darn shame. I guess I’ll just go to the bathroom and take a nice long soak, then go to my room and try to forget today ever happened.” 
She let out a loud huff as she stormed off.
The four of them glanced at each other, and after a few seconds all of them started laughing awkwardly.
“I guess Auntie Pinkie had a hard time of it today,” said Pumpkin.
“Sure looks like it,” said Pound. 
Cup looked down at Pound, then back towards the door. “Well… let’s give her space like she asked. If she wants to talk to us we’re all here.”
The twins were still staring at the doorway. They always hated it when Auntie Pinkie was sad.
Eventually Pound let out a sigh. “You’re right, Mom.”
Pumpkin looked toward Cup as well. “So what was it you were talking about before she came home?” She asked more to distract herself than anything else.
“Come here, Pumpkin,” she replied.
As Pumpkin hopped off her bed towards Pound Cup asked, “You don’t mind if your sister starts things off, do you?”
Pound shook his head. “No. I think it’s only fair after being the only one to get it last year.”
Pumpkin got on the bed, trying to get on her mother’s lap like Pound, but Cup lifted a hoof to stop her, gesturing to an empty spot on the bed. “On your belly, Pumpkin.”
Pumpkin gave her a questioning look, but complied wordlessly. 
Pound knew he’d be in the way, so he left his bed and went to sit on his father’s lap.
Pumpkin put her head on her front hooves and waited.
Cup adjusted her position, and much like last year when she did this for Pound she started to get nostalgic memories.
Lifting her front hooves she placed them on Pumpkin’s back and began gently moving them back and forth.
It only took a few seconds before Pumpkin went, “Oh! That’s what you were talking about.”
She had seen her mom give her dad back rubs before, and he always seemed to enjoy it so much. Pound clearly did too. And now that she was experiencing it herself she had no disagreement. Her mother was gentle yet firm. It only took a minute for her mom to find the perfect amount of pressure to maximize her enjoyment.
Within another minute she found the stress of the day just melting away into calm relaxation, her mind going blissfully blank.
Pound squirmed a little. Even so long ago he could still remember how much he had enjoyed his massage. He really didn’t want to wait for his turn.
He looked up at his dad. “What about you?” he asked.
“Hey,” Carrot replied, “I get plenty of massages. This is about you two right now.”
Pound shook his head. “No, silly! I mean why don’t you give me a massage?”
The question took him by surprise. “I doubt you’d enjoy it, Pound. I don’t have the years of practice your mother does, nor the gentle touch of an angel.”
Cup paused in her massage to grin broadly at her husband, flattered by the compliment. After a moment, at a dissatisfied noise from Pumpkin, she continued on. “Well,” she said lightly, “there’s no harm in trying if he’s asking, right? You don’t have to be perfect.”
Pound moved onto his belly, looking expectantly at Carrot.
Carrot took a deep breath. He just didn’t think he was cut out for this. All the same he tried putting his hooves on Pound’s back.
Cup glanced at him, seeing him unmoving. “Don’t think so hard about it, Dear. A massage is almost literally about body language. You just have to pay attention. 
“A massage is about relaxation. Start gently, gradually increasing the pressure. If he starts tensing up it means you’re being too forceful and should dial back your strength. It’s basically as simple as that. The rest, as I said, is just about being mindful.”
Carrot looked at his wife, watching her lovingly caring for Pumpkin. He looked back down at Pound and resigned himself, beginning to move his hooves.
It took him a while to get into the spirit of things. He was so nervous about messing up that he was very slow and overly gentle. Pound had to keep telling him it was okay before he adjusted his pace and force.
He reminded himself that he didn’t have to be perfect. It wasn’t like this was going to be an everyday thing he needed to master.
As he thought that he frowned, his mouth going to the side as he sucked on his cheek. “You know, now that I’m here doing this it occurs to me that you’ve been doing all the giving, honey-bun.”
Cup glanced over at him, not stopping her motions.
“After a long day of baking it feels great to unwind with a nice massage from you. Thinking of trying to do right by Pound here I realize that my inexperience comes from never offering you the same.”
Cup looked unperturbed. “Well, you’re free to disagree, but I feel you have the harder job. You’re stuck back in the hot kitchen most of the day, doing the majority of the baking. I just have to grab the stuff the customers want and socialize. And I usually have Pinkie helping out on busy days.
“It makes me happy to care for you like I do. It helps me to wind down as much as it does for you.”
“Even so, I want to start returning the favor. I guess I should start with Pound. No better time than the present.”
Pumpkin wasn’t paying attention to anything but the feel of her mother’s hooves. It was no wonder their dad always looked so relaxed when work was over. 
Carrot put all his focus on Pound. As his wife had said the secret was about the language of the body. He just had to see what worked and what didn’t work. He shouldn’t need words to understand what Pound needed if he just paid attention to his reactions.
Carrot slowly got into his groove. While it did start to feel nice Pound couldn’t deny that his mother did it better. It wasn’t surprising, since he just didn’t have the experience she did, but he wasn’t horrible at it either.
For his first time Pound thought his dad did very well.
After a few minutes Pumpkin reluctantly switched with Pound. She didn’t want to move, let alone get up.
Pound gladly took his sisters spot, eagerly looking back at his mom with a bright smile.
As Cup used her magic hooves on him it only took a few seconds for him to melt into a puddle of joy. It was just as good as he remembered. The “gentle touch of an angel.” His dad had certainly pegged it right. Just like with Pumpkin he felt his stress melting away until all he could think about was how relaxed he felt.
Pumpkin was a little unenthusiastic. She didn’t hold it against her dad that he wasn’t used to giving massages, but going from her mom to him…
She didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so she didn’t say anything, but she was quietly counting the seconds until she could switch with Pound again.
When the twins heard the sound of a door opening and then hooves going up the stairs they both seemed to make a decision at the same time. 
Getting up, Pound said, “I think we should postpone this for now.”
“Oh, really?” asked Cup.
“Yeah,” said Pumpkin, getting up as well. “I’m really enjoying it, but…”
Pound looked up into her eyes. “But it just doesn’t feel as good as it should with Auntie Pinkie in a bad mood.”
Carrot smiled down at them. “I understand.”
Cup rubbed Pound’s head. “Go on, then.”
> 4-6: Comforting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaving their room they went upstairs. Pinkie’s door was wide open, probably because she just didn’t feel the energy to close it.
They saw her on her belly on her bed. Even as they watched she let out a big sigh.
Pound knocked on the door.  “Hey, Auntie Pinkie,” he said quietly.
“Can we talk to you?” said Pumpkin.
As they approached Pinkie turned onto her side. “I thought I hinted strong enough that I don’t want to talk about it.”
“That’s okay, Auntie Pinkie. You don’t have to.“
“We just didn’t want to leave you all alone up here,” said Pound.
“I just want to go to sleep,” said Pinkie.
Pound got an awkward look on his face, a slight tinge coming to his cheeks. “You don’t have to go to sleep sad. Would a laugh at our expense help? We had a bad time of it ourselves.”
Pumpkin turned to him. “Oh, Pound. You aren’t really going to tell her about that, are you?”
“Why not? I mean, if it was anyone else I wouldn’t want to, but Auntie Pinkie really needs some cheering up.”
Pumpkin crossed her hooves, blushing herself now. “I guess so."
Pinkie showed a little interest. “I guess I missed something big.”
Pound climbed up on her bed, pulling Pinkie to a sitting position before plopping himself on her lap. Pumpkin quickly followed.
Before they got to storytelling they each gave her a big hug. “I love you, Auntie Pinkie!” the pair said in unison.
A tear came down Pinkie’s face. Just that little bit made her feel a little sunnier. “I love you too.”
Taking a deep breath they began to talk about how their day had gone. 
As Pumpkin began to talk about her jealous feelings towards Skyla she hesitated to continue. “Auntie Pinkie, can you promise not to tell anyone else what we’re about to tell you?”
Pinkie moved her hooves. “Pinkie Promise.”
Pumpkin blushed again, then told Pinkie about Pound putting a diaper on her.
Pinkie snorted hard, covering her mouth with her hoof. “Really, Pound?”
Pound chuckled. “Oh, she got me back for that. When I told her I wanted to play she threw my words back at me and put me in one too.”
Pinkie closed her eyes, shaking her head. “You kids are crazy!” She continued to snicker as she tried to imagine that. 
The two of them were glad Pinkie was looking less stressed. 
They talked about waking Skyla and how they had managed to calm her down, then about how they had utterly exhausted themselves trying to keep her in a good mood, ending with Skyla treating them like babies just as their parents returned home.
“So wait,” said Pinkie, barely suppressing her mirth, “in walked Mr. and Mrs. Cake, and there you were, wearing diapers, sucking on a pacifier and drinking from a bottle as Skyla was trying to rock you to sleep?”
Pound let out a little huff. “Yep.”
Pumpkin nodded, an awkward smile on her face.
Pinkie burst out into hysterical laughter, flopping onto the bed. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!”
If it had been anyone else they might have been bothered at that, but they knew Auntie Pinkie wasn’t laughing at them so much as she just found the concept hilarious.
It took a while for her to get herself under control. Every so often she’d stop for a few moments before losing herself again.
When she finally got all the giggles out she wiped the tears from her eyes and caught her breath. “Whew.” She sat up, looking down tenderly at the two of them. “Thanks, you guys. I… I really needed that.”
They both grinned at her. 
Her smile faded. “I know…” She stopped, looking away. “I know I’m usually the happiest, joyful, fun-loving pony around, and I don’t really let stuff get to me, but every so often I just feel… sad.” Tears hovered in her eyes. 
The twins began to tear up at seeing her doing it. They thought that she was fine now but it seemed she still needed more cheering up.
“Me and my friends have been given a big responsibility, traveling around the world to help ponies desperately in need of our guidance. 
“Sometimes the pressure just gets to me, and I get scared that I’m going to fail. I feel scared that I’m not enough, and because of that fear I made things so much worse. If I had only listened to Fluttershy things could have been resolved so much faster, but I kept pushing when I should have held back, and it hurt to see how my actions wound up causing even more pain.
“In trying to help I caused a big accident, and everyone got mad at me for a while, and the fighting grew harsher.” She sniffed, her tears starting to flow freely. “I was heartbroken. My life’s goal is to make others happy, but I wound up making everyone even more miserable. 
“I almost gave up. I felt like I didn’t have any place there anymore. But Fluttershy…” She closed her eyes. “Well, do I even have to say it?”
They shook their heads. “Us and Mayhem and Masky,” said Pound. “Fluttershy is really good at helping ponies with their mistakes and cheering them up.”
Pinkie nodded, her eyes opening again. “Her encouragement made me get back on my hooves and try again.” She stared at the ground for a little while. “Everything did work out in the end. We solved the problem and got to go home, but I still feel bad for how majorly I screwed up.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry you have to see me like this.”
The two immediately hugged her again. “Don’t be silly, Auntie Pinkie!” said Pound. “Everyone gets sad sometimes.”
“And we screw up really badly,” continued Pumpkin.
“But, as we said in the Friendship Journal, making mistakes doesn’t make you a bad pony. You feel guilty about what you did, so we know for sure you’re still a good pony.”
“And hey!” Pumpkin said brightly. “The Map wouldn’t have chosen you if it didn’t know you were the best pony for the job. So forget your dumb mistake. You made up for it and fixed everything in the end.”
Pinkie’s lip quivered, letting out a little sob as she held them tight. After letting out a few breaths she said, “I know I’ve said this a hundred times before, and I’ll say it hundreds and hundreds times more, but I love the both of you so much. You’re always there to lift me up when I’m feeling down. Your love is like a bright light, pulling me out of the darkness.”
“And that light will never go out!”
“That’s right!” Pound said strongly, squeezing harder. “We’ll always be there to brighten your day.” 
Pinkie’s body grew more relaxed. “I love all of my friends, but I really feel the two of you helped make me the mare I am more than any other. Watching you two grow, wanting to be the best caretaker I could be, it made me become more responsible. I know I wasn’t as stern as your parents, but as I watched you grow from little babies to the mature foals you are today… I just feel a sense of joy and pride that I was able to play a role in that.
“I’m not a mother, but the two of you are as close to my heart as any child could be to their parents.” She kissed each of them on the forehead. “Thank you, truly, for being an irreplaceable part of my life. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
They looked up at her, their eyes shimmering, as they each kissed her on the cheek. “The same to you, Auntie Pinkie,” Pound said blissfully. “We’d be lost without you.”
“And we hope that you stay in our lives until the day we die,” said Pumpkin.
The three snuggled against each other. No more words needed to be said.
> 4-7: Togetherness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having resolved Pinkie’s feelings the twins were feeling much better.
“We know about pressures and responsibility,” said Pound calmly. “It’s what got us into that crazy situation in the first place.”
“Yeah,” said Pumpkin. “We were feeling a little overwhelmed by everything earlier, but I wouldn’t trade our experiences for anything.” She grinned up at Pinkie. “After all, it’s everything we’ve gone through that allows us to help you as much as you help us.”
Pound nodded, then giggled. “Well, a nice massage from Mom certainly helped.”
Pumpkin chuckled too. “Can’t deny that. She’s really good at that.”
Pinkie shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I’ll just have to take your word for it.”
“If you’re feeling stressed I’m sure Mom wouldn’t mind giving you one too.”
Pinkie laughed. “Maybe not, but I’m not feeling stressed anymore. Not after the two of you went out of your way to help me.”
They both grinned widely. 
“Why don’t we go make some dinner? Now I’m starting to feel hungry.”
“Okay, Auntie Pinkie!”
The three of them went downstairs, the twins smiling at their parents as they passed by their room. 
As usual, Pinkie found a way to make things fun. 
“Go long!” she called out to Pound, throwing a head of lettuce in his direction. 
Pound jumped for it, but it suddenly went up a foot out of his reach, enveloped in a blue glow.
Pumpkin grabbed it. “And Pumpkin with the steal!”
Pound just chuckled as Pinkie threw a tomato at him, and he caught this one. 
Pinkie grabbed some zucchini, and together the three of them began making a salad.
After chopping up the zucchini Pinkie grabbed some tofu burgers out of the freezer, setting them on a pan on the oven. She turned on the heat, humming to herself as she worked on them. 
When the food was done they called down Cup and Carrot from upstairs and had dinner.
After hearing about Pound and Pumpkin’s day, and destressing, Pinkie felt ready to talk about her own day.
When dinner was over they cleaned up and went to the living room to relax by the fire. The twins stayed by Pinkie to ensure her continued better mood.
After a few hours of quiet family time it was time for the twins to go to bed.
All five of them went upstairs. Pinkie kissed them both at the door, and they hugged her back as they said good night.
As the twins headed for their beds Cup called out to them and they turned around.
“What is it, Mom?” asked Pound.
“That was a very nice thing you did, spending so much time with Pinkie after her disaster of a day.”
“It’s only fair,” said Pumpkin. “She’s always been there for us.”
“We wouldn’t abandon her,” said Pound.
“You told us that you had been growing tired of your responsibilities,” said Carrot, “and yet you focused only on Pinkie instead of coming back to ask us to continue with your massage.”
“We already explained that. What are you getting at?”
“A good deed deserves a nice reward, and since you were so mature we’ll allow you to be babies for tonight.”
That made both of them raise their eyebrows. “What does that mean?” asked Pound. “We got a little down before, but we’re already over it. We don’t want to go back to acting like babies.”
“Is that right?” asked Cup genially. “So would that mean you wouldn’t accept if we offered to let you sleep with us tonight?”
The twins eyes widened a bit, before they both began crawling around doing baby talk. 
“Goo! Goo!” said Pound.
“Wanna sweep wit you!” said Pumpkin.
Cup and Carrot both began to laugh. “I love our children,” said Cup.
“Me too,” replied Carrot.
The twins dispensed with the theatrics and ran over, hugging their parents.
“This is so awesome!” said Pumpkin.
“Got that right!” said Pound. “We haven’t gotten to sleep with you since last year.”
Pumpkin looked toward her brother with a sly expression. “I know, right? That was when they became, like, the worst parents. ‘Oh, you’re terrified of that mean old thunder? Well, deal with it, losers.’ “
Pound snorted. “So mean. I guess it’s good we never convinced them to have another child. They’d probably make the newborn find its own house after a week. What terrible parenting.”
“Oh, is that how it is?” Cup said with fake anger, pushing Pumpkin away from her. “Since we’re so horrible I don’t see why you’d want to sleep near us.”
Carrot turned around and began walking away. “Come on, honeybun! I am hurt.”
Cup started walking away too. “Goodnight, losers! Deal with it!”
It only took a few moments for all four of them to burst into laughter. When they got themselves under control a little the twins jumped up onto their parents’ backs and went to their room.
Standing in front of their bed Carrot and Cup looked mischievously at each other before lowering their back halves a bit and lifting them hard, sending their children flying off their backs onto the bed. 
They screamed at first, but began laughing once they landed and bounced. They screamed again as their parents hopped onto the bed with them, towering over them with evil expressions. 
“Let’s see just how horrible we really are,” said Carrot, lifting a hoof, pulling a few stray feathers from his pillow and handing one to his wife.
“I’m game,” said Cup as she bit down on the nub.
The twins tried to run, but it was no use. As the feather tickled their skin they couldn’t help laughing. They’d squirm and pull out of their parent’s grip, only to quickly be captured again.
After a few minutes of “torture” they were finally allowed to rest and catch their breath, wiping away the tears in their eyes from laughing so hard.
Cup and Carrot laid on their sides next to their children, Cup next to Pound and Carrot next to Pumpkin, and pulled them close.
Pound and Pumpkin turned on their sides, hugging them back. The fun and games were over, but that was okay. They loved it when their parents were a little immature and just let go, but they also loved their affectionate side.
Cup nuzzled Pound’s nose. “Not so horrible now, hmm?”
Pound nuzzled her back. “No way.” He squeezed a little tighter. “I sure missed this.”
“Me too,” said Pumpkin.
“It’s nice,” said Carrot, “but don’t get used to it. This is a special exception.”
“We’ll see-ee!” said Pound in a sing-song voice.
“Oh, no, mister,” said Cup. “I’ll send you to your room right now if you’re gonna start that.”
Pumpkin let out a little sigh. “It’s not fair that we can’t do this every night. It makes us happy. It makes you happy. So what’s the big deal?”
Carrot sighed in return, rubbing her back. “It’s always nice to snuggle with you two, but while we’ll always be there to provide our love and support, a part of growing up is distancing yourself from us to become your own ponies. It’s about maturing and becoming more independent. It’s why we don’t give you showers or baths anymore. It’s something you can handle yourself.”
“I don’t get it,” said Pound. “It’s fine for Champ to sleep with me, and we can sit on your lap as much as we want, even sometimes falling asleep there. So why is it bad for us to sleep with you?”
Cup kissed Pound on the forehead. “You already know the answer, Pound. You’ll never outgrow affection, but you do have to outgrow relying on us just to go to sleep.”
The colt pouted. “But it’s not ABOUT relying on you to fall asleep. It just feels nicer to have you nearby.” 
Cup gently shook her head. “But that is what it’s about, Pound. If you’re saying that being in someone’s hooves makes it easier to fall asleep you’re saying that you’re uncomfortable sleeping alone. 
“I admit, we could have done a better job at helping you past your fear of thunderstorms before making you stay in your own rooms. I mean, Pinkie managed to get Pumpkin over her fear, and then Pumpkin in turn taught you. Regardless, the reasoning for that was to get you to deal with your fears on your own, and not just run to us for help the moment you got scared.
“Sleeping with us helped you feel better about your fear of storms, but it was only temporary. And given how easily Pumpkin got over that fear permanently simply by changing the way she thought about storms it becomes clear that you never really needed our help in the first place. You only thought you did.” She put a hoof over Pound’s heart. “That power was in you all along. You just needed to learn how to bring it out.”
“But… we… you…” Pound stopped, unable to think of a good counter-argument.
“Pound,” said Pumpkin, “just give it up.” 
Pound turned his head towards his sister. 
“Just think about it. The more you try to argue she’s wrong the more right you make her look.”
Pound let out a huff. He didn’t want to admit it, but Pumpkin was right.
Scootaloo’s words came to him. She had told him that there was nothing wrong with asking those you cared for for their assistance. It only became a problem when you began to use their strength as a substitute for becoming stronger on your own. If the ones you relied on weren’t around then all that courage and strength would disappear with it.
As much as he would have loved to be in his mother’s loving hooves forever, he knew there was no way he could if he ever wanted to continue growing.
“I understand,” he said. “Our friends were all difficult to get, but we only were able to help them with their problems because we had grown up enough and learned enough to do it.” He nuzzled his mom’s chest. “I can’t go backwards now. But for tonight…”
Cup nuzzled his cheek. “Yes, for tonight you can stay with us.”
“And tomorrow,” said Pound, making Cup snort.
“Pound Caaaaake!” 
Pound giggled. “I’m just kidding.”
“I know.” 
He looked into her eyes, feeling all his love for her blossoming. “I love you so much, Mommy.”
Cup got misty-eyed. “I love you too, Pound.”
“What about meeeeee?” Carrot asked, sniffing.
Pound turned his head. “Eh, you’re alright. Your massage game is kinda weak. Come back when you’re as good as Mom.”
“Oh?” Carrot’s eyes narrowed a bit. “Is that how it is?” He sat up, picking up Pumpkin and setting her on her mother’s side. “Here. Take Pumpkin, honeybun.”
“Uh-oh,” said Pound as his dad reached for him.
Carrot stood up, holding Pound with one leg as he slowly started walking for the door. “Oh, Pumpkin?”
“Yeah, Dad?” she replied.
“Congratulations! You’re about to become an only child. I’m taking your brother to an orphanage.”
“Cool! Can I have his dog too?”
“You sure can!”
“Noooooo!” said Pound. “You can’t do this to me. Mom! Stop him.”
Cup just shook her head. “Sorry, Pound. You shouldn’t have insulted his massage game. You know how sensitive he is about that.”
“Pumpkin, please! Help me!”
Pumpkin sighed. “Stop, Dad!”
Pound let out a sigh of relief.
“Why should I?” said Carrot.
“Because it’s too late. The orphanage isn’t going to be open.”
“Aww,” Carrot said, disappointed. “Can’t I just leave him in a basket or something outside their door?”
“Well, yeah,” said Cup, “but then we’d be out a basket. And we all know that that basket is worth more than our son.”
“Hey!” said Pound. 
Carrot turned around, heading back towards the bed. “Ugh! I GUESS you can stay here one more night.”
“Darn right!”
“Hmph!” He dropped Pound on the bed. “I already Pinkie Promised not to tell anyone about today, but there must be some way to get my revenge.”
“That’s easy,” said Cup. “I just have to find some old photos of the babies.”
“Oh, really?” Carrot said deviously, rubbing his hooves together. “What did you have in mind?”
“Hmm… well, we were supposed to save those for when the kids were teenagers and had their first relationship, but I’m sure we have some of Pound’s old potty training pictures somewhere. We can show them off to all his friends.”
Carrot put on an evil smile. “Oh, yes. That sounds wonderful!”
Pound sputtered for a few moments. “You better not!”
Cup suddenly began laughing hysterically.
“What’s so funny?” asked Pumpkin.
When she got herself under control she wiped a tear away. “Oh, boy! I just remembered the funniest and yet grossest memory of your brother ever.”
Pumpkin smiled widely. “What? Tell me?”
Pound wasn’t sure if he was ready for this.
“Well, there isn’t much to tell. When you were old enough we bought both of you potty chairs. The first time Pound went number one successfully he was so proud of himself that he decided to wear the seat as a crown.”
Carrot put a hoof to his face, laughing. “Oh my gosh! I remember that! Got himself completely soaked.”
Pumpkin stuck her tongue out in disgust, but after a few moments she began to laugh as hard as her mother had been. She rolled off her mother, barely even noticing when she fell onto the floor. “That’s great!” she said between laughs. “I don’t know whether to laugh or barf.”
Pound was blushing. 
Cup looked up thoughtfully, putting a hoof to her chin. “Hmm… I really should go look for that.”
Pound jumped on his father, attempting to twist his hoof. “Burn it! BURN IT!” he yelled. “You’re not showing anyone! Destroy that photo or I swear I’ll burn this whole house down!”
Carrot only chuckled, easily overpowering Pound and pinning him down. “Relax, Pound. We were too grossed out to actually get a picture of that.”
“Oh, yeah,” said Cup. “It’s funny now, but at the time it was horrifying. I quickly scooped you up and threw you in the tub.”
Pound looked between them. He thought they might be telling the truth. “You promise?”
“Pinkie Promise,” they both said.
Pound gently panted, feeling relieved. He went back to his mother, hugging her. He was subdued now. “Please,” said Pound quietly. “No more teasing.”
“Alright, Pound,” said Cup as she hugged him and he snuggled into her hold. 
Pumpkin got up and back onto the bed. “Aww, does that mean I can’t threaten Pound with telling everyone that story?”
Pound frowned.
“Well, sure you can,” said Carrot. "You can tell anyone you want."
“Dad!” Pound said angrily.
“But then it would only be fair to show them a picture we did actually take of Pumpkin hoofpainting.”
“Okay?” said Pumpkin.
“What’s supposed to be embarrassing about that?” asked Pound.
"It was just supposed to be a fun little activity for the two of you. We put paper over the floor, and showed you what to do. Dip your hooves... then put it on the paper." He mimed the action. "Everything was going smoothly at first, until we got distracted by someone at the door. Classic early parenthood mistake. We thought you'd be fine for a minute or two." 
Neither of them could tell where this story was going. "So Pumpkin made a mess, or fell in the paint?" Pound said in a dull voice. That was nothing compared to his story.
"Oh, it's worse than that. We got caught up in a conversation, and it was only when we heard Pound crying that we realized how long we had left you alone."
"Okay... and?" Pound was fuming. "Get to the juicy stuff already."
"Oh!" Cup said suddenly. "Oh... oh. Now I remember." She began to laugh. "Go on. You can tell it."
"Thank you," said Carrot. "Pound was upset because Pumpkin stole the large piece of paper with the paint on it. We focused on him first, getting a little bit of paint on us as we held him, but it was washable."
"Pumpkin was laughing in our room, and we kept hearing several bangs in a row. We left your room, and all we saw all over were two large circles right next to each other. It was bigger than your little hooves, so we weren't sure what you were dipping into the paint. 
"We were trying to remain calm from the gigantic mess, but as we said it would wash out with a little scrubbing."
Cup began to snicker again. 
Pound was getting interested. Pumpkin had no clue what was supposed to be embarrassing here.  
Carrot continued on. "So we go in, and we gasped at the number you did on our room. On the floor was the paper with the paint on it. Before we could yell Pumpkin did something that I'll never forget."
"What? What?" said Pound, really intrigued now.
“Well, Pumpkin decided that hoofpainting wasn’t for her, so she’d paint with something else.”
“Like what?”
Cup chuckled as she put a hoof to her mouth. “Like her butt!”
“What?” Pumpkin said, her eyes bugging out.
Pound began laughing. “Really?”
Carrot began laughing too. “She sat down right in the middle of the paint, getting it nice and wet, and began to slam her behind against the wall. So, yeah, she made imprints of her rear end all over the second floor and our room, laughing all the while at her masterpiece.”
Now Pumpkin was blushing and Pound couldn’t contain his laughter.
"That's great!" Pound said, kicking his back legs. "And you got a picture of that too?" 
“So, Pumpkin,” said Cup meaningfully, “do you still want to share your brother’s story?”
The filly shook her head hard. “No! No! That memory can go in the corner and be forgotten FOREVER! Thank you!”
“Glad to hear it,” said Carrot, grabbing her and lying back down. 
“Wow,” said Pound. “We were pretty crazy babies.”
“Yep,” said Pumpkin. “Let’s never go back to that time.”
“You said it.”
“Oh, fine,” said Carrot. “Just be boring.”
“I’m fine with being boring,” said Pumpkin. “I’d like to just enjoy being here with you.”
Pound nodded. “Same here. We can talk about embarrassing stuff any time. If this is going to be the last time I want to make the most of it.”
“Aww,” Cup said sadly. “But there are so many funny stories I can tell.”
“NO!” the twins yelled.
Now she put on an angry voice. “So, what then? Am I expected to just huggle and snuggle and talk about how much I love you? Is THAT what you want?”
“Yep!”
“If I must.” She kissed Pound a few times before squeezing him and saying tenderly, “I love you.”
Pound let out a happy sigh. “I love you too.”
Carrot kissed and squeezed Pumpkin as well. “I love you, Pumpkin. WAY more than your brother.”
Pound sucked on his cheek. “That’s fine, ‘cuz I love Mom way more than YOU!”
“Come on now,” Cup said gently. “No more teasing.”
“Yeah!” said Carrot, blowing a raspberry. “Listen to your mother.”
Pound blew one back, and they repeated this a few times before Pound left his mother and jumped onto his dad, both of them laughing. He hugged his dad around the neck. “I love you too, Dad.”
“And I love you, Pound.”
“Help me, Mom!” said Pumpkin dramatically, holding out her hoof. “Save me from these immature boys.”
Cup pulled her over. “We girls have to stick together. After all, boys have cooties. I have to brush my teeth every time we kiss.”
Pumpkin chuckled. 
That caused Pound and Carrot to both blow raspberries in their direction. Pumpkin gave one back in return.
Just when it looked like things were about to devolve into wrestling and playtime again Cup said firmly, “Enough!”  With their attention on her she dropped back into a casual tone. “This is fun and all, but it’s bedtime. No more playing around, okay?”
“Okay, Mom,” the twins said reluctantly.
Cup and Carrot lay on their backs next to each other, Pound and Pumpkin on their bellies. 
Pound nuzzled his dad’s chest as he rested his head. “Dad makes a good pillow.”
“So does Mom,” said Pumpkin as she followed suit.
“Glad we’re so squishy,” said Carrot, rubbing Pound’s back.
“Hey, Mom!” said Pound.
“Yes, honey?” she replied.
“Let’s make the most of our last night.”
“What do you mean?”
“Pumpkin wasn’t there that day you gave me a massage. She got to experience that before, but she never got the other half of the package.”
“Hmm?”
“Do I have to spell it out for you? I want to hear you sing!”
Cup blushed slightly. “Come on, Pound.”
“But your voice was so beautiful, and Pumpkin never got to hear it.”
Pumpkin turned to Pound. “Quick, Pound. Activate puppy dog eyes.”
Cup good-naturedly rolled her eyes as their eyes began to shimmer and their lower lips quivered. “Alright. Alright. But this is the last time. Got it?” 
They nodded.
Cup already knew that Pound loved her singing from a few months ago, so she knew her voice wasn’t bad, but it was still a little embarrassing.
She closed her eyes, cleared her throat, and gently moved her head side to side as she began to sing one of their old lullabies.
For Pound it was just as good as he remembered. Pumpkin thought she was fantastic, closing her own eyes as she put her head back down.
Once she got past her nerves Cup fell into the groove much like she had with Pound, going back in time to when the twins were smaller.
When she finished her first song the twins applauded before looking at her expectantly for more.
She was more comfortable now. Her children were happy and safe. What more could she ask for?
Pound and Pumpkin blissfully drifted off to sleep and began quietly snoring.
Carrot let out a gentle sigh. He loved his wife’s voice too. “That was great.”
At first there was no response, but then he heard a sniff coming from her. He turned his head, expecting to see a look of joy, but she looked devastated. “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” He put a hoof around her neck. “What’s wrong?”
“Why does it have to end, Carrot?” Tears streamed down her face. “Would it really be so bad to just let them sleep with us all the time?”
Carrot started to speak, but then he realized she was just getting nostalgic. He didn’t think she really meant what she said.
“I-I-I mean, we only have a limited time to spend with them. Before you know it they’ll have jobs and partners and start going on dates and then they’ll move out of the house forever and have their own families and never visit and-”
“Easy there!” said Carrot, putting a hoof over her mouth. “Just breathe.” 
He moved the hoof to her cheek. “They’re only a little over seven. There are still many years ahead for us to spend time with them before they’re adults. Your baby birds aren’t leaving the nest any time soon.”
Carrot’s words slowly wormed their way into her mind. She wiped her eyes. “I… I know. I just got a little lost for a few moments there.” 
She looked at her daughter. “The time just seems like it has gone so fast. I want them to grow up, but there’s also that part of me that wants to pull them close and never let them go.”
It was quiet for a few seconds, then she added, “I guess I still have some growing up to do myself.”
Carrot kissed her. “I don’t think you’re that bad. It’s something every parent has to go through at one point in their lives.” He looked at Pound. “All we can really do is cherish the time we do have, and be proud of what we’ve helped our children to become.”
Cup lifted one of her legs, putting it around his neck as well as she nuzzled his cheek with hers. “I agree. Unless they grow up to be supervillains. Then we’ll deny all responsibility.”
Carrot had to put his hoof to his mouth to stifle his laughter. Once he got himself under control he said, “Sounds like a plan. But if that did happen you know what we’d have to do, right?”
“Of course. A good parent is supportive of their children, so we’d have to join them in their conquest of the world and become the evilest family team. The two of us would get Canterlot. Pumpkin could have the Crystal Empire, and Pound could have Ponyville.”
Carrot shook his head. “I was gonna say try to get them back on the side of good, but I guess your plan works too. Alicorns are overrated, anyway. Earth ponies all the way.”
The two of them met eyes, and then had to cover their mouths to avoid waking the twins as they laughed.
Cup began rubbing Pumpkin’s back. “Ah, I needed a good laugh to get me back in the right state of mind. Thanks for that.”
“You’re very welcome.” Carrot began doing the same for Pound.
“Well, I think that’s enough excitement for one night. Tomorrow everything will go back to normal, but for tonight let’s just enjoy the wonderful feeling of being a parent.” 
“And a husband.” He kissed her cheek.
Cup kissed him back. “A handsome stallion, an enthusiastic, optimistic mare, and two wonderful children; I have all the ingredients I need to have the perfect life.” She kissed him again, giving him a tender smile. “Thank you, Carrot, for being a part of it.”
A tear came down his eye. “And thank you for being a part of mine. I love you, honeybun.”
“I love you too, snuggle bear.”
They put their heads together, closing their eyes as they began to join their children in sleep.
> 5-1: The unexpected visitor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pound was crouched, a confident expression on his face.

Champ was mimicking his pose, his front half on the floor, letting out tiny growls and wagging his tail.

Pound hopped forward a few inches, making Champ jerk back and let out a bark.

He pounced, pulling Champ down to the ground, laughing as he wrestled with his dog.

Champ licked his face all over.

After a minute of fun Pound disengaged, standing up. He hugged Champ’s neck. “I love you, Champ!” he said tenderly, rubbing his hooves over Champ’s back. “You’re the best dog a colt could ask for.”

That got him another lick.

Standing up, he looked down at his dog with all the affection in the world. “It’s hard to believe it’s only been three months that we’ve been together. It feels like you’ve been with me forever.

“You started out as a broken dog no one wanted, but I knew there was a fighter inside you. Just look how far you’ve come... how far we’ve both come from the weaklings we were.”

Pound felt a bit of sadness as he recalled the reason he even had Champ in the first place. His former owner had left him behind because of his leg. He couldn’t imagine doing that. If Champ was hurt he’d stay by his dog’s side and care for him. That was what love meant.

He chuckled afterward. “You remember when we first met? I tried calling you over. ‘Here, boy!’ But you wouldn’t come. So I tried again. ‘Here, girl!’ ” He put a hoof to his mouth, laughing. “You didn’t like that very much.”

He sighed, his mirth fading. “Back then I didn’t know why you wouldn’t come to me. I got annoyed when you went to Fluttershy right away. Back then you were…” He thought for a moment. “Your name was Butch, right?”

That made Champ let out a whine.

Pound could see the sadness in Champ’s eyes, and he mentally kicked himself. Why did he bring that up?

He hugged Champ tightly. “Listen to me, boy! I love you with all my heart. You’re my super amazing dog, and I promise I’ll never abandon you. Never! You and me, we’re together for life! You got that?”

Champ let out another whine, but licked his face all the same.

Pound walked over to his closet. “Come on, boy! Let’s go for a run. The exercise will do you good. Maybe today you can finally catch that squirrel you’ve had your eye on.”

That made Champ growl, trotting over to him and sitting down. There had been a squirrel that seemed to be teasing him near the park. Despite his best efforts the creature always evaded his grasp.

Pound attached the leash, the two of them going downstairs. His parents had taken Pumpkin to a doctor’s appointment, but Pinkie was still around, sprucing up the store for the Monday rush. He told her where he was going, then headed out.

As Champ jogged around, sniffing at things, Pound felt a sense of melancholy. He hadn’t given much thought to the life Champ had before they were together, but he knew that his dog once had a loving relationship with someone else. How could they think they loved him if they abandoned him?

A part of him tried to justify it. Fluttershy had said the mare had come to her rather than a vet because she was poor and couldn’t afford proper medical care.

It wasn’t so much that she had left him behind that angered him so much. If his former owner thought she couldn’t take care of him anymore then leaving him with Fluttershy was the best move. 

No, what bothered him was that she never came to check up on his condition. He supposed that maybe she didn’t want Champ to see her, because then he’d be expecting her to take him back, but she still could have let Fluttershy know.

A tear came down his eye. Didn’t she understand? The worse off ones were the ones who needed the most love and care. He thought of his mother, promising that she didn’t care whether he flew or not. It didn’t diminish the love she had for him. That, plus what Scootaloo told him, was all he needed to excel.

That was why he had chosen Champ in the first place. He understood the pain of feeling like everyone was passing him by. Even if he hadn’t made that promise to Fluttershy he wouldn’t act any different.

He couldn’t take away the past. All he could do was what he had been doing all along: helping Champ find a happier future with him.

***

Fluttershy hummed to herself as she watered the flowers around her yard.

“Hello!” came a voice in the distance, making the mare turn around.

She set the watering can down, seeing a yellow coated mare approaching her. She didn’t recognize the mare, but she waved regardless. “Hello,” she said genially, walking toward her.

As the two came face to face the mare said, “Oh, Fluttershy. Long time no see.”

“Um…” She quickly cast her mind around, but she was drawing a blank.

The mare continued on, “I’m so, so sorry I haven’t kept in touch. I never intended for it to be so long, but after I last left you on that rainy day I tripped and fell down a ravine. I hit my head on a rock on the way down, and I was lucky someone found me. According to my parents I was in a coma for a good long while.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she said empathetically, though she still couldn’t remember who the mare was.

The mare subconsciously rubbed the back of her head. “Oh, I’m not too concerned about myself. I’m back on my hooves now and I’ve moved on, getting my life back on track.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“I know it’s been a lot longer than you expected, but I’ll be sure to compensate you for all your hard work.”

Fluttershy sucked on her cheek, her eyes moving around. “Um… I’m really sorry,  but, uh…”

The mare’s cheery attitude vanished. “Oh, no! Did something happen?”

Straightening up she decided to be blunt. “Forgive me, but, uh, who are you?”

The mare looked confused for a moment, but then comprehension dawned on her. “Oh! Oh, right. The last I saw of you I was wearing a hood, so it’s not surprising you don’t recognize me, and I don’t remember if I ever told you my name. I had more pressing matters to deal with than niceties then, so why don’t we do things properly this time?”

She extended her hoof out. “I’m Lemon Zinger.”

Fluttershy met it. “Well, you already know who I am. Could you please refresh my memory on our last meeting?”

“Well, the last time, or rather the first time, you met me I was basically in a blind panic because I had an animal in need and I was too poor to afford a proper vet.”

Something about that stuck out in her mind. She had an image in her mind of a stormy, windy night where someone was pounding on her door, and a mare in considerable distress. Something about that memory made her feel very uncomfortable. She had this sense of foreboding that was confirmed with Lemon’s next words.

Lemon continued on, “My dog had had an accident and broke his leg. His name was Butch, a golden retriever. I’m sure that’s enough for you to remember now.”

Fluttershy let out a loud squeak, a strained smile on her face.

“Now that I’m all better I’ll be glad to take him back. ” She glanced around Fluttershy at the animals traipsing around. “Oh, where is my little Butch? I just can’t wait to see him.”

Fluttershy gulped, letting out barely audible awkward giggles. “Um… a-about that…”
> 5-2:  Sacrifice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“WHAT?” Lemon Zinger yelled. “You gave away my dog?”

Fluttershy shrank away, nodding.

“What were you thinking? What gave you the right? I entrusted you to him to take care of, and then you just threw him off to someone else?”

Fluttershy felt her outrage wasn’t completely unjustified. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you. I just thought it would be best for him.”

“BEST?” she snapped. “How could that be what’s best for him? You’re the magical animal caretaker. I think you of all ponies would be the best one to care for him.”

With difficulty, she met the mare’s angry eyes, tears forming in her own eyes. “I wish I could have, but I was  overburdened.” The mare’s glare softened slightly, but she didn’t reply.  “Your dog’s leg healed up fine, but because you never returned he grew depressed. He needed proper exercise to get back to full health. Even  though the leg healed up he still had a pronounced limp. I really wanted to do right by him, but I’m just one pony. I just didn’t have the time available to devote to him with everything else going on in my life.

“That’s why I let him be adopted, so he could go to a family that could give him the attention he deserved.”

Lemon kept glaring at her for a while, before her expression suddenly shifted, becoming sad. “So that’s it, then? I didn’t return, so you  assumed I dumped him because of his bad leg?”

“Y-yes,” she replied.

Now Lemon looked on the verge of tears. “I love my dog. I love my Butch! I always have since I first got him. If I really didn’t care about him I could have just left him and run off when he hurt his leg.”

Fluttershy finally felt the tears come down her eyes. “I’m sorry. I know now that  you were unable to return because of a medical issue, but you have to understand. I only wanted the best for your dog, and I knew I couldn’t provide that for him.

“Quite a few ponies passed him by once they saw his limp, and every time it broke my heart to see him grow so sad from another rejection. Then a few months ago the children of one of my friends came by looking to adopt some pets. One of them, Pound, chose him despite the limp, wanting to help him grow into his full potential.”

“And?” the mare said quietly.

“And he’s done exactly that. I saw Champ at their birthday party, and he's doing great.”  The mare’s eyebrow went up. “Well, that’s what Pound named him.”

Lemon kept her mouth shut, but she felt a new burst of anger at Fluttershy allowing the name change.

“Anyway, from what I saw he’s back to one hundred percent. From regular exercise his leg is now fully healed. When he had Champ run to me I couldn’t see any strain or pain or any sign of a limp.”

Lemon let out a breath. That was a relief. “That’s good. And it’s even better that you know the pony who took him personally. It means you know where he lives.”

Fluttershy felt weak. Lemon was the dog’s proper owner. She had only given the dog away because she presumed that Lemon wasn’t coming back for him, and her reason for not returning was a medical emergency where she was physically unable to come visit or tell anyone else to check up on him, so it wasn’t like there was a valid reason to keep the dog away from her.

On the other hoof, though, she could only imagine how Pound was going to react. The poor colt would be devastated. The two of them had developed such a strong bond together, and she didn’t want to see it ripped apart.

***

Pound laughed as he put Champ's leash away. "Don't worry, Champ. That pesky squirrel can't avoid you forever.

“I think it’s time for your dinner.”

Champ immediately perked up at the mention of dinner. He grew excited, hopping back and forth and barking.

“Easy, boy. It’s coming.”

Champ  followed him downstairs, and Pinkie helped him open a can of dog food. Champ eagerly devoured every bite when it was put in a bowl, then  licked  the bowl clean.

They went upstairs, where Champ jumped on  the bed, laying down. Pound climbed up too, putting his head on Champ’s  stomach.“You’re nice and warm.”

Pound nuzzled Champ’s fur, content and relaxed. He gently dozed, his mind going blank.

Something  suddenly got Champ’s attention. He began sniffing the air. He hopped  off the bed, running towards the door and scratching at it. 

Pound  moved to a sitting position, a curious look on his face. "What's gotten  into you, boy?" he asked as the dog howled. Something sure had him  riled up, and he wanted out. 

Pound wanted to see what it was, but  he didn't want Champ to do anything bad, so he reattached his leash so  he could stop him if he got too out of control.

He opened the door, and Champ went racing towards the stairs, Pound flying right behind him. What had gotten into his dog?

Champ paused for a moment at the top of the stairs, letting out a happy bark.  As Pound stopped to see what Champ was looking at the dog began running  down, and Pound lost his grip on the leash. 

"There you are!" said a mare as Champ ran to her and began hugging him, his dog jumping and licking her face all over.

Pound was definitely confused now. Who was this stranger, and why was Champ acting so familiar with her? He saw Fluttershy next to her, and she looked put out. 

He suddenly put the pieces together. There was only one pony that he could think of that Champ would be so loving and excited for, and his eyes narrowed as his cheeks went red. 

He flew down the stairs, and without a word gave the mare a light shove to get her off Champ before grabbing the end of the leash and pulling him away from her.

"Hey!" the mare cried out. "What do you think you're doing?"

“Get away from my dog, you monster!” Pound said angrily.

“How dare you!” the mare replied, just as angrily.

“Pound-” started Fluttershy, but Pound didn’t want to hear it. 

“Shut up! How could you bring this beast to my house?”

“The name is Lemon Zinger, brat.” She glared down at the colt, annoyed that he was ruining her beautiful reunion with her dog.

“I don’t care what it is. Who do you think you are, coming here like you have any right? Your poor dog was suffering without you, but you didn’t care. I guess now that it’s convenient, now that all the work has been done for you, that your lazy flank wants to take him back.

“I was the one who adopted him when no one else would. I was the one who walked him every day, making sure he got proper exercise. I was the one that showered him with love and affection and let him sleep in my bed every night. And I was the one who helped fix his broken heart when YOU ripped it out of him.” He pointed at her.

“Pound!” Fluttershy said strongly, to get his attention. “This isn’t what you think it is.”

Pound had never felt more betrayed. “You’re defending her? After what she did?”

“Pound, I know you’re upset, and I don’t blame you for that, but Lemon didn’t abandon her dog. She got into a terrible accident and wasn’t able to come check up on him.”

Pound rolled his eyes. “Could you stop being so gullible? What a pathetic cover story. How convenient that she was only hurt just long enough that her dog got all better. Give me a break.”

As frustrating as the colt’s attitude was, Lemon could at least understand where he was coming from. “Well, if my word doesn’t satisfy you we can go right down to Ponyville hospital so you can see my record for yourself.”

“I don’t care one bit if you were actually in the hospital or not. You’re not worthy of being his owner if you were so careless you got hurt right after he did. Champ is my dog now, so get out of my house.”

And with that any sympathy she felt for Pound was gone. She got right in his face. “Listen here, you little brat! That’s my dog, and his name is Butch!”

Champ let out a whine. Both of his owners were fighting, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

“Whatever!” Pound responded dismissively. “You probably just faked your injury anyway.”

Lemon’s eye twitched. She had never met such an aggravating child. “I LOVE my dog! You understand me? I was devastated when he got hurt, and it hurt even more knowing how long I had been away from him when I woke up.”

Pound just shrugged. “And while you were off being hurt I was doing your job. Champ loves me, and even if he did get to go with you he’ll always remember the time you left him all alone like the terrible excuse for a pet owner you are.”

“Pound!” Pinkie cried out.

Lemon’s eyes grew fiery, her dislike of Pound increasing with every word out of his mouth.

Fluttershy felt a little afraid. She honestly thought Lemon was about to strike him, but then suddenly her face grew slack.

“Fine, then,” said Lemon, getting a strained smile on her face. “If you really have that much faith in Butch’s love then why don’t we put it to the test?

“We’re just going to fight endlessly at this rate, so why don’t we make things simple? We’ll let him decide. The one he chooses is the one that gets to keep him, and that’ll be the end of it. How about that?”

Pound just stared at her blankly for a short while, before he gave a hearty nod. “Fine. I’m game.”

The two of them glared at one another.

Fluttershy felt uncomfortable. “Come on, guys. I really don’t think this is the way to settle this.”

“We both agreed to it,” said Lemon, without averting her gaze from Pound. “So why don’t you butt out?”

“Yeah,” said Pound right after. “Stay out of our business.”

Fluttershy bit her lip. Both of them were getting so hotheaded that they were beyond reason. 

The two finally broke eye contact, going to opposite sides of the room. 

"Come here, Butch!" said Lemon sweetly. "Come to mama."

"Come here, Champ!" Pound called out confidently. "You know how much I love you. I already promised I'd never abandon you, like a certain someone over there."

Champ heard his two owners calling out to him, and his heart was hurting. How could he possibly choose between Lemon and Pound?

Lemon had taken him in when he was just a puppy. She had been a most loving owner that always cared for his needs. After his accident, when she didn’t return, he had been heartbroken. Fluttershy had been the only one he trusted, especially when so many others turned him down because of his bad leg. 

Then Pound had come into his life. By that point he had basically given up on being adopted. When Pound heard his story it touched the colt’s heart, because they had a similar issue. Those simple words he had said, “I want you to be my pet,” were a breath of fresh air in his misery. 

Since the day that Pound had taken him home the colt had been just as devoted to him as Lemon had been. Pound’s love had given him a zest for life again, and he had overcome his bad leg because of it. 

Lemon hadn’t truly left him behind. She had been hurt and wasn’t able to collect him. His history with her was strong, but…

But Pound, even if they had only been partners for a few months, made him feel special and loved too. And as Pound’s pet he had been able to help the colt through some bad days. Now that Pound had finally started flying he was a much happier colt, but he knew that Pound still needed him.

He loved them both! He was loyal to them both. The thought of hurting either of them was too horrible a prospect to think about.

He let out another whine and sank to the floor, putting his paws over his eyes.

Pound heard Champ whining, saw the distress on his face, and though it made his stomach hurt he knew what he had to do.

He didn’t care about the rules anymore. He walked over to Champ, getting on his knees and hugging the dog around the neck as tears came down his eyes. “It’s okay,” he said gently. “You should go with Lemon Zinger.”

Lemon stared at him wordlessly, an odd feeling in her chest.

“When I first met you and heard about how everyone turned you away because they didn’t want to deal with your injury it reminded me of how I felt when I couldn’t fly. It always hurt when that happened, and I felt like I was a broken pony who would never fly. Just like I’m sure you felt like you would never walk properly again. But we overcame that together, didn’t we? I’ve learned to fly, and your leg is all better.

“I promised that we would excel together. That’s why I named you Champ: because I knew one day you’d be a champion.”

Champ licked his face, giving a little whimper.

“You were special to me. You were my very first pet, and I thought we would spend our lives together, growing up. But… Lemon Zinger is your owner, and I’m sure she loves you even more than I do. It’s wrong to make you choose between us, and I don’t want to see you hurting anymore after you’ve come so far.”

Releasing Champ he gave the dog a push. “Go on, now. It’s been so long and you’ve missed her so much.” He let out a shuddering breath.

Champ just sat there, looking up at him.

Pound was trying to hold back his feelings, but it was difficult. “JUST GO!” he snapped. “I’ll be fine, so don’t make this any harder than it has to be! Just get out of here!” His eyes clenched shut as he barely avoided sobbing.

Fluttershy and Pinkie were crying themselves, feeling terrible for Pound. There was nothing they could do here.

Champ whined, but eventually stood up and slowly walked toward Lemon with his head drooped.

Pound walked over to the stairs, but didn’t go up them. Instead, he sat on the bottom step hugging himself.

When Champ reached Lemon he gave her a halfhearted nuzzle.

Lemon stirred at his touch, shaking her head to focus. She looked down at Butch, seeing the pain in his eyes. 

She then looked over at Pound, and felt her previous anger at him gone. She understood him far more than she thought. She couldn't just let things end like this. 

With an exhale of breath she walked over towards the stairs where Pound was.
> 5-3: Compromise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lemon Zinger sat down next to Pound at the bottom of the stairs.

Pound didn’t acknowledge her presence.

With her front hooves on her knees Lemon said in a forlorn voice, “I understand what you’re feeling.”

Pound felt a brief flash of anger, but it was overwhelmed by his sadness. “No, you don’t,” he said in a quivering voice. “You get to keep your dog.”

Looking forward towards the wall she felt a reminder of the past. “When I was a filly I always wanted a dog, but my parents were always opposed to the idea. Dogs were my favorite animals, and I was sure I could take care of one well, but no matter what I did or tried they always said no. They’d never give me a reason, but I guess they just didn’t like dogs.

“When I moved out and got my own place the very first thing I did was buy a dog.”

Champ walked over to the pair, laying down against Pound’s legs.

Fluttershy wasn’t sure what was going on, whether Lemon was telling him a story to make him feel better or because she was going to relinquish her dog to him. Either way she wished there was a way for both of them to be happy.

Pound leaned over, rubbing Champ’s side.

“Butch was just a puppy then. He was a tiny little thing, only three months old. We were together for six years, through the good times and the bad. When I was having trouble he was always there to make me feel better.”

Leaning over she said despondently, “Then came a string of bad luck. They began cutting my hours at work, and Butch broke his leg. I was lost! I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t afford an expensive vet bill, and I couldn’t just let Butch suffer either. That’s when I remembered our resident animal caretaker: Fluttershy.

“I begged for her help, and she assured me she would care for him and get him back on his paws. She didn’t want any money from me. Her only concern was for him. It was such a relief.

“However, on the way back home…”

Pound paused in his petting of Champ, glancing in her direction.

“Because of the heavy downpour I lost my footing. I slid into a big mud puddle that carried me right into and over a guardrail, and on the way down I hit my head on a big rock.”

Pound winced.

“I lost consciousness. The next thing I knew I woke up in the hospital. Over the next few days I started to remember things. Eventually I remembered Butch, and my heart grew heavy. I had been out for so long and I knew he had to be suffering without me, but I was stuck in the hospital, and I knew I couldn’t have a dog there.

“When I was released from the hospital I wanted to get him then, but my parents had made their stance on dogs perfectly clear, so I couldn’t retrieve him then either. I had to work my way up from nothing. I had to reach a point of financial stability that I could get my own place and be able to care for him again. I pushed so hard for that, knowing that showing myself to him before then would only cause him distress when I had to leave him behind again.

“So what about you? How did you come by him? What’s it been like for you?”

Pinkie was grateful that things had quieted down, but no matter what happened someone was going to be devastated.

Pound looked down at Champ, thinking of their first meeting. In a subdued tone he said, “We got to play with a baby one afternoon, and we had such a blast that we wanted our parents to have one so we could play with them all the time. However, they said it would be difficult and take too long, so they offered to get me and my sister a pet instead.

“We each went our separate ways when we got to Fluttershy’s place to pick out our own pet. At first the only animal I was interested in was a hawk, but then I spotted Champ off by himself. Fluttershy told us that any animal that was presenting itself was up for adoption, but he initially ignored my attempts to make friends with him. He immediately came to Fluttershy when she called, though.

“That’s when I first saw the problem with his leg. He was limping. When I asked Fluttershy about things she told me about his accident and how she thought that you abandoned Champ for it. She also said that all the other ponies that looked at Champ passed him by for the same reason, and every time it hurt him so much inside.” A tear came down his eye.

“She said that other ponies looked down on him for being different, or not being as good as other animals. That reminded me of how much I was suffering in school. Everyone in my class was so much better at flying than I was, and I had a group of bullies always mocking me for it. It hurt so much.”

Scooting forward off the stairs he hugged Champ’s neck. “That’s why I picked him. I knew right then and there that there wasn’t any other pet I wanted as much as him. Like I told Fluttershy, I named him Champ because it was short for Champion. I promised her that both of us would excel together, and I made that come true for both of us. I can fly now, and I’m pretty good at it. And because of the daily walks and play we have together Champ’s leg eventually grew strong and he stopped limping.”

Champ licked his face.

He closed his eyes, quietly sobbing. “I th-thought we were going to grow up together. We w-w-were supposed to be an unstoppable team blazing a path of glory. B-but that’s all over now. Now it’s time to say goodbye. 

"But I don’t want to! I don’t want to lose Champ!” He buried his head in Champ’s fur as he began wailing.

Champ whined.

Lemon felt that familiar sensation again as she watched the colt with her dog. When he quieted down a little she stood up herself and kneeled over him. “I can tell that you love Butch with all your heart. I’ve been so immature, competing with a child in such a heartless contest, trying to force him to choose me over you. I regret it.”

Pound glanced over at her with a tear stained face.

“I have no excuse for it, but I feel like that was the filly in me that had always longed for a dog growing up coming out. She couldn’t accept it.

“I had my time with him, loving every moment. Now… I guess it’s your turn. Take good care of him for me.”

Then without another word she started heading for the door.

“Huh?” Lemon’s sudden turnaround took Pound by surprise. Quickly wiping his eyes he hopped up. “What are you talking about? Champ is your dog.”

She didn’t answer.

“Wait!” Pound called after her. “This isn’t right!”

She paused, but didn’t turn around. Shaking her head she said, “No. As you said yourself things will be hard enough. Why drag them out?”

“B-but…” He let out a little huff of breath. “You had him since he was a puppy. You raised him for almost his entire life until you had your accident. I’ve only had him for a few months. And when me and Pumpkin were searching for pets I made sure to ask Fluttershy if taking any of them would mean taking them away from their families. I can’t hold onto Champ when I know that he has an owner that’s been waiting just to see him again.

“You should keep him. I… I can-can always get… another d-dog.” His lip quivered.

Fluttershy groaned. After both fighting so fiercely for him now the both of them were trying to get Champ to stay with the other, knowing how deeply both of them cared for him.

She looked over at the dog, her heart breaking. Dogs were always known for their loyalty, and Champ’s love for both of them meant he had to let someone down no matter who kept him in the end.

Lemon sighed. She turned to look at him. “I’ve seen the bond you share with Butch, and as someone who grew up wishing I had had a dog to grow up with me I’d never be able to forgive myself if I took Butch away from you. That’s all.

“You can get to experience all the things that I always wished I could have had as a child but never got to.”

She took a few steps toward him. “You know, the reason I took Butch was basically the same as yours. Butch was the runt of the litter, and even his own littermates seemed to snub him. When I saw that it immediately made me want him, to show him how wonderful the world can be with a loving owner that truly cared about them.

“I know you’ll take care of Butch right, and love him the way I always did. His happiness is all that really matters to me.” She met eyes with Butch, seeing his mournful expression. Forcing a smile she said, “Goodbye… Champ. Look after Pound for me, okay?” She gave him a wink.

Pound still felt funny about this. He just couldn’t find the right words to describe it.

As Lemon headed for the door again her steps became a little wobbly as memories began surfacing. Telling Pound of how she had gotten Champ reminded her of that very first day. 

A mare with a litter of puppies was selling them. She had looked at the eight puppies, seeing the potential in all of them. Most of them were full of energy, like they were eager to find an owner. Her attention was drawn to one that was off by himself. The other pups would wrestle or play with one another, but none of them seemed to join Butch in with their games.

For that reason alone she had thought he was the perfect dog for her. When she stepped around the other puppies and picked him up, declaring her intent to adopt him, his expression immediately perked up. He let out a little happy yip, and began licking her face. In that moment she knew she had made the right choice.

She had done all she could to ensure he grew up properly. She didn’t feed him too much or too little, she made sure he got plenty of exercise, and she gave him oodles and oodles of love. It was everything she had always imagined it to be. They were partners; companions; friends. He was as much her family as her mother and father.

He brought so much joy into her life… and then on the same day tragedy struck them both. Butch broke his leg, and she hit her head and went into a coma. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but think that if she had only had more courage they wouldn’t be in this position right now. As much as she didn't want to admit it, in a way she had abandoned him.

When Butch had hurt his leg she knew she couldn’t afford a vet and took him to Fluttershy as a last resort… but why hadn’t she stayed? She couldn’t bear to hear Butch’s whimpers and pained yips, so, after Fluttershy agreed to get Butch back in shape, she had left reassured.

In the most painful time of his life she had deserted Butch. If only she had stayed by his side back then… if only…

Even with the guilt she now felt in her heart she still didn’t want to leave him behind. They had too much history together. She could spend the rest of her life making it up to him if they could be together again. Ever since she had gotten discharged from the hospital there wasn't a day that went by where she wasn't pushing herself to be self-sustained. Everything she did for the past few months was just so she could have Butch back in her life again.

As she reached the entranceway her legs gave way as her emotions overflowed. She practically collapsed against the side of the doorframe, starting to wail.

Tears came to Pound’s eyes. He couldn’t do this. He loved Champ with every fiber of his being, but he just couldn’t take what it would do to Lemon.

Pinkie let out a heavy sigh, crossing the room to help Lemon up. It seemed like there was nothing to do. Her life was dedicated to making others happy, but both Lemon and Pound had good reasons for keeping him by their sides. Was there really no way to resolve this quandary?

After a few seconds her eyes suddenly lit up. “Ooooh!” she said joyfully. “I might have the best idea ever!”

Lemon sniffed, glancing over at Pinkie. “L-like what?”

“You’re working now, right?” Lemon nodded. “Do you have a set schedule?” She got another nod.

Pound was staring hard at Pinkie. He didn’t know where these questions were headed, but he trusted her to find a way out of this mess.

“Now, then…” Pinkie let out a quick breath, her heart beating hard in anticipation. This was the most important question of all. Everything hinged on this point. “Do you work in the mornings or the afternoon?”

Lemon similarly didn’t know what the point of these questions were, but she answered, “I usually work from three to eleven. Why?”

Pinkie let out a happy squeal, hopping up and down. “YES! Oh, that’s the exact answer I hoped you would give! Problem solved!”

Everyone looked at Pinkie questioningly. “How does that solve the problem, Pinkie?” asked Fluttershy.

“Pound, come over here,” said Pinkie. “You too, Champ.”

The pair rose, standing in front of Pinkie. “So what do you have in mind?” Pound asked.

“There’s no need to fight over Champ. He doesn’t have to just be your dog or her dog. He can be a dog with two owners because the timing is absolutely perfect.”

“What do you mean, Auntie Pinkie?”

“Yes, Pinkie. What do you mean?” asked Lemon, a hopeful expression on her face.

“Lemon, when are you free during the day?”

“Um… the mornings?”

“And Pound? When do you go to school?”

“The morning,” he responded.

“Exactly!” said Pinkie with another hop. “Because the kids are at school and we’re working during the mornings Champ is usually stuck upstairs most of the day. When we get some down time I take him out to go to the bathroom and for a little exercise, but it isn’t until Pound gets home that he gets a lot of attention.”

Lemon was starting to catch on, a smile returning to her face. “I see what you’re going for. I’ll have Butch while Pound is at school, and Pound will have Butch while I’m at work. This way we both get to spend equal time with him and he’s always got someone nearby to shower him with love and attention.”

Pound gave a quick look at Lemon, then looked back at Pinkie. “That’s brilliant!” He quickly hugged her. “You’re amazing, Auntie Pinkie!” All the tension in his body went out of it. Now nobody had to be sad.

Pinkie hugged him back. “We’ll have to iron out some of the details, like weekends and holidays. And I’m sure there will be nights that Lemon will want Champ to sleep with her, but for now I think this is a fair compromise.

“Wouldn’t you agree, Champ?”

Champ let out a hearty bark, running in small circles.

Fluttershy came forward. “I don’t want to rain on your parade right after you’ve settled things, but what about his name?”

“What about his name?” asked Pound, letting go of Pinkie.

“Both of you gave him a name.”

Lemon chuckled. “Oh, that. I’m not concerned about that at all. If he’s going to be our dog I see no reason why he can’t have two names. Besides, Pound said that Champ is short for Champion. ‘Champion Butch’ is a name to be proud of, wouldn’t you agree?”

Pound nodded. “Yeah! I don’t want to fight over something as small as a name after we’ve settled where Champ is going to be staying.”

Fluttershy smiled. “I figured as much, but I thought it was better to bring it up now so you didn’t wind up fighting about it later.”

"Come on!" said Pound, grabbing the end of Champ’s leash. “Let’s go for a walk together, Lemon. You can tell me about what he was like as a puppy.”

Lemon beamed. “Sounds great.”

He offered Lemon the leash, and she eagerly took it. The dog’s tail was going a mile a minute.

The trio went out the door. Pinkie went outside too, but didn’t follow them.

Fluttershy came outside too, her eyes teary as she hugged Pinkie. “Oh, Pinkie!’

Pinkie held her back. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing at all now. When Lemon came back I was terrified. She was furious that I gave away her dog. I thought for sure this couldn’t end without one of them thoroughly miserable, but just look at them now.”

Pinkie giggled. “I know what you mean. I felt the same way.” 

Although the dog was excitable, Pound and Lemon seemed to be in no rush. They gave Champ a lot of slack as they walked around, and she could hear them exchanging stories about Champ, talking like old friends.

“Everything is fine now.”

As she watched the trio she pledged to do whatever it took to keep this joint ownership business running as smooth as possible. She’d get a house key from Lemon so she could pick Champ up or drop him off if Lemon was unable to do so herself.  

"Everything will be just fine."
> 6-1: Boredom
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Knock knock knock.

Cup Cake opened the front door, seeing Fluttershy on her stoop. “Hello, Fluttershy,” she said genially. “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” she replied. “Sorry for coming over so early, but I needed to see you as soon as possible.” 

“What can I do for you?”

“Well, it’s about Mayhem.” 

Her pleasant attitude faded a bit. Just like with Discord she had gotten used to him, but she couldn’t deny that a part of her was uncomfortable with him. It had nothing to do with appearance or attitude. In fact, Mayhem was far more tolerable than Discord. No, what gave her disquiet was the power he wielded.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“I… well… mmm…” Fluttershy tapped her hoof a few times on the ground. “I don’t quite know, actually. He’s gotten very cranky lately, mouthing off to Discord. He still treats me with respect, but I can tell he feels the urge to yell at me as well.”

“Has anything happened recently that might cause him to act this way?”

Fluttershy tapped her hoof again. “If I had to take a guess, I think it’s because the answer is ‘no’ that he’s acting up. Nothing has happened recently, and I… I think he’s growing bored of me.”

“You?” Cup shook her head. “Not a chance. He adores you! I mean, he calls you his mother.”

“Well, I don’t mean in the sense that he wants to be rid of me for good. I believe Mayhem probably wants some time away from me to see his friends, but he’s too afraid of upsetting me to be honest. He doesn’t want to hurt my feelings, so he won’t say what’s on his mind.

“I’m hoping a playdate with them will help him settle down. It’s the weekend, so the twins don’t have any school. The twins might be enough, but the more the merrier.”

“Well, as long as he behaves himself I don’t have an issue with it.” Cup tapped her hoof now, looking awkward. “Look, I know that being random is part of his thing, so I know he’s gonna use his powers like he did at the twins birthday party. Just… I don’t know… can you tell him to tone it down this time? I mean, it sure spiced things up, but I don’t think my living room should become a carnival.”

“I understand.”

Cup turned towards the stairs, yelling out for her children.

A short while later they appeared at the top of the stairs, wiping the sleep out of their eyes.

“Hey,” said Pound with a little groan. “This isn’t noon.”

Pumpkin yawned. “Yeah. It’s the weekend. We want to sleep in.”

“Hello!” said Fluttershy, walking to the bottom of the stairs.

Pound opened his eyes a little wider, focusing. “Oh, hi. How are you, Fluttershy?”

“Good, thanks.”

Pumpkin looked like she had dozed off standing up.

“I need the two of you to solve a friendship problem.”

That got their attention. Pumpkin stood up straighter, forcing herself to alertness. “Who’s in trouble?”

“Well, this is the mother of all simple problems. I just want you guys to play with Mayhem today. I think he’s feeling a little cooped up from spending so much time with me, so I was hoping a day out with you and your friends will perk him up.”

The twins looked at each other, big smiles coming to their faces. “Oh, boy!” said Pound. “It’s been a while since we got the crew together.”

“Mom!” said Pumpkin.

“I already gave my permission,” Cup said, expecting their question.

“Sorry for waking you up so early,” said Fluttershy, “but I wanted to make sure I had the greatest chance of plans not already being made. The longer I waited the greater the odds they would make some.”

The twins trotted down the stairs, hugging Fluttershy. “Aw, no worries,” said Pumpkin, her eyes twinkling.

“Yeah! A day with all our friends and a chance to help one of them feel better? That’s great. Sounds like a perfect day.”

“Yeah. What could go wrong?”

The twins ran upstairs, writing down their request in the magic notebook. Over the next two hours they got confirmations from all their friends, even Flurry.

Soon enough the six of them were all together again. All that was left was Mayhem.

About ten minutes later there was a knock on the door, and when it opened Pound saw Fluttershy, with Mayhem on her back. 

“Hey, Mayhem!” said Pound.

The draconequus floated off of Fluttershy, hovering in front of him. “Hey,” he said dispassionately.

“We’ve been waiting for you.”

“We?”

“Yep.” Pound began hovering, taking Mayhem’s claw and pulling him towards the stairs. “We got the whole crew here today just to hang out.”

That seemed to generate a little interest. “Really?”

Pound nodded. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? You should really come over more.”

“Why should I? Your mother doesn’t like me, right?”

Pound paused for a moment. “Why do you say that? 

Mayhem landed on the top of the stairs. “Mommy said I shouldn’t use my powers today all that much.”

Pound landed next to him. “She just isn’t used to your powers. She’s the same way with Discord.

“Don’t let it get to you. We can still have plenty of fun together without changing reality.”

Mayhem didn’t look convinced. “I guess.”

They went into the twins room, where everyone greeted him. 

Mayhem smiled for a few seconds, but then he sighed. He and Pound sat down with the rest of the group.

“So what’s wrong, Mayhem?” asked Flurry. “We heard you’ve been feeling down lately.”

“I’m bored and irritated and I just feel tired of it.” He let out another sigh. “I must be a pretty terrible person, huh? To be looking down on my mother after all the time she’s spent on me.”

“Nonsense!” said Tree Leaf, mussing up his hair a bit. “Everyone gets bored when they do the same things over and over. Nothing wrong with doing something new once in a while.”

“That’s why we’re all here,” said Peppermint. “So we can take that boredom away from you.”

Mayhem didn’t look too enthused. “Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

Pound and Pumpkin looked at each other uncertainly. 

The group tried playing games with the little draconequus, but he showed little interest. Over the next hour they tried everything they could think of to entertain him, but to no avail. Within minutes of every game he’d just complain that he was bored and refuse to keep playing.

“I’m bored!” Mayhem said angrily. 

Pumpkin was losing patience with him. “We’ve been doing our best to help you feel better, but you’re never gonna improve if you sit there whining all day.”

Mayhem let out a little growl.

“Saying that you’re bored over and over isn’t going to make you less bored, so either do something about it or just shut up already.”

Mayhem stood up, stomping over to Pumpkin with his eyes blazing.

Pound was feeling uncomfortable. Mayhem looked like he was about to snap. He got between the two of them. “Pumpkin, that’s enough! Let’s all just calm down. We don’t need to be fighting.”

Mayhem paused, his body clenching as he snorted. Then, all of a sudden, he stopped, and his attitude shifted. A calm smile came to his face. “You know what? You’re right, Pumpkin. You’re so right.”

Far from being reassured, Flurry felt a sense of foreboding from Mayhem’s shift in disposition.

“I’m tired of feeling bored, and I’m not going to stand for it anymore. From now on I’m doing things MY way.” He lifted his arms.

All of them reacted with shock as a dark orb came out of his hands, expanding rapidly. It passed harmlessly by the children, but everything else that touched it grew rotted and decrepit, as if it had been abandoned for decades.

The light from the sun quickly faded, making it look like nighttime. 

Peppermint looked out the window, and saw that the effects had spread throughout town. The grass was brown, and all the houses were crumbled and decaying.

“Wha-what… what did you do?” asked Pound.

Mayhem snickered. “I’m not holding myself back anymore. I’ve decided that the rules have bored me long enough. I’m making this world mine.”

Masky gaped at him. “Mayhem! You can’t be serious.”

Mayhem slowly shook his head. “It seems you still don’t get it. I’m over a thousand years old. There’s no reason I should ever be bored.”

His head stretched from his neck until it was right in front of Pumpkins, their noses touching. “And I believe it was you who told me to either do something about my boredom or shut up about it, right?” Pumpkin’s eyes widened. “Taking over the world entertains me. As long as I don’t push too far I can gradually accomplish it.”

“You’re an idiot!” Flurry said strongly.

“Oh?” Mayhem chuckled. “And why is that?”

“We know all about you. Namely, your biggest weakness. You don’t actually exist.”

Mayhem’s eyebrow rose and he frowned slightly, but he didn’t speak.

“All you are is living magic. And when that magic runs out you vanish. You’ll have to use magic to enact your plan, and you’ll run out eventually. After that you’ll be locked away. Discord won’t ever let you out again.”

Mayhem glared at Flurry for a few moments before he smirked and pulled his head back to his body. He began to laugh, harder and harder. “Oh, that’s a good one. Did you really think I forgot about that?”

Peppermint didn’t like where this was going. On the day she met him she had been wary of what a power like his could do if he turned to evil.

“I think YOU’VE forgotten that I’m considered reformed. All I have to do is ask good old daddy dearest for more magic, and he’ll give it to me. 

“I mean, really, the only thing that could stop me is if you went and blabbed my plans to everyone. But now… now you’re in my world. I don’t have to worry about that anymore. Unless you beat me here you’ll never be able to go home, and that means you’ll never be able to talk.”

All of them stared at him, looks of horror on their faces.

“And what about Fluttershy?” Pound asked angrily. “Your ‘mommy?’ What about her? When she hears that me and Pumpkin have gone missing she’ll be miserable. And she’ll be even more sad because Twilight will be miserable at hearing that us and her niece have vanished.”

Mayhem’s expression grew cold. “Unfortunately for her she will have to experience some sadness, but I have no intention of harming her. Of course, she’ll still have me by her side to comfort her. And she’ll want to comfort me too. How SAD must I be that all of my friends mysteriously vanished?”

Pumpkin began to tremble. “C-come on!” she said. “This is just a joke, right?”

Mayhem lifted his claw. “Mommy will be safe. Everyone else, though, is fair game. Want to see?”

With a snap, cauldrons of what looked like boiling lava and acid appeared, floating about ten feet above the ground. 

With another snap all of them gasped. All of their parents appeared, blindfolded and tied up with their ears blocked.

“Mom! Dad!” Pound yelled. “What are you doing?”

“I told you,” Mayhem said darkly. “I’m not playing around. You don’t seem to be taking me seriously, so I guess I have to show you I mean business.”

Their parents were put into position over the cauldrons. “Here we go!” he said gleefully.

“No! Stop!”

“Don’t!”

“Mayhem!”

Flurry, Pumpkin, and Peppermint’s horns began to glow, but Mayhem simply took them away, ropes coming out of the ground and binding them to the floor.

Tears were coming down all their eyes as they tried to break free, but they were held too strong. 

“Say goodbye," Mayhem said with a joyful tone, "but make sure you do it quickly before they melt!”

With that, all of the adults began falling.

“NOOOO!”

Right before the parents hit the cauldrons they became transparent, all of them falling through them harmlessly and landing on the ground.

Mayhem chuckled. “Oh, come on. You didn’t really think I was going to kill your parents, did you? That’s just crazy.”

The kids were released from their bondage, their horns returned.

Flurry let out a long sigh. “Mayhem, that was a very, VERY poor prank. You went too far.”

“Prank?” said the little draconequus. “It seems you misunderstood me. Chaos can only be experienced when you’re alive. A dead pony can’t react to it. That’s why I have no intention of killing anyone.

“I just wanted you to understand this wasn’t a big joke. However, if you’re going to keep testing me, I might just be forced to give a demonstration.”

He lifted the parents over the pots again. “This time it's for real. I mean, I might be joking, but… do you really want to take that chance?”

Their hearts were racing. Masky shook his head hard. “No! I don’t! I believe you! Leave my parents out of this.”

Mayhem smirked. “What about the rest of you?” He received murmurs of affirmation. “Very good. We don’t need these anymore.” With a snap all of the parents and the cauldrons disappeared.

Pound let out a sigh of relief. He could feel beads of sweat coming down his face.

“What do you want?” asked Pumpkin, still trying to get her racing heart under control. “Getting rid of six kindergartners isn’t going to help you take over the world.”

Mayhem shrugged. “I know that. I just wanted to play a game with my dear old friends. All of you are going to fight me. If you win, I’ll return you home to your dear families, I’ll return to Discord, and you’ll never have to worry about me again. If you don’t, well… then you’ll become my playthings. I’ll use you for when I want to play games, and I know you’ll always be available because you aren’t going to be able to go anywhere else.”

All of them poofed outside to the middle of Ponyville. It was completely deserted, and now all the rest of them could see the state it was in.

Mayhem chuckled. “This is just a game to me. Right now this Ponyville is just pretend. But unless you defeat me this will eventually happen to the real Ponyville.

“I’ll be back soon. I have to go prepare things for our battle.”

With that he disappeared.

Flurry felt like she was having trouble breathing. She was never going home! Her only real means of combating him, her magic, could be rendered useless with a flick of his thoughts by removing her horn. None of them had a chance against him. They were powerless, and he knew that.

Even if, by some miracle, they could stall Mayhem long enough that his magic ran out, all that would happen is that he would vanish, taking their only means of escape with him. And because no one would have any idea that Mayhem had gone bad they would see no issue in letting him back out.

All of them were thinking on roughly the same lines. The six holders of the Elements of Harmony barely beat an adult Discord. The six of them didn’t think they could do much against a baby version. 

“What are we supposed to do?” Peppermint asked, her voice cracking. “He’s unstoppable!”

“He’s only going to toy with us,” said Pumpkin, hanging her head. “You saw what happened earlier. He captured all six of us with ease and took away our magic to boot.”

“I’m sorry,” said Flurry. “In times of crisis like this ponies will turn to an alicorn to lead them, but I don’t have any ideas on what to do either.”

Tree Leaf put a hoof on her. “Come on, Flurry. Are you still on about that? You’re a kid like us, remember? There’s no sense in beating yourself up.”

Pound felt on the verge of tears. He had no idea what to do either. The idea of never playing with Auntie Pinkie again, or being hugged by his mother and father, was a terrible thought.

Pumpkin glanced toward Masky, seeing the odd look on his face. He was the only one who looked relatively calm, his brow furrowed in thought. “A bit for your thoughts, Masky?”

The colt took a few seconds to answer. “There is… one way. To beat him, I mean.”

That got everyone looking at him. “What do you have in mind?” asked Flurry. “Any idea is better than none.”

“It’s pretty simple, really. We treat this as just another game.”

“What do you mean?” asked Pound.

“Let’s just forget about the threat Mayhem poses and play his game to the best of our ability. After all, when it comes down to it we’re not really fighting him. We’re fighting his boredom.”

Tree Leaf raised his eyebrow. “You mind explaining what’s going on in that head of yours?”

Masky gently tapped his hoof, trying not to get impatient.  “Look, there are only two possibilities here. Either Mayhem is just messing with us and just wants us to give it our all fighting him, or he really did turn against us. If he’s pretending then once we play through his game he’ll let us go home regardless of who wins. And if he’s being serious then he’ll want to prolong things as long as possible, because he knows he could end this game in a second if he wanted.

“I think it’s obvious to everyone that a serious Mayhem wins no matter what, right?” Everyone nodded. “That means the only possible chance we have of getting out of this is turning Mayhem into the former.”

“And how are we supposed to do that?” asked Peppermint.

“It’s like I’ve been saying: we play along and treat this like just another game.

“Mayhem turned against us because he was feeling so bored and irritated that he ceased to care about the rules or who he would hurt by breaking them. If we can relieve his boredom then he might just let us go once the game is over.”

Pumpkin got a thoughtful look on her face now. “If we don’t play along then he’s only going to be more bored and annoyed.”

Pound nodded, not feeling as scared. “So we make this the best game of his life and hope that it’s enough to bring Mayhem back to his senses.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Flurry. “But where do we start?”

Mayhem suddenly appeared nearby, making the ones who could see him jump back. Seeing this, the others turned around and backed up as well.

“Hey there!” the draconequus said with a wave. 

“What now?” asked Tree Leaf.

“You’re boring. I want to spice things up. It won’t be any fun otherwise.” Mayhem snapped his claw, and he was now wearing a dark costume with a bandana mask and a cape.

He gestured to Flurry, and snapped again. She was wearing a costume too now, covered with Crystal Hearts. “You’re a talented alicorn, so you don’t really need any help, but since you’re so fond of those gigantic wings of yours you can now make them even longer.”

Flurry gave him a questioning look, feeling an odd desire to test that. She pushed her wings out, and with only a thought her wings extended out of her body another fifteen feet. She looked left and right, seeing the strange spectacle and unsure of what to say about it. 

Mayhem crossed his arms. “Those wings of yours are sturdy, and they won’t even add to your weight.”

Tree Leaf was next. After getting his costume decorated with leaves Mayhem said, “You seemed to like the little transformation stunt I used on you when we first met, so that’s your gift. Turn into whatever animal you want.”

Despite himself Tree Leaf couldn’t help but get excited. With a thought he transformed into a dragon and let out a large plume of flame into the sky.

“Cute,” said Mayhem. “Pound and Pumpkin, you get elemental magic. Since you’re so into your whole twin thing you can only use them to their full potential together, otherwise it’ll be pretty weak.

“Masky, since you’re mysterious you have power over shadows.

“And Peppermint, since you’re named after a sweet you can stretch your body at will. Not quite like a peppermint, but I doubt you want to be brittle like one.”

The rest of them got their costumes, also decorated with their namesakes. 

He gave a little wave. “Well, that’s it. Hope you enjoy your stay in my world.” With that he vanished again.

“Costumes and superpowers, huh?” said Peppermint. “This reminds me of the Power Ponies comic I read with Twilight.”

Pumpkin looked around at the others. “It’s more familiar than that. All of these costumes are an exact duplicate of the painting Mayhem did on our ceiling.”

That made the others look at everyone’s costumes.

Masky slowly shook his head. “So he’s really committed to this game of his.”

“Mayhem said that he created himself looking evil because he felt that if he ever went wrong that the six of us would be there to stop him,” said Pound. “And that’s what we’re going to have to do. We have to keep playing his game to bring him back to his senses, because that’s what friends do.”

Pound put his hoof out, smiling. “Let’s do it, everyone! Let’s get our friend back.”

All of them put their own hooves on top of his, giving their assent.
> 6-2: What makes a friend?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tree Leaf looked around. “So… what do we do first?”

Masky looked up. “Well, that dark, shadowy castle would be the obvious place to start, but I doubt it’s going to be that simple.”

As if in response to that statement they heard a scream of terror in the distance. That got all of them moving.

They came across several ponies seemingly passed out on the ground. They didn’t look injured, but their eyes were blank and unfocused.

“What happened?” asked Peppermint.

Pound got a curious look on his face. “I know this mare,” he said, pointing to one of them. “I think her name is Carrot Top. What’s odd is that she’s missing her cutie mark.”

Flurry looked around at the other ponies on the ground. “All of them are missing a cutie mark.”

There was another scream, and Pound and Pumpkin both gasped as a creature came into sight, walking away from them. “Tirek!” they called out in shock.

“Tirek?” asked Masky.

“He’s a creature that Twilight and her friends defeated,” said Pumpkin. “He has the power to absorb all of a pony’s magic.”

Peppermint’s eyes widened. “That’s horrible. So that’s also why their cutie marks disappeared?”

Pound nodded. “The stronger the pony the more powerful he gets if he captures them. However, he can’t absorb the magic of someone stronger than him, so Flurry should be safe. He’s not nearly as big as he was when Twilight fought him.”

“How do you know that?” asked Tree Leaf.

“When we got to borrow Discord’s power for a little while we went through Twilight’s memories to put on a joke history play. At his weakest he was only about as big as an adult pony, but once he got a hold of alicorn magic he was like twenty feet tall.”

“So we better fight him now while he’s still kinda weak,” said Masky.

Flurry nodded. “I guess this is the first ‘level’ of this game.”

“Sheesh,” said Pumpkin. “Starting us right off with a crazy boss like this. Couldn’t we get a warm-up first?”

Tree Leaf began laughing. He knew they were in a precarious position, but he had seen so much cool magic that he couldn’t help but feel excitement at getting to try some of it out himself. He turned himself into a dragon like before. “Let’s do it!”

He unfurled his wings and took off towards the monster.

As Tirek reached for another pony to drain their magic he let out a cry of surprise as he was suddenly rammed hard in the back, sending him flying.

“Who dares?” he said angrily as he rose and turned around. His anger turned to confusion as he saw a group of children standing before him. “Is this supposed to be humorous?”

Pound and Pumpkin lifted their hooves, putting one up towards him, and putting their other together. Out of their hooves came a large stream of lightning.

Tirek was knocked back a few feet, before he simply opened his mouth and began absorbing the magic they were throwing at him.

That quickly made them stop.

Tirek increased in size a few inches. “Hmph. Little children trying to fight me?” He shook his head. “Foolish.” He began charging at them. “At least you’ll make a good appetizer!”

He slammed his fist down as the group scattered. Peppermint stretched her body, headbutting him and knocking him off balance. Tirek grabbed for her, but Masky pushed her out of the way.

Tirek reared back, slamming his legs down upon him.

Pound let out a yell.

“Oops,” said Tirek. “I guess I won’t be absorbing your magic, then.”

Pumpkin bit her hoof. “No!”

Peppermint let out a quiet sob. He had sacrificed himself for her. 

Tirek turned to them. “I’ll be sure not to make the same mistake on you. "

Flurry glared at him, but then all of the children were gaping as a shadow on the ground in the shape of a pony began moving toward all of them. When it reached their group Masky slowly came out of it.

“Masky!” Peppermint said happily. 

“How’d you do that?” asked Tree Leaf.

“Mayhem told me that I had power over shadows, remember? I wasn’t quite sure what that meant at first, but good thing I figured it out.”

Tirek frowned. “What an odd group of kids.” He shrugged, then grinned again. “Oh, well. Once I absorb your magic I won’t have to worry about your weird abilities.”

He ripped a large piece of a roof off a nearby house, throwing it at them.

Flurry got into protective mode, creating a shield and extending her wings to wrap them around the group.

The roof broke harmlessly around her shield.

“Hmmm?” That certainly got Tirek’s attention. “A fifth one? There’s a fifth alicorn now? Unbelievable.” He began laughing. “Well, maybe I was wrong. Maybe one of you will make for a main course after all.”

“Not likely!” said Masky. “You’re not touching our friend!” 

Tree Leaf turned towards the twins. “You two, shoot some magic at him and get his attention. I’ll take care of this.”

“Tree Leaf,” Flurry started worriedly, but the colt only smiled at her. 

“You get it, don’t you, Flurry? We’re protecting you, not because you’re an alicorn, but because you’re our friend.”

Flurry smiled, nodding. “Right.”

Pound and Pumpkin both shot fire toward Tirek, this time without touching hooves. 

Tirek gave a bored sigh as the small plume of flame reached him. “You call these flames? They’re barely even worth absorbing.”

They touched hooves now, and the power of the flames increased exponentially.

As the larger stream came toward him Tirek was grinning again. “That’s more like it. I’ll just absorb that.”

Peppermints bottom half was still on the ground, but her top half was stretched out massively behind them several hundred feet, Tree Leaf wrapped around one of her legs.

She stopped resisting, and with a twanging sound the pair were launched like an arrow, slamming full force into Tirek and sending him flying into a house, crumbling it to ruin.

Flurry laughed. “Oh, wow. That was awesome, you guys.”

Peppermint and Tree Leaf grinned before bowing.

With a scream of fury and an explosion of power the house exploded around Tirek, all amusement gone from his features. 

“Oops,” said Tree Leaf. “That made him mad.”

“Enough!" yelled Tirek. "I will not be humiliated by a bunch of children.”

He shifted into a dragon again. “Come on, then! I’m bigger than you.”

Tirek slowly moved to the left, Tree Leaf following his lead. He lowered his head and charged, the colt doing the same.

As they were about to collide Tirek dodged to the side, keeping his momentum.

Peppermint gasped as she was suddenly face to face with the evil centaur. 

Tirek smirked as he grabbed the filly in one of his arms. “Got you! All I had to do was get your transforming friend into alignment with another one of you.”

“Shoot!” said Masky.

Peppermint extended her body, trying to get out of his grip, but no matter how much she stretched she couldn’t escape.

Tirek opened his mouth, and the other five gasped as he absorbed her magic. Her body snapped back to its regular size as Peppermint went immobile in his grip, her eyes faded out.

“No! He got her!” said Pumpkin.

Flurry frowned, her eyes narrowing. She floated in the air, a sphere of magic surrounding her as her wings unfurled to their full length.  “Give her back!”

Tirek shrugged. “She’s no use to me anymore now that I have her magic... but she’s someone you care about, isn’t she?” The area between his horns glowed brightly. “I want your magic, young alicorn, or I’m gonna destroy what’s left of this empty husk.”

Peppermint spoke, her voice barely audible. “You can’t. You have to run away. Don’t worry about me.”

Flurry closed her eyes for a few moments as she landed back on the ground, her horn no longer glowing. There was no choice to make. She knew her aunt, and she knew her parents. She was certain they would do the same in this situation. “I’ll give you my magic, if you leave my friends alone.”

“Sure thing," said Tirek. "Your friend was barely worth the effort to absorb her magic. You’re the only one I’m truly interested in.”

Pound whispered, “We can’t let him have Flurry. If he gets her magic none of us will have a chance."

“We can’t let him hurt Peppermint!” Flurry said back. “I don’t care what the risks are.”

“I have a plan, so listen up.” He spoke quickly, knowing they didn't have much time.

Pumpkin got a hurt look on her face. “Pound, you can’t do that. If you do then you’re gonna…”

Pound smiled. “You know you can’t talk me out of it, Pumpkin. If you know me at all then you know I’ll always do whatever it takes to protect those I love.”

Pumpkin let out a heavy breath, turning away as a tear came down her eye. “Yes… I do know that.”

Tirek’s smug expression vanished. “What’s the holdup over there? I’m losing my patience!”

Peppermint let out a cry of pain as Tirek squeezed her in his palm.

“FINE!” Pound shouted, taking to the air and laughing up a storm, Tirek looking up at him. “Flurry will never surrender to you, because I’M going to take you down right here and now!”

Tirek just looked at Pound flatly as he approached, a bored expression on his face.

As Pound got within a few feet of him Tirek opened his mouth and absorbed his magic, sending the colt falling to the ground.

Tirek picked him up. “Now I’ve got two of your friends, alicorn. Any more stalling and I’ll destroy them both.”

Flurry bowed her head submissively. “Please… just don’t hurt them.” She started walking toward him. 

Tirek was grinning again. “That’s better.”

When Flurry was in front of him Tirek opened his mouth and absorbed her magic, glee on his face. 

As the alicorn collapsed to the ground Tirek looked toward the sky as he waited for the expected growth. A few seconds later he was frowning again. He had just drained an alicorn, and she was barely worth more than her two friends. He had really expected more.

He dropped Pound and Peppermint, bored now. What a waste of his time.

Behind some debris came an explosion of magic, making the ground shake.

Tirek got a look of delight on his features. Was it one of the princesses? His expression changed to confusion as Flurry Heart appeared, floating in the air, rage on her face. “What? The alicorn? But that’s impossible.” He looked down and saw that all three of the children were no longer there. He quickly looked around, spotting them near Pumpkin, seemingly being dragged along the ground toward her. 

“The shadow brat!” Tirek said angrily. He noticed that Flurry was no longer on the ground. The third child was now Tree Leaf.

Tirek let out a yell. It was no wonder he had gotten so little magic out of Flurry. The transforming child had taken her place. How were they so good?

Tirek began laughing, before clapping. “Well, well, well. Not bad, kids. Sacrificing your friends to protect yourself? What a sad excuse for a princess.”

The aura around Flurry grew larger. “My friends are no longer in your grip. Now I don’t have to hold back.”

She disappeared, reappearing right in front of Tirek, blasting him point blank in the stomach with all the power she could muster.

Tirek tried to absorb her spell, but it was too much for him at his current size. He let out a long yell as Flurry’s spell fried him to ash.

Pound, Peppermint, and Tree Leaf all felt strength returning to them, and stood up.

Flurry was panting, and gave her friends a tired smile. “Pound, your plan was brilliant.” Her smile faded. “I’m just sorry you had to get hurt for it to work. You too, Tree Leaf.”

The two of them hugged her. “Don’t worry about it,” said Tree Leaf.

Pound nodded. “That’s right, Flurry. The reason the plan worked is that we trusted each other. I truly believed that you would save us, which is why I wasn’t afraid to throw myself at Tirek for you.”

Flurry got her smile back. “Thank you, Pound.”

“You’re welcome.”

They all heard laughter nearby, and turned to see Mayhem, a mile-wide smile on his face. “Ooooh! That was awesome! I really thought you guys were finished when he got Flurry’s magic, then it turned out to just be a disguised Tree Leaf. Then Flurry just went and wiped him out.”

The little draconequus was shivering in excitement. “This is it! This is the thrill that’s been missing in my life! Such magnificent chaos. I don’t know if I’ve ever had such fun!”

He began hopping up and down, clapping and letting out giddy laughter. “Fun! Fun! Fun!”

Peppermint looked towards Masky, thinking that his plan was working. Before Mayhem’s actions had been sadistic, pretending to kill their family. His laughter had been cruel, reveling in his malevolence. Now he sounded more like their old friend.

If they just kept entertaining him he would surely stop his bad actions and release them.

Mayhem floated up in the air about twenty feet. “This is a real blast, but I think it’s time to up the difficultly level. I’m not satisfied yet.”

“Bring it on!” said Flurry. Just like Peppermint she could see that playing along with his game was getting him to come around. 

“That’s right!” said Pound, putting a hoof around his sister. “So long as we’re together we can overcome anything you throw at us.”

Pumpkin grinned.

“Friends, huh?” said Mayhem. He began walking in the air toward them. “And just what is it that makes you friends, hmm?”

“Are you trying to suggest we’re not actually friends?” asked Masky.

Mayhem stopped. “Oh, not at all. I’m well aware that you six are friends. However, I’m asking you what makes it so.

“It seems a pretty simple answer. Simply a combination of time and memories.”

“What’s your point?” asked Flurry.

“It’s impossible for you to defeat me. That much I think we can all agree on. However…” Mayhem looked up thoughtfully. “It was impossible for Discord to lose to Twilight and her friends, and yet he did. Even though he corrupted all of them and turned them against their true selves, in the end their friendship still managed to overcome him and turn him back to stone.

“And all it took was Twilight being reminded of her past with them to pull her back to herself. Then she went and did the same for the others.”

Mayhem looked down at them now, slowly weaving back and forth. “I’m not going to make the same mistake as Daddy did. I’m not going to let you do the impossible. I’m going to utterly crush your friendship so that you can’t use its power against me.”

Tree Leaf frowned. “And how are you going to do that? Even if you separate us, or turn us against each other, our friendship will endure.”

Mayhem laughed, and Peppermint felt her heart rate start going up. His laughter was again dripping with malice. She gulped, wondering what he had planned.

Mayhem shrugged, shaking his head. “Pay attention, would you? I didn’t ask my question before for no reason. In order to defeat your friendship all I have to do is ensure that you’re not friends.

“But how, you ask?” He smirked widely. “By striking at the root of it.” 

He lifted his arms, and several rectangles appeared, showing scenes of the twins with Masky, Tree Leaf, and Peppermint, as well as scenes from their birthday party. “If friendship is the result of time and happy memories shared together then all I have to do is get rid of those memories entirely.”

They gaped at him.

Mayhem’s eyes slowly narrowed with a perverse pleasure. “Without those memories and experiences there is no friendship, and with no friendship there is no unity. How much of a fight can you really put up when your sense of teamwork is destroyed? 

“Now all of you will become strangers to each other once again.”

All of them looked at him with horror.

“Y-you can’t!” Tree Leaf cried out. “You can’t do that!”

He lifted his arm, laughing. “Oh, boy! This is so much fun! I should have done this ages ago.

"Who cares about the boring old rules? I'm going to do whatever I want!” He put his claw into a snapping position.

“Stop it!” Pumpkin begged.

“Mayhem, don’t!” said Pound, trembling.

“Please… please stop!” Flurry called out, not wanting to go back to that cold, lonely place.

Mayhem was unmoved. With a gleeful laugh he said, “Say goodbye to the last year of your lives.” 

The sound of the snap seemed to echo out across the world as the six children’s faces went blank.
> 6-3: Flurry vs Mayhem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The blank faces of the children slowly returned to normal, only to quickly be replaced with confusion.

“Where are we?” asked Peppermint.

Masky lifted a hoof, before glancing around at the other children. “What are we wearing?”

“What’s going on here?” asked Tree Leaf, before roughly shoving Pumpkin. “What do you know about this?”

Pound’s eyes narrowed before he socked Tree Leaf one. “Don’t put your hooves on my sister, jerk!”

The colt grabbed his cheek, growling. As he went to tackle Pound Flurry unfurled her wings and put them between the two, pushing them apart. “Knock it off!” After a few moments she blushed and quickly put her wings away as she realized what she had done. She gulped, trying to get her composure back. “T-this isn’t the time to be fighting.”

Pound glared at her. “Oh, who asked you to butt in with your mutant wings?”

Flurry flinched, her old shame returning. 

Pumpkin put a hoof on Pound’s shoulder. “She’s right, Pound.”

“Hmph! Whatever.” As he continued staring at Flurry his annoyance was replaced with curiosity. “Wait a minute. Are you an alicorn?”

Flurry gave a timid nod.

“How’s that possible?” asked Pumpkin. “There are only four alicorns, and all of them are adults.”

“I’m the child of Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor,” she replied with a bit of pride.

“We’ve met them before,” said Pound. “Our aunt is a friend of Twilight. But they’ve never mentioned you. Are you messing with us?”

Masky let out a little chuckle. “What would she have to gain from lying about her parentage? Even if she was it doesn’t change the fact that she’s an alicorn.” He let out a tsk. “Man, I wish I had my camera with me.”

Tree Leaf gave him a dirty look. “Don’t you think there are more important things right now? All of us have been kidnapped and forced into these stupid costumes.”

Pumpkin looked around. “This… sorta looks like Ponyville.”

“But it can’t be!” said Pound, unable to hide the worry in his voice. “This place looks like it’s been abandoned for like a thousand years.”

Peppermint gulped. “I sure hope my mom and dad are okay.” After a few seconds she reluctantly added, “And my little brother too.”

Flurry took in a deep breath. “Well, I can’t say I like this, but I am an alicorn, so I’ll watch over you while we try to figure out what’s going on.”

Masky asked, “So I’m guessing you have no idea how we got here either?”

Flurry shook her head. As she went to speak again she suddenly heard a chorus of screams of fear from several different directions, and all of the other children froze, recognizing it as belonging to their loved ones.

“Mom!” Pound called out, running off with Pumpkin right behind him.

“My parents!” Peppermint ran off too.

“Hold on!” said Flurry. “Where are you all going?”

“Where do you think?” asked Tree Leaf dismissively as he took off as well. “We’re going to check on our families.”

“Stop!” Flurry called out, pushing her wings out.

Masky scoffed. “Who put you in charge? Are you trying to be intimidating with those freakishly large wings?”

Flurry blushed deeply, putting them at her side as Masky left with the rest.

“Oh, my. Looks like you’ve been left all alone.”

Flurry heard a voice above her. She looked up and screamed, jumping back a step. “What in the world are you?”

Mayhem chuckled. “I’m the one that started this whole game.”

“Game?”

“I brought you to my world, and now you’ll have to fight to get out of it. However, if you want to get in my castle you’ll need to get the rest of your party.”

“You mean those children dressed up like superheroes?”

“Those would be the ones.”

“What do you want?”

“I just want to ‘play,’ that’s all.”

Flurry put on a braver face than she felt. “So kidnapping and hurting others is what you do for fun?”

Mayhem put a claw in his ear and rotated it. “Something like that.

“I’m a draconequus, one of the most powerful beings in the world.”

Flurry put the pieces together. “So you went after me because I’m an alicorn, right? Those other kids were just collateral victims.

"It doesn’t matter how powerful you are. An alicorn is a threat to anybody.”

Mayhem pulled his claw out his ear, flicking away a piece of earwax. “Maybe. Maybe not.

“Either way, if you can’t overpower me with the help of your friends you’ll be stuck here for the rest of your life.”

“Friends?” she asked, confused. “I don’t even know those other ponies.” Her horn began to glow. “I’m not going to get a bunch of children involved in this fight, and you shouldn’t either. If it’s me you want then let them go!”

Mayhem shook his head. “Sorry. That’s not going to happen.”

“Fine, then! I’m not going to go to your castle when I can just take you down right here.”

Mayhem’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Oooo! Sounds like fun! Pointless, but fun.”

“We’ll see how pointless it is when I beat you.”

Mayhem stretched his body to the side as Flurry shot a blast at him. “Big words, but is that a tremble I see going through your body?”

Flurry didn’t want to admit it, but she was scared. And now that the creature had pointed it out to her she could feel the way her body was shaking.

She chastised herself. This was what she had spent all her time studying for. She had been preparing for a situation in which her parents weren’t around to help her.

She gathered up energy in her horn, shooting it at him.

Mayhem shook his head. “You’re just repeating the same move, and it’ll end the same way.”

Flurry smirked as she created what looked like a mirror behind Mayhem, and she reflected her spell back at him.

The draconequus heard a noise behind him, and dodged again.

Flurry gathered up a large concentration of energy, firing it right at him as she summoned more reflective surfaces.

Mayhem put his hands out, ready to catch her spell, when suddenly one of the mirrors objects moved in front of him, and her spell shattered into hundreds of different attacks as Flurry quickly drew all of them together into the shape of a heart.

“Crystal prison!” she called out. “You may be flexible, but even you can’t avoid an attack from all directions.

“Those attacks will reflect over and over. Even if you can dodge them in such a tight space you’ll eventually get tired. It’s only a matter of time.”

After a few minutes she dropped her spell, and the blackened body of the draconequus fell to the ground.

Flurry let out a breath. Keeping her spell active for that long had taken a toll on her reserves, but that was okay. She had won. 

“I did it!” she said victoriously.

“Did you?” came the voice of the odd creature with a trace of amusement. He pushed up on his hands, flipping around until he landed standing up.

Even as Flurry watched his blackened skin returned to its normal color. “W-wha-” She blinked. “But how?”

Mayhem chuckled. “Oh, I just thought I’d have a little fun with you.” He smirked as her eyes narrowed. “Oh, come on! No need to make such a face.” 

He floated into the air about twenty feet. “Well, I guess it’s my turn. Let’s play catch!” He lifted a finger into the air, energy forming into a small circle above it.

Flurry got into a ready stance, unsure what he was planning. Her eyes bugged out of her head as the magic sphere grew larger and larger, until it was about the size of a house. She shook, unsure if she could repel such a large amount of energy.

She forced herself to take a deep breath. ‘If he’s expending that much energy then he’ll surely be exhausted afterwards. If I can just avoid this then I’ll surely win.’

Mayhem lifted both arms, and the sphere changed shape a bit so it was more cylindrical than spherical. “Here we go!” He moved his arm backward, then threw it forward, yelling, “Catch!”

Flurry readied herself to teleport. She got a sour look on her face. If she did avoid it, then everything behind her would be totally wrecked. She couldn’t be sure this was really Ponyville, but there were likely other people around. At the very least, those other kids were all wandering about.

She had no plans to die to this thing, but she also couldn’t allow others to get hurt. She quickly skimmed her mind. Something came to her then. She had once read that the best ways to defeat an opponent is to turn their own force against them.

She closed her eyes for a few moments as she gathered energy into her horn. In front of her she created a circular space.

Mayhem laughed. “What’s that supposed to be? Hmm?” Even as he watched his spell disappeared into the circle. Another circle appeared near the ground underneath Mayhem. “Ah! I got it! A magic portal. You’re planning to launch my attack back at me.”

Flurry’s heart was beating fast. He hadn’t seemed to notice the second portal she had placed above him. “Take this!”

“Gladly!” said the draconequus, flipping upside down. “I knew what your plan would be from the start.”

Mayhem’s spell came out of the portal above him. He put his arms out. “There you are. Come to papa!” 

Confusion came to the draconequus as his spell approached. It didn’t seem able to touch him.

His eyebrows went up as he noticed the reason: she had put another portal right above him, that funneled his spell into the portal beneath him, and he was too late to flip back around before his spell hit him in the back, sending him flying into the air.

“Gotcha,” she said quietly.

Up and up he went, his spell slowly getting smaller and smaller. 

“This time… this time I got him for sure.” Her body tensed as his spell disappeared completely, leaving Mayhem floating there with his arms crossed with a cocky expression. 

He rapidly dropped until he hit the ground. He began clapping. “Very good. I admit I fell for your little trick. Well done.”

Flurry was starting to feel afraid. “Are you immortal? Or do you have some kind of super-healing power?”

Mayhem shook his head. “Nope. Neither. That spell I used was just for show.” He created another gigantic sphere of energy, which he quickly sent at her. 

She was a second too late to react, but when the sphere hit her all she felt was the equivalent of a static shock all across her body. Annoying, but not painful.

He put his hands to his mouth, giggling. 

Flurry let out a quiet growl. “So you were just trying to get me to waste my energy?”

“It doesn’t really matter to me. You can’t beat me, anyway.”

Flurry had an uncomfortable feeling in her chest. Her parent’s faces passed in front of her, and she wished they were there with her. She’d even take Uncle Sunny and Aunt Starlight.

But… they weren’t there right now. It was only her, and she had to keep fighting. No one was going to save her, so the only direction she could go was forward.

She tried spell after spell, trying to remember all the different things she had practiced, but no matter what she did he always came out of it unharmed. He didn’t even bother attacking her again. He just let her do whatever came to mind.

The longer the battle went on the more scared she grew that she wouldn’t be able to prevail against him. And once she actually acknowledged those feelings she couldn’t get them out of her mind.

She shot a large fireball at him, which he casually spiked into the air like a volleyball, then took to the air and spiked it back at her.

She let out a squeak, teleporting away.

He laughed gleefully. “That was cool! Let’s keep playing.” He started hopping toward her. 

“AH! Get back!” She made a shield of energy around her, expanding it. Mayhem stuck out a single claw, allowing himself to be pushed back. Once it stopped expanding he gave it a hard poke and the shield shattered.

Flurry was panting hard, unable to stop herself from shaking. What was this thing? He was smaller than her, but his power was far beyond hers.

The draconequus began walking toward her, a nonchalant expression on his face. He was completely at ease, and Flurry feared she couldn’t stop his approach.

There was only one thing left that might work. She lit up her horn, but she could barely focus on casting a spell. She was terrified of this thing. If this really was Ponyville then it likely meant that he had killed or captured Twilight. If she lost here she’d probably be next.

Flurry lifted up large chunks of dirt from the surrounding area. “Earth barrage!”

As expected, he began dodging. After a few jumps she manipulated the ground beneath him, and his feet sunk in.

He looked unconcerned as she gathered all the earth into one big ball in front of her and slammed it down.

A few seconds later Mayhem jumped on top of the mound of earth. “So close, and yet so far.”

Flurry grinned. “Closer than you think.”

“Hmm?” He tilted his head. “What do you mean by tha-WAH!” He was suddenly hit hard from behind.

With that moment of distraction Flurry manipulated the earth, grabbing his four limbs and holding him in the air.

“How?” he asked. “I didn’t see your horn glowing.”

“Duplication spell!” Flurry said confidently as a second Flurry appeared next to her. “It doesn’t last long, but it gets the job done.”

Mayhem growled. “That last attack wasn’t meant to hit me, was it? You just wanted to hide yourself from view for a few moments so your double could hide, right?”

Flurry nodded. “It’s over!”

“You think so? I can get out of this.”

“Do you really think I’m that weak?”

“Pretty much.”

“Well, let’s see what you think about this.”

“About what?” There was a rumble of thunder in the air, and his eyes went upward. 

Flurry had quietly been gathering storm clouds while they talked, and she unleashed the payload upon him.

Mayhem screamed, then seemed to pass out.

Flurry let out a relieved sigh. “Got him.”

“You sure did!” came Mayhem’s voice right next to her.

Flurry went stiff as he put an arm around her. All her fear came rushing back. “H-how?” She looked up, and saw another Mayhem still held up.

“Pretty simple, actually. You’re not the only one with fancy duplication magic.” He extended his other arm, and the Mayhem in the air dissolved into a plaid blob that traveled to him as he absorbed it. “Tough luck, huh? Maybe you’ll do better next time.” He gave her a carefree smile. “Well, probably not, but the point is that you tried your best, and there’s no shame in that. Well done.”

Flurry began to gently pant, too scared to push him away. ‘I… I can’t win,’ she thought. ‘I can’t beat him.’ That knowledge hurt.

Mayhem rubbed her head. “You should really go look after your ‘friends.’ Hey, the more the merrier, right?” He floated up into the air. “I’ll be waiting at my castle, but I'll only let you in if there's six of you. See ya.” With that he disappeared.

She stared at the spot he used to be for about thirty seconds before tears began to come down her eyes. First one, then two, and it eventually grew to full-on sobbing as she sank to the ground, holding her stomach.

She had been completely useless. For all the different spells she had mastered none of them had done her any good. He was just too powerful.

He had taken over Ponyville, and her Aunt Twilight was nowhere in sight. He probably wouldn’t be satisfied with just that. Evil things like him never were. They always wanted more.

He would eventually make his way to the Crystal Empire. Would the Crystal Heart be able to keep him out? Somehow, she didn’t think so. If that happened, if he took over the Crystal Empire, what would happen to her baby sister? She wouldn’t be able to bear it if anything happened to Skyla.

She squeezed her stomach harder as it cramped up. What was she supposed to do? She didn’t have the skill or the power to defeat him.

Mayhem had told her to go after those other five ponies that had been by her, but what use would they be? None of them were alicorns. Three of the others were unicorns, but if she couldn’t defeat him there was no way the others could.

Although she dismissed them as not being of any use she still couldn’t help but dwell on them. She had no idea who they were, but there was just something about them...

The overwhelming fear that was threatening to engulf her no longer felt so terrifying. She couldn’t explain it, but somehow... thinking of them made her feel calmer.

She strained her brain, but to no avail. She was certain she had never met them before, so why couldn’t she let the idea of them go? Why did she have this strange sense of inner peace as she thought of their faces?

She slowly stood up, wiping her face. She looked at her hoof. She had stopped trembling.

It was a mystery for sure. If she didn’t know them then why did she feel like there was some kind of connection to them?

Ultimately, she knew that she didn’t want to be alone. It might just be as simple as that.
> 6-4: Pound and Pumpkin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry took to the air. This was going to be tricky. All of the other kids had run in different directions at the sound of screams from their family. There was a chance that all of them were in danger. Who should she go for first? If they were in trouble then she didn’t have time to debate it. 

She decided on Pound and Pumpkin, if only because they had run off together. Two ponies were going to be of more help than one.

She looked around, trying to spot them. With the big battle she had just been in it was hard to remember which way any of them went. 

She didn’t see anyone at first, so she went even higher. An odd buzzing noise caught her attention in the distance, and she saw a lot of black bug-like creatures swarming around. She had read about them. They were called Changelings. She did occasionally see Thorax, but he was a different kind of Changeling. Colorful and kind. 

She could make out them going after something, and took off in that direction. Lightning bolts were going off in all directions, frying some of the Changelings. She put on more speed, eager to be of use.

As she got near the battle she could see the colt and filly holding hooves and shooting magic.

A large swarm of Changelings gathered above them. As they descended another group snuck up and hit them from behind, separating the two of them.

Queen Chrysalis laughed as the twins struggled to get out of their grasp. “Got you brats at last.”

Pound inhaled, his chest swelling a bit, before breathing out hard as a stream of air came toward her, but it was barely enough to ruffle her hair.

“Is that all you can muster, little freak? It seems like all your power is gone when you’re not actually touching. I don’t understand how you have such an ability, but I guess it doesn’t matter, does it? You’re finished.”

As she started laughing it was cut short as Flurry descended and kicked her in the back of the head, sending her crashing into the ground. She quickly followed it up with a large magic blast, leaving the queen a sizzled mess.

The rest of the army looked at the corpse of their leader. A few fled, but the rest hissed in outrage and went after her. Flurry teleported to the other children as they neared, pulling them next to her with her magic.  

Flurry also didn’t understand it, but from what the queen had said these two children had elemental powers that only worked well when they were in physical contact. How they had those powers was irrelevant. Right now she would put it to use.

Her horn lit up, creating a sideways tornado.

“You two! Add your unique powers to this.”

They were still trying to catch up to what happened, and it took them a few seconds to react. They did understand that help had arrived, and, putting one set of hooves together, they put the other one right below the tornado, shooting a plume of fire into it.

Flurry expanded the tornado as the Changelings attempted to run, but ultimately they were all sucked into it, burning to ashes.

The twins lowered their hooves as Flurry stopped the tornado.

Flurry looked around the area to make sure it was safe, then sat down on the ground. She needed a little break to recharge her magic.

The other two children sat down across from her. “Thank you,” said the colt.

“Yeah. Thanks,” said the filly.

“You’re welcome,” said Flurry. After a few seconds she said, “So with all the craziness going on we haven’t been introduced to each other yet. I’m Flurry Heart.”

“I’m Pound Cake,” said the colt.

“I’m Pumpkin Cake,” said the filly.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you two,” said Flurry, letting out a breath.

“Are you all right?” asked Pound.

Flurry nodded. “Just a little tired.”

“I’m guessing we’re not the only ones to run into trouble, then,” said Pumpkin. She put her head on her knees. “Man, who would abduct little kids and put them through this?”

Mayhem popped into Flurry’s mind. “Another kid.”

“Another kid?”

“Before I came to find you I ran into this odd creature. It called itself a… draconequus, I think. I’ve never seen anything like it. It looked like it was made of ten different kinds of animals. A claw here, a hoof there…”

She sighed. “It claimed responsibility for doing this. I tried my best to fight him, but I couldn’t win.” A tear came down her eye. “He just toyed with me, treating the whole thing like a game. He didn’t even try to hurt me. He just let me use all my spells, and then went on his way.”

“Mmm…” Pound didn’t like the sound of that. “So even you couldn’t do anything, even though you’re an alicorn?”

Flurry put a hoof to her stomach. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Pumpkin. “No sense in beating yourself up about it.”

Flurry looked between the two children. “Tell me something. Have we ever met before?” They both shook their heads. “Well, I didn’t think so. Even so, it’s nice to see you anyway. I was feeling kinda lonely and scared after he left. I’m scared for my family.”

They both nodded. “I can understand that,” said Pumpkin.

“That thing… it said that if we wanted to go home that we’d have to go to the castle, and we’d only be able to go in if all six of us were there.”

Pound stood up. “So we team up, take this weirdo down, and we get to go home? Sounds good to me.” He got a confused look on his face. “But wait a minute. Ponyville is our home.”

Pumpkin got up too. “Well, this doesn’t look like the Ponyville we know. Even if…” She took a deep breath. “Even if he killed everybody in Ponyville how could we not know anything was happening? The last thing I remember we were at home.”

Flurry got up too. “Well… I really hope this isn’t actually Ponyville, otherwise it likely means Aunt Twilight is dead.”

“But if this isn’t Ponyville then how did he do it?” asked Pound. “Why go out of his way to make a broken-down version of our town?”

“I don’t know,” said Pumpkin. “All we can do is work together to bring him down.” She put her hoof out.

Pound put his on top of hers, and then they both looked at Flurry.

Flurry looked at their two hooves. “I suppose I might as well, considering I failed.”

“What do you mean?” asked Pound.

“I was studying so hard because I had a lot of pressure being put on me. Every time I went out I had someone putting an expectation on me of being great.” A tear came down her eye. “I started getting more and more afraid that something would happen to my parents, and force me to step up. After all, alicorns have always been rulers of something. 

“Celestia and Luna control the sun and moon, and rule over Canterlot. Aunt Twilight is responsible for spreading friendship, and rules over Ponyville. And my mother is responsible for spreading love, and rules over the Crystal Empire.

“If something happened to her then who else would be chosen as a ruler than an alicorn?” Her eyes clenched shut as a quiet sob escaped her. “I’m just not ready! And even though I’ve worked my butt off preparing for a time like this it came out to nothing. That creature treated me like a plaything, and because I wasn’t strong enough I might lose my parents to him!”

The twins walked over to Flurry and hugged her. “There, there,” said Pumpkin, patting her back. “Don’t cry.”

“You saved our butts,” said Pound. “So now we’ll work with you to protect you too.” 

Flurry glanced between the two of them, and much like before the crushing weight of despair began to dissipate. 

She sniffed. “I’ve been afraid to make friends, because I’ve felt like I never knew when I might be forced to take my parents place, so I needed to be as strong as possible. Here, in this place, there’s no more time for any training.

"I lost to him by myself, but maybe, if we work together, we might be able to win.”

Pound smiled. “That’s the spirit. Let’s be friends.”

Flurry smiled back, but after a few seconds it faded. “Do you actually want to be friends with me?”

“Why not?”

She pulled away from the two of them, backing up a few feet, before hanging her head and unfurling her wings. “You didn’t want to deal with me before, and called me ‘mutant wings,’ remember?”

Pound flushed. “Hey! I’m really sorry about that.”

Flurry shook her head, crying again. “Don’t bother. I know how it is. I’ve dealt with it all my life. All the kids made fun of my giant wings. Why should you be any different?” She lifted them as high as they would go. “Well? Go on, then. Get your fill.”

Pound walked up to her and hugged her again. “I’m sorry, Flurry. I mean it! I was just mad before because that green kid pushed my sister. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.

“Believe me, I know what you’re going through.”

Flurry let out a scoffing noise. With a bit of magic she lifted his wings before pushing him away from her. “Oh, yeah. Sure. You really look like you understand the pain of having ginormous wings.”

Pound shook his head. “No… I don’t know about that. But…” He looked down at the ground. “I do, however, know the pain of being bullied over your wings.

“For the longest time I couldn’t fly. Everyone in my class could at least hover, but I was dead last. I used to be called the flightless wonder. I hated school because of it. 

“One day, I got into a huge fight with Pumpkin for calling me a flightless loser, and I got to the point where I started to hate myself. I felt like I would rather have my wings removed and live as an earth pony than continue to be a pegasus.”

He looked up into her eyes. “I’m sorry, Flurry. I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone.”

Flurry could see the hurt in his eyes, and she felt he truly did understand something of the pain she had gone through. “So… you don’t think my wings make me a freak?”

Pound shook his head. “No way! If I had had wings like yours I probably would have been flying a long time ago.”

“We’re all different,” said Pumpkin. “I didn’t go through the same kind of bullying Pound did, but I got to see the pain he went through because of it. Whatever our differences, we’re all just ponies.”

Flurry got a warm smile on her face. “Thank you.” She put her hoof out. “Okay. Let’s go rescue those other ponies too and go home!”

The two of them put their hoof over hers. “Right!”
> 6-5: Peppermint Swirl
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the children put their hooves down Flurry said, “I have a question for you.”

“What is it?” asked Pound.

“What was the Changeling queen talking about before? She said something like your magic only works when in contact with each other. I’ve never heard of something like that before, so can you show me?”

The two of them nodded. “Sure,” said Pumpkin. They each put a hoof in the air, concentrating. A tiny stream of fire only the size of their hooves went into the air. “So this is what it’s like when we’re alone.”

Pound smirked. “But then…” The two of them touched, and as Flurry watched the tiny streams turned into a small inferno.

Flurry gaped at the display. It wasn’t as though she wasn’t capable of making a strong flame herself, but the way they did it perplexed her. “But… but how does it work?” Double-checking Pound’s forehead she added, “You’re not even a unicorn!”

Pumpkin shrugged. “I don’t know how it works. We’ve just had this ability as long as we can remember.”

“The power of teamwork has done lots of crazy stuff,” said Pound. “I guess this is just another one of them.”

Flurry sucked on her cheek. This was definitely a mystery for sure. She knew her Aunt Twilight. She was the curious type. Surely she would have wanted to study this magic.

She shook her head. Why was she focusing on this right now? If the twins had been under attack the other children probably were too. She didn’t have time to figure it out. 

“Oh!” Something came to her. “Did you find your mother?”

The bright spirits of the twins faded, both of them hanging their heads as they shook them.

“We followed the voice toward our house.” Pound pointed to a dilapidated Sugarcube Corner. "But when we found our mom it turned out she was just a disguised Changeling.”

“I’m sorry I brought it up,” said Flurry awkwardly.

Pumpkin wiped her face of a tear. “No. Don’t worry about it. Right now what’s important is sticking together. We can look for our family later.”

Pound nodded. “All I can do is protect Pumpkin… and now you.”

Flurry grinned at him. “Sounds good. Let’s go find one of the others.” As she went to take to the air again she heard a high-pitched scream in the distance that got all three of them moving.

Peppermint was running for her life. Right on her heels were a pack of Timberwolves. As one jumped at her she stretched her body out of the way, before flattening herself as another came by. She went running again, tears streaming down her eyes.

She turned behind her, and to her horror saw a bunch of them combining into one gigantic Timberwolf. With its increased height its stride carried it further, and it was quickly catching up to her. 

She could hear the howls of the other Timberwolves, and as she turned forward again her eyes went wide as she saw she had ran right into a dead end. She skidded to a stop. 

All she had to do was stretch her body upward and she’d be fine.

As she started to do that she heard a snapping sound right by her ear, and only narrowly avoided getting her head chomped on. She looked above her, and saw they had already swarmed the rooftops. 

She was trapped. The giant Timberwolf licked its lips, slowly approaching the trembling filly. She closed her eyes, hugging herself as she waited for the end. 

Suddenly, there was a colossal noise and the sound of splintering wood. The ground shook beneath her, knocking her on her back. She sat up and opened her eyes, seeing three ponies in front of her, facing away from her. In front of them was what looked like a gigantic ball of dirt.

There were hisses of displeasure from the Timberwolves, and they hopped off the roof to their fallen companion. What was left of the big Timberwolf began combining with all the other ones, creating one even larger than before.

Flurry set her face. “Pound, Pumpkin! I think it’s time we show this monster what it’s like to be firewood.”

The twins nodded hard. They each put their hoof on Flurry’s horn.

Peppermint gasped as the raging plume of fire from the three engulfed the Timberwolf in its entirety. It whined and cried before it collapsed to the ground and dissolved into ash.

Pumpkin walked over to her, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “Hey, there! You okay?

“There’s nothing to worry about now. I’ll protect you.”

The filly just blinked, in disbelief at what she just saw. After a few more seconds her eyes filled with tears, and she threw herself as Pumpkin as she began sobbing in relief.

“There, there,” said Pumpkin comfortingly. “We’re here for you. It’s okay now.”

She didn’t know who these people were, and she didn’t care. She was safe now. That was all that mattered to her at the moment.

After a few minutes, when she had calmed down, she let Pumpkin go. She sniffed, wiping her face. “Thank you,” she said gratefully. “I really thought that was it for me.” She hung her head, wobbling her legs like a snake. “So much for this power of mine. It was useless.”

“You have a strange ability too?” said Flurry curiously. “A pony that can stretch their body like taffy…” She got a dark look on her face. “So that’s it!”

“What’s it?” asked Pound.

To Peppermint she said, “I met an odd creature after all of you ran off. He took responsibility for bringing all of us here.

“This thing… this draconequus… it seems like it’s targeting children with unnatural abilities. I could be wrong, of course, but you three have them. I’m an alicorn, so he probably wants me out of the picture before I really develop into my full strength.  My guess is that he wants to take care of potential trouble while we’re still young… before we can become a real threat.”

“That’s terrible,” she replied. 

“So I’m guessing you didn’t find who you were looking for either?”

The filly shook her head. “I didn’t see him anywhere.”

Flurry got a thoughtful look on her face. “I’m starting to think that they were never here at all. Those screams we all heard were just a distraction to separate all of us so he could eliminate us more easily.”

“But I heard him!” said Peppermint. “I think I’d know the voice of my own dad!”

Pound sighed. “Our mother was actually a Changeling. He could have done the same for your dad.”

Peppermint looked like she was going to break down again. “B-but if my dad was just a fake then where is my real dad?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know how much of this is real, but I do know one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“All four of us were under attack.”

“So that green kid who shoved me earlier, and that cute, dark coated one, are also probably being attacked,” finished Pumpkin. “That’s what you’re saying?”

Pound nodded. “As much as he annoys me for pushing you, I’d rather be the one slapping him than all these monsters running around.”

“So what’s your name?” asked Flurry.

“Peppermint… Peppermint Swirl,” she responded.

After the others introduced themselves Pumpkin asked, “So what are you going to do?”

“About what?”

“If those other two kids are in danger then we have to do what we can to rescue them. But if you’re too scared to fight then you can go hide somewhere and we’ll come find you later.”

“Are you nuts!” A shudder went through her. “You think I want to stay in this crazy place alone? I’m sticking with you guys. I’d feel much safer with an alicorn nearby. I don’t care how young she is.”

“Well, that settles that,” said Pound. “Let’s go find one of them.”

Peppermint let out a heavy breath, releasing the stress still inside her. “I… I am a little scared of fighting, but just knowing I’m not alone here makes me feel not as afraid.”

“I know that feeling,” said Flurry. “Whatever it takes, we’ll make it through this together.”

Peppermint looked around at the others, managing a smile. She nodded. “Yep! Let’s do it!”

Peppermint stuck by Pumpkin as they looked for one of the other two ponies. Maybe it was just because Pumpkin had been the first to talk to her, but she felt the most comfortable with her.

After another minute they heard evil laughter in the distance. Pumpkin saw a dark-coated pony floating in the air. “Up there!” she called out, pointing.

Flurry glanced up. The pony had an ethereal look about them, at least in their mane and tail.

“HA HA HA HA HA HA!!” laughed the pony again. “How long are you going to keep hiding, brat? Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Her horn glowed with a blue light, and countless small bolts of energy flew out of it, bombarding the ground beneath her.

Peppermint gulped. “If one of those other two was down there…”

Pound let out a sharp breath. “I hope we aren’t too late.”

“It’s a shame that I wasn’t the one to cause this myself,” said the pony, “but that’s fine.” She looked upward, to the dark clouds obscuring the sky. “It looks like my wish has come true. It looks like the night will last forever now.”

Flurry gasped. “Is that… Nightmare Moon?”
> 6-6: Teamwork
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry could hardly believe what she was seeing. She could understand Timberwolves and Changelings, but how on earth had that creature managed to get Nightmare Moon?

She bit her lip. “If she’s attacking someone it’s most likely one of those other two kids. She’s an alicorn that was so strong it took the Elements of Harmony to lock her up.” She gulped, not liking her chances of victory. Her adult alicorn sister couldn’t beat her, so did she have any chance?

She steeled herself, trying to ignore the fear blossoming in her chest. “At any rate, this is too dangerous for you kids. You stay here.”

As she went to take off she heard the clear voice of Pound. “No!”

She paused, looking behind her. “Excuse me?”

“No!” he repeated firmly.

She gave him a flat look. “You’re in over your head. I don’t think even I can win here.” 

“And that’s why we’re coming with you!” said Pumpkin.

Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t be stupid! I need you guys to stay alive if we’re going to get into the castle. Why are you trying to risk your lives? It’s not your job!”

“And it isn’t yours, either!” said Peppermint. “You’re a kid like us. You shouldn’t have to risk your life at your age.”

Tears welled up in Flurry’s eyes. “B-but who else will? I’m all that kid has to rely on.”

“And that’s why we’re coming along with you,” said Pound. “You saved me and my sister from the Changelings, so I’m going to be there for you during this.”

“And you saved me from the Timberwolves,” said Peppermint. “I may be terrified, but I’m gonna give it all I got too.”

Flurry’s eyes clenched shut as she let out a quiet sob. She really hadn’t wanted to go in alone. She just thought it was her responsibility not to put others in danger.

She wiped her face. “Okay, everyone! Let’s do it!”

They all nodded back.

Nightmare Moon surveyed the area. “You’re a stubborn little rat, aren’t you? You like to hide in the shadows, hmm? Well, that’s okay, because the shadows are what give me my powers too.”

She focused on an odd-shaped shadow. “Got you, little rat.” She lifted up a pile of rubble into the air. “There we go. Now you have no place to hide anymore.” She built up power in her horn.

The head of Masky started coming out of the bottom of the rubble. 

“Too late!” Just as she was about to fire a light out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she saw a lightning bolt heading in her direction. “Useless!” She shot lightning out of her own horn, easily overpowering their spell. 

The twins jumped out of the way, barely avoiding being fried.

That distraction was all it took for Masky to finish coming out of the rubble. As he started falling toward the ground Peppermint extended her hoof and caught him, setting him gently on the ground.

Masky looked at the group of kids gratefully, recognizing them as the ones from before. “Thank you,” he said. 

Pumpkin blushed a bit. “You’re welcome.” After a few moments she pulled her mind back into the battle. She could admire his good looks later.

Nightmare Moon chuckled. “And what have we here? More volunteers to be slaughtered? So who should I start with?” Her horn lit up. “How about… you?”

Flurry gasped as Nightmare Moon looked upward and fired at her. She didn’t have time to teleport or shield herself.

Her body suddenly moved horizontally, avoiding the attack.

“What happened?” Nightmare Moon asked with confusion. “How did you do that?”

Masky chuckled. “That was me!”

Flurry looked at him oddly. Even as she watched his shadow separated itself from hers. ‘Another one,’ she thought. She was starting to think her theory was correct. The draconequus really was after children with special abilities.

“Well, that’s annoying,” said Nightmare Moon. “Ultimately, it makes no difference to me. I don’t care which one of you I take out first.” 

With a flash she disappeared, reappearing in front of Peppermint.

The filly let out a squeal, hopping backwards as Nightmare shot a bolt of lightning at her.

Flurry clenched. She wouldn’t be in time.

Peppermint stretched her body unnaturally, avoiding the attack by a hair. A stray bolt still grazed her shoulder, making her wince.

“Peppermint!” Pumpkin said angrily, grabbing Pound and shooting a stream of fire at the mare.

The mare smirked, creating a shield around her and charging the pair. Though Pumpkin concentrated her hardest she wasn’t able to stop the mare’s advance. 

Flurry aimed herself downward and shot at the space right in front of the twins. 

Nightmare was a step faster than her, though. Upon reaching the twins she didn’t attack, but rather grabbed Pumpkin and threw her upwards right into the path of Flurry’s blast. “One down!”

Pound looked on in horror, knowing he could do nothing to stop it.

Peppermint stretched her upper half, grabbing Nightmare Moon and hurling her upward.

“Tsk!” Nightmare shot a beam of magic upwards, knocking away Flurry’s spell.

Pound flew upwards, grabbing Pumpkin out of the air. He still wasn’t used to the strain of carrying another pony while flying, but he could slow them down enough. 

“Enough!”

When they were near the ground Pumpkin gasped as Nightmare appeared right in front of them, and she swatted her off of Pound’s back, knocking the breath out of her as she hit the ground.

“Pumpkin!” Pound said furiously, mindlessly charging at the mare.

“Two down,” she said as she gathered up energy in her horn and fired at him.

Flurry created a shield around Pound, but while she stopped the brunt of her attack she couldn’t stop it completely. Her shield shattered, knocking Pound to the ground right by his sister.

Tears came down her eyes. She knew this was a bad idea. Things were turning out exactly as she thought they would.

“Don’t give up, Flurry!” said Pound as he moved to a kneeling position, panting. 

“T-that’s… right,” said Pumpkin as she did the same. “We… we-we’re…”

“G-going to protect you,” finished Pound.

His hoof shaking, he put it out towards Pumpkin, who met it.

“Why?” asked Flurry. “Why are you still fighting? You’re just going to get hurt again.

“Is it just because I’m an alicorn? Or a princess? You’re not a Royal Guard. It’s not your duty to protect me. So please… just stay down.”

Pound huffed. “We… we’re not doing this b-because you’re an alicorn. It’s because… because we don’t want to see you get hurt,” said Pound.

“Y-you’re our friend, Flurry. So… so we’re going to win this!” said Pumpkin.

Flurry blinked as lightning came out of their hooves.

“This again?” said the mare with a bored tone. “It’ll end the same way it did before.” She shot her own lightning at the pair.

Her body suddenly started moving on its own, like she was a rag doll. She glanced down distractedly, seeing that the shadow brat was messing with her. Well… she’d have time to finish him later, after she took care of the other two.

She heard a scream of fury beneath her, and saw Peppermint’s upper half rapidly heading towards her. “You’re not hurting my friends again!”

The filly slammed into her head, making her let out a scream of pain. The pain weakened her focus, and her magic faded, allowing the twins magic to reach her.

Flurry blinked. By working together, these four children were able to reach their foe. It seemed crazy, but they had really done it.

Nightmare Moon descended to the ground. She landed hard, though she stayed standing. She was no longer laughing. “You brats! That hurt! That HURT!” Her horn exploded with power. “Now you all die!” She fired at the others.

Flurry teleported behind the group, extending her wings and wrapping them around them, adding a magic shield on top of it.

She could feel her shield cracking again. It wasn’t going to last much longer, but no matter what happened she wasn’t going to move. They had risked it all for her, so now she was going to do the same for them.

Nightmare was laughing again. “Won’t be much longer now. Just a few more seconds and there will be five dead brats.”

Her laughter was cut short as she felt something tugging at her back hooves. She looked behind her to see that they were starting to sink into the ground. “W-what? What’s going on?” She pulled at the mysterious force.

Masky’s head popped out of the ground, chuckling. “You said you get your power from the shadows, right? So how would you like to become one?”

Nightmare growled. “How dare you!”

With Nightmare’s attention completely on Masky her spell lost the majority of its force. Flurry created one of her magic portals, sucking up her spell.

Nightmare heard the sound of something right in front of her, and gasped as the remains of her spell struck her point blank. Dazed and injured, she was unable to fight back as Masky completely pulled her into the shadows.

Flurry did as Nightmare had done before, pulling up the piece of ground holding her. She encased it in a crystal prison, hoping it would be enough to keep her contained.

Following that, she collapsed to the ground, exhausted. 

“Flurry!” Peppermint called out, trotting over to her. “Are you alright?”

“I’m… I’m alright.” Her wings hurt, but for the most part she was just tired from fighting so many battles back to back. “I just… I just need a few minutes to rest.” After a few moments Flurry began gently snoring.

Peppermint thought it best to leave her be for the time being. After all, they were going to need her strength when they came across their next foe. Even so, she stayed nearby. Flurry was defenseless right now.

Masky walked over to Pumpkin. “Hey there. How are you holding up?”

Pumpkin blushed. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” She got up, nuzzling his face. “I’m Pumpkin Cake. What’s your name?”

“Masquerade Ball,” he replied. “Just call me Masky.”

“Ooh! Your name is cool!”

Masky felt a little uncomfortable with her attention. “Thanksssss.

“So who are you?” 

“Pound Cake,” responded Pound as Masky turned to him. “That’s my sister.”

“And over there is Peppermint Swirl,” said Pumpkin. “And the alicorn is Flurry Heart.”

Masky got a cocky look on his face. “Well, thanks for your help and all, but I could have taken care of this myself.”

“Yeah, right!” said Pound. “We just barely managed to beat her with the four of us and an alicorn.”

Pumpkin patted his head. “Come on, you! You don’t need to talk big when you’re already awesome!”

Masky flushed a little.

“Yeah!” said Pound. “We couldn’t have done this without you. Pulling people into shadows? That’s such a cool ability.”

Masky grinned awkwardly. He didn’t want to get too attached to these ponies, but they were making it difficult.

Pumpkin looked at the crystal prison Flurry had created. She could see a shadow moving around inside it. “I’m glad we managed to capture her instead of wiping her out. I don’t know if she’s the real Nightmare Moon, but I don’t think Princess Celestia would be happy if we killed her sister.”

Pound shuddered. “You’ve got a point there.” Looking at Masky he asked, “I’m guessing you didn’t find who was screaming either?”

The colt shook his head. “No. I was looking all over for my parents, and then all of a sudden she came out of nowhere and started attacking me.” He let out a sigh. “If it hadn’t been for my shadow powers I would have been dead a hundred times already.”

The dreamy expression left Pumpkin’s face as she scanned his body. “Are you hurt?”

He shook his head again. “Her first attack missed me, but the impact sent me flying into a house. I was able to use my powers before I got hurt.”

Masky walked over towards Peppermint and Flurry, the twins right behind him. “Is she alright?”

Peppermint nodded. “Just a little wiped out.”

Pound tapped his hoof. “Well, we’ll give her a few minutes to restore her strength, but then we have to keep moving. There’s still that green colt we have to find.”

Masky stretched. “Well, why don’t you watch over her, and I’ll go look for him? Save us all some time.”

“No way!” said Pumpkin, hugging him. “You can’t leave us. We have to stick together out here. It’s too dangerous to go off on your own.”

“I really don’t think something as bad as Nightmare Moon is gonna be out there. And even if there was I can just stay in the shadows the whole time.”

Peppermint shook her head. “You don’t know that, Masky. If we hadn’t showed up when we did you would have died, and there’s no telling what else may be out there.”

“I agree with them,” said Pound. “If we want to get out of here we need to stick together.”

Masky scoffed. “Look, I don’t work well with others, okay?”

“You didn’t seem to be having any trouble working with us earlier.”

He averted his eyes. “Just… look, I can take care of myself. I don’t like to rely on others. They always disappear.” 

“Disappear?” asked Pumpkin. “What do you mean?”

Masky was getting irritated. Normally he would just put on his cool, aloof act and pretend to have a connection with them, but he really did feel something for them, and he didn’t like how much he wanted to stay by them. So he would break that connection right now before it could blossom into something more. “It’s not something I have to explain to YOU!” Pumpkin got a hurt look on her face.

“It’s none of your business how I feel! I don’t care about making friends anymore! I never get to keep them! My parents are always moving around because of their job, and every time they do I have to leave someone behind.

“Every friend I make… gone! It’s always the same. I don’t want to feel that same pain anymore, so I don’t have any interest in being friendly with you guys.

“Now stop bothering me! I’m leaving!”

As Masky began to walk away there was a flash, and Flurry appeared in front of him, an angry expression on her face. He recoiled as she slapped him across the face.

“That’s enough out of you!” She had been trying to ignore what he was saying, but he had roused her from her nap. 

Masky rubbed his cheek, glaring at her. 

“We need you! I ran into the one who put us all in this situation, and he said he’ll only fight us if all six of us are together. If you go off on your own and get killed then all of us will be trapped here forever.

“So stop whining about things and let’s work together.”

“Go find someone else then, jerk! What would you know about my feelings, huh? Fancy princess alicorn. I’m sure you’ve been pampered and treated like gold your whole life. What do you know about feeling unloved?”

Flurry’s eyes narrowed further, and she stomped over to him until they were nearly face to face.

Peppermint felt a little scared. She really didn’t want them to start fighting amongst themselves.

Pound wasn’t sure if he should intervene.

“I know that feeling a lot better than you think,” said Flurry.

“Yeah, right!” said Masky.

“I’m treated like a joke by anyone who isn’t part of my family, because of these.” She unfurled her wings, and her self-consciousness tempered her anger a little. “When I was younger I used to show them off all the time, thinking my wings were cool.

“But as I got older I realized they just made me stand out. I began to notice the stares of others when I’d have my wings out. The adults were too respectful to say anything, but the kids ‘helped’ me by insulting me for them. I began to understand that the adults weren’t looking on with wonder, but they just saw me as abnormal.” She broke eye contact, looking at the ground. “A freak.”

Masky’s anger diminished a little.

“Even when I tried to make friends it always ended terribly. They’d always be too scared to ever be real with me, like I was gonna blow them up if they ever made a mistake.”

She looked up into Masky’s eyes again, tears brimming in them. “Maybe it was my fault. Maybe I could have done more to fight for my friends and keep them around, but I didn’t have time.”

“Didn’t have time?” Masky asked. “You telling me your parents give you royal duties at your age?”

Flurry shook her head. “No. But I knew they were coming. Walking around, with everyone putting pressure on me to be great, or to one day take my mother’s place as leader of the Crystal Empire... because I was born an alicorn I couldn’t escape the expectations of others.

“What would happen if my mother fell to disease or an accident or an attack? Who else would they expect to replace an alicorn leader than another alicorn? I had to spend all my free time learning new spells, or else I wouldn’t be ready for when that time came.”

Flurry fell to her knees, her eyes clenching shut as she hugged herself. “I spent every day in a state of near terror, never knowing when that moment would arrive. And even if my parents might not be dead, the moment I’ve been dreading my whole life is finally here.”

She covered herself with her wings as well as she quietly sobbed. “Here I am, in the middle of nowhere, with some freakish monster threatening all our lives, and I couldn’t beat him. All your lives are in my hooves, and I have to do my duty as a princess to protect you.

“I… I don’t have the strength to defeat him on my own. B-but maybe… if we all work together, we can take him down.”

She looked up into Masky’s face again, barely able to see him through her tears. “Please… don’t leave. I can’t do this myself. I know I might have seemed strong during our battle with Nightmare Moon, but I’m terrified.

“So please… stay with us.” She folded up her wings. “I can’t do this without you.” 

Masky hadn’t wanted to listen to her before, but seeing her looking so vulnerable stirred something within him. He didn’t want to see her crying anymore.

He closed the distance between them and hugged her. “Alright,” he said quietly. “I’ll stick by you guys.”

Flurry sniffed as she hugged him back. “Thank you, Masky.”

Masky felt those old feelings creeping up, but couldn’t bring himself to release her. He might not ever see these children again after this adventure was over, but even so he wanted to keep them close by as long as he could.

When Flurry had composed herself she released Masky, giving him a grateful smile. She wasn’t at full capacity, but that bit of rest had done her good.

She was starting to feel really motivated now. “Alright! Just one more to go.”

They didn’t even have to look for him.

There was the sound of an impact in the distance, and a few seconds later the green colt from before flew backwards over their heads with a grunt of pain. Flurry stopped his momentum with her magic, gently setting him down on the ground.

The colt looked a little dazed, but after a few seconds he shook his head and seemed to come back to himself.

“It’s you,” he said, putting a hoof to his forehead and rubbing it. “Owwww!”

“Are you alright?”

“I… I took a hard hit, but I’m alright.”

“It’s okay now. I’ll protect you from whatever monster hurt you. Changelings, Timberwolves... what attacked you?”

“B-but… it wasn’t a monster. It was another pony.”

Flurry’s eyebrow went up. “But who would do such a thing?”

She heard the clopping of hooves behind her, and Tree Leaf tensed. “It’s her!”

Flurry turned her head, her horn glowing as she prepared to deal with this new threat.

Her mouth hung open as she took in who it was, the glow from her horn fading. “No! N-no! It can’t be!"

“So you’re still alive,” said the light-purple-coated pony. “Let’s fix that, shall we?”

“Why? No!” Flurry was shaking again. “A-Aunt Starlight?”
> 6-7: Broken
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry was in shock. Starlight Glimmer had been the one attacking the green-coated colt?

The Starlight she knew wouldn’t do this.

Tree Leaf let out a squeal as he was covered in a magical aura and lifted into the air.

“Let’s finish you off now!” said Starlight.

As Starlight fired at him Flurry extended both her wings upward, and the magic deflected around him.

Her wings had always been unnaturally strong. Now that she came to think about it, she had an unusual ability herself. It was similar to Peppermint’s, but she could only stretch out her wings, not her whole body. 

Tree Leaf let out a sigh of relief as Flurry set him back on the ground. “T-thank you,” the scared colt said.

“Get up, loser!” said Pound. “You can thank her later, after we defeat this one!”

Flurry’s head shot around towards Pound. 

Tree Leaf got up, and moved next to Pound. “Think you’re a real tough guy, huh?”

“I think I could beat you.”

“Well, I’m willing to go at it after we take her down.”

“So what can you do? All of us have a special ability. You got one too, right?”

The colt nodded, transforming into a rhino. “I’ll get her attention,” he said in a quieter voice, “then you attack her.”

“Got it!” After a few moments Pound added, “That’s actually really cool. Stop making me like you when I want to hate you.”

Tree Leaf laughed, charging at Starlight. “Right back at you!”

Starlight shook her head. “I guess you didn’t learn from our last battle.” She levitated herself ten feet in the air. “Now what?” 

The mare’s eyes widened as Tree Leaf appeared to continue his charge in the air, but it turned out to only be Peppermint lifting him up. She had tried to catch Starlight off guard, but Tree Leaf was just too heavy in his current state, and the two of them dropped to the ground.

Starlight began laughing, finding the spectacle hilarious.

“She’s off-guard!” Pound whispered loudly to Pumpkin. The two of them touched hooves, and shot a bolt of lightning at her.

Starlight noticed too late the attack coming her way, but just before it hit her a yellow shield appeared.

“Huh?”

Starlight’s magical aura was blue. The only one among them with a yellow aura was-

“Flurry!” said Pound, confused. “What are you doing?”

“Why are you protecting her?” Tree Leaf asked. “You saw what she did to me.”

Flurry looked ashamed as her spell faded. “I… I can’t let you hurt her!”

“What?” asked Pumpkin. “Why not? We have to beat her or-”

“NO!” Flurry yelled. “You’re not touching her!”

Peppermint felt like something was off. Flurry looked almost crazed.

“S-she’s part of my family!” said Flurry, tears coming down her eyes.

“And she’s trying to kill us!” said Tree Leaf.

“S-she wouldn’t! There has to be a mistake.” Starlight was the only familiar face she had seen since they started this crazy adventure. She trusted the mare with all her heart. 

Starlight was also an extremely powerful unicorn. If they could just get her on their side then she’d feel much better about their chances of getting out of this.

Flurry teleported in front of Starlight. “Aunt Starlight! What are you doing? Why were you attacking that boy?”

“Flurry Heart,” said Starlight in a neutral voice.

Flurry nodded. “That’s right. It’s me.” She was shaking slightly. “I… I-I-I know. There’s been so much crazy stuff in this world that it’s hard to trust anything. I… I bet you felt like you had to attack everything around you, right? It was the only way to feel safe, right? Right?”

They could all hear the hopeful tone in Flurry’s voice.

Tree Leaf felt uncomfortable. Could it actually be true that this Starlight was just paranoid being in this alternate world?

Starlight floated toward her, rubbing her cheek. “Oh, Flurry. It’s nice to see someone I know.”

The fear went out of the filly. “That’s right. It’s okay now.”

“I don’t think it is.”

Flurry looked down at the ground. “Well… maybe not yet, but I’m sure if we all work together that we’ll find a way out of this.”

“Oh, that’s not what I’m talking about.” She stopped her rubbing motions.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about THIS!” She lifted her hoof up, then socked Flurry in the face.

The surprised filly was unable to get her bearings in time to stop herself, and went crashing into the ground. She bounced off the earth once, landing on her stomach.

“Flurry!” screamed Peppermint, stretching her body to sit in front of her. 

Tree Leaf turned into a mouse, hopping onto Peppermint’s shoulder. “Give me some momentum. I’ll transform mid-flight and get her properly this time.” 

The filly nodded. She stretched her front leg back twenty feet, then tensed her limb before quickly releasing it. 

Pound and Pumpkin also prepared a spell, shooting a stream of fire this time.

Starlight just laughed dismissively. “What are you expecting that to do? All I have to do is move a few feet.” 

Masky growled. "No, you don't!" He stretched his shadow over to Starlight. 

As she went to move Starlight found herself stuck in place. “Huh?”

Tree Leaf turned into a rhino again as he got near. 

Pound was suddenly yanked backward, falling on his back. Without their connection Pumpkin’s magic weakened considerably, fizzling out before it reached the mare. 

Tree Leaf slowed down mid-air, and gravity quickly brought him heading toward the ground. He transformed again, this time into a bird. When he touched the ground he returned to normal.

Flurry looked a little dazed, wobbly on her hooves as she stood up. 

“Flurry,” Pumpkin said exasperatedly. “Knock it off!”

“No!” she replied strongly. She placed the five of them in close proximity, a sphere appearing over them. 

Pound put his hooves out, finding it solid to the touch. “Flurry, what are you doing?”

“I… I can’t let you be part of this battle.”

“Flurry! I thought you trusted us.” He slammed his hooves against the barrier, but it didn’t give.

Flurry winced, tears coming down her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”

Starlight landed on the ground, watching them quietly.

Masky tried sinking into the shadows in order to escape, but Flurry had accounted for that. The shield extended underground too. 

Peppermint gently put a hoof on the barrier. “If you’re sorry then let us out. We want to help you.”

Flurry’s body tensed. “I… I can’t. I can’t! Starlight… Starlight is a part of my family.

“I wondered why I was the only one that didn’t hear a family member screaming when that draconequus split us all up. Now I get it.”

“Get what?” asked Pound.

“I’ve known Starlight since I was a baby. I know she would never attack me. It might be just another Changeling, but a regular Changeling wouldn’t have magic like this. So that means it has to be mind control.”

Starlight began laughing, her head going back as she laughed and laughed.

When she got herself under control she wiped a tear from her eye. “Oh, Flurry. Flurry, Flurry, Flurry. You’re so charmingly naïve.” She smirked. “I’ve never been on your side.”

“Shut up! I know that’s not you talking.”

Starlight began walking toward her. “All those years ago, I hated Twilight Sparkle for taking my village away from me. I tried time travel, to ensure that Twilight and her friends never met up with one another.”

Pound blinked. Starlight had that kind of power?

Pumpkin just gaped.

“However, that didn’t work out too well. As frustrating as it was, Twilight and her cronies were necessary to Equestria. Without them to wield the Elements of Harmony it led to terrible worlds where other villains had conquered Equestria. The final stop on that journey led to an empty wasteland, where it looked like there were no survivors.”

Flurry hopped backwards to get some distance, and Starlight stopped her advance. 

“In the end, I had to let time go as it should. Peace returned to Equestria, which is exactly what I wanted. I knew Twilight wouldn’t just leave me be, so I pretended to feel remorse. I told her that she could decide my punishment, knowing that the gullible fool would have to accept my apology.”

Flurry’s mouth felt dry. 

Starlight snickered. “And of course she did. She bought my sob story just as I expected her to. 

“Then it was just a simple matter of playing my cards right and biding my time. I let her teach me about friendship, earning her trust. Just as I expected, she eventually trusted me enough to let me go off on my own. My good old friend Sunburst was there, after all. What better excuse did I need to move into the Crystal Empire? And, as he was your crystaller, it also provided the means to allow me to get close to you.”

Flurry shook her head. “No.”

Starlight ignored her, slowly walking in a circle around Flurry, but keeping her distance. “Sunburst provided the perfect distraction to get the others to buy that my redemption was genuine. Your dear mother and father believed it so much they even began to allow me to be a caretaker for you. I got to be the one to help teach you magic while your parents were busy ruling the kingdom and training the Royal Guards.”

Flurry was twitching a bit, not liking where this was going. 

“It was the perfect plan, really. Through Sunburst it got me in good with you. And through you it put me in a position close to your parents. It gave me the opportunity to find out everything I needed to know to crush the empire and take it over for myself. All I’ve been waiting for is the right opportunity… and it’s finally here.”

The filly was shaking now, unable to believe what she was hearing. “N-no. It’s… you… I don’t…”

“I’m the reason you’re here, Flurry.”

“No!” Flurry said, finally getting some of her strength back. “It wasn’t you. It was him. That weird creature.”

“He was the one who brought you here, but I was the one who told him about you.”

Flurry’s eyes clenched shut. “No! I don’t believe it!”

“It was a long wait, but I found my patience. Over the years I’ve learned many useful things, like the guard schedules. Most important of all, I discovered a way to deactivate the Crystal Heart barrier without shutting off the function that keeps us all from freezing to death. With a kingdom of mostly earth ponies it should hardly be any trouble to take care of them.

“The only thing standing in the way of my conquest… is your dear old mom and dad.”

Flurry felt like she couldn’t get enough oxygen in her system. This was wrong. Everything was wrong!

Starlight chuckled, finally stopping her circling as she stood in front of Flurry, once more gently rubbing the filly’s face. “Everyone has a weakness. You know that, don’t you? And their weakness… is you.”

Flurry slapped Starlight’s hoof away, gasping for breath.

Starlight lost her smug grin for a moment, but it quickly returned.

Flurry covered herself in her wings, wrapping them around her like a blanket as she quietly sobbed.

Pound was slamming on Flurry’s shield as hard as he could, but all of them were still trapped within. He couldn’t stand listening to this anymore.

Tree Leaf was likewise going on the attack, transforming into different animals, but he couldn’t break her shield either.

Tears dripped down Peppermint’s face. She so wanted to give Flurry a hug.

“Oh, Flurry,” said Starlight in a condescending baby voice. “Does you want to come out and play?”

She poked her head over Flurry’s wings, but could only see the top of her head. 

Starlight put her hooves on Flurry’s wings and pulled.

In a fit of panic Flurry screamed, shoving her wings at the mare and extending them twenty feet to get Starlight away from her.

Once more Starlight lost her smile, but like before it quickly returned. “Does it hurt, Flurry? Does it hurt knowing the truth?” Power started to build up in her horn. “Let me tell you what’s going to happen. Once I take care of you I’ll throw your body in front of your dear parents. They’ll be furious, but before that they’ll feel despair greater than any they’ve ever known. And that’s when I’ll strike. 

“Without the Crystal Heart and those powerful shield users I’ll easily take care of whatever small threats remain, and become the undisputed master of the Crystal Empire. But take heart. I won’t harm your little sister. She’ll make a great apprentice. Aren’t I merciful?”

Flurry’s eyes had gone blank. How could this be? How had she been so foolish all this time? How could she not see what Starlight was like deep inside, after all the time they spent together?

She wasn’t naïve. She knew about Starlight’s past. In fact, Starlight herself had been the one to tell it to her. 

Since she had been a toddler she had interacted with Starlight. Over the years she had bonded with her. Starlight had taught her spells, and was always there for her when she needed to talk. 

During the rough days, when she hadn’t been able to make friends, Starlight had encouraged her and cheered her up. She had been there during the wedding, when Starlight had married Sunburst.

She trusted Starlight, and felt the same amount of respect for her that she did for her mom and dad and Twilight.

One day, after telling her how much she loved and trusted her, Starlight had looked uncomfortable.

***

Starlight sat down, asking her to do the same. “Flurry, I need to talk to you… about something important.”

“What is it, Aunt Starlight?” 

Starlight sighed, steeling herself. “I’m very grateful that you love and cherish me so much, but-”

Flurry smiled. “Of course I do! You’re one of the greatest ponies I know. You’re smart, and good with magic, and you’re always nice to me.”

Starlight hesitated, then said, “I wasn’t always this way.”

“Hmm?” Flurry’s head tilted. “What do you mean?”

Starlight looked into her eyes. “I feel like… eventually… you will find out the truth about me. And… I would rather you hear it from me than somebody else.”

Flurry felt a little afraid, not liking where this was going.

And so Starlight told her about her beginnings, how she felt cutie marks just drive others apart, and that they were bad things. She told her about starting a town without cutie marks, how Aunt Twilight and her friends had disrupted everything she had built, and about her time-travelling revenge scheme to try and ensure Aunt Twilight never met her friends in the first place.

It was a lot to take in for the filly. She had only known the good Starlight. The Starlight she heard about seemed like a complete stranger. She couldn’t imagine that the one standing before her, and the one she was told about, were the same pony.

After what felt like forever she finally came back to herself, seeing Starlight waiting for her response. She had felt a sense of betrayal at the time, her eyes filling with tears as she smacked Starlight as hard as she could, and ran off crying. 

Over the next few days she kept to herself, trying to process the enormity of the revelation she had been given. Starlight didn’t try to intrude on her, leaving her be.

Sunburst eventually came to see her. She had a soft spot for him. He had been her crystaller, after all, and always looked after her well-being since she was a baby, from before the time that Starlight came to live there.

“Starlight told me about what happened,” said Sunburst as he sat on the edge of her bed. He coaxed her over, and she eventually sat on his lap. 

It was quiet for the next few minutes. Flurry eventually looked up into his eyes. “Did… did you know about what Aunt Starlight did, Uncle Sunny?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“S-she… she hurt Aunt Twilight. How should I feel about that? 

“And you married her! You think it’s okay what she did?”

Sunburst ran a hoof through her mane. “The mare I married is different from the one that travelled through time and tried to hurt your aunt. She did some bad things, for sure, but she’s become a better mare now. She’s sorry for what she did, and wishes that she could take it back.

“I can’t make you forgive her, but she did go out of her way to tell you the truth. She risked having you hate her forever, simply because she wanted to be honest with you. She wanted to feel worthy of the love and respect you have for her, and she knew if you ever heard about her past from someone else that you would feel like she lied to you.”

Flurry wiped her face. “Do… do Mom and Dad know about what she did as well?”

Sunburst nodded. “They do, indeed. But just like Twilight herself, the one Starlight hurt the most with her actions, they knew that she had changed. Even knowing what she had done in the past, they still believed in the goodness she had inside, so once she moved to the Crystal Empire they let her watch over you too.”

Sunburst gave her a hug. “Starlight’s love for you isn’t fake. She truly cares for you, Flurry. If you trust me, then please... believe these words.”

***

And she had believed them. All the important people in her life had trusted Starlight despite knowing her past, so she had been able to put aside her own hurt and forgive her for her revenge plot. 

It only took a few more days before she had basically completely forgotten about the confession and was able to be as close to Starlight as she had been before. 

Starlight had done nothing to betray that trust since that moment… until now. She couldn’t fathom it. She couldn’t comprehend it. She had truly believed in Starlight, but now it turned out the mare had only been biding her time, waiting for the right moment to strike.

It was all too much to take in. Her mind didn’t want to accept it, but the evidence was speaking for itself. She had tried to kill Tree Leaf, and had attacked her.

“Well,” said Starlight, “it’s been fun, but I don’t have time to play around with you all day. I guess I’ll do my duty one last time for you. I’ll save you from this pain of yours, by ensuring you never feel pain again.”

The glow from her horn grew brighter. “Don’t worry. It’ll only hurt for a moment, then you’ll feel nothing at all.”

Flurry was trembling like a leaf, so deep into her thoughts that she couldn’t even focus on her shield spell. She was too distraught to respond as the mare fired at her.

“FLURRY!” yelled Pound. As soon as the shield faded he was on the move. Pumpkin, knowing the way her brother was, moved at almost the same time he did.

The other three were close behind them. 

Pound threw himself in front of the attack, putting his hooves out protectively.

“Pound!” Pumpkin unconsciously threw up a shield.

Starlight’s spell crashed into Pumpkin’s shield. It held for a few seconds, but quickly shattered

Tree Leaf turned into a rhino again, throwing himself in front of Pumpkin. Peppermint and Masky covered Flurry as well. In a last desperate act to protect Flurry Peppermint grabbed her and threw her off to the side.

The five children were all caught in the blast, Flurry the only one who remained unharmed.

Flurry wasn’t even conscious of being picked up, but the pain from the impact of the landing jolted her back to awareness. 

She felt her heart stop for a moment as she took in the battlefield. All the other children were injured and unmoving.

“Oh! Oh, no! No!” She comprehended what had to have happened. They had thrown themselves into the path of Starlight’s attack. They… they had sacrificed themselves to save her life.

In this horrifying situation, being close to them had been the only thing to give her hope. They were the only chance she had of getting into the castle and returning home. But because of her cowardice and unwillingness to protect them they… they were all…

Flurry’s breathing got shorter and shorter. She felt like her mind was breaking down as she grabbed her head and let out a long, somber scream.
> 6-8: True strength
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry felt like her heart was dying. She had let the others down. They were all dead because of her. Without them she couldn’t go home. She was never going to see her family again.

Starlight shook her head. “Hmph. Well, that was a waste. They went so far to save you, but it will amount to nothing. You don’t have the will to fight anymore.” 

Flurry saw power building up in Starlight’s horn again, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. At the moment she felt like she’d welcome death, if only to free her from the guilt she felt inside.

“Hmmmm…” The glow from Starlight’s horn faded, and she started walking towards Flurry, stopping in front of her. “You know, I changed my mind. I don’t want to kill you anymore.”

Flurry looked up into Starlight’s eyes, confused.

“I think you could be of much greater use to me alive. The Crystal Empire would be nice, but with you by my side I can set my sights even higher. If I can take down Celestia and Luna then the world will belong to me.”

She put a hoof on Flurry’s cheek like before, gently rubbing it. “You’re a little kid. No one would think anything suspicious of you, little Flurry. And as Cadance’s child it shouldn’t be difficult for you to see Celestia.”

Flurry was shaking again. Surely Starlight wasn’t suggesting… that she murder Celestia and Luna?

A green tinge appeared in the white of Starlight’s eyes, a purple aura coming out the sides. “Don’t be scared, Flurry. I don’t want to kill anyone else. You know about my ability to remove cutie marks and equalize ponies. If you weaken the princesses enough I can come in and remove their great powers, allowing me to come out on top.

“If I can get Canterlot and ascend to the throne then the Crystal Empire will mean nothing to me. I’ll leave it alone completely. Your mother and your father and your dear baby sister will all be safe. Now wouldn’t that be lovely? After all, you don’t want any more bodies on your conscience, do you?”

Flurry couldn’t look away from Starlight’s gaze. “N-no…”

Starlight gave her a tender gaze. “Very good.”  She tapped her chin, before putting her hoof out. “Then we have a deal?”

Flurry looked at Starlight’s hoof, uncertainty going through her. If she did this she’d be betraying the whole world. Ultimately, there was no choice to make. Starlight had been living with her and her family long enough to figure out all she needed to know about their weaknesses. If she didn’t do this then her parents were going to die.

Maybe it was selfish, but she didn’t want to see anyone else get hurt. It was the only way she was going to get out of this world. It was the only way she could guarantee the safety of her family.

They might be disgusted with her later on, but at least they would still be alive. 

Her hoof gently rose.

“Thaaaaat’s it,” said Starlight. “Just trust me, Flurry.”

Again she hesitated, but like before she felt a sense of hopelessness outweighing her better judgment. She slowly extended it towards Starlight.

Just before her hoof made contact it stopped, and she felt like something was holding it. 

“What’s wrong?” asked Starlight, seeing Flurry’s hoof shaking. “What?” She saw something coming at her out of the corner of her eye. She didn’t have time to shield herself, so she lifted her hoof to block it, sending her flying backwards.

Flurry saw Starlight get knocked into the air, recognizing the stretched out hoof of Peppermint. She glanced downward, seeing a shadow attached to hers.

Flurry squeaked as she felt a jolt, like a strong static shock on her side. The pain, while minor, brought her back to her senses, and she looked to the side, seeing the other children on their knees.

“S-stop… Flurry,” said Pound, putting his hooves down. 

Peppermint and Pumpkin assisted Masky by using their levitation to pull Flurry backwards towards the rest of them.

“You… you’re…” Tears came down Flurry’s eyes. “You’re all alive!”

Starlight dusted herself off, annoyed. “I thought you were all dead. How bothersome. Just when I was about to finalize the deal.”

Pound strained himself, managing to stand up for a few seconds before he collapsed back to the ground. 

“Hey!” said Flurry. “Stop! You’re too hurt to get up.”

Pound let out a weak laugh. “No. I’m not… too weak… for you.”

Flurry got a confused look on her face.

Once more Pound pushed himself, getting up on his hooves. Though it took everything he had, though it felt like his legs were tap-dancing from shaking so much, he managed to walk in front of Flurry, putting himself between her and Starlight. 

“YOU!” Though his body was weakened by the attack, his voice was clear. “You… you’re not… going to touch Flurry.” He felt a wave of dizziness and almost collapsed again, but he moved his four legs out to steady himself. “You… you got that?”

Emboldened by Pound’s words the other four also found their strength, rising up onto their hooves and gathering in front of Flurry. Each of them was panting for breath and looked like they could collapse at any moment.

“Why?” Flurry said quietly, her own legs shaking. “Why are you doing this?”

A part of her felt like they were doing this out of obligation, because of her title or her status as an alicorn.

However, in her heart she knew the reason. Pound had said it to her before. It wasn’t because of what she was or who she was. It was because they considered her a friend.

Friends…

Flurry had thought that friends were useless to her. She didn’t have time for friends when her world could be over any minute. And even when she did try to make friends it always ended badly, so she thought she just wasn’t cut out for friendship.

Twilight, as the Princess of Friendship, had tried to talk to her about things, but she had brushed her aunt off. Her aunt didn’t understand the magnitude of her fears over friendship and her possibly suddenly being responsible for the well-being of the Crystal Empire, and she was too scared to talk about it.

Twilight had tried to tell her that true strength couldn’t be found alone… that it was only through ponies coming together and working with one another could true power be found, just like when she had worked together with her friends to defeat Nightmare Moon. She hadn’t listened to her aunt back then, figuring she knew what was best for herself. Her individual strength was more important than gathering up friends.

Starlight shook her head. “What a waste of my time. You’ll be lucky if you can just stay standing. How are you expecting to keep her from me?”

“I DON’T CARE!” Pound shouted. “I’m not moving from this spot! I don’t care about the danger. I always protect those I care about no matter what.”

“Well said, Pound,” said Pumpkin.

Starlight just rolled her eyes, an amused smile on her face as her horn lit up. “Oh, brother. It’s hardly worth the effort to finish you off.”

Flurry went stiff for a moment, before teleporting in front of Starlight and uppercutting her in the face.

The shocked mare was knocked to the ground, but she quickly got up. “Flurry?” she said angrily. “You…”

“No more!” said Flurry, her voice filling with purpose. “NO… MORE!” Her horn lit up with a bright energy. She wasn’t going to be a spectator anymore. She wasn’t going to just sit back and watch them die. She was going to be where she should have been all along: fighting beside them.

If the Starlight in front of her was just a fake then she had no reason not to attack.  And if Starlight was real then she also had no reason not to attack, because it meant Starlight had only been using her throughout her whole life. 

Starlight could see that Flurry was furious. She suddenly grabbed her head, letting out a cry of pain. She fell to the ground, spasming.

Flurry kept her distance, but she wondered what was going on.

When Starlight stood up again the green tinge in her eyes had vanished, as well as the purple aura around them.

She was panting, one of her eyes closed. “F-Flurry…” She took a few breaths in before continuing. “Thank you.”

Flurry got into a battle stance, but she didn’t attack. “What are you thanking me for?”

“That thing… that… whatever it is…” She shook her head. “You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? The little thing with the brown coat and the red tail.”

“What about him?” Her body was tense. She kept the buildup of power in her horn, not letting her guard down.

“He approached me a few days ago. He had heard about what I had done in the past, and was sure that I would love the opportunity to get my revenge. If you and your parents suddenly disappeared or died it would surely cause Twilight Sparkle pain, so he thought it would be exactly what I wanted.

“I refused to be a part of his evil plan, and so he attacked me. He told me he would make you suffer for turning him down… but I never thought that he would use me to do it.”

The glow in Flurry’s horn faded slightly. She wished it could be true, but something was off. “Why are you alright now? You… want me to believe that you suddenly broke free right when I was about to attack?”

Starlight got a bright grin on her face. “Why, it was because of you, of course.” Starlight took a step forward.

Flurry immediately hopped backward. “Don’t come near me or I'll fire!”

“Right, right.” Starlight sat down. “As I was saying, it was you that helped to free me. I gave up. I didn’t believe I had the strength to overpower him. His darkness was so strong, infesting me. All I could do was watch from the inside as he used my body to attack you and your friends.

“When you attacked me… it reminded me of the past we shared. I was a strong, influential figure in your life, always watching over you when your parents were busy. I saw that even in this wretched place that you were still willing to fight, and at your age. Yet here I was, a pawn of that despicable creature. I couldn’t let that stand, otherwise how could I ever expect you to look up to me again?

“I’m back in control of my body now, so let’s work together and take that thing out!”

Flurry stared at Starlight for the longest time, and eventually the glow from her horn faded as her eyes clenched shut and she began quietly crying.

“Flurry!” said Pound.

Flurry just shook her head. “Shut up, Pound.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” said Starlight. “I’m so glad you understand the truth.”

Flurry’s body clenched, and she looked up at Starlight. “Aunt Starlight, this is all a little much to take in, but it will be an honor fighting alongside you.

“But first… I could really use a hug. This has all been so scary.”

“Of course,” Starlight said gently. “I understand.”

As the two began walking towards one another Flurry’s movements suddenly stopped.

She looked behind her to see Masky holding her by her shadow. “Stop, Flurry!” he said.

“Come on!” said Pumpkin. “You’re not really going to trust her, are you?”

“After everything she did to us?” said Tree Leaf.

“SHUT UP!” yelled Flurry, and with a gentle burst of magic knocked all of them down. “I’ve lived my whole life with Aunt Starlight. I think I know her better than anyone! So you all just shut your mouths and stop talking about stuff you have no idea about.” She gently sobbed as she turned away from them and continued her walk towards Starlight.

Pound groaned. He was too weak to stand, but he had a bad feeling about this.

The other children felt much the same. Though they wanted to intervene they didn’t have the power. The only thing they could do was hope that Starlight was being genuine, and that Flurry wasn’t walking right into a trap.

By the time she reached Starlight Flurry had gotten herself under control. She sat down, extending her hooves. "I believe you."

“Very good, Flurry. I’m proud of you.” Starlight hugged her, Flurry returning the gesture. 

Starlight smirked, a purple aura starting to come out of her eyes again as her horn lit up.

Peppermint was about to cry out to Flurry, but it proved unnecessary.

Starlight’s feeling of triumph was short-lived as Flurry suddenly pulled out of her grip and socked her in the stomach. Starlight gasped in pain.

In that moment of distraction Flurry blasted her with magic.

Starlight was launched back twenty feet, landing hard on her hooves. She growled. “How dare you?” 

Flurry’s warm expression had vanished. “I BELIEVE that you’re a giant phony.” 

Starlight shook on her hooves, and the air around them began to shimmer. “D-darn it!” She put a hoof to her head. “C-can’t maintain…” 

The shimmering stopped, and all of them gaped as Starlight was gone, replaced with a dark coated unicorn they didn’t know. 

“Who is that?” asked Pound.

Flurry stared at the pony, a sudden flash of recognition going through her. The red horn, the royal regalia, the green sclera in the eyes with the purple aura coming out of them... 

She had only read about him, but she knew who this was now.

“King Sombra!” she said fearfully.

He laughed. “Enough with these games. It’s time to finish you off.”

Flurry prepared herself as he gathered power, doing the same, but he didn’t aim his attack at her.

She gasped. “He’s after them!” She put herself between the attack, shooting her own magic.

Sombra chuckled. “Your concentration lapsed because of your concern for those brats. It’s over.”

She found it hard to focus through her fear. King Sombra had done so many horrible things to her people. Did she even stand a chance against him without the others?

It was the thing she feared the most. She was living her worst nightmare. She didn't think she had the strength to protect them, and if she failed here they were all going to die. She had already experienced their deaths once. The thought of it happening a second time was too much for her. 

Too distracted by her thoughts Sombra's attack grew steadily closer to her.

Once more Twilight’s words came to her.

 “Flurry Heart,” said Twilight. “A pony’s greatest strength is only found when fighting for others. I don’t consider my greatest power to be being an alicorn or a princess or my knowledge of magic. I consider it to be the trust and love I have for my friends.

“When they’re in danger… I just feel an incredible strength welling up inside me, like I can do anything it takes to protect them. No matter how scary the situation I’m facing is, the feeling of wanting to protect them is greater than any fear I have. It's because of that feeling that I'll never back down from doing what it takes to save them.”

She looked behind her at the other children. She pictured Pound and the others throwing themselves in front of Sombra’s attack. She saw them still finding the strength to get up and defend her despite their injuries.

Tears came down her eyes. She had been so foolish. She should have trusted Twilight from the start.

‘Please, everyone,’ she thought. ‘Please, take some of that courage you’ve gathered up… and give it to me.’

Before she had fighting for mostly selfish reasons: because she wanted to go home, because she was scared, because she was lonely, because she needed them, because it was her duty as a princess…

Things were different now. Now she understood what her aunt was talking about. She felt like she understood why they had been able to keep fighting despite their injuries… why they had come with her to fight Nightmare Moon despite the incredible danger.

This was no longer about duty or obligation or need. This was personal now, and she was going to protect these children no matter the cost to herself, because she knew they would do the same for her.

She turned forward to Sombra’s attack, newfound determination infusing her being. She spun around, breaking off her own magic, and grabbed the others in her wings before hopping off to the side, aided by her magic, to get out of the path of Sombra’s attack.

She set them down gently before she began floating in the air, her horn exploding with power as a magic sphere surrounded her. “You! You took the form of someone I really cared about, tried to make me give up, and used my worst fears against me.”

She let out a scream of fury, the power building even further. “But even worse than that, you attacked and almost killed my friends? It’s absolutely UNFORGIVABLE!” Her eyes turned pure white.

King Sombra shook at the amount of power Flurry was generating.

With another yell Flurry fired all the power she had at her command, and with a scream of pain King Sombra was obliterated.

Flurry landed on the ground and collapsed to her knees, panting. She was all used up, but she didn’t care. King Sombra had enslaved her people and sucked them away into another dimension for a thousand years, then came back and nearly killed her parents and Aunt Twilight. 

When she felt a little energy she forced herself up and walked to the others. They all looked speechless at the display of power she had just put on.

“A-are you all… alright?” She flopped to the ground on her stomach, unable to stand anymore.

“W-wow…” Tree Leaf shook his head in amazement. “Remind me to never make you mad.”

Flurry let out a little laugh, before looking sad. “I’m sorry, everyone.”

“For what?” asked Masky. “That was awesome!"

“I knew… I knew that Starlight was lying, but I had to make her think that I believed her.”

“How did you know?” asked Pound.

“It’s like I said… I grew up with her, and so I knew her best. He must have taken some of my memories to know what he did, but he didn’t do things I would have expected out of the real Starlight. She never used the nicknames she had for me, and I could just feel that something was off.

“The reason I was crying earlier… it wasn’t because I was relieved to know that she was alright and had fought off that things control. It was because I knew the truth, but I didn’t want to.”

“Didn’t want to?” asked Masky.

“From the moment we woke up in this world it’s been one scary thing after another. I truly wanted Starlight to be real, because it meant an adult I could trust would be in charge. Everything wouldn’t just be reliant on me.

“I heard that King Sombra’s greatest power was forcing a pony to live their greatest fears, and he certainly did that to me. Someone I trusted, turning against me. Being put in a position of power over others, and failing to protect them.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “I had to acknowledge that she was lying, which also meant acknowledging that it was all up to me, after all. I was going to have to remain in charge, for a duty I felt I wasn’t prepared for.”

“Oh, Flurry,” said Pound. 

"But you're doing a fantastic job," said Peppermint. "We couldn't have gotten this far without you."

"And you're not alone, Flurry," said Masky. "Just because you're in charge it doesn't mean we're not all with you."

Flurry grinned slightly. "I... I know."

They heard clapping above them, and Flurry felt a chill go down her as she saw Mayhem floating in the air. She was completely exhausted, and the other children were barely able to move. 

“Wonderful!” said Mayhem, lifting both his arms. Confetti went raining down upon everyone. “Absolutely spectacular. What a thrilling conclusion to the battle.”

“W-what is that?” asked Peppermint.

“Hey! You know what you all need? A reward for all your hard work.”

He lifted a claw, and the six kids began floating like him. His other arm went out, energy building up inside his hand.

Flurry felt panic going through her. She had nothing left. It couldn’t end here… not after the growth she had just went through.

She closed her eyes tight as beams of energy came out of Mayhem’s fingers.

Confusion went through her. She didn’t feel pain. In fact, quite the opposite. She felt strength returning to her. 

She opened her eyes, looking at the other children. As she watched, their injuries vanished and they looked energized as well.

The draconequus set them on the ground. “There you go! All better now, right?”

Flurry eyed him suspiciously. “What are you up to? Why are you healing our wounds?”

Mayhem chuckled. “Well, that’s simple. It would be boring otherwise.”

“Who are you?” asked Pumpkin.

“What are you?” asked Pound.

“Oh, so many questions,” said Mayhem. “The name is Mayhem. I’m a draconequus. I’m the one who brought you all here.”

“Mayhem,” said Masky. “Sounds appropriate, considering everything that’s been going on here.”

“How are you doing all this?” asked Peppermint. “Creating a dark version of Ponyville and getting all these old villains to fight for you?”

“That’s simple: because I have the power to. I am not bound to your pitiful magic rules. I do whatever I want, whenever I want.”

He slowly descended to the ground, seeing Flurry giving him a death glare. “Oh, Flurry. You’ve truly come into your own. When last we faced off against each other you were terrified while we fought. Just look at you now.”

“Don’t expect me to be grateful that you restored my energy,” she said coldly. “The only thing you’ve done is hasten your defeat.”

Mayhem smirked. “How cruel. You could at least thank me for healing the wounds of your ‘friends,’ hmm?” Flurry just continued glaring at him. “Ah, well.”

He put his hands to his eyes, pulling them out of their sockets.

All of them looked at him with horror. Even Flurry couldn’t maintain her stoic act at that.

He began juggling his eyes. “So… you’ve finally done it. You did what I asked. You got all six of you together. The final battle is nearly at hand.

“But not here. You have to come to my castle. We’ll fight there.” 

His eyes hung in mid-air, and Mayhem pulled off his legs, starting to juggle them along with his eyes. “I had been feeling so bored recently, and this little adventure has been a blast. Watching all of you struggle has been quite the spectacle.”

His tail and his head came off, and he added those to his juggling. “Being bored is a terrible experience. I just want fun, and I want it all the time. That’s the reason I healed all of you. You were all wiped out, and it would have taken you hours to heal up enough to challenge me. That would have been so boring, waiting there with nothing to do.”

He threw all his body parts high into the air, and as they landed they went back in their proper places. “Don’t keep me waiting too long. If I get too bored I might just have your families play this game too.” He winked. “Hope to see you soon, friends.”

With that he put his arms into his mouth, and appeared to eat himself as he vanished.

None of them were sure what to say to that display.

Tree Leaf was the first one to speak. “So that’s… the one who put us through all this.”

“What crazy magic,” said Pumpkin. “It seems like his power goes way beyond unicorn or even alicorn level. I don’t think Twilight could just detach her body like that.”

Pound stomped his hoof. “I don’t care WHAT he can do! We’re taking him down!”

“Sounds good to me,” said Masky. “After coming this far together we can’t back down now.”

“Especially if he’s going to get our families involved,” said Peppermint.

“So who are all of you?” said Tree Leaf.

All of them introduced themselves to each other.

“I wonder… if we can really win,” said Peppermint, hanging her head. “I probably won’t even be any help at all.”

Flurry heard the doubt in the filly’s voice, and stomped her hoof. “Peppermint!”

Her head shot up. “Y-yeah?” She looked into Flurry’s eyes, seeing them fiercely blazing.

“I may have faltered before, but I’m done backing down. Mayhem is right. I was terrified when I first saw him. He easily overcame every spell I cast at him, and after he left I broke down, feeling hopeless.

“But then… then I remembered all of you. All of you… you give me hope. You give me strength. And I know I do the same for you, because you jumped right in with all the others to protect me.”

Holding her head high she said, “So don’t doubt yourself. You are strong!”

A tear came down Peppermint’s eye, Flurry’s words washing her uncertainty away. “Thank you.”

“That goes for the rest of you!” Flurry looked at each of them in turn. “You saved my life, helping me to discover my true strength. You helped to take away my fear.

“Now… now I’m putting my own life on the line. I don’t care what it costs me… I WILL protect all of you. And it has nothing to do with duty, or because I should. I want to protect you because all of you… are my friends.” Grateful tears came down her eyes. “And I know I can’t do this without you.”

That got the rest of them smiling and crying.

“You got it!” said Pound.

“Of course!” said Pumpkin.

“We’ll win this,” said Masky.

“Of course we will,” said Tree Leaf.

“Together… we can win,” said Peppermint.

Flurry could see that they all felt reassured, sharing in her newfound confidence. Now, there was just one thing left to do.

“Let’s go!” said Flurry. “To the castle!”

“Right!” came the replies from the others.
> 6-9: Into the castle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The six children began their trek to the castle.

Flurry constantly scanned the area as they walked, but nothing attacked them on their way. It seemed like Mayhem had either run out of ideas for new foes for them to face, or, more likely, he was tired of being on the sidelines and wanted to fight them himself.

As they neared the castle doors alternating streams of lightning and fire lit up along the sides of the pathway.

“So this… is it,” said Tree Leaf.

“At least we’re getting a warm welcome,” said Pound with a trace of sarcasm.

“You are indeed,” said a mysterious voice.

The ground beneath them rose up, pushing them towards the door. 

“Greetings!” The steel door itself bowed. 

“And now a door is talking to us,” said Masky, shaking his head. “I’m not even surprised anymore.”

Hands made of bricks came out of the area to the sides, pointing to the ground where six circles of light lit up. “You may only get past this point with six heroes. Stand on these circles and state your names.”

Pound stayed where he was. “I don’t trust this. How do I know we’re not all gonna be fried when we step on these circles?”

Pumpkin felt that same apprehension.

“Well, someone has to go.” Flurry stepped forward and sat on the circle. “Flurry Heart!” she said determinedly. A circle of light rose up around her.

They all waited, but nothing else happened. 

Masky walked forward too. “I don’t think that this is a trap. What would be the point? We can’t fight him if he wipes us out here, and that is clearly his goal.”

He sat in the circle and said, “Masquerade Ball!” Like with Flurry a circle of light rose up.

After a few more seconds of hesitation the other four walked forward.

“Pound Cake!”

“Pumpkin Cake!”

“Tree Leaf!”

“Peppermint Swirl!”

Now all of them were lit up.

“Very good!” said the door. “Come inside, heroes, to your final battle. My master expects you. Don’t keep him waiting.”

The door returned back to normal before opening, the light around the kids fading.

They crossed over the threshold into the castle, and the door closed behind them.

Candles burst into light, and all of them looked around in amazement. It was the oddest thing they had ever seen. The structure of the castle didn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason to it. Most of the décor was stuck to the ceiling or the walls, with some things just floating aimlessly around. 

Pink clouds covered most of the floor, raining upward.

“This Mayhem sure has a weird sense of taste,” said Tree Leaf.

“What strange powers,” said Pound. “If he really can do anything then can we actually beat him?”

“Are you just going to give up then?” asked Flurry, glaring at him.

“Of course not! He hurt my sister, and nearly killed you.”

“Then thoughts like those are useless here! It’s all or nothing. Us or him. We have to fight with all we have. It’s the only option available to us now that we’ve come this far.”

“I know, I know!”

Pumpkin grinned. “You’re so cool, Flurry. You’ve become so tough since you helped us take down the Changelings.”

Flurry didn’t smile back. “I have to be! I’m done running and being afraid. I meant what I said before. I can’t ever forget the sacrifice you all made for me. 

“That monster is going down! There’s nothing else to say. I won’t forgive him for what he did to you.

“No more talking!” Flurry began walking. “The sooner we end this the sooner I can get you home to your families.”

Peppermint liked this new Flurry. She had grown so confident, and it made her feel like she was going to win too.

They all followed Flurry through the oddest experience of their lives. 

They’d be walking forward, and suddenly they’d be walking upside-down as the corridor twisted, or they’d go through a door and find themselves walking sideways on the wall.

While the other children felt a sense of wonder at these things Flurry had no interest in it at all. She was fairly sure there weren’t any traps waiting for them. The only thing she cared about now was stopping Mayhem from causing any more havoc.

After walking for about ten minutes Peppermint asked, “Are we even getting closer to him? This place is so weird I can’t tell if we’re even going up or down.”

“Shoot!” said Pound. “If he wants to fight us so badly then you’d think he’d give us a shortcut or something.”

The ground suddenly crumbled beneath their hooves, and they all landed inside a cart.

“I had to open my big mouth!”

Protective seat belts strapped them in, and they began heading downwards on a track.

What followed was the wackiest and scariest roller-coaster ride they had ever been on.

Spikes barely avoided skewering them, making Peppermint shriek.

The track suddenly broke in front of them, and the cart flipped several times before landing on another section.

A giant shark bit off the front part of their cart.

A dragon barely avoided burning them to a crisp before they turned a corner. 

Bolts of lightning danced over their heads.

It finally ended with a nearly vertical fall, the cart going faster and faster to what looked like solid stone.

Flurry kept telling herself that this was just a trick. It was all just to get them riled up. Their lives weren’t in any actual danger yet.

The cart and the ground suddenly disappeared, and it looked like they were in space. Their descent slowed, and they were surrounded by pretty colors and calming images.

They gently landed on a pile of pillows.

Peppermint felt pretty frazzled after all that, so she just took in deep breaths as she focused on the scenery.

“Where are we now?” asked Flurry with a huff. “I think we’ve all had enough of this welcoming party.”

The space scene vanished, replaced with an ordinary looking dining room. The six were lifted into the air and set down gently in the most comfortable chairs they had ever sat on.

In front of each of them was a covered dish. The covers lifted, revealing each of their favorite foods.

“Eat!” came the voice of Mayhem, echoing throughout the room. “You are my honored guests, after all. The least I can do is offer you a pleasant last meal before taking you down.”

Flurry didn’t want to ingest anything that Mayhem created, but she could feel her stomach rumbling. They had been in Mayhem’s world for a few hours now, and though he had restored her energy she had been pretty active. As much as she didn’t want to play along with him she knew she needed to keep her strength up if she hoped to protect the others.

“Is this safe?” asked Pumpkin. As much as her mouth was watering she had her doubts about this.

“He won’t be able to fight us if he poisons us,” said Pound, stuffing some food in his mouth.

“He probably doesn’t feel like he has to do such a thing to win,” said Tree Leaf.

“True enough,” said Masky, also starting to dig in.

Soon enough all of them were stuffing their faces. The food tasted excellent, and more food kept appearing until they were full.

“See now,” said Mayhem. “I am a most gracious host for my guests.”

A door appeared in the middle of the room. “When you’re ready, then please come in. I’ll be waiting for you.”

Pound patted his stomach. “Oh, boy. That was good. I’m ready to fight.”

Pumpkin nodded. “Same here.”

“I think I need a few minutes,” said Peppermint, and her chair suddenly reclined.

Flurry was trying to figure out Mayhem’s intentions. Using his subordinates he had tried to kill them all without any qualms. Now that they were facing him directly he seemed to be too accommodating. Was he being nice to try and get them to drop their guard? Or to get them to hold back?

Most likely, he didn’t consider them a threat, and so he didn’t see any issue in making sure they were at their best. What difference would it make to him? She started to think he just wanted to give them false hope. 

For a moment she started to doubt herself, but she shook her head and pushed those thoughts away. As she had said to Pound they had no business here. They still had to fight regardless.

Flurry hopped out of her chair, eager to get things over with. “Come on, everyone! Let’s do this.”

She could see that all of them had some trouble leaving the comfort of the chairs, but they all obeyed.

Standing in front of the door she opened it, seeing nothing but black.

Before she could do anything else a strong gust of wind pulled them forward, and they all began falling.

Flurry growled, tired of these tricks.

As she was about to levitate all of them they landed in something wet. It seemed to be a pool of water. It was perfectly visible even in the complete darkness. 

The water only went up to their stomachs, and they all climbed out. Giant hair driers appeared, getting the moisture out of their coats.

“Ugh!” said Tree Leaf. “What is with this crazy place? It doesn’t make any sense!”

They heard the laughter of Mayhem nearby. “Oh, but what fun is there in making sense?”

“Enough of these games!” Flurry yelled. “Come out! Stop hiding in the dark.”

“Are you sure you’re ready for this? After all, you have no idea what I really am.” With every few words his voice seemed to be coming from a different place. “I have merely been toying with you for my own amusement. Are you sure you want to see my true form?”

“It can’t look any worse than the face you have now,” said Pound.

“Ouch! Harsh!” With a laugh he said, “Very well. Gaze upon my true strength.”

The room suddenly lit up, and more of the crazy architecture reared its head. The room appeared to go on for miles, although aside from some pillars and carpeting on the ground the place was barren, making it seem even larger.

“So where are you?” asked Pumpkin.

“You’re in my throne room,” said Mayhem, his voice still appearing to come from everywhere. “Just follow the red carpet.”

“No!” said Flurry. “I’m done playing along with your games.”

“Oh, Flurry.” Mayhem’s voice grew deeper and more serious. “You really should play along. After all… I hold your lives in my hands.

“But very well. Just look up.”

All of them complied. It took them a few seconds to comprehend what they were seeing. 

Mayhem was absolutely gigantic, sitting on a throne as large as him. He had to be at least eighty feet tall.

Peppermint collapsed onto her knees. Pound and Pumpkin began shivering, holding onto each other. Masky gulped. Tree Leaf just stared. Flurry blinked several times, her mind having trouble accepting what she was seeing.

“Hello there, friends,” said Mayhem, staring down at them with a pleased expression. “Just listen to all of you, talking so confident.

“Well? Go ahead and attack.”

None of them moved.

He shook his head. “Oh, come on. You guys are too easy.” He lifted his two arms away from each other. As he put them closer together the scale of the room shrunk until it looked closer to the size of an actual throne room. Mayhem shrunk along with it until he was his usual size. 

“Well, that was fun. The looks on your faces were priceless.”

Flurry was getting her composure back. It had only been another one of his tricks.

A crown appeared in his hand, which he put on his head. “I’ve been thinking, and the truth is that you guys are pathetic. Compared to me you are mere ants. I could smash you at any time, but that would be boring.

“It really isn’t fair for you to fight me, because there’s no way you can win. Knowing that I’ll win no matter what is also boring, so I need to do SOMETHING to spice this up. Otherwise, this will be no fun at all.”

He hopped off the throne, landing upside-down and balancing on one claw. “So here’s what I’m thinking. If you can force me off my throne in this battle then you win.”

He bounced off and landed upright on the top of his throne on one leg, slowly spinning around like a ballerina. “I mean, come on! You don’t even have to destroy me. Surely you can hit me at least ONCE, can’t you?”

His body parts separated, and one by one they landed in a sitting position on the throne. He lifted his claw and snapped, and a clock appeared reading fifteen minutes.

“However, if you can’t defeat me in that time then it only proves you aren’t worth my time, and I’ll have to start taking things a little bit seriously. The deal will be off.”

“I’ll take it!” said Pound. 

“Me too!” said Pumpkin.

“Very well,” said Mayhem. “Then let the battle… BEGIN!” With another snap the clock began counting down.
> 6-10: Fifteen minutes to death
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Above all of them the clock began counting down the time to their defeat.

The six children stared at Mayhem uncertainly.

Mayhem sat smug on his throne. “Well, come on, then. You only have fifteen minutes. Do you really have the time to wait? Come on and attack.”

“Argh!” said Pound. “We have to do something. 

“Pumpkin!” 

“Right!” she said as they put their hooves together, shooting a bolt of lightning at him.

“Is that all?” said Mayhem, lifting a claw and flicking at the bolt as it neared him, sending it into the ceiling.

Peppermint blinked. “Did he just…” She shook her head. “Gotta be prepared for anything with this thing.” She stretched her front leg toward him.

Mayhem summoned strings out of his claw, which wrapped around her hoof and pulled against it, stopping her momentum. He grabbed her leg and began strumming a melody on the strings.

"Jerk!" Tree Leaf turned into a bird and flew over Mayhem, then as he headed downwards turned into an elephant.

Mayhem released Peppermint’s hoof  and made a circle in the air. A black energy went streaming upwards, engulfing the colt.

“Tree Leaf!” Flurry called out, her breath catching.

Tree Leaf’s momentum slowed, but beyond that it seemed to have no effect on him.

Mayhem caught the colt, throwing him forward.

Tree Leaf turned back into a pony. “How’d he do that?”

Mayhem chuckled. “I sent you into space. Low gravity.

“You’re going to have to try harder than that.” He felt something pulling hard at his leg. “And I’m afraid that’s not hard enough.” He easily lifted his leg, pulling Masky out of the ground and sending him flying as their shadows separated.  

“Well… we knew it wouldn’t be easy,” said Flurry.

“Yeah,” said Pound. “So what now?”

“I have an idea. It’s stupid, so he probably wouldn’t expect it. I just need one of you to get his attention.”

“Got it!” said Peppermint.

Flurry walked up to Masky and whispered into his ear. He nodded.

Peppermint extended all of her limbs and her head, sending all five of them towards Mayhem.

“Oh, no,” said Mayhem. “A spider.” He lifted his arm and a giant newspaper appeared, swatting away her legs and head.

“Now!” said Flurry, her horn glowing.

Her aura appeared around Mayhem as she tried to simply lift him out of the throne with her basic levitation.

At the same time Masky went underneath it, pulling the throne into the shadows.

“Can’t sit on a throne if there IS no throne!’ said Flurry.

Mayhem’s top half popped off, and a spear appeared in his hand, throwing it towards Flurry. She quickly hopped out of the way, which was all the distraction he needed to head towards the ground and slam it. Masky came flying out of the shadows along with the throne. His top half rejoined with his bottom half. “Still not good enough, I’m afraid.” 

Pumpkin growled. What did it take to hit this thing? “Pound! Cutting air!”

Pound nodded, touching hooves with her as they sent out countless wind shards towards him.

To their surprise their attack was on target, and Mayhem was filled with holes.

“We… we got him,” said Pound, blinking. 

“But… it doesn’t really amount to anything, does it?" replied Mayhem. Before their eyes the holes repaired themselves.

“One more time!” said Pound, this time shooting out a stream of water, focusing it around him and encasing him in a bubble of it.

Mayhem just shook his head. “Are you trying to suffocate me?” He took in a deep breath. “I’m afraid that’s not going to work.”

“Pound, can we combine spells?” asked Pumpkin.

“I don’t know. What did you have in mind?”

“Let’s add some fire and burn him.” 

The two of them focused, and the temperature of the water got hotter and hotter until it began turning into steam.

When their spell faded Mayhem was sitting there wearing a spa robe. “Ahhh,” he said calmly. “Well, that felt nice. I could just fall asleep right here.”

Flurry tapped her hoof on the floor. “Peppermint!” She built up energy in her horn. “Launch me!”

The filly nodded.

She hopped atop Peppermint’s outstretched hoof.

The twins made a small tornado with their air powers. “Finally getting serious, huh?” said Mayhem, laughing.

Peppermint extended her leg backwards and slingshotted Flurry forwards at high speed. She hit Pound and Pumpkin’s tornado, increasing her speed still further.

Mayhem lifted a single claw. “Go ahead and shoot. Do you really think momentum is going to help you?”

Just before she hit him Flurry teleported behind him, shooting all the energy she had gathered. 

She panted as she landed.

As the smoke cleared she grinned as she saw the result of her attack. The top half of the throne, as well as the top half of Mayhem, was gone. 

“Oh, WOW!” said Tree Leaf. “You really got him!”

Just as they were about to start celebrating Mayhem’s tail lifted and snapped, and both him and the throne were restored.

Peppermint let out a pained groan.

“Again?” said Pumpkin. “Did it really have no effect at all?”

Mayhem clapped. “Nice teamwork, but I’m afraid you’re still not doing good enough. Really, the truth is that you’ll never do good enough. Why don’t you just give up now, and save yourself the embarrassment of a humiliating defeat?”

“No!” said Pound strongly.

Flurry gathered up power in her horn again. "This time I'll destroy the whole thing!" 

As she fired Mayhem said, "If you can actually hit it." He lifted an arm, and the space around them grew very heavy, forcing Flurry and her spell to the floor. Once her spell dispersed the gravity effect faded.

“Flurry!” Masky whispered urgently. “I have a plan that I’m sure will beat him. I just need all of you to get his attention for a little while so I can set it up.”

Flurry nodded. “Got it.”

“Darn it!” said Pound. They had already used up seven minutes of their fifteen, and they hadn’t been able to do any damage. “He really is incredible.”

Mayhem smirked. “Thank you. Thank you. Glad to see you realize the truth.”

“Pound, what are you doing?” Flurry said angrily, grabbing him and getting in his face. “Don’t praise this monster!”

“Flurry!” said Pumpkin.

Flurry stared into Pound’s eyes, and said as quietly as she could, “Distraction.” Then she pushed him away. “Get you head in the game!” She trusted Pound to tell his sister.

“And what about YOU?” she got in Tree Leaf’s face next, once more whispering the word. “Are you gonna praise him too?”

Mayhem shook his head. “Aw, look at the cracks forming in your so-called teamwork.”

Pound whispered in Tree Leaf’s ear. For a moment he looked nervous, but then he nodded.

Flurry charged up energy in her horn, firing it at Mayhem.

The draconequus yawned. “This again?” He lifted a single claw, flicking the energy away.

The ground began shaking as Tree Leaf turned into an elephant and charged Mayhem.

“Oh, no,” Mayhem replied in a bored tone. “Whatever shall I do? I might actually have to use TWO fingers to stop this.”

Tree Leaf jumped at Mayhem as behind them Pumpkin cried out, “Now!”

Right before Mayhem attacked him Tree Leaf turned into a bird and swerved out of the way, only to see a bolt of lightning right behind  the colt.

Mayhem’s eyes widened, seeing that the twins had hid their spell behind Tree Leaf’s bulk.

The bolt struck Mayhem dead-on. 

“Yes!” Pumpkin hopped in the air and pumped her hoof.

Her triumph was short lived as Mayhem inhaled and appeared to eat their lightning attack. 

The draconequus burped. “Why, what a shocking lunch.

“That was a nice little trick you pulled, but you need to do a little better than that to beat me.”

He leaned forward in his throne and said, “Is that it for your little tricks, then?”

Flurry had an anxious expression on her face, like she was waiting for something. Where was Masky? She thought he would have attacked by now. They had all done as he asked.

“And just where did your little shadow buddy get to?” Flurry let out a cry of frustration. “What, did you think I didn’t know you were just a distraction?”

He closed his eyes for a moment. “I can read your thoughts, but it seems pointless. It’s clear that you have no idea where he is. But I do.”

“What did you do to him?” Pound asked.

Mayhem pointed upwards at the clock still ticking down. “Why would I bother doing anything to him? Time isn’t up yet.”

“Then how do you know where he is?”

The draconequus chuckled. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? Where he is… is far away from here.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Peppermint.

“Come on! You haven’t figured it out yet?” He looked smugly at them. “He left the game.”

“Left the game?” asked Flurry. “You sent him home?”

Mayhem shook his head. “Oh, boy! I guess you really don’t get it. Masky is GONE, you fools!

“He saw how much greater my power is than yours, and made the intelligent choice. He pretended to set up an attack by having the rest of you act as a diversion, but he actually took the opportunity just to bail on you.”

The five children all felt a chill go through them. 

Mayhem began snickering, before it erupted into hysterical laughter. “This is priceless! All of you preached teamwork and working together, but he sure showed his true colors as a grade-A coward.”

“No!” said Pound. “He wouldn’t… he wouldn’t do that.”

Mayhem got his laughter under control. “Ah, you poor naïve child. Did you really think you were friends just because you fought a few baddies together? He was only going along with you because he had to. Didn’t he tell you from the start he wasn’t interested in sticking with you guys?

“If YOU, Flurry, hadn’t emotionally blackmailed him with your water works he would have left you right at the start.

“Honestly, I think it’s going too far to call him a coward, when he was the only smart one among you. Only idiots fight a battle they know they can’t win.”

Mayhem was getting immense pleasure out of their hurt expressions. It sure spiced things up from their boring bravado and heroic speeches. “Friendship is magic, huh? Well, he sure didn’t believe in you guys, that’s for sure.

“To think that after such touching experiences that he would give up on you.”

Flurry looked around, hoping to see Masky come out of the shadows and tell him that he was wrong, but he didn’t. All the shadows around them were stationary.

She felt a few tears come down her eyes. The colt had thrown himself in front of an attack and nearly died to protect her. He, along with the others, had helped her to become more comfortable with her identity, and gave her courage and confidence. She had really thought that she had done the same for him, inspiring him to fight alongside her no matter what the odds.

Mayhem could see they were all being truthful. It was clear in their minds. Though he doubted he needed to read their minds to discover the truth. They weren’t exactly good at hiding their emotions.

They kept fighting, but their hearts clearly weren’t in it anymore. To think that Masky ditched them to save his own skin was so disheartening that it was difficult for them to even formulate attack plans together.

If Masky really hadn’t abandoned them it only meant that Mayhem had done something to him, which wasn’t a better prospect.

Their time just seemed to race by.

Mayhem looked up at the clock. “Well, it’s almost time, kiddies. Just twenty seconds left. 

“You haven’t been able to fight at your best since that shadow kid left you behind. You see what happens when you depend on others? Like I said before he was the only smart one among you.”

Now there was only ten seconds. At this point the five children weren’t even trying to attack anymore, too forlorn to have any hope left for a final charge.

Mayhem chuckled. “Five, four, three, two-WAH!” A heavy weight suddenly slammed into the draconequus, and he went flying, landing hard on the floor of the castle.

All of them gasped as Masky came out of the shadow of Mayhem’s throne. “Got you at last!” he said victoriously, giggling as he trotted over to his friends.

“Masky!” said Pound. “Where did you…”

Flurry slapped him hard, tears streaming down her eyes. “W-where were you? Y-you had us all worried!”

“You didn’t really abandon us, did you?” asked Peppermint.

Masky flushed, rubbing his cheek. “I’m sorry, everyone. I know I made you worry, but I needed all of you to think that I fled. He was reading all of our moves, and I knew if I told you about my plan you’d look too hopeful and anxious.”

“So that was it,” said Flurry. “You had to wait until he forgot about you, and waited until the last second when he was the most assured of his victory.”

Masky pointed at the clock, which had stopped on one second. “We did it!”

“Yeah!” said Peppermint, hopping a few times. “We got him off his throne right in time, so now… now we can all go home.”

The twins slapped their hooves together, cheering.

Masky turned toward Mayhem, who was framed in shadow. “Alright, you jerk. We beat you at your dumb game, now let us out of here!”

“You,” said Mayhem quietly. “You… YOU!” Mayhem’s body turned a glowing red, streams of fire erupting all around him. “How dare you! How dare you ruin my fun! I’ll destroy you for that!”

All of them quickly got in position around the colt.

“And what do you think THAT will do?” Mayhem extended his arm to the right, and Masky suddenly felt something tugging at his back hoof. With a yank Mayhem pulled the colt through a portal, grabbing the colt around the neck.

“Oh, no!” Flurry charged up her horn.

“Don’t move!” Mayhem said dangerously as he put his claws to the colt’s throat. “Unless you want his head to come off.” The draconequus had gotten his cool back. “But you see… unlike ME, he wouldn’t survive that. Want a demonstration?”

Flurry didn’t know what to do. The glow faded.

Masky tried to sink into the floor, but Mayhem had too good of a grip on him. 

The draconequus slowly stroked Masky’s face. “And how shall I punish you for ruining my enjoyment? Melt your face off? Break your bones? Blow you up? There's so many possibilities.”

Masky shivered, wondering if he was about to die.
> 6-11: Eternity of play
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayhem had a tight grab on Masky, seemingly pondering how he was going to destroy the colt.

“We… we had a deal!” said Tree Leaf. "Y-you said if we knocked you off your throne you'd let us leave!"

Mayhem began laughing. “And what makes you think I care about that? Now watch as I make him disappear right in front of you!

“Goodbye!”

“NO!” screamed Pumpkin.

Mayhem put his hand on top of Masky’s head and pushed downward, sending him through another portal. “Well, that’s one down. Now to take care of the rest of you.”

Flurry felt a sense of numb disbelief. Right before her eyes Mayhem had sent Masky to another dimension. “W-what… what did you do to him?”

“Who knows? That portal… maybe it goes to the world of spikes, or the lake of acid. Perhaps directly into the sun. Maybe, if you look out that window, you might see him falling from ten thousand feet in the sky.”

Flurry’s whole body clenched up as pained tears came down her eyes, and she felt the desire to mindlessly attack no matter how low the chances of success were.

The other children felt much the same.

But just as they were about to launch their assault Mayhem lifted his claw and snapped. A portal opened right in front of them, and Masky came out of it, unharmed.

“M-Masky!” said Peppermint, running over to him and hugging him as she quietly sobbed. “Y-you’re alive!”

Flurry was panting for breath, unable to hide her relief.

Pumpkin quickly joined in on the hug, wailing.

Mayhem began chuckling again, which got all of their attention on him.

He had his smarmy attitude back. “Did you actually think I was mad? It seems you just don’t get it, do you? This has all been for my amusement.

“Did you really think I was going to kill you? You are part of my precious toy box collection. Your lives have never been in danger.”

That statement, plus Masky’s freedom, allowed Flurry’s anger to come out. “What are you talking about? We nearly died so many times out there!”

Mayhem’s head went back as he laughed harder. When he got himself under control he said, “But did you really?”

Pound’s eyes narrowed. “I could barely stand after Starlight attacked me. I was in so much pain.”

Mayhem had a carefree expression on his face. “And what’s your point?”

“If it hadn’t been for my shield spell absorbing some of her spell we would have been finished,” said Pumpkin.

“Really?" he said, sounding fascinated. "Is that what you really think?”

Masky’s eyebrow rose. “What are you getting at?”

Mayhem floated in front of them. “All of you… have just been part of my own little comic book adventure.

“Waking up in a strange location, six strangers with special abilities and costumes have to work together to protect one another from danger. Now doesn’t that sound like the perfect premise for a good story?

“And all of you played your parts to perfection. Especially you, Flurry. You’re most fitting for a main character. When this adventure started you were little more than a coward putting on a brave face when you challenged me the first time. But as you’ve gone through these trials and gathered the rest of your team you’ve grown exponentially, to the point that you’re barely recognizable as the pony you started out as.

“And every story needs drama to be interesting. The seeming betrayal by a family member is just ripe with dramatic tension. The heroic sacrifice of the others to protect a teammate, inspiring you to newfound heights of power and courage. Oh, it all just worked out so perfectly.”

All of them were just staring at him wordlessly.

Mayhem clapped. “This has all been just oh so much fun!”

“Are you saying,” said Flurry, “that this has all been deliberate? That you planned out our every action from the start?”

“Oh, no.” He shook his head. “I could predict what you would do, but I couldn’t know for sure. If I knew everything that would happen that would be boring, and I hate boredom.” 

With a snap the room filled with countless copies of all the enemies they had fought earlier. 

Peppermint felt like she couldn’t breathe for a few moments, but almost as soon as they appeared they were gone.

“So many,” said Pound. 

“Exactly,” said Mayhem. “I just had to make them like they were in real life, but in the end they were all fake. Just puppets of my will.

“Of course, I’ve been watching your little adventures from the start. I’ve been keeping a close eye on your battles, ensuring that my little drones didn’t go too far. After all, even with my great power I can’t revive a pony from the dead. So long as they’re alive I can fully heal someone, so injuries aren’t an issue.

“So, as I said before, your lives were never in danger. I just needed you to believe they were so we could move the story along to this point.”

Mayhem had a giddy look about him, the condescension dropping completely from his voice. “And this is just the beginning of the fun we can have.

“Pound and Pumpkin. You once put on a play where you were the children of Daring Do and explored a temple.” The scenery around them vanished, and they were suddenly in the living room of Sugarcube Corner where the twins had put on their play with their own amateur backdrops.

With a swirl of his claw the scene spun around, and now they were in a lush jungle in front of a temple with a three headed animal hybrid. “I can make that scene real.”

“Whoa,” said Pound, looking around. “It does look like our play come to life.”

“Doesn’t it, though?” said Mayhem.

“Of course, every once in a while you have to take a break from adventure.”

He lifted his arms, and the jungle disappeared, replaced with a field of flowers, a picnic set up on the ground nearby. “Or maybe we can do something else.” With a snap the field vanished, replaced with a beach. 

He began hopping in mid-air. “There are endless opportunities for adventure, only limited by our imaginations.

“There’s no need to fight anymore. All you have to do is give up.”

The change in his personality threw them all off. He looked like a kid the night before Hearthswarming. 

“Give up?” said Peppermint.

“We can stop fighting?” said Masky.

“Sure!” Mayhem replied. “We went through the whole story arc, but it’s about time we wrapped things up and moved on to the next adventure.”

It sounded pretty good to them.

Flurry still had some reservations. “And… what happens if we give up?”

They all glanced over at Flurry, before looking back at Mayhem.

“What are you expecting to happen?” asked the draconequus. “That I’m gonna kill you?

“Nothing happens, of course. You’re just admitting that I won the game, that’s all. Every game needs a winner and a loser, so once you acknowledge your defeat we can end this game and play another one.”

“Wasn’t this one enough?” said Pumpkin, groaning. “This was exhausting and painful.”

"Hmm?" Mayhem’s head tilted a bit. He got a bashful look on his face, rubbing the back of his neck. “Oh, right. I’m sorry. I was a little rough on you back there with my puppets, but if you didn’t believe that what you were going through was real you wouldn’t have given it your all. And just look what came out of it. All of you have grown magnificently.

“However, now that you know it’s all fake it’s not as fun to play so hard anymore. So just bow down in defeat and declare me the winner, and we can hang out on this beach for a while. Then… hmm…” He sucked on his cheek as he looked toward the sky. “I don't know. Maybe I’ll let you decide what we play next.”

Tree Leaf felt odd. Was all of Mayhem’s previous evil behavior just an act?

“I think we’ve all had enough of this game,” said Masky. “So I don’t care who wins, as long as it ends.”  

Flurry felt much the same, nodding in agreement. If Mayhem was really being genuine here then she was all for it.

Mayhem put on his evil voice again, but it sounded more melodramatic now. “Foolish mortals. You have given it your all, but it wasn’t enough.” A gentle pressure forced the six children to their stomachs. “You lie before me beaten and broken, now surrender to me… or be destroyed.”

“We surrender,” said Pound.

“Excellent!” He clapped. “Game over, then.”

The pressure vanished, and they all stood up.

Mayhem giggled cheerfully. "That was a lot of fun."

Pumpkin sighed. “I just want to go home.”

“Home?” asked Mayhem, looking a little annoyed. “And what could you possibly want there? I have everything you could ever want!

“Adventure!” Paragliding equipment appeared. “Food! Weather!” A mountain of desserts appeared on a table as the beach was covered with snow. 

“Anything you could possibly want I can make real in this world. I control everything in it, and things only happen when I want them to.

“Oh!” Mayhem lifted a claw, his face becoming calm again. “I got it. You’re worried about your families, right?”

Peppermint nodded. “You threatened to bring them into this.”

“I just said that to get you to hurry up. I don’t have any interest in them. I just want to play with you.”

“Why?” asked Pound. “Why us?”

“Especially me,” said Flurry. “I could understand if you just grabbed some random kids from Ponyville for your game, but I’m from the Crystal Empire. I’ve never set hoof in Ponyville.”

“I have my reasons for why I picked each of you for my game, but I don’t feel like explaining.”

At first Flurry wanted to push the issue, but she decided to drop it. He looked to be in a good mood now, so she didn’t want to push his buttons.

“Isn’t it great?” said Mayhem, chuckling with glee. “This is the ultimate world. We can all just stay here forever.”

That made all of them tense. “Forever?” said Pumpkin.

“I thought we were going to go home,” said Pound.

Mayhem pouted. “What’s wrong now? What does the REAL world have that I can’t give you?

“Just think about it. A world with no school. No responsibilities. You never have to wash the dishes or worry about spoiling your appetite. You can eat dessert for every meal and never have to worry about tummy aches or cavities.”

There was a bit of desperation in his voice now. "I can give you everything you've ever dreamed of, so stay here with me."

Masky was starting to think that Mayhem was somewhat like him. His game was over the top, for sure, but he seemed so lonely. He wondered if the draconequus had ever made a friend in his life.

“What about you, Flurry?” Mayhem pointed at her. “You understand me, don’t you?”

Her eyebrow went up. “Me?”

“I’ve seen what lies in your heart. I know your greatest fears of feeling the pressure of everyone’s expectations to excel and take your mother’s place. So long as you’re within my dimension I can create a future where that fear never comes to pass.”

Flurry clenched, and she took in a sharp breath. 

With a wave of his paw they were surrounded by every game and toy imaginable. “An eternity full of nothing but fun and endless playtime… now wouldn’t that be the best thing ever? It’s a child’s paradise.”

Tree Leaf was astounded as he looked around. “This is pretty awesome!”

Pound nodded in agreement. “It sure is.”

“And we can just goof around all day?” said Pumpkin.

Mayhem shivered in excitement. He was winning them over. Who wouldn’t love a world without any rules?

Peppermint was starting to feel like Mayhem wasn’t evil. He just didn’t understand restraint because he felt he could just undo any damage afterward. He had been pretty cruel, but she thought that he just didn't understand friendship. 

Flurry heard his offer, and it was oh so tempting. She could see the blissful expression on his face, and hear the others being swayed towards his way of thought. 

“And what about our families?” she asked. 

“I already told you I don’t care about them.”

“That’s not what I was asking. If we stay here then we’ll vanish from their lives, and they’ll be miserable.”

Pound bit his lip. He hadn’t thought about that. He could only imagine how Auntie Pinkie would react, let alone his mother and father.

“Oh, there’s plenty I can do about that,” said Mayhem, dismissively shaking his claw. “I can mess with their memories, or create fake kids in your place.”

“Why… don’t you just let us go home?”  asked Masky. “We could always play again another day.”

“But if you leave now you might not want to come back again.” He put a claw to his mouth, looking put out.

“But we want to see our families again,” said Pumpkin. “Our lives won’t be the same without them."

With a huff he said, “I guess I could also bring them here, but that just ruins the whole point. We want to get away from having rules hold us down, and they’re going to want to be in charge.”

He sighed. “Oh, well. The one who has the most power is always the one in charge, so things will still go my way. I just want to have fun with you guys, so if that's what it takes to get you to stay then I'll do it.”

They all looked around at each other. 

“I’m game,” said Tree Leaf. “If we have our families with us then what would we be missing by staying?” 

“Yeah,” said Peppermint. “We can have our loved ones AND endless playtime and games.”

“If we stay here then I wouldn’t have to worry about losing my friends anymore,” said Masky.

“This is pretty cool,” said Pound. 

“You said it,” said Pumpkin. 

Mayhem was feeling giddy. Everything was working out just fine.

“We can’t trust him!” said Flurry strongly. “He referred to us as just mere toys for him to play with. He doesn’t care about the hurt we feel as long as he gets what he wants.”

“That was part of the act,” said Mayhem quickly. “I didn’t really mean that.”

Flurry shook her head. “I don’t want to stay here any longer.”

“Flurry,” said Tree Leaf, “what’s your problem?”

“The problem is that he DID mean it. He kidnapped us and brought us here, treating us like characters in his fantasy story. He hurt all of us. Even if our lives weren’t actually in danger he made all of us suffer.

“We’re supposed to entrust HIM with our happiness? Make HIM the ultimate leader of the world? He claimed that he put us through this just because he was bored. What happens the next time he gets bored? I don’t trust him, and I’m not planning to stay here.”

“Then it’s your loss,” said Masky dismissively.

Mayhem crossed his arms. “Everyone else understands. Why don’t you?”

“Because," said Flurry, "like I said several times before, I’m tired of running from who I am. With just a few of us in this world it might ensure that no mystery villains can hurt my family, but that means bringing them here in the first place.”

“And I can do that easily.”

“That’s not the point. If you bring them here then they’ll also vanish from the real world. They’ll no longer be able to protect the Crystal Empire. It will put all those ponies at risk. They wouldn’t be happy with that. And I don't know what their parents or loved ones do for a living, but I'm sure they each have a role to play in Equestria, and people will miss them too.

“Maybe before you put us through this I would have been delighted not to have to worry about stepping up, but I’ve been through too much to turn my back on them now. I'm not going to be so selfish as to put my own happiness above everyone else's.”

Mayhem stomped his hoof several times. “Flurry, you’re being very ungrateful to my hospitality. It’s starting to annoy me.”

“Well, that’s too bad, because the thought of letting an immature brat like you rule the world isn’t any more reassuring than living in the real world.”

Mayhem’s claw clenched into a fist, his eyes getting fiery.

“Flurry!” said Peppermint. “Stop.”

“Fine!” said Mayhem. “It’s obvious you’re gonna be against me no matter what, so who needs you?

“I offered you everything, and you spat it back in my face. If that’s the way you’re gonna be then I’ll just destroy you.”

Flurry smirked. “It sure didn’t take long for you to reveal your true colors, did it? At the first sign of defiance you already want to kill me? 

"This is what I was talking about, everyone. That’s why I said we can’t trust him.”

“Sorry, Flurry,” said Masky contritely. “I didn’t think he would be like that.”

“I’m not on board anymore,” said Tree Leaf. "Not if you're gonna threaten her."

"Right!" said Pound.

"You said it!" said Pumpkin.

"Same here!" said Peppermint.

Mayhem looked between the others, all of them siding with Flurry now. He began panting in his fury.  “You! You ruined everything, Flurry!”

“No!” Flurry retorted. “YOU did when you decided to force this on all of us instead of just asking.”

“Fine, then." His glare slowly turned into a smirk. "But I think you should remember that I’m still the one in control here. You can’t leave until I say so, and I DON'T say so. So there.”

“We beat your stupid game.”

Mayhem chuckled. “Perhaps you forgot that I don’t care about the rules. That game was just to raise the stakes. You won that challenge, and then surrendered to me. So we’re tied. Let’s make the next one the last one.

“Of course, this game is going to need a good twist to make things fun. How about I limit my powers to match yours?”

“Why should we believe you this time?” said Peppermint. “You just said you don’t care about the rules.”

“Oh, rules are meant to be broken, for sure, buuuuuuut I can follow the rules if it means it’s more fun than not breaking them.”

“Not everything is about fun!” said Pound.

“It is for me. I’m going to drag this out as long as I can, until I make you surrender for real.

“Flurry, since you ruined my fun I’m going to make you pay for it. I’m going to break your spirit and get that defiant look off your face." 

He lifted his arms. "You're going to regret turning me down, Flurry. Now let the final battle begin!"
> 6-12: The magic of friendship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayhem laughed as the beach turned back into the throne room. “Oh, yes! This is going to be so much fun. I’m going to RIP the word hope out of your vocabulary. You’ll try, over and over and over and over, and every time you’ll fail.

“Flurry, you’re going to wish you had taken my offer when you had the chance.”

Pound gulped. “It looks like Mayhem is about to get serious.”

“Don’t get down, Pound,” said Pumpkin. “I need your strength more than ever right now.”

Pound took in a slow breath. “I know.”

Mayhem lifted his arms. “Little by little I’ll increase the power of my attacks, until eventually you won’t be able to resist them anymore. But I won’t just destroy you. Oh, no. I’ll make you taste true hopelessness first.

“Flurry, if I were you I’d hop back a step.”

Flurry was slow to react as Mayhem suddenly appeared in front of her and kicked her in the jaw. She flipped once and landed on her hooves, rubbing her chin.

Mayhem chuckled. “You really should duck, Pumpkin.”

Pound quickly grabbed Pumpkin and forced her down, just as Mayhem teleported again, shooting a bolt of lightning where she used to be.

“Nice work, Pound, but now you’re on the floor.“ A fireball appeared in his claw, but just before he fired his hand changed direction towards himself. He detached the claw as he jumped away, sinking into the shadows a bit as he kicked Masky, forcing him out into the open.

He reattached his claw. “This is amusing, getting down and dirty like this.”

“Are you alright, Masky?” asked Peppermint.

“I’m fine,” he replied.

“But are you really?” asked Mayhem. “Hope you’re not afraid of a little lightning.” He lifted his arms, summoning a large, dark cloud that was shooting out dozens of lightning bolts underneath it, and sent it towards their group.

“So fast!” Flurry exclaimed, pulling the others in with her wings as she created a shield over them.

The repeated lightning blasts broke through her shield, Flurry wincing in pain as the lightning bolts struck her wings. 

The cloud completed its pass overhead, crashing into the wall and disappearing.

“F-Flurry!” said Masky as she moved her wings from around them. “Are you okay?”

Flurry was panting and her wings were singed, but she smiled at him. “My wings are tough. It’ll take more than that to destroy them."

“Glad to hear it!” Mayhem’s body separated into six pieces, each of them hitting one of the children to the floor. He lifted a hand, a gigantic fireball appearing. “Let’s heat things up, shall we?”

Pound and Pumpkin prepared a water spell as Flurry used her levitation magic to draw water from the pool they had landed in when they arrived. 

They combined the ball of water and shot it at his fireball, filling the room with steam. Ultimately, even their combined efforts couldn’t fully repel the fireball, and it was getting closer and closer to them.

Tree Leaf turned into a dragon and shielded them with his body. His naturally fireproof body took the attack harmlessly.

Peppermint saw Mayhem’s shadow in the distance, and gave Masky a meaningful look. He nodded, sinking into the shadows.

The filly stretched her body towards Mayhem, wrapping herself around him like a snake. “Got you!”

Mayhem simply stretched himself, making himself thinner as he took to the air.

“You’re not getting away!” 

He dodged her limbs a few more times before landing on the ground. “You’re persistent. I like that.”

He lifted a claw, preparing a spell, when he suddenly heard a yell right beneath him. 

Masky came flying out of the ground, socking Mayhem in the jaw.

“YEAH!” said Peppermint, but Mayhem’s head only stretched from its neck, and he used the momentum to headbutt her.

“Try whatever you want,” said Mayhem. “You can’t stop me, you little babies. Even if you all combine your powers together, nothing plus nothing is still nothing.

“Oh, FLURRY!” He let out an evil laugh. “If you don’t want all your friends to die I’d suggest protecting them.” Once more he lifted his arm. “Let’s see how you like my air slice.”

Flurry felt a bit of panic, and quickly grabbed the others in her wings as she hid behind a pillar.

“You can’t hide, Flurry.” 

With a single swipe of his claws he cut clean through five pillars right above them. 

“Oops! I missed you. How careless of me.” With a laugh he said, “I’ll make sure I aim correctly this time.”

With a flash Flurry teleported them to the far side of the room behind the throne.

“Oh, are we playing hide and seek now, Flurry?” he said condescendingly. He scanned the room slowly. “Where are you? Maybe… here?” He slashed, destroying the ground near another pillar. “Hmm. I guess not. You’ll run out of places to hide eventually.” He destroyed pillar after pillar.

Flurry was sweating. Mayhem’s power was out of control. He was right. They couldn’t keep hiding forever.

Mayhem turned towards the throne. “Hmmm. I wonder if you’re at the most obvious spot. Do you think I wouldn’t attack my precious throne? I can always make another one.”

Masky tugged at Flurry’s mane, his heart racing. “Fire at the ground,” he said quietly. “Now!”

Flurry didn’t have time to think, and did as he said. The explosion caused a cloud of smoke.

Mayhem swiped, cutting the throne into pieces. He put a claw to his ear. “Hmm. No screams of pain. I guess you weren’t hiding there, after all.”

Masky held onto his friends tightly as he moved through the shadows with them. Once inside the shadows they could move on their own, but they couldn’t get out without his special magic.

A part of him really did want to try running this time, but he knew it was pointless. So long as they were in Mayhem’s world there was no place to hide.

Mayhem sucked in a deep breath, letting it out and dispersing the smoke. He looked left and right, but saw no sign of the group. “So you’ve hidden yourselves really well, have you?”

Masky had gotten above him as Mayhem began attacking everywhere in the room, getting annoyed. “Come out, you little rats!”

The six of them emerged slightly from the shadows. 

Flurry whispered to Tree Leaf, “Can you transform while inside the shadows?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered back, “but I’ll try.”

Masky pulled him fully back inside, and Tree Leaf turned into a hippo before Masky pulled him out again.

“Magic?” Pound whispered, not wanting to draw Mayhem’s attention by talking too much.

Flurry shook her head. “No magic until we either hit him or he spots us. He’ll hear it building up.”

“Will he?” asked Pumpkin. “He’s throwing a tantrum right now.”

“I’m not risking it. This is our chance to catch him off guard.

“Masky, let’s go.”

“Got it,” he replied. 

They all descended from the shadows, falling from the ceiling quietly towards him. With his heavier weight Tree Leaf sank the fastest.

Mayhem lifted his arms. “I’ve had enough of this. Hmm?” He built up water above him, then spun around towards the descending kids. “Have a tsunami!”

A stream of water struck each of them, slamming them all into the ceiling, then he turned his body, throwing his claw down and taking all of them with it.

Pound and Pumpkin struggled against the pressure, touching each other and shooting their own stream of water downwards, lowering their speed before they crashed into the floor and the water dispersed.

“Owww,” said Peppermint, rubbing her stomach.

“That really hurt,” said Pumpkin.

Mayhem clapped. “Bravo, bravo! Hiding in the ceiling was a great trick. I almost fell for your assault, but you made the mistake of having the green one turn into such a large animal. Bigger animal means bigger shadows, idiots. I saw you coming from miles away.”

Pound got up, panting. “Darn it! I really thought we had him this time.” 

“Sorry, guys,” said Flurry. “I thought that having Tree Leaf turn into something big would be to our advantage.”

Peppermint grabbed onto Pumpkin’s leg to support herself as she got up too. “Even if he’s only using the same magic as the rest of us it’s so much stronger.”

Mayhem looked down smugly at them. “Sheesh. Even when I’m holding back this much you still can’t do anything to me? Maybe I should just take a nap. With the way you guys fight I could probably defeat you in my sleep.”

He shook his head. “Just look at all of you. Do you want to give up?”

“NO!” said Flurry strongly.

“Come on,” he said, walking on air like he was going down a staircase. “I know you got me upset before, but there’s always time for reparation. Bow down before me and beg for forgiveness, and I’ll let you live.”

“I refuse!”

“Oh, Flurry.” He lifted his arm, and a lightning bolt appeared in it. “That stubbornness of yours is going to cause you so much pain before this is over.”

He brought his arm down, and Flurry created a shield around her. The lightning bolt missed the shield, hitting the unprotected ground right in front of it. The ground underneath her flew upwards, and Flurry just barely managed to get her wings around her before rubble slammed into them, sending her flying into her shield and breaking it. Her momentum carried her into the pillar behind her.

Flurry cried out in pain, landing hard on the floor. 

“Flurry!” said Masky, running over to her.

Pound glared at Mayhem, shaking in fury.

"Hmph!" Mayhem shook his head. “It seems that none of you realize just how outclassed you’ve been from the start.” He lifted a claw, and Flurry went up with it. With a snap her pain went away, then he set her on the ground.

Flurry groaned. He had healed her again.

“Let me ask you something, my little ponies. Did you not find it unusual how each of you had powers no other pony does?”

Tree Leaf wasn’t sure he liked where this was going.

“Flurry’s theory was that I went after all of you because I wanted to take care of potential threats, like kids who have unusual abilities like yours. Sorry… but that’s wrong.”

“Then why?” asked Pumpkin. “Why us?”

“All those powers you have… I gave them to you. ME!”

Peppermint blinked. “You?”

“I told you from the start that I created this little adventure because I was bored. Flurry was the only skilled magic user among you. If I had set you loose in my world without some powers you didn’t normally have all of you would have been reliant solely on her. That wouldn’t have been very entertaining. So I gave you all abilities that fit your personalities. 

“The twins could only use their powers to their full potential when working together. Flurry wants to protect others, so I gave her powerful wings that could also stretch.”

“So this was all… you?” said Tree Leaf.

Mayhem nodded. “But just like I can give things to you, I can also take them away. Just… like… this.” He snapped his claw.

Pound gasped. “F-Flurry,” he said, flabbergasted.

“You… you’re…” Pumpkin couldn’t even finish her sentence.

Flurry looked to her sides. Her wings were gone. Her head also felt lighter, and she put her hoof up to find her horn was gone as well.

“Now you’re just an earth pony like the shapeshifter," said Mayhem.

She felt like she shouldn’t be surprised by now what Mayhem could do, but this particular change was scary because it meant she couldn’t do magic anymore.

“So, Flurry,” said Mayhem, “do you still want to talk big and stand tall? From the moment you came into my world all you’ve been is a toy to play with whatever way I want.

“How about it? Do you want to give up yet?”

The question made her angry, despite herself. “No! I won’t!”

Mayhem growled, disappearing and reappearing right in front of her, kicking her in the nose.

Flurry recoiled.

Pound and Pumpkin both tried to shoot him point blank, but he simply stretched his body and went on the attack again.

Flurry put her hooves up as Mayhem hit her again.

Mayhem took to the air. “You’re pathetic! You no longer have your magic. You’re just a common pony now, and yet you still stand in defiance of me? I am now most eager to see you surrender.”

“I don’t care what you do,” Flurry replied. Even though she felt pain she stood up straight. “I meant what I said before. I won’t give up.”

Mayhem slowly clenched, then he began laughing. With a snap he returned her horn and wings. “I wonder… just how much you can take before you break. Or maybe…” He looked towards the other children. “Maybe I should make them suffer instead for your insolence.

“Can you protect them from my attacks?”

Flurry growled. “I know what you’re planning.”

Mayhem chuckled. “You think I’m going to take your magic away at the last second so you can’t protect them? That would be dull. I want to see how long your false hope will last. I want you to give it your very best, and fade away knowing it wasn’t enough.

“After all, if I wanted to destroy you I could have done that so many times already.”

He summoned a long, thin stream of water, and cracked it like a whip. It missed Flurry, and hit Tree Leaf right behind her, knocking him to the ground. 

“Pay attention, Princess! After all, you wouldn’t want to watch your friends die before your eyes, would you? That’s your greatest fear, is it not? Just how long can you keep it from becoming a reality?”

Flurry growled. She had never hated anyone more in her life. 

The draconequus swirled the water around him. “You know, it’s not always about the power you have, but how creatively you can use it. For instance…” He added lighting to the water. “Now THIS will hurt, won’t it? Better protect Pumpkin.”

Pound immediately pulled his sister behind him. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Why think, when I can do? Water, with the speed of lightning. Who will fall first?”

Flurry wrapped her wings around the pair as he launched the lightning whip, groaning as it made contact. Her wings were very sturdy, but it didn’t completely stop the pain of contact.

Mayhem let out a big laugh. “Very good! But what will you do against this?”

He lifted his arms, and he summoned large amounts of earth above him and added fire to it. “How about a meteor for my dear friends?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding!” said Masky. 

“Catch!” he yelled as he slammed it down.

Flurry created a magic portal, absorbing the meteor.

“Too slow!” Mayhem created another portal right beneath hers, sending the meteor back on course.

She teleported the group out of the way, and Mayhem teleported right after her, giving a hard kick to Pound and sending him right into the path of the meteor.

“Pound!” Pumpkin screamed out in horror, her insides going cold.

Peppermint went to stretch herself to catch him, but Mayhem simply flipped and kicked her too.

Flurry extended one of her wings towards Pound, knowing if she teleported over to the colt it would leave the others open to Mayhem’s attacks.

She scooped Pound up in her wing, the edge of it burning as she pulled him back.

Flurry clenched in pain as she set Pound down.

As Pumpkin went to hug him he pushed her away. As much as he wanted Pumpkin to feel reassured there were bigger issues. “Water!” he said strongly.

She turned to Flurry, seeing the charred part of her wing. She quickly touched Pound, putting some cooling water on Flurry’s wing.

“T-thank you,” she replied as the pain receded.

“This is only the start,” said Mayhem. “Why don’t you just quit before you get hurt even further?”

“No!” Flurry replied.

Mayhem shrugged. “Whatever. I have all the time in the world. It’s not like you can leave this space, after all.”

Mayhem attacked over and over. He kept to his word about restricting himself to the special abilities of the six of them, though he usually stuck to Pound and Pumpkin’s elemental spells since they were his greatest offensive magic. Though he did occasionally stretch his wings or turn into a predatory animal just to switch things up once in a while.

He always focused his attacks on everyone but Flurry, forcing her to intervene. Every few blows he encouraged her to give up, but she always refused.

The draconequus had been getting angrier and angrier at Flurry’s obstinance, but his feelings were slowly changing to confusion.

“Why?” he asked. “Why do you keep getting up? Is your pride really worth all this pain?” Flurry snickered, which only made him more confused. “And just what are you laughing at?”

“This… has nothing to do with pride,” she replied, panting as she got up from her knees. 

“Flurry,” said Peppermint, tears coming down her eyes. “Please stop. I don’t want to see you getting hurt anymore. Just give up already.” Flurry gave her a carefree smile, which threw her off so much that she couldn’t even continue speaking.

“Don’t worry, Peppermint.”  She looked back up at Mayhem. “If it bothers you so much that I won’t give up then you only have yourself to blame.”

“Is that right?” he replied flatly.

“I believe it was you who said that in this adventure I was the main character. I started out a weak little crybaby, but because of everything I’ve gone through I’ve grown stronger.”

“What’s your point?”

“You gave me too much time to grow, Mayhem. I’ve grown stronger than you.”

Mayhem shook, about to start yelling, but he reined it in. “And just how do you figure that? I could wipe you out with a breath. You’re only still alive because I’m allowing you to be.”

“What’s your point?”

Mayhem’s eyes narrowed, but they widened when Flurry began laughing, a bright smile on her face. He couldn’t figure her out.

The other children had no idea what to make of her behavior either.

“I think you’ve snapped, my dear,” said Mayhem with amusement. “Has your fear taken you that much?”

When Flurry got herself under control she said, “Why should it, when I’m not afraid of you?”

Mayhem growled loudly, his face going red. “What did you say?”

Flurry put her hoof to her chest. “I finally understand completely what Aunt Twilight tried to teach me." She lifted a wing. “These cuts…” She lifted a leg. “This burn…” She lowered both of them. “…I can barely feel the pain of them. Even after everything you’ve done to me I feel so much strength inside I can barely contain it. My desire to protect these ponies is so much more than any fear could touch.

“Nothing you could ever do to me will take that away from me. So long as there is a breath of air in my lungs and a drop of energy in my veins I will fight you. Far from making me want to give up, you’ve only hardened my determination further.”

“Flurry…” Tree Leaf felt like his own fear was disappearing, Flurry’s confidence infecting him. 

“Flurrrrrrrrrrry,” Mayhem said furiously, shaking a fist at her. Everyone else was ready to quit. Why couldn't he break her spirit? Where was this power coming from?

Flurry smiled. “This feeling… if only you could experience what it’s like. Too bad you don’t have any friends to protect.”

Mayhem flinched as if he had been slapped.

“Ouch!” said Masky, impressed at Flurry’s boldness.

Mayhem was breathing sharply, but then his face grew hard. “Fine, then! I don’t care anymore. I was going to let you all live if you had just surrendered to me, but it’s too late now.”

He zoomed upwards, hitting the roof of the castle, which exploded outwards into a million pieces.

“With one punch?” said Pound, looking unnerved.

Mayhem cackled evilly. “I’ve grown tired of you. This is MY WORLD, and I decide what happens in it. A bunch of weaklings like you could never beat me.” His heart was thumping with excitement like he had never known. “But, hey, if you think you’ve got it then BRING IT! TAKE ME DOWN IF YOU CAN!”

Mayhem turned into a dark mist that began expanding. Huge chunks of the castle began to get sucked up into it.

Flurry could feel her hooves sliding across the floor toward him, knowing if she got sucked up into whatever Mayhem had become that it would be it for her. No. Not just her, but all of the other kids.

She extended her wings, wrapping all of them inside them as her horn glowed and she took off with levitation magic as fast as she could until she couldn’t feel the pull of his sucking force anymore.

Mayhem’s laughter only grew in intensity, seeming to echo across the whole world. “And just where do you think YOU’RE going? There’s nowhere to hide from me.”

Flurry landed on the dead grass in the middle of the fake Ponyville.

She looked back at the castle, seeing it had been almost completely sucked up. 

“He… he destroyed his castle,” said Masky. “But why?”

“He doesn’t care about that,” said Pumpkin. “The only thing that monster is interested in is destroying everything.”

Once more Mayhem’s voice echoed through the world. “Did someone say ‘destruction of everything?’ That’s a great idea!”

Mayhem appeared in the air above way above them, but the dark force he had created was still increasing in size and sucking up the surrounding area. He had an almost maniacal glee on his face. “Oh, boy! This is the most fun I’ve ever had! Too bad our game is about to end.” He shrugged. “Oh, well. I can always get some new playmates.”

Before they had the chance to respond Mayhem’s body split into two halves, then grew the missing halves. Now there were two Mayhems.

Peppermint gaped at him. “He can duplicate himself?”

The two of them laughed. “That’s right!” they said together. “And that’s just the beginning.”

Even as they watched he continued splitting himself.

Peppermint had already been feeling afraid when there was just one of him. Now there were eight, then sixteen and beyond.

Pumpkin was panting. This was impossible. They could barely handle one Mayhem. How could they beat an army of him?

Now there were sixty four Mayhems floating around, each of them cackling at different intervals. It gave off a very creepy vibe. 

Pound glanced between them. “H-hey,” he said, trying to sound confident but failing miserably. “I-If they split up like that they have to be weaker, right?”

“Who knows?” said all of the Mayhem’s at once. “It’s not like we’re planning to fight you, anyway.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Tree Leaf.

“I want you to realize your own powerlessness. It’s not just about winning. I want to see the terror in your eyes as this world comes to an end.”

All but one of the Mayhems took off in different directions on the horizon.

“What are you doing?” asked Pumpkin.

The last Mayhem smirked. “Why, just taking your advice, my dear.”

Peppermint’s eyes grew wide as each of the other Mayhem’s turned into the same kind of dark mist as before, causing a circle of destruction around them. 

Mayhem put his hands next to each other, creating a sphere of magic around the group. “This will protect you from the pull of these dark tornadoes… for now. But eventually all these tornadoes will converge on this spot, ripping you all to shreds as you get pulled from every direction.”

Masky began trembling. They were all going to die! This time it really did feel like he was being serious.

Mayhem raised a claw. “However, I’ll give you one shot. I’ve decided to show a little mercy.

“I’ll let one of you live if you betray the others. All you have to do is pop the bubble and join in on the chaos of watching your former friends be destroyed. I’ll protect that one pony from death.”

For a moment all of them looked around at each other, their hearts hammering.

All around them the facsimile of Ponyville was being sucked up by the sixty four tornadoes. Ever so slowly they were growing in size, getting closer to them all the time. It was clear that Mayhem was done playing around.

“Come on!” Mayhem called down to them. “Nothing is more important than one’s own life. Isn’t protecting your own life better than all of you being destroyed?”

Everyone else was looking around for a sign of betrayal, but Flurry just stared at Mayhem up in the sky.

The draconequus chuckled. “Are you sure you want to focus on me? You only have a few minutes before these tornadoes reach you. 

“Well, princess? As an alicorn you’re clearly the most important of the group, aren’t you? It’s only right that you should be the one to survive. Just get rid of the others… or do nothing and be lost with them.

“It’s an easy choice, really.”

All of them looked at Flurry, wondering if she was really going to sacrifice them. Fear was starting to radiate through them.

Something stirred within Flurry. It wasn’t a memory. It was something deeper.

Even in the midst of the greatest danger of her short life she didn’t feel nearly as afraid as she thought she should be. There was just something about having all of them close by that made her feel peace in her heart.

An image passed through her mind. It only lasted for a split-second, but she saw her and the others playing together. Was it a memory? A vision of the future? Or maybe it was just her hope that they could all stay alive and enjoy time with each other after this. Whatever it was, even the fear that was there faded away. 

Mayhem’s power was beyond anything she had ever seen before. All her training had done nothing to prepare her for a foe like him. A circle of death was around her, slowly closing in on her. There was a very real possibility that her life was about to come to an end, and this creature would proceed to do the same to all the people she cared for. 

And yet…

She closed her eyes, putting a hoof to her heart. Even though she had no idea how, she felt certain that as long as these other ponies were by her side they would emerge victorious. They weren’t going to die here, because she was going to protect these other ponies, no matter the cost to herself.

She turned her gaze to the others, who were all looking at her fearfully, and she felt an outpouring of affection for them. She extended her wings, pulling them all to her as she hugged them. “Don’t be afraid,” she said calmly. “I would never betray my best friends!

“The five of you… you taught me things that no book could ever prepare me for. You taught me about true courage and not backing down no matter the danger, by risking your lives to protect me. Now I’m here to return the favor.”

She held her head high. “I know who I am now. I am Flurry Heart, alicorn princess, and I don’t want to be anyone else!”

Pound stared at Flurry. How? How could she still have such a fierce look in her eyes? Why… did he feel his fear vanishing? Why did he feel like they could still win?

“Aunt Twilight told me that ponies working together with one heart have so much power at their disposal. All of you… if you believe in me, then know that we’re going to come out on top here! That’s what I truly believe, because I have faith in all of you and your strength.

"Even if I'm wrong and we can’t win I’m still going to fight to the end. I'd rather go to my death denying him the victory he wants than surrender and be his pawn. No matter what he does after that he'll always know that we beat him." 

Once more Flurry’s strength infected them. They did believe in her, and they knew that she did for them.

Mayhem let out a sound of disgust. “How boring. I wanted to see your fear.

“Well, fine. Then die happily together.”

The tornado’s increased their speed as Flurry released them.

Even though they had all been on the verge of panic before, Flurry’s calm demeanor and quiet confidence allowed them to feel more relaxed. It inspired them to share her feelings. Even as the world was coming apart around them they felt that as long as they worked together they would come out victorious.

From the looks of things they only had a minute left. 

All of them looked up at Mayhem, and the draconequus finally lost his smug attitude. Where did all their fear go? Why were they looking at him like they were assured they would come out on top? 

Mayhem growled. How dare they look down on him? His anger slowly left as he began laughing maniacally. “Fine! Fine! It doesn’t matter what you do now. It’s OVER!” 

The barrier around them faded, and all of them could feel the wind whipping around them. The only reason they weren’t yet sucked up was the many different directions pulling at them equally.

They looked around awkwardly for a moment, conquering their fears by putting their faith in each other.

“My friends!” Flurry called out, yelling over the sound of the wind. “I may be an alicorn, but that doesn’t matter. I’m not fighting here because of my title. I’m fighting for YOU!”

“And we’re not protecting you because you’re a princess, but a fellow pony and a friend like us,” said Pumpkin.

Flurry smiled. “I know I don’t have the power to beat him alone, so please… everyone, lend me your hearts.”

“Right!” they responded.

All of them held hooves with one another.

Flurry could feel the love and companionship they had for her, bringing her to tears as she felt something awakening inside her. It was a power that wasn’t just hers, but borne of their unity.

Her horn exploded with a bright light, larger than she had ever been able to make before, creating a protective sphere around them as a wide stream of magic shot up overhead, forming into a gigantic, fiery heart. 

Mayhem shielded his eyes, for the first time seeing something he hadn’t expected. He knew all of Flurry’s spells. This wasn’t one of them. So what was it?

He could only stare in shock as the tornadoes diverted their path from the children, getting sucked into the heart. “W-what? W-where did this power come from?”

The darkness of the world began to get swallowed up by the light as the heart lit up, spinning around rapidly as it let off a wave of energy.

"H-how is she doing this? It's impossible!" He was so surprised he didn’t even think to move as the expanding sphere of light engulfed him.

The light hit the children as well, but did them no harm. After a minute the heart stopped spinning, though it remained suspended in the air.

The group looked around. They seemed to be in a blank white void now, the fake Ponyville completely gone. 

“Wooooow!” Masky said slowly. “That was incredible.”

“What happened?” asked Pumpkin. “Everything is just… gone.”

“Well… I have an idea,” said Flurry.

“What’s that?”

“This was Mayhem’s world, and it was cold and black like his heart. The light of our hearts purified this space, so now it’s white.”

“That makes sense,” said Tree Leaf. “I guess that means we really did beat him this time.”

Pumpkin put a hoof around her brother, letting out a sigh of relief. “Sure looks like it. Way to go, everyone.”

Tree Leaf let out a quiet sob. "We're all still alive. We really did it."

Pound looked up at the only other thing besides them. “So what is that?” he asked. “Is that your spell, Flurry?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never learned a spell like that before. That’s beyond anything I could make. It kinda looks like the Crystal Heart, but it’s different. It still looks kinda familiar somehow.”

Peppermint got a thoughtful look upon her face. “It kinda looks like… that thing from the Hearthswarming Eve play.”

“Hmm.”

Flurry stared at it, but her mind was elsewhere. In the annual play Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy gracefully accepted their ends at the hands of the Windigos. They believed that no matter their differences they were all still ponies in the end.

If they were going to be frozen solid they at least wanted to go out as friends. That spirit of unity awakened a tremendous power that allowed them to overcome the Windigos.

It was similar to what happened here. In a time of greatest peril, it wasn’t her training that had brought her victory. It was her faith in her friends, and theirs in her. To the very end they remained connected, even with the threat of death looming over them.

“We won!” said Peppermint excitedly. “We beat that creature.”

They began to congratulate each other, but Masky brought them back to earth. “This isn’t any time to celebrate!”

“Why not?” asked Pound. “He’s gone now.”

“Exactly!”

“Huh?”

Masky sweeped his hoof around the area. “Have you looked around you? We may have beaten him but we’re still stuck in his dimension and we just wiped out our only method of getting home.”

A chill went through all of them. Were they to be forever stuck in Mayhem's world?
> 6-13: Game over.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pound let out a heavy breath before sitting down. “I don’t believe this.”

"We're trapped in Mayhem's dimension," said Pumpkin, slumping down next to Pound.

Tree Leaf curled up, holding his knees. “Well, this is just great. We manage to defeat one of the most powerful things in the world, and he still gets the last laugh in the end."

Masky tried to sound upbeat, but his voice quivered as tears came down his eyes. “H-hey, we protected Equestria, right? We saved our families.”

Peppermint started to cry as well. “From HIM, maybe. But all of them are going to wonder where we’ve gone, and we’ll never be able to tell them. We’ll be stuck here forever.”

Flurry felt despair creeping into the edge of her consciousness, but she had to hold it at bay. She sat down, using her magic to put them all in a circle, and extended her hooves. “We don’t know that we’ll be stuck here forever. Aunt Twilight is one of the smartest ponies ever. If anyone can figure out what happened it would be her.

“And even if we’re stuck here forever…” She hesitated a moment, disliking the possibility she had voiced. She pushed on. “If I had to be stuck somewhere for the rest of my life I’m glad it’s with all of you.”

For a few moments none of them responded, but eventually they all held hooves with each other. That simple action helped to settle all of them down a bit.

“Yeah,” said Masky. “We can’t give up hope.”

"If we do that then Mayhem wins," said Tree Leaf. 

“We managed to beat an incredibly strong enemy by our teamwork,” said Pumpkin, “so I’m sure all of our friends will work together to get us out of here.”

“I have to bring this up,” said Peppermint. “Now that all of the danger is over I can finally focus on this, but I really feel like I’ve met all of you before. Do you feel that way too?”

Tree Leaf nodded hard. “I thought I was the only one that felt that way.”

“Me too!” said Pound.

“Same here!” said Pumpkin.

“I do too,” said Masky. “But if we were friends before all this then why can’t I remember it?”

“I think,” said Flurry slowly, “that it was HIM.”

“What?” said Pound. “How could he do that?”

“Well, as Masky said, have you looked around lately? He created this whole world, split himself into sixty four pieces… I’ve never seen a power like his before. Is it really that odd that he could mess with our memories as well?”

“I guess not,” said Tree Leaf. “But why would he do that?”

“No idea,” said Pumpkin. “Maybe he was jealous of our friendship. I mean, looking like that I’m sure he didn’t have many friends.”

“That doesn’t matter!” said Peppermint. “If he was jealous then he should have tried to make friends with us instead of making us forget about one another.”

“But... would you have wanted to be friends with him?” asked Pound.

“I think so,” Peppermint said with a little uncertainty. “I mean, I don’t think it should matter what someone looks like as long as they’re nice.”

“I think so too,” said Tree Leaf. “Imagine someone like that on our side. He’d be so much fun to play with. Before he threatened Flurry he sold me on the idea of playing with him some more."

“Mmm-hmm,” said Pumpkin.

Flurry looked up at the warmth of the heart still floating above them. In this empty world it's light and heat provided comfort to her.

Her eyes caught a blur quickly heading in their direction, and with a flash of her horn she teleported the group to a space about one hundred feet away.

Upon regaining their senses they quickly stood up to see what the problem was. “What is that?” asked Masky as he spotted the object heading towards  where they had just been seated.

Flurry focused, and though it was hard to make out from the speed she felt a jolt of elation as she made out the form of Mayhem. 

He didn’t seem able to stop himself, and she didn’t want to risk him dying when they needed him to get out.

She used her magic to slow his descent, and he only gently bounced off the ground before lying there unmoving.

Flurry ran over to him, the rest not far behind. 

The baby draconequus looked like he was unconscious, but aside from some mussed fur he didn’t seem injured. She didn’t know how big his world was, but judging from just how long it took for him to land from their attack he had to have been sent to the “ceiling” of it. 

She gave him a few gentle slaps to try to get him up.

Slowly, his eyes opened. As he recognized Flurry and recalled the events of the past ten minutes he gasped and scooted backwards to get some distance from her. 

"Good. You're still alive," said Flurry. 

“I… I lost,” the draconequus said weakly, looking flabbergasted. “But… b-b-but how? It's impossible! I knew everything you were capable of. You weren't supposed to be a threat to me.

"I… I took away your memories of each other so you couldn't use the power of unity against me. How could you possibly work together so well?”

“So all of us were friends.” Flurry approached him, an odd look on her face. “Throughout this adventure their faces… their voices… their actions…” She stopped in front of him. “All of them feel foreign to my mind. My brain has no idea who they are besides these past battles. And yet…”

She closed her eyes, memories of those battles passing through her. She saw Pound and the others protecting her, remembered the urge to stand between Mayhem and harm coming to the others. She thought of how they reassured her when her fears began to take hold.

She opened her eyes, staring down at Mayhem. “And yet… even if I can’t remember them here-” she put a hoof to her forehead “-I still seem to remember them here.” She moved the hoof to her heart. “Their hearts just seemed to call out to me, and without needing to think about it my own heart wanted to answer their call. I’m sure it was the same for them. ”

They all nodded. 

Mayhem looked up at the heart still floating above them, and he started shivering. Their powers had been too strong. It shouldn't have been this way, but it was. 

They really had done the impossible. No matter how much he pushed them he couldn't break the connection between them.

"I... I lost..." He couldn't seem to process it. "Me. I hold the power to change reality and do the impossible. I can't believe it."

Flurry couldn't let this opportunity pass her by. Mayhem seemed awed by his defeat, and she had to act now. This could be their only chance.

Standing up to her full height she extended her wings as far as they would naturally go, trying to look as imposing as possible. "We beat you!" said Flurry sharply. Mayhem winced as he looked over at her. "You lost the game, so take us home! NOW!"

A part of her realized that if he still had the strength to take them all home then it also meant he probably still had the strength to destroy all of them, but she had to take the risk. 

Her heart was thumping hard. He might get angry at her attitude.

To her relief he lifted a trembling claw, and with a snap they were all transported to Pound and Pumpkin's room.

The twins looked around. "Hey!" said Pumpkin happily. "It's our room."

Peppermint looked out the window. "Now this is the Ponyville I remember."

"We're finally home," said Tree Leaf happily as he sank to the floor.

“What do you think we should do now, Flurry?” asked Pound.

“Me?” she responded.

He nodded. “You’re the princess here. Shouldn’t we hand him over to Princess Twilight?”

“Or… take care of him?” said Tree Leaf, though he said it with uncertainty. “He certainly didn’t mind threatening our lives.”

“Flurry,” said Masky. “Your faith in us allowed us to win. And all of us believe in you too.”

“That’s right,” said Peppermint. “So we know you’ll make the right choice on what we do with him.”

Flurry looked over at Mayhem. He was almost unrecognizable. He was still shaking slightly, looking at her with such fear in his eyes. He looked just like a child who had gotten caught by their parents doing something bad and was waiting for their punishment.

When he had been the one with the most power he had been smug and cold, but now that they had discovered a power that surpassed his own he didn't seem to have any fight left in him.

Flurry stared down at Mayhem. Her friends had all put it on her to decide what to do with him. If she ever did become a ruler she would have to make decisions like this.

For once in her life she didn’t feel afraid of this responsibility.

She closed her eyes, thinking back to her journey through Mayhem’s world. She focused on the fight with the fake Starlight. She remembered the feelings she had back then, when Starlight had told her the truth about her past. It had been so hard to believe at first, though she quickly got over it after a week.

Starlight’s words came back to her. 

“When I saw the results of meddling with time it horrified me.

“I surrendered to Twilight, fearing the worst. She would have been completely justified throwing me in prison and leaving me to rot… but she didn’t.

“She helped me to see that I had been wrong. Rather than condemning me for my actions she chose to give me a second chance and allowed me to start living my life the right way.

“It was because of her mercy that I was able to reunite with Sunburst and find true happiness. I can never repay her enough for the kindness she showed me.”

Starlight’s abilities made her a huge threat. Being able to steal cutie marks and drain even the power of an alicorn anytime she wanted meant it was extremely dangerous to allow her to roam free.

Even knowing that, Twilight still gave her a home in her own castle, where she could easily ambush Twilight while she was sleeping. She saw Starlight's regret, and believed there was a good person beneath her anger. She trained Starlight in true friendship, and eventually let her move out and live at the Crystal Empire, trusting her not to return to her evil ways.

Twilight’s faith in her had been rewarded. It was because of that faith that she, Flurry, had gotten the coolest aunt ever. When Starlight used her powers for good she was a great teacher.

Flurry opened her eyes, looking at the creature before her. She held his life in her hooves, and now she had to decide his fate. Mayhem didn’t try to plead his case or make excuses. He just stared at the ground guiltily.

When Pumpkin had asked what kind of person would do such a thing as kidnap them and put them through such danger she, Flurry, had responded that it was another kid. Mayhem certainly seemed like a very spoiled child, only wanting fun with no work, and getting mad to the point of violence when he didn’t get his way. 

He had way too much power than he knew what to do with. Without any limits it was no wonder he felt bored. She highly doubted that he had ever faced defeat before today. Without ever facing discipline how could he hope to improve his behavior?

Now he was cowering at her hooves, waiting for her to sentence him.

She knew his power was far more threatening than even Starlight’s. She knew that this was probably going to be their only chance to take him out. She knew that if he went rogue again that he really would take over the world this time. She knew that if it came to that that she would be responsible for that coming to pass.

She knew all that, but… but the idea of attacking someone who had lost the will to fight back repulsed her. The fight was over. She didn’t want there to be any more violence. 

She didn’t believe that Mayhem was truly evil. It was simply his power that made him so dangerous. He was extremely playful in a dangerous way, but having met his match he didn’t stubbornly continue his assault out of revenge or pettiness.

Mayhem glanced up at her. She had been silent for so long he didn’t know what was going through her head.

Flurry felt some confusion. When Mayhem was being evil, and even when he had been so giddy about the idea of playing more games with them, she didn’t feel this sensation that was starting to course through her as she locked eyes with him again. “I don’t get it.”

“Get what?” asked Masky.

“What is… this feeling?” She stared deep into his scared eyes, the sensation growing stronger and stronger. 

“What’s wrong, Flurry?” asked Pound.

A mental image passed through her mind, of Mayhem hugging her. Just like before, it only lasted a split-second, but that moment told her everything she needed to know.

She sat down, growing more and more certain. “My heart pulled me to these other ponies. It didn’t steer me wrong. Together we were able to unite and defeat you.

“Everyone, my heart… it’s calling out again. To him.”

“Why?” asked Pound.

Flurry ignored him, focusing on Mayhem. “You… you said that you took the memories of the friendship between the six of us. But… that’s not the truth, is it?”

“Huh?” said Peppermint. “But we all felt like we had a connection to each other. You said it yourself.”

“That’s true. I believe we had a friendship before this. My problem is with the number.”

“The number?” asked Pumpkin. “What do you mean?”

“It wasn’t just six, was it, Mayhem? It was actually seven, right?”

“Seven?” Tree Leaf’s eyebrow rose, and then a few seconds later his eyes widened. “Wait! You don’t mean…”

Flurry nodded. “Mayhem… you were one of our friends too, weren’t you?”

Mayhem shuddered, tears coming down his eyes as he nodded.

“We were friends?” asked Pound. 

“It makes sense,” said Pumpkin. “That’s why he chose the six of us, and why he tried so hard to get us to stay in his world to just play forever.”

“But why?” asked Peppermint, crying. She was unable to hide the hurt in her voice. “If we were your friends then why did you do this to us? What did we ever do to you? Why would you take away our memories of our friendships and make us believe we were going to die?”

Mayhem hugged himself as he quietly sobbed, too ashamed to answer her.

Flurry’s feelings were blazing now, her heart’s call too strong to ignore anymore. She had already been leaning strongly towards a certain choice, but the knowledge of their former friendship wiped out the last of her doubts.

She gently lifted him to a standing position with her magic, and hugged him tightly. “I forgive you, Mayhem,” she said quietly.

Mayhem stared out into space, wondering if he had heard correctly. “Why? I did so many horrible things to you. I betrayed our friendship and tried to kill you!”

Starlight appeared in her mind again. “I know you made some big mistakes. Without my memories of you I don’t know if you brought us here because we did something personally to hurt you, or whether it really was just out of boredom, but what I do know is that you have the potential to be good.

"Just like Aunt Starlight, you can change your ways. You can become a better you, and move away from the bad you of the past."

“Are you sure about this, Flurry?” asked Pound, though he didn’t sound opposed to her decision.

She closed her eyes, thinking about the image of Mayhem hugging her that had popped into her head before. “All I know of you from this battle is that you were our enemy. But this is something that seems to go beyond memories. When I stop thinking and just feel… a part of me remembers who you were before this."

Her brow furrowed in concentration. “I feel… like… like at one point you saved me. Saved me from something huge. You, and all these other ponies, changed my life forever. I truly believe that in my heart. And that’s why, even if I can’t remember the friendship we used to have, I still want to forgive you.

“You used to be our friend. Wouldn’t you like to be again?”

Mayhem just began wailing. What had he been doing all this time? He had nearly destroyed all his friendships just for the sake of a good time. 

Masky wasn’t sure whether he was ready to forgive Mayhem or not. He glanced up at the ceiling, and saw the mural on it. “Whoa! Is that… the world where we just were?”

“Where?” asked Pound. He saw the colt looking upwards, so he did too. “Oh! We… were in our ceiling the whole time?”

The rest of them looked up, to see them in the world of the decrepit Ponyville. On one side was Mayhem in front of his castle with a devious look, with the six of them on the other side in battle ready positions.

“That’s pretty cool,” said Tree Leaf. “Did you make that just now?”

Mayhem wiped his eyes, shaking his head. “N-no. As a birthday present Pound and Pumpkin’s parents let me redesign their room for them. Pumpkin asked for a superhero themed picture.”

“Mmm.” Pound shook his head. “It’s no good. Our birthday is too fuzzy. I guess that’s because all the rest of you were there.”

“But wait a minute,” said Pumpkin. “If you made this back when we were still friends then why aren’t you on our side?”

Mayhem got a guilty look on his face, letting out a humorless laugh. “You… asked that same question back when I first made it.”

“I did?” She looked back up at the ceiling. “And… what did you say?”

Mayhem rubbed his arm. “I… wasn’t a nice person when I first met you. My ‘daddy’ Discord gave the two of you some of his power, and you were able to do some of the things I can do. “

“Get out of here!” said Pound, wide-eyed. “Really?”

“That sounds so cool!” said Pumpkin.

Mayhem drew a box with a claw, and showed them some of the highlights of their performance, like Pound crash-landing into a dozen pieces, or fusing together and creating a lightning tornado to wipe out an army of Changelings.

All of them were in shock, Pound and Pumpkin most of all.

“That fake battle caused you to use up all the energy he gave you. He only gave you a tiny bit more, and you were mad about it. I talked you into attacking him and taking more of his power.” 

The twins got guilty looks on their faces. “We… really did that?” asked Pumpkin.

“I guess we can be greedy kids too,” said Pound.

Mayhem's eyes clenched shut. “Once you had most of Discord’s magic I was strong enough to take you over. I… almost killed everyone there. Your parents, Pinkie Pie… Fluttershy…”

They gaped at him. Pound and Pumpkin especially wondered how they had become friends with him.

“Back then… I lost to love. The two of you overpowered me when I went after them, refusing to let me hurt them. You nearly died stopping me until Twilight could use her Rainbow Power to force me out of you.

“That might have been the end of me, but Fluttershy saw something inside of me… just like you, Flurry.” 

“Who’s Fluttershy?” asked Peppermint.

Mayhem snapped his claw, and a plushie of Fluttershy appeared. He hugged it to himself, nuzzling its cheek with his own. "She's... my mommy. Or at least I like to think of her as that."

Peppermint felt some of her reservations fading. He looked so childish right now, holding a stuffed animal for comfort. It… kinda made her want to hug him herself.

“Fluttershy is one of the Elements of Friendship,” said Pound. “She represents kindness.”

Mayhem gently swayed, still holding the doll close. “Back then I didn’t have a name. I didn’t think I needed one, but she told me that having a name was the first step towards having my own identity.

“She let me live with her, always giving me so much love and attention.”

“That sure sounds like Fluttershy, alright,” said Pumpkin. “She tends to see the good in everyone.”

“Then at Pound and Pumpkin’s birthday I met all of you. You were pretty mean to me, Flurry, calling me a mix-and-match freak.”

Flurry flushed. “I did?”

“You were in the midst of your fears. You didn’t want to be at the party when you could have been home studying, so you weren’t on your best behavior.

“It took us a little while, but we all bonded together.”

He looked up at the ceiling, guilt boiling inside of him. “The reason I created myself looking like that is because I believed in all of you.”

“What do you mean?” asked Masky. “How does being the villain relate to you believing in us?”

“I know what I did in the past was bad, but I was saved by Fluttershy’s love. What I made there was symbolic. If… if I ever went bad like before I… I believed that the six of you would be able to pull me out of the darkness again. I knew you would stop at nothing to save me, because that’s what good friends do for each other.

"No matter how bad I got, as long as it was the six of you, I knew you would be able to stop me."

“Aww,” said Peppermint. “You really believed in us that much?”

“That’s part of the reason I erased your memories. I wanted to be the villain, but I knew I couldn’t really play the part so long as you were fighting as my friends instead of as strangers.

“I thought… that friendships were only made of memories. Without that bond there couldn’t possibly be friendship. And yet despite that your hearts remained connected to each other, and that power beat me.”

“Mayhem,” said Flurry, “even if we really didn’t know each other before this fight you probably still would have lost.”

He glanced over at her. “Why?”

“Because the situation you put us in is ideal for forming bonds. With so much danger around our only chance of survival was relying on each other.

“Aunt Twilight was the same way. She didn’t know any of the other Elements of Friendship when she first went to look for the Elements of Harmony, but by the time she got to the castle she had felt connected enough to the others to use the Elements to defeat Nightmare Moon.”

Mayhem let out a quiet groan. “I see. I broke your friendships because I didn’t want to let you do the impossible, but I fell into the same trap Daddy did. When he fought Twilight he turned all of them against their true selves, but they all still remembered each other. In the end their friendship overcame his influence. I decided to go a step further to get rid of those memories entirely, thinking that would ensure my victory, but I still lost.

“The magic of friendship… it truly is a wonderful, powerful thing. Even with my abilities I couldn't overcome it.”

That made all of them grin. 

The Fluttershy plushie fell to the ground, and Mayhem looked down with concern. His arm was disappearing.

“Whoa!” said Pumpkin. “What’s happening to you?”

He held up what was left of his arm. “I’m not ‘real’ like my daddy is. I’m just living magic. When it’s used up I disappear until I’m released from him again.”

Mayhem lifted his other arm, which hadn’t started vanishing yet. “My time is almost up, but before I go I can do one last thing for you guys.”

He snapped his claw, and six colored balls appeared, hovering in front of them.

Flurry stared at the ball. “What is that?”

“Just take it. It’s nothing dangerous.”  

Pound was the first to reach out. As he took the ball in his hooves memories raced through his head. The rush of information sent him to his knees.

“Pound!” said Pumpkin with concern.

Pound was panting slightly, but he got up on shaky hooves, grinning. “I… I remember now. I remember everything about our time together.”

The rest of them eyed the balls, taking them in their hooves. Their reactions were the same as Pounds.

After a minute they had recovered as their bodies caught up with their minds.

Mayhem slowly rubbed his hoof in small circles on the floor. "I... I know that I said I destroyed your memories, but that was a lie. I kept them safe with me all this time. I always intended to give them back once I won."

"Mayhem, you never meant it, did you?" asked Peppermint. "You were never going to kill us, were you?"

Mayhem bit his lip. "I didn't want to. Most of it was all for show. But at the very end there..." He let out a quiet sob. "... I really did mean it. I was being stubborn and a sore loser. I should have won easily, but you kept denying me what I wanted.

"Flurry wouldn't surrender no matter how much pain I put her through, and then I got so mad when she pointed out that I didn't have any friends. Those feelings inside... reminded me of what I was doing to all of you, but I didn't want to back down. 

"I tried something different. I tried to get you to betray each other to prove you weren't true friends, just allies of convenience, but you still wouldn't give up.  I did everything I could to avoid it, but I wanted to win no matter what... even if it meant your lives. 

"A part of me just couldn't stand creatures with so much less power than me triumphing over me. I felt I had gone too far to stop. If you hadn't awakened that heart power when you did..." He couldn't finish that statement.

“The game is over,” he replied. “And you won. Soon I’ll disappear.”

“Yeah?” said Tree Leaf. “And? Just get some more energy.”

Mayhem shook his head. “I lost the game, and so… I have to face the consequences. I told you that if you beat me I would let you go home-”

“Which you did,” said Peppermint.

Mayhem hesitated, feeling a pang in his heart. “But… that wasn’t all. I said I would return to Discord, and never trouble you again.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

“No!”

“Mayhem!”

Mayhem shut his eyes tight, tears coming down his cheeks. “I… did something unforgivable to all of you. I treated you like mere toys and nearly took your lives.

“I made Flurry suffer most of all, taking away her emotional support and returning her back to her fearful state before she met all of you. I used her fears against her by making her believe that Starlight had turned against her and killed the rest of you.”

“Mayhem!” said Flurry strongly. “I forgave you for that even before you gave my memories back. I knew there was more to you than just a villain.”

“If you feel guilty for what you’ve done then you can’t be all bad,” said Pound.

“That’s right," said Pumpkin. "We learned that lesson that everyone makes big mistakes, but you can make up for them.”

Mayhem had a blank look on his face. “That doesn’t matter. Even if you forgive me I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for what I put you through. So I’m going home… for the last time.”

“Mayhem!” said Peppermint, tears streaming down her eyes. “Don’t you get it? We knew that the friend we loved was still in there somewhere.”

“Even if you made us forget it,” said Masky, “we were never fighting to beat you. Our only goal was to save you.”

"All we wanted out of this was to get our old friend back," said Pound.

Mayhem looked at all of them, grateful tears coming down his eyes. “You did save me. And that’s why I’m going away... so that I can never hurt you like that again.

“Just… forget about me. You’ll be happier that way.”

Tree Leaf was shaking with rage, tearing up as well. “But we don’t WANT to forget about you! You’re one of our friends too, and now that we have you back we want to keep you with us!”

“We won’t leave one of our own behind!” said Flurry, stomping her hoof. “If you leave now then what was the point of everything we went through?”

Mayhem's eyes shone, a sad smile coming to what was left of his face. “It makes me happy… to have such good friends. But I’m sorry. It’s too late. It’s just too late now.”

“Please, Mayhem,” said Masky. “You don’t have to do this. Me and Flurry both know what it’s like to be lonely, and I know the pain of losing a friend more than any of them. Now that I’m living in Ponyville I don’t ever want to lose another of my friends.”

Mayhem looked up at the ceiling mural, taking off what was left of his arm. At this point he was just a floating head.

The arm flew up to the ceiling, dissolving into magic particles. Underneath the shot of them facing off against one another he made another one of the six of them hugging him, all of them smiling.

“I got to end the greatest game of my life with the best ponies in the world. It’s… a good memory to go out on, and I couldn’t be happier that I lost. 

“Thank you for everything, but this is goodbye. I… I love all of you!”

All of them were crying as he disappeared completely, hot tears coming down their eyes. Despite his small size, the feel of his absence in the room was immense.
> 6-14: Tough love
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

All the children felt a deep sense of melancholy at Mayhem’s disappearance. For a minute none of them could do anything.

Tree Leaf hit a wall. “No!” he said angrily. “This… this isn’t how this is going to end! We went through too much to save him.”

“That’s right!” said Pound. “We’re getting him back whether he likes it or not. “

“To Fluttershy’s house!” said Pumpkin. “I’m sure he’s there.”

“Let’s go!” said Flurry. She saw the twins looking at her expectantly. “What?”

“Come on, Flurry. Teleport us there.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?” asked Pound. “You’re not out of magic, are you?”

She shook her head. “That’s not it. I just don’t know where I’m teleporting to.”

“To Fluttershy’s! Aren’t you listening?”  

“Pound,” she said patiently, “I know where you want to go, but I don’t know where it is. I need to be able to picture it in my mind, so I can’t teleport somewhere I’ve never been.”

Pound’s face fell as he understood the problem. “Fine, then! We’ll hoof it. Me and Pumpkin know how to get there.”

“Sounds like a plan!” said Peppermint.

The six children ran down the stairs and out of the house, heading in the direction of Fluttershy’s house. Before they had gotten too far they heard an angry voice calling out to them.

“Pound Cake! Pumpkin Cake!”

The twins stopped, seeing their parents with Twilight. The others stopped right behind them.

Cup slowly stomped over to them. “And just where have all of you been? 

“It was way too quiet for way too long, and then when I go to check on you all of you are gone! No note… no explanation. Me and your father have been worried sick! We were just about to get Twilight to set up a search party to find you.”

They had been so focused on their adventure that they hadn’t even considered how long they had been gone. Of course their absence had been noticed. 

Pound was trotting in place, too full of anxiety to sit still. “We don’t have time to explain! We have a huge emergency on our hooves and we need to get to Fluttershy’s right now before it’s too late!”

“What kind of emergency?” asked Twilight.

Pumpkin bit her lip. As much as she would have liked to keep the adults out of it she knew it would be impossible now. They couldn’t keep it a secret forever. “Look, you’ll get the whole story later but we need to go NOW!”

Twilight considered the children. Each of them looked unnaturally keyed up. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what had gone on when they left their house, but she didn’t figure she was going to get any answers out of them in that state.  “Fine, then. I’ll help you get to Fluttershy’s faster, but then I’m expecting an explanation for your disappearance.”

“Okay, okay!” said Pound. “Can we go now?”

Twilight’s horn lit up, taking the children as well as her and the Cakes.

***

Discord was sipping some tea with Fluttershy when he felt it: a wave of emotions so strong that he dropped his cup and it shattered.

“Discord!” said Fluttershy with concern. “What’s wrong?”

Discord looked down at his stomach. Mayhem had just returned to him, despair and anguish radiating off of him. “Something is wrong with Mayhem. He’s really unhappy about something.”

He went to release the little draconequus from him, but Mayhem fought him, trying to stay inside him. He was persistent, though, and eventually Mayhem formed in front of them, looking ready to burst into tears.

“What are you doing?” Mayhem asked sadly. “Leave me alone! I want to go home!”

Fluttershy hadn’t seen Mayhem like this since the twin’s birthday party when Flurry had insulted him. “What happened, Mayhem?”

She went to give him a hug, but he slapped her hooves away, going into the corner and rocking back and forth. 

Before she could pursue the issue she heard loud knocking on the door from several hooves. 

Though it was rude Pound didn’t want to wait for her to answer, knowing each moment that passed could be too late. He tried the handle, and when it opened he called out, “Fluttershy!”

Mayhem tensed, and tried to run upstairs. Discord easily brought him back.

“What happened between all of you?” Fluttershy asked. “Did you get into a fight? It sure looks like they’re eager to make up. “

Mayhem couldn’t get away, so he turned to Pound and said angrily, “I TOLD you to just forget about me!”

Pound stomped his hoof. “And we told YOU that we’re not going to.”

Fluttershy grabbed Mayhem out of the air, and pulled the struggling draconequus over to the chair, hugging him around the chest. “I think it’s time to clear the air.”

“There’s nothing to talk about!” Mayhem cried out. “Just let me go home!”

“Well, we’re here,” said Cup. “Now I expect to hear a good reason for why you disappeared for the past few hours.”

“Hmm…” Fluttershy could see that things had gotten pretty complicated.

Mayhem began laughing a twisted laugh. “Nothing much. I only tried to kill all of them!” That made all of them tense. “So that’s that, right? Right, Princess Twilight? Now hurry up and banish me back home.”

“Stop it, Mayhem!” said Flurry. “This isn’t the way to resolve things.”

“If you won’t stop then I’ll force the issue.”

Twilight looked between Mayhem and the other children. Her first impression was that Mayhem was lying. She had seen the bond he shared with the others during Pound and Pumpkin’s birthday party. 

Either way, something bad had happened between them. She just had to get the full story.

Fluttershy didn’t want to believe it either. “Mayhem, you shouldn’t say such things. That’s not who you really are.”

“Why don’t you ask them if I’m lying?” Mayhem asked smugly.

All eyes went to the children. “Well?” asked Twilight, expecting them to vehemently deny it. When all of them avoided looking at her and didn’t answer her question she felt a sense of dread.

“So it IS true?” Cup asked angrily. 

Fluttershy looked upset. “Oh, Mayhem,” she said with a sniff. “Why?”

“Because I could, that’s why!” Mayhem said.

Twilight sucked on her cheek. “Is that really the truth?”

“I was bored, so I decided to play a game of death with my dear friends.”

The children could see his angle now. He was going to paint himself in the worst light so he could be forced to stay inside Discord.

She put a hoof to her mouth, pondering. “Mayhem, you have the same kinds of powers as Discord. If that was actually what went down then why are they all still alive and well?”

“Exactly!” said Pound. “He just put us in a real-life superhero adventure where we had to beat up old villains and he gave us all superpowers. It was just a game, that’s all!”

Twilight looked between Pound and Mayhem, getting the feeling she was missing something. She felt like Mayhem was exaggerating his role in things, while Pound was being too dismissive.

She certainly wasn’t going to get an unbiased account from any of the children. “Discord, help me out here, please.”

“I got you,” he replied, sharing their memories with the adults.

Tears came down Fluttershy’s eyes as she saw just how far Mayhem was willing to go to alleviate his boredom.

Cup and Carrot were pretty furious at the danger Mayhem put their children through.

Twilight processed what she had seen.

Discord just crossed his arms and gave Mayhem a dirty look.

“Well, you’ve seen everything now,” said Mayhem. “You’ve seen the truth that I ruthlessly tried to destroy all my friends, now send me home already. I don’t regret anything, so punish me!”

“He does regret it!” said Masky strongly.

“He’s just saying he doesn’t,” said Tree Leaf.

“You saw it!” said Flurry.

Twilight tapped her hoof on the floor a few times, unsure of where to start.

“Please, Mayhem!” said Pumpkin, her eyes getting moist. “Tell the truth already.”

“You don’t really want to leave us,” said Pound. “We know that.”

“Mayhem… please be like Flurry,” Peppermint begged. “Running away isn’t going to make anybody happy.”

Mayhem got a pained look on his face, looking away. After a few moments his expression hardened. He looked up at Twilight. “Twilight, what do you think? You’re the ruler here. Don’t you think I should be punished? I’m clearly evil, so do your job as ruler.”

Twilight felt the stares of all the children on her. She took in a breath before saying, “What you did was certainly terrible. I don’t think anyone here would disagree with that.”

She looked towards the twins for a few moments before turning back to Mayhem. “Some months ago a certain pair of children went through a terrible experience, and they learned one of the most valuable lessons there is to learn.

“If you were irredeemable I would have to insist you be locked away, but those horrible feelings of guilt and shame swirling around you are proof that you’re not evil. You can try to hide it by pretending, but I saw through your memories that it’s only an act.”

“Why not give him what he wants?” asked Carrot. “It’s not like it’s being forced on him. He’s making his own choices, just like he did when he decided to put all of them through this.”

“He’s trying to take responsibility for his actions,” said Cup. “At the very least I can respect that about him.

“Though I suppose this is just going to be swept under the rug as usual. Everything worked out in the end, so we’ll just ignore it and smile, right?”

“You know it’s not like that, Mom,” said Pumpkin quietly.

“Oh? Then what IS it like, then? Tell me! I’m all ears.”

“He regretted losing control,” said Pound.

“Well, good for him." said Carrot. "You think that just because you forgave him that WE do too?

“Even if he was still just putting on an act at the very end and never intended for his ‘game’ to end with a death it wouldn’t change the fact that he put all of you through terrible experiences.”

Pound’s lip quivered. “You… you’re both hypocrites!”

“How do you figure?” asked Cup. “How have we contradicted ourselves?”

“Me and Pumpkin were very bad kids once. We stole Discord’s magic and it nearly wound up killing all of you. All of you let us off with a simple tickle torture.

“Twilight once acted like she was going to beat me up because I used to do the same to anyone that picked on Pumpkin. She pointed out that I shouldn’t be exempt from my own rules, so I should be beat up too for the times I hit Pumpkin.

“If YOU want to see Mayhem banished then stop giving us special treatment and ask Twilight to have us banished too!”

“If I recall,” said Carrot, “it was Mayhem who took you over and tried to kill us in the first place. That wasn’t your decision, now was it?”

“That doesn’t matter!” said Pumpkin, stomping a hoof. “If we hadn’t been greedy brats and stolen that magic in the first place that never would have happened. It’s still our fault.”

The twins and their parents were staring daggers at each other, neither willing to back down.

Flurry looked around awkwardly before standing up straight. “I… I, um…” She took a deep breath. “I am a princess just like Aunt Twilight and my mother, and I decided to forgive Mayhem.”

Cup glanced over at Flurry. “WELL THEN! I guess that settles that, then. We may not have the authority to decide on Mayhem’s punishment, being regular ponies, but we can certainly decide who our children hang out with.”

“And we don’t want you around him anymore,” finished Carrot.

The twins got mutinous looks on their faces.

The other children just watched the display going on. 

“Cup. Carrot,” started Twilight, but Cup cut her off before she could say anymore.

“Butt out, Twilight!” the mare said fiercely. “You want us to treat you like anyone else, then fine. This isn’t your business, as you yourself said that you want us to have final authority over our own children.”

“Exactly!” said Carrot.

“Smarten up,” said Discord, speaking for the first time since the truth of Mayhem’s actions came out.

“Excuse me?” said Cup.

“Even if you ban them from seeing him openly I think you should know they’ll just do it in secret. It’s plastered all over their faces that they’re not planning on listening to you on this matter.”

Cup and Carrot both got sour looks on their faces. 

“Why this time?” asked Pumpkin. “When Mayhem first came out you let us play with him, even though he had nearly caused so much pain. He didn’t even apologize for everything he did until a few weeks later when we were dealing with Masky and Drill Bit.

“So what’s different this time around?”

Carrot sucked on his cheek. “Back then we had Twilight and her Rainbow Power, and he was too weak to be a threat anymore.”

“It’s been quite a long time since then,” said Cup. “By this point Mayhem should know the value of love and friendship, and he still ignored it in favor of having a good time.”

“Mayhem believed in us!” said Pound. “He always expected us to stop him.”

“You’re children! It shouldn’t be up to you to save the world. That’s exactly why Flurry was suffering so much when you first met her.”

“We weren’t trying to save the world. We were trying to save a friend!”

“Even if it was hard on all of us we’d go through all of it again,” said Pumpkin. “Our bond of friendship allowed all of us to survive. 

“You understand what friendship means to all of us, don’t you? Our bond was so strong we didn’t even need memories to remain connected to each other.”

“If… if you take that bond away there will always be a hole in our hearts,” said Pound, tears forming in the bottom of his eyes.

Cup groaned. “We’re… we’re not the bad guys here!” she said as tears streamed down her eyes. “I know that he’s your friend, and that you still care for him.” Her lip quivered. “B-b-but we’re still your parents. Can’t you understand how scared we are? This is the second time that you almost died because of him.”

Carrot started to cry as well. “That’s a bond that can never be broken as well. Without you in our lives it would hardly be worth living.”

As their parents anger turned to sadness the twins feelings shifted accordingly.

“We… we don’t want to see you suffering either,” said Pumpkin, “but we all risked our lives to save Mayhem from himself. We don’t want all of that to go to waste.”

“That’s what being a good friend means to us,” said Pound. “I know we’re too young for stuff like this, but we all managed to succeed despite that.

“Me and Pumpkin… we’ve solved a whole bunch of friendship problems together, and this was the biggest one of all. Don’t you believe in us?”

“Of course we believe in you!” said Carrot. “We’re proud of what you’ve managed to accomplish, but it doesn’t stop us from worrying about you.”

“Do you see it, Mayhem?” said Fluttershy gently. “Even if your friends are willing to overlook your actions their parents are still hesitant about you.”

She let out a sigh. “This was the last thing I wanted for you when this day started.”

“I know, Mommy,” he replied, sniffing. “I… I don’t know what came over me. I… I just felt so cooped up I stopped caring about who I hurt.”

“I hope you take this lesson to heart for the future. You have good friends. You’re very lucky they still want to be friends with you after everything you did to them. I hope you understand the gravity of their forgiveness.”

She ran a hoof through his hair. “It looks like we’re going to have to start from scratch in building you up into the good draconequus you were before.”

“It’s a waste of time.”

“Why do you say that, Mayhem?”

“If I go bad a hundred times more I’m sure they’ll come to my rescue every time, but I don’t want to put them through that ever again. I’ve seen the connections ponies have with each other. Besides their friends they also have families, and I’ve seen how much pain I can cause other ponies just by a domino effect.

“I won’t let it happen again. That’s why I’m giving up. I’m going to stay inside Discord forever, and never come out again. That way I know they’ll be safe from me.”

“Is that right?” Fluttershy’s whole attitude shifted. Gone was the friendly tone, trying to be helpful. All the warmth faded out of her voice, and her eyes narrowed, becoming almost unrecognizable. “Fine, then. It’s obvious you don’t actually care about your friends, so I agree that you should be locked away forever.”

Twilight blinked. She certainly didn’t expect to ever hear that from Fluttershy.

Cup and Carrot just stared. As angry and upset as they were they expected her to stay by his side.

“Fluttershy!” Pound started. Fluttershy turned her gaze to him, and he froze at the ferocious glare she gave him. 

“You be quiet!” Fluttershy said coldly.

Pound couldn’t even muster an affirmative response. He was petrified with fear. When she turned her gaze back to Mayhem the effect faded, and he began to pant and tremble. He had thought Twilight was scary that time when Pumpkin had attacked her, but this was on a whole different level. 

He had heard references to Fluttershy’s Stare a few times in his life, but he thought it was mainly a joke. Now he knew it was real.

Even though Fluttershy had only directly looked at Pound, not a one of the other children could open their mouths either. They could feel the overwhelming power radiating off of her. 

Masky could hardly believe this was the same pony that had been so understanding of his own mistakes and talked him into bettering himself. 

Fluttershy looked down at Mayhem derisively. “Any last words?” 

Mayhem gulped. He couldn’t force himself to avert his eyes from hers, even though he desperately wanted to. “I… I-I-I do care about them. That’s why-” He let out a squeak as she glared at him again, his body clenching.

“No! You DON’T! What you’re actually saying is that your friends aren’t worth your time. They’re not worth IMPROVING yourself for. If you ACTUALLY cared about them, and what your friendship stands for, you’d accept responsibility for your actions by working to make it up to them.

“You sucked them into an alternate dimension. You threatened to kill their loved ones. You took away their memories of each other. And at the end you threatened to kill them. All in the name of relieving your boredom. 

“And despite all that they STILL fought for you. They forgave you, and immediately ran over here to reassure you that they still wanted to know you despite your great mistakes.

“What’s YOUR response to their efforts? Your choice is to just give up entirely on improving and resigning yourself to evil.” She turned her head away from him. “In the end you’re nothing more than a coward. I was disappointed before, but now I’m just plain disgusted by you.”

That one stung. His face clenched up as tears came down his eyes.

Even though the children felt bad they were too scared of Fluttershy to offer Mayhem comforting.

Even Discord felt that one went too far. He had never seen Fluttershy like this before.

She turned back to him, a stoic expression on her face. “If you were still willing to try again, to work hard to get back to where you were before in your progress, then I would have gladly offered my hoof just like I did the day I met you. But if you’re not going to put in the slightest bit of effort because you believe that abandoning your friends is a better alternative then there’s nothing I can do for you.

“So fine. You’ll get exactly what you want. Discord!” 

He flinched, walking over towards her. “Y-yes?”

Wordlessly she grabbed his arm, lifting his claw and moving it into a snapping position. “You get one chance, Mayhem. One opportunity. After this there is no going back.

“If you choose to go home now then that’s it. You’re done. You’ll lose your own identity, forever stuck inside the prison of another with no free will of your own. Your friends, the feeling of hugs,  me as your mother… all of it will be gone, and you’ll spend the rest of your existence watching life from the inside-out.

“It’s not what I want for you, but if that’s the kind of choice you’re going to make there’s nothing I could have done to help you anyway. If the feelings you have towards your friends are so weak that you’d rather see them suffer without you then it’s clear it’s too dangerous for you to be free.”

Mayhem sniffed, crying. “C-c-can’t you see I’m s-scared? I’m scared that something like this will happen again.”

“GOOD!” she yelled, making Mayhem wince again. “GOOD! You SHOULD be scared.” She poked him hard in the chest. “I want you to keep that feeling deep within your heart. I want you to remember how terrible this feels, so that if the urge to do this sort of thing pops up again that you’ll stop yourself. That’s the whole point of life experiences. Even if we make horrible mistakes we can LEARN from them to make ourselves better than we were before.

“Now! What’s it gonna be? Are you going or staying?”

Mayhem’s lower lip quivered, and he let out little moans. He was scared of himself and the damage he could cause if he ever lost himself again.

Her stare now wasn’t as intense, but he still wanted to escape her piercing eyes. When he turned his head to the side he noticed all his friends standing there, and as he saw the sad looks on their faces his eyes welled up with tears.

Despite the wrong he had done to them not a single one of them held it against him. They had every reason to despise him and never want to see him again, to be glad to see him gone forever, and yet they were still standing by his side. They didn’t want to let him go. They were silently begging him to stay.

The power of friendship was something he was still learning, but it was quite obvious its power was far beyond his own. Even without memories all his friends hearts had remained connected, quickly allowing them to grow to the point they defeated him in combat, something he thought for sure was impossible.

He thought of the hug Flurry gave him as she forgave him, recognizing him as a lost friend that needed her.

Boy, did he feel like another hug now. He didn’t want to leave his friends behind either, and if he left now he’d have to leave everything behind but his consciousness, and that was too high a price to pay. Fluttershy had been the first one to save him with a hug, and Flurry the second. The idea of never getting to experience that love again was unbearable.

“I… I wanna stay!” He held himself, beginning to sob as his eyes clenched shut. “I wanna stay! Please! I… I… I promise I’ll work hard so this sort of thing never happens again.”

"Now that's what I want to hear," said Fluttershy, setting him on the floor and giving him a gentle push towards the others.

A few seconds later they were all hugging him as he ran towards their open hooves.

The day they had met Fluttershy had told him that he could destroy everything if he wanted, but it would be a lonely existence without someone to share those memories with. He understood now what she meant by that. He wanted to keep these ponies by his side for as long as he could, and never hurt them again.
> 6-15: Taming the chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayhem disengaged with his friends, feeling a sense of calm. He could still improve. He still had a chance to remain with all of them.

That feeling faded as he thought of all the adults, having unfinished business with each of them.

He turned to Twilight, knowing she was the biggest threat. “So… what happens to me now?”

“Hmm?” Twilight replied.

“I… I was the one asking to be banished, but I don’t want that anymore. I just…” He looked at the ground. “…I don’t know if it matters what I want.”

“Mayhem, if you have Discord’s memories then you already know that I forgave Discord for betraying us to Tirek, and that was basically the same thing as what you did. He grew tired of feeling constrained by rules and was talked into believing it would be better without us. In the end Tirek betrayed him, and he realized what he did didn’t actually get him what he wanted.

“It was because he felt remorse for his crimes that I was able to look past his actions, not the least of which because he was a key component in us beating Tirek in the first place.”

She rubbed his head. “My niece saw fit to make the same sort of decision I would, and I don’t disagree with her choices. I would much rather have you with us as a friend than see you locked up.”

Mayhem sniffed before hugging her leg. “M-me too.”

Releasing her he turned to Cup and Carrot, unsure of where to start.

Before he could utter a word Cup put her hoof up. “Don’t!” she said, trying to keep her voice calm. “These feelings are too raw today. I don’t want to hear an apology because I’m not going to be ready to accept it.”

“Be grateful that we’re even going to think of allowing you to continue seeing each other after today,” said Carrot, also forcing himself to keep from yelling. “But not this week, and maybe not this month.”

“Any objections?” Cup turned to her children.

As much as they wanted to object Pound and Pumpkin knew they had to take their parents feelings into account. “No.” They shook their heads.

Cup was glad they didn’t put up a fight on this. She put a hoof to her face, letting out a sigh. “But eventually it will happen,” she said reluctantly.

Mayhem looked like he was thinking of something he could do for them.

Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder. “Mayhem, I would recommend you listen to what they’re saying. I can see your brain working, but sometimes time is the only thing that helps build a bridge to forgiveness.” 

He looked up at her. “But…”

“If you want them to respect you then it starts with respecting them first. They’re not denying you forgiveness. They’re just saying they need more time before they can give it. If you keep pushing them then you’re only showing that you haven’t learned from this experience about respecting other’s boundaries, and that will only make them more reluctant to forgive or allow you to see Pound and Pumpkin again.”

Tears formed in his eyes. “I… I just…”

“I know,” she said gently. “But there is nothing for you to do right now but work on improving yourself. If you really want them to forgive you then do what you did before, and start growing up. It may feel frustrating, but you can’t always get what you want right away.”

Mayhem’s mouth opened and closed several times, but he eventually gave it up. “Okay, Twilight.

“Um… can I ask you for a favor?”

“What kind of favor?”

He glanced towards Fluttershy sadly for a few moments before staring at the ground.

“C-can I live in your castle with you? I… I know you have a lot of spare rooms.”

Fluttershy and Twilight both gave him questioning looks. 

“Why?” asked Twilight slowly.

“I… I don’t know where else to go. Cup and Carrot are mad at me, so I can’t live with Pound and Pumpkin. And I’m sure the other parents wouldn’t want me around either, so you’re the only one I can think of that would take me in.”

“It’s not that I mind giving you a room, but aren’t you already home?” She gestured around Fluttershy’s cottage.

He got a pained look on his face, tears falling to the floor. “Not anymore. I no longer have a home.” He hugged himself. “She doesn’t love me anymore, so I don’t want to bother her.”

Fluttershy jumped up. “Oh, Mayhem! Why would you say that?”

Mayhem couldn’t meet her eyes, staring at her neck. “You said it yourself. You… you think I’m disgusting for thinking of abandoning my friends, s-so if you hate me now then I’m-”

Fluttershy let out a sob, running right over and pulling him close. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!

“I love you, Mayhem! You’re just like my very own child. I didn’t want to treat you like that, but if I didn’t push you hard you would have given up completely. No one would have been happy with that. Not me, or you, or Discord, or any of your friends.”

“S-s-so you weren’t being serious?”

Fluttershy let out a little sigh. “If… if you had still chosen to return to Discord after everything I said I would have had no choice but to leave you there.” Now she was quietly sobbing. “It would have torn me up inside, but I was the one who first encouraged Discord to bring you out into the open. I would have had to take responsibility for that.

“Without a strong foundation you only would have behaved because it’s what’s expected, or because you wanted to remain free, not because you personally didn’t think you shouldn’t do some things.”

She squeezed him harder, her sobbing growing louder. “I’m so sorry! I know I was rough on you, but I love you so much, and I didn’t want to see you go. I had to make you decide on your own that staying was what you really wanted.”

She pulled him back, tears streaming down her eyes. “I’m your mother. That’s the role I chose from the day I met you. And I want to continue to be for as long as I can. I want you to continue living here with me as I continue to watch you grow.

“So please… can you ever forgive me?”

Mayhem closed the distance between them, sobbing himself as he hugged her tight. “Of course I will! I want you to be my mother forever!”

“Thank you,” she said gratefully. 

Cup sighed as she watched the display. As angry as she was about what happened she couldn’t deny that Mayhem really was just like a child. “Twilight,” she said, making the mare turn to her.

“Yes, Cup?” she replied.

“I think we need to start planning for the future.”

“What do you mean?”

“So let’s say we do let our children play with Mayhem again. What’s to stop him from getting bored again? 

“I don’t care what he looks like. It’s not his appearance that frightens me. It’s the power he wields. So how do we keep Mayhem in check so he can’t rampage like this anymore?”

“We can’t have this problem of Mayhem going crazy every few months just to relieve his boredom,” said Carrot. “If we’re going to give our permission for them to play together then we need an assurance that our kids are going to be safe NOW.”

“I understand your concern,” said Twilight. “That certainly is something that needs doing. I’ll do what I can to come up with a solution that will satisfy everyone.”

“I’m sure you will,” said Cup, “but there is one more thing that needs to be said.” With a firm tone she continued, “Mayhem, I want to offer you a piece of advice.”

The little draconequus looked at her uncertainly. “Why… why do you want to help me? I thought you didn’t want to talk to me right now.”

“Maybe not, but my children’s safety takes priority over my feelings. If mothering you helps to keep you from going crazy again then I’m not going to let my anger blind my good judgment.

“Now come over here.”

Pound looked at his mother as Mayhem walked over in front of her, unsure what she was going to say.

Despite what she just said it was hard not to let rage overtake her as she met eyes with him so close to her.

She looked over at her children and focused her resolve. If she didn’t do this then she would be putting her children in danger, and she never wanted to risk her children’s safety just for the sake of a grudge.

She took a deep breath, settling herself down before she turned back to Mayhem and picked him up, setting him on her lap. 

Mayhem didn’t seem to know how to react. He certainly wasn’t expecting her to go that far.

In a firm voice she said, “You, little draconequus, have a problem with being honest about your feelings.”

“What do you mean?” asked Mayhem.

“When Fluttershy came to speak to me this morning she told me that she felt you were getting bored of being around her, but you wouldn’t speak up because you were afraid of hurting her feelings. A pony's feelings for someone they care for aren’t so weak that they’ll hate you just because you want to hang out with someone else than them.”

“It isn’t like I haven’t gone through the same thing myself when I was still learning about friendship,” said Discord, summoning an image of Tree Hugger.

“Oh, that’s right,” said Fluttershy. “Discord got extremely jealous when I wanted to hang out with her instead of him, thinking it meant I was thinking less of him as a friend, or trying to replace him.

“In the end, I managed to show him that we want different friends at different times.”

“It would do you well to think about the things Discord has gone through,” said Carrot. “If you have all his memories then you should figure out how he solved similar issues that you’re going through.”

“That’s right,” said Fluttershy. “It’s okay to tell me that you want to hang out with your friends once in a while. If you’re feeling cooped up then just be honest with me. You’re not going to hurt my feelings because of that.”

“Okay,” said Mayhem. “I understand.”

“Well, that’s one good lesson learned, hopefully,” said Cup, setting Mayhem back on the floor. “It still doesn’t address the issue of how to keep Mayhem from abusing his power.”

“Don’t you know some sort of spell to restrain someone’s powers, Twilight?” asked Carrot.

“I don’t know if it would work,” said Twilight. “Unlike Discord, Mayhem is sentient magic that just holds Discord’s form. I don’t know how Mayhem would react to such a spell. He’d probably either be comatose or just vanish entirely.”

“So you’re saying we should just resign ourselves to hoping that he doesn’t go bad anymore?”

Mayhem looked up at her. “Can’t you think of something, Twilight? I… I went pretty crazy today, but I don’t want to act like that again.”

Twilight got a thoughtful look on her face as she stared at him, her eyes boring into his as her brain worked. Finally she smiled.

Mayhem smiled back. He knew she would come up with something.

“What did you come up with, Twilight?” asked Pound.

“While there needs to be a greater emphasis on safety I think Mayhem should do exactly what he did today.”

That got confused looks out of all of them.

“Oh, Twilight,” said Discord, chuckling. “Are you finally coming around to the chaos side?”

“How is that gonna help?” asked Flurry.

“Really?” said Peppermint. “I don’t get it either.”

Twilight kept her grin. “Bear with me for a minute, and I’ll explain it all to you.

“Mayhem, as you all know, is made up of Discord’s chaos magic. He did fall in love with love, and that tempered his appetite for destruction and hurting others because he sought out Fluttershy’s approval. 

“It came back today though. In the end, considering his very essence is chaos magic, I don’t believe his urge to cause mischief can ever be truly tamed. So if-”

“Are you saying I’m hopeless?” Mayhem looked put out, tears forming in his eyes. “That I’m always going to be a danger to my friends?”

Twilight shook her head. “Not at all. If everything works as intended you shouldn’t ever act like that again.” 

He wasn’t sure. Her words didn’t exactly fill him with confidence. 

Peppermint sidled up next to him. “Don’t be scared, Mayhem.”

Flurry got on his other side, putting a wing around him. “That’s right. Aunt Twilight is really smart. If anyone can figure out a way to help you it’s her. Just trust her.”

“Just be quiet and listen, Mayhem,” said Twilight. “I promise you’re gonna feel just fine when you hear what I have in mind.”

The other children closed the distance, surrounding the little draconequus. Their proximity did help him feel a little better, and he sat down to hear her idea.

Now that Mayhem had settled down Twilight said, “So as I was about to say, if we can’t avoid Mayhem’s need for chaos, then we might as well use it to our advantage.”

“And how is encouraging him to repeat what he did today supposed to be beneficial?” asked Cup. “Even he can understand the absurdity of that.”

“Tell me something, you guys.” Twilight looked around at the children. “You got to obtain superpowers and went through a real-life comic book adventure. If this really was just a regular game where your lives were never at risk would you have found it fun?”

“Of course!” said Tree Leaf. “I got to turn into all sorts of different animals. It was so cool!”

“It was a little weird being able to stretch my body like chewing gum,” said Peppermint, “but I think so too.”

“We got to fight Tirek and Nightmare Moon and King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis!” said Pound.

“And defeat them all!” said Pumpkin.

“It was awesome!” said Masky.

Flurry was slightly more restrained. “I agree with them, even if it was really scary.”

“Glad to hear it,” said Twilight. “With that assurance I believe my plan will work out just fine.

“Mayhem, can you summon that world of yours, and bring those villains out too?”

Mayhem hesitated, then shook his head. “I don’t want to. I… I don’t think Cup and Carrot would like that. They’re upset enough without putting Pound and Pumpkin back there, and you were the one that told me to respect their feelings before.”

Twilight blinked, then let out a little chuckle. “Fair point. I’m glad to see you’re already applying your lesson.”

Mayhem’s words took Cup and Carrot by surprise as well.

“Very well. I guess we can go without the demonstration. The point I was going to make is that you can create a child’s paradise rather than a desolate wasteland. Can you imagine how many other kids would love to do this sort of thing you did with your friends? 

“Your ‘job’ can be to make children’s wishes come true. This will serve three major benefits.

"The first, and most important, is that this would fulfill your need for chaos. Chaos doesn’t have to harm others. It just needs to be something out of the ordinary to how things are supposed to go, just like at Pound and Pumpkin’s birthday party. You created an environment where we could have a major snowball fight indoors when it wasn’t even winter. We all had a blast.

“Instead of having to hold yourself back from being yourself I want you to embrace your special gift to its full potential, that way you won’t feel cooped up or bored.”

“Ooooo!” She definitely had Mayhem’s interest now.

“Benefit number two is about bringing others together,” said Twilight. “Flurry, you expressed the sentiment that even if you really were total strangers before this that Mayhem would still have lost, because he created an environment ideal for forging strong bonds between ponies.

“If we gather a group of ponies together and put them through this superhero adventure it will encourage teamwork and cooperation between them. Since our power is greatest when working together, helping to form unity between others and strengthen friendships is a major plus. As the Princess of Friendship this is excellent.”

“And number three?” asked Mayhem, his eyes twinkling with excitement.

“Number three is probably just as important as number one, since it also involves you personally.

“This will help you to start forming new bonds with others, strengthening your heart. Right now you have six best friends, Discord as your father, and Fluttershy as your mother. These are your strongest bonds, but they don’t have to be your only ones.

“How do you think the kids you help will feel about your ability to grant them whatever they wish? They’ll feel a sense of gratitude to you. They’ll start looking up to you as their hero.”

Her horn lit up, summoning tons of little hearts and having them orbit around the little draconequus. “Maybe you could turn against six ponies because you were dissatisfied with the way your life is going, but could you turn your back on six hundred? Betray all those ponies who looked up to you? The deeper your bonds run with others the harder it will be to ever think of going back to who you were today.”

“That all sounds really good,” said Pumpkin.

“This should stop Mayhem from ever feeling bored enough to betray us again,” said Pound.

Mayhem had a big smile on his face, but then it faded. “Twilight, I… I do really like the idea, but I… I don’t want to always have to be the bad guy.”

Twilight ruffled his hair. “Who says you have to be? You can fight alongside the heroes so long as they have obstacles to overcome together.

“And it doesn’t always have to be a comic book story you go through. That too will eventually grow tiresome. Different kids have different priorities. One might want to try ice skating. One might want to go mountain climbing. The idea is to let children make their impossible dreams happen.”

Tree Leaf’s eyebrow went up. “I can get mountain climbing, but how is ice skating impossible?”

“The same way we could have a snowball fight at Pound and Pumpkin’s house,” said Peppermint.

“Oh. I guess you have a point there.”

Twilight gave him a warm smile. “Even if only pretend, you don’t ever have to play the role of the villain if you don’t want to. I just want to see you make others happy. And if that is done in a way that makes you happy as well then that’s all the better.”

“So I can have some crazy awesome playtime every so often, and help out other ponies,” said Mayhem, looking on top of the world.

Cup sighed. As much as she didn’t want to empathize with Mayhem in any capacity at the moment, the innocent giddiness on his face was stirring her protective instincts. She didn’t wish to see any child get hurt, and she could see Mayhem heading for a fall.

“Twilight, your plan has a huge hole in it,” she said.

“It does?” she asked curiously. “I don’t see it.”

“That’s because you’re so eager to find your solution that you’re not thinking about the bigger picture here.”

“I’m listening. What did I miss?”

“The day after our children’s party you came to pick up Flurry to take her home. You had a talk about friendship.

“Mayhem offered to shrink Flurry’s wings, thinking it would help reduce the amount of teasing she got over them, but in the end she chose to keep them the same because she found acceptance from her friends despite her big wings. She felt she didn’t want to change herself just to make friends who couldn’t accept her for all she was.”

Twilight nodded. “Mmm-hmmm. I remember that.”

“You told Flurry something to the effect of ‘you might only find a few true friends, but you’ll cherish those more than any number of pretenders.’ ”

“I stand by that statement, and I’m sure Flurry does too, especially after today.”

“So what’s the problem, Mom?” asked Pound.

“The problem is that I think Twilight is being too generous in her thinking. Mayhem’s powers can easily be abused, and I’m not talking about him using them.

“You show kids something like Mayhem, and the question becomes ‘what do they really care about?’ Do they value Mayhem as a person, or is he just a tool to use to get what they want out of him, and they couldn’t care less about him personally?”

“Mmm.” Twilight sucked on her cheek. “You definitely have a good point. There is certainly a risk there.”

Tree Leaf raised his hoof. “Can I say something?”

“Sure.”

“When I first met Mayhem I thought he was a weirdo, and he got me angry because he knocked me down, but I changed my mind about him when I saw what he could do.

“At first… I only wanted to be close to him because of his abilities. He turned me into a dragon, then turned Sugarcube Corner into a playground. That was all super cool. But later on I grew to like him as a person.

“So just because someone likes him for his powers doesn’t mean he can’t become a true friend with them later on. I did.”

“I remember that conversation too,” said Flurry. “You said that if someone only focuses on one aspect of me and disregards everything else then it was up to me to show that I am more than that quality.

“I’m sure there will be plenty of pretenders that will only care about using Mayhem, but I know that there are those who can look past his powers to see him for who he really is. My friends did that for me, and we all did it for Mayhem. That’s how we were able to pull him out of the darkness he submerged himself in. He trusted us to do whatever it took to save him.”

Twilight nodded. “Also good points. That’s something I’m going to have to work on when I start implementing this plan.”

“One more thing,” said Cup.

“Yes?”

“As a mother of two I’ve seen that kids can get excitable, and when they do they can get a little out of control. While Mayhem is having his fun what’s to stop him from pushing too far?”

“Well, this might not exactly comfort you, but I’ll have Discord keeping an eye on him in these adventures. As much as I’d like to do this alone I don’t have the magical ability to stop him without Rainbow Power, and it’s not conducive to always have it at the ready.”

“And I’m supposed to trust that Discord isn’t going to be tempted, either?” asked Carrot.

“Hey,” said Discord, “I might like to be annoying, but I’ve left my former evil days behind.

“Hmm… maybe it’s because Mayhem is out so frequently now that I’ve been losing my desire to cause trouble.”

Fluttershy got a curious look on her face. “I did find it odd that you weren’t joining in on the snowball fight at the twin’s party. Now that I think about it, you’ve seemed a lot more even-mannered since the day Mayhem first came out into the open.”

“I sure hope it stays that way,” said Cup. “We don’t need any more children put into these near-death experiences.”

“I agree,” said Mayhem. “I just want to have fun in a nice, safe way.”

“Glad to hear it,” said Twilight. “I think once every two weeks is a fine time period to do this. We don’t want kids to become too reliant on him, or for Mayhem to get too used to breaking all the rules.”

“What about once a week?”

Twilight looked uncertainly at him. “I’ll tell you what. This is a new program for all of us. I’ll be observing along with Discord for your first few sessions. If you prove that you can handle the responsibility I’ll consider giving you this privilege more often.

“How does that sound?”

Mayhem smiled. “Okay.”

“Well, that settles things with you, then.”

Pound hopped up onto his mother’s lap, giving her a bright smile. “I love you!” he said as he hugged her.

“I love you too,” she said suspiciously, “but the timing of that sounds like you want something.”

He shook his head. “No. I don’t want anything. I’m just really happy.”

“Why? Well, I can guess why.”

“I am happy that Mayhem is going to be able to work off his need for chaos, but that’s not why I’m feeling this way.”

“Then what is?”

“I heard it.”

“Heard what?”

“That protective tone in your voice. You were looking out for Mayhem too. You really do care about him.”

Cup flushed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I was only saying that for your benefit. I don’t think I’m willing to give a third chance to him, so I don’t want to see you upset. That’s all!”

Pound and Pumpkin both gave her maddeningly smug looks. “Okay, Mom.”

“Suuuuure.”

Cup growled. “Pound! Pumpkin! You get those self-satisfied looks off your faces right now!”

That only made them laugh. 

“I mean it! You hear me? I’ll ground you both.” 

Carrot and Twilight began to laugh too, and right after that the other children joined in as Cup let out a cry of frustration.
> 6-16: Settling down
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once everyone settled down Pound and Pumpkin went up to Mayhem and gave him a hug. 

“This is goodbye for now,” said Pound.

“But it won’t be too long,” said Pumpkin.

The others joined in.

“Do us proud, Mayhem!” said Peppermint.

“We believe in you,” said Tree Leaf.

“Just like you believed in us,” said Masky.

“So do your best,” said Flurry.

Mayhem closed his eyes, knowing he wasn’t going to be able to see his friends for a while and wanting to enjoy this while it lasted. “I’ll be okay. I still have Mommy.”

Eventually they reluctantly released him and bid farewell to him, as well as Fluttershy and Discord.

With a flash they were teleported to Sugarcube Corner. 

“Home again,” Pound said with a gentle sigh. “Feels like forever since I’ve been here.”

“Well, I just wanted to drop off Cup and Carrot,” said Twilight. Turning to the pair she said, “Would it be alright if I borrowed the twins for about a half hour?”

“Sure,” said Carrot. “What do you have in mind?”

“There are some things I need to discuss with them at the castle. It’s nothing secretive, but I do feel my words will have more of an impact there.”

“I guess that’s okay,” said Cup.

Twilight bowed her head slightly. “Thank you.”

With another flash they were in Twilight’s throne room. 

All of them looked around in wonder. Even the twins and Flurry hadn’t seen it.

Twilight gestured around at the thrones. “Even though I am the only princess or alicorn among my friends each of us is treated equally, and that’s just the way I like it. As you can see my throne isn’t any more fancy or ornate than my friend’s thrones.”

“What’s with that little throne next to yours?” asked Tree Leaf as he pointed to it. “That’s not exactly equal.”

“That is Spike’s throne.

“Now, then. All of you have a seat.” They complied, sitting on the floor. She shook her head. “No, not there.” She pointed her hoof towards the thrones. “I mean there.”

Even the twins, as close as they were to Twilight, were shocked. “A-are you sure?” asked Pound.

“That feels a bit… much,” said Pumpkin.

“I gave my permission, did I not?” said Twilight. “There’s a reason I want you sitting there.”

All of them looked uncertainly at each other for about fifteen seconds before they slowly plodded over. 

“S-should I sit in your seat, Aunt Twilight?” asked Flurry. “I’m an alicorn like you.”

“Which seat you take doesn’t matter. It’s what the seats represent that is important here.”

They each chose a throne at random, the weight of where they were sitting quickly getting to each of them. This was where the greatest heroes of Equestria sat before they were sent off places to save the world or spread friendship.

Twilight could see their anxiousness, so in order to break the ice she jumped onto the table in the middle of the room that held the Cutie Map, though it wasn’t activated at the moment. “Look at me! I’m standing on the furniture.” 

That did break some of the tension, making them laugh a bit. 

She used her magic to move the thrones so they were all sitting right next to each other before hopping off the table and standing on the other side.

“So I guess you’re all wondering why I brought you here to my throne room to sit on those thrones?” That got nods from all of them. “The reason why is a simple one: friendship.

“With Discord’s spell I got to see what all of you went through today, and I couldn’t feel prouder of any of you. When Mayhem first betrayed you the six of you strived to win him back by playing along. 

“That plan went off the rails when your memories were removed and he became a stranger to you, but you still found one another again, your hearts connecting to each other as you fought together.”

Her eyes grew misty. “Flurry, I’m especially proud of you. You managed to activate a magic that hasn’t been seen since the founding of Equestria. A part of it was a desire to defy Mayhem and not grant him his victory, but more of it was about encouraging your friends.

“Mayhem tried to turn you against one another, promising safety to the pony that betrayed the others to save themselves, but you stood strong with your beliefs. Even if it meant your death, you were determined to go out as friends. Your courage inspired them to trust in you, and in the end it was what won you the day.”

Flurry got an uncomfortable look on her face. “But… it wasn’t me. When I first fought Mayhem he terrified me with his power. It wasn’t until I saw the others take an attack for me to save my life that I began to see what you were talking about. It was their courage that inspired me, not the other way around.”

Twilight shook her head. “Don’t put yourself down, Flurry. This victory wouldn’t have been possible without you. Your friends taught you courage, but you applied it. Once you realized the strength it gave you then you held on tight to it, never letting that fire go out.

“When Mayhem made his proposal you were the only one who didn’t fear a possible betrayal. At a time when they were filled with doubt you came to their rescue this time, settling their fears.”

Flurry shook her head hard. “No, no, no! Stop acting like I did something amazing. I was useless on my own! It was only because I had them with me that I was able to do anything.

“And it was only because Mayhem wasn’t trying to kill us for real that we lasted long enough to defeat him.”

Twilight lifted Flurry up in her magic, setting her on top of the table in front of her. She gave her niece a loving hug. “Flurry, I hope you’re not misunderstanding me. I’m not trying to diminish what your friends did. I wouldn’t have asked them to sit down in those thrones if I didn’t value their accomplishment as much as yours.

“The reason I’m focusing so much on you personally is because you were the one struggling the most with your identity.”

Flurry pulled back, giving Twilight a questioning look. “What do you mean, Aunt Twilight?”

“You felt that the lives of your other friends were simple. They could be whatever they wanted, but you were stuck with only a single role being forced on you.

“You felt that you couldn’t handle being a princess and fighting to save the world at your age, and yet you did just that.”

Flurry looked down at the ground. “But… but it’s like I said before. I only did so well because I had them to help me, and if Mayhem had actually been serious he could have killed us at any time.”

“But Mayhem was counting on us to stop him,” said Pound.

“And Twilight’s right,” said Pumpkin. “We couldn’t have done this without you.”

“This was a group effort,” said Peppermint, “and it was only through your encouragement and support that I felt strong enough to make a difference.”

“Each of us played a part,” said Tree Leaf. “All of us were important.”

“So don’t put yourself down,” said Masky. “Take credit for what you did.”

Flurry looked behind her at her friends, trying to articulate what she was feeling. “I… I get what you’re saying, but I think you’re blowing things out of proportion.”

“I think it’s the opposite,” said Twilight, her voice getting a bit firmer. “I think you’re being too dismissive of yourself. When you learn a lesson, and apply it, you can give credit for the inspiration to them, but the actual carrying it out is on your shoulders alone.

“Pound and the others sacrificed themselves for you to keep you safe, and then in turn you put yourself in harm’s way to do the same. That was your decision and your action, and nobody else can take credit for that choice.

“We’re all honed by the choices we make. You could have chosen to run from Sombra, the Crystal Empire’s greatest foe. Instead, you chose to fight head-on for the sake of your friends. You chose the path of true strength. You, and you alone.”

Flurry was shaking. “I… well…” She took in a sharp breath. “Well, I hope you’re not expecting me to make a habit of this right now.”

Twilight rubbed Flurry’s head. “Of course not, but, as shown today, if you had to then you could.”

“Are you going to keep ignoring that Mayhem wasn’t being serious?”

“I’ve fought numerous creatures since I first came to Ponyville. I’ve yet to see something that can break the rules of reality like he can, so anything else is a serious downgrade from his powers. 

“And if someone is so full of themselves that they hold back and underestimate their opponent that’s their fault.

“In the end, you did exactly what I would have done. You expressed forgiveness and pulled Mayhem back to our side. And do you remember why you had that option?”

“Ummm… because we won?”

Twilight shook her head. “I was speaking about you alone. Your friends trusted you so deeply they left Mayhem’s fate in your hooves.”

“That’s right!” said Pound. “We knew you would do the right thing.”

“Saddled with that responsibility you made the choice that your heart was leading you to. Having lost, Mayhem was scared of you. And despite all that he put you through you decided to spare him and offer him forgiveness.”

Flurry bit her lip, shivering a bit. “Please… just stop. You make it sound like I was so amazing, but I didn’t feel confident at all. I was scared out of my mind half the time.

“The more you talk about it the more uncomfortable it makes me feel. It makes me feel like you want to push these adult issues on me more often. I just want to enjoy my childhood!”

Twilight hugged her again. “Do you think I feel any different? I wish that what happened today didn’t have to happen, either. But it did, and you handled yourself amazingly well.

“Do you think I always feel confident? It’s not a crime to be scared of danger. In fact, that’s a good thing. Someone who doesn’t feel fear in these types of situations is someone who is either reckless or foolish.

“Being able to overcome that fear and still act is what truly makes a leader, and I know all your friends trust you from the bottom of their hearts.”

She pulled back, staring into Flurry’s unsure eyes. “Maybe you didn’t want to have this thrust upon you, but it was. You stared your greatest fears in the eye, and overcame them to become a blazing pillar of strength for your friends. That’s something to be proud of, and there’s no reason you should put yourself down.”

The other kids hopped onto the table as well, surrounding Flurry.

Flurry was comforted by their presence. “But… the only reason we got as far as we did was because Mayhem wasn’t trying to kill us.”

“That doesn’t matter,” said Twilight. “What Mayhem was or was not trying to do it’s your actions that are important here. 

“Explain something to me, Flurry. Mayhem said himself that he was being serious at the end about winning no matter what. At the time you laughed at him and mocked him and told him you weren’t afraid of him. 

“You were so confident when you thought you were about to die, and yet now that you’re home and the danger is over all that confidence is gone. What happened to it?"

Flurry got a confused look on her face. “I… I don’t know. I guess… maybe…” She looked around, trying to organize her feelings. “I guess… I just felt like they needed me to be strong. I only stepped up because there was no one more grown up to take charge. 

“Now that we’re not stuck in Mayhem’s world there are plenty of adults with more experience that can give the orders and take care of things. I would rather leave it to ponies like you and the rest of the Elements of Friendship.”

Twilight nodded. “That makes sense. As I said earlier I don’t wish for you to ever have to be in that sort of situation again, but at least you’ve seen that you can handle yourself if you have to. That’s all I want to say on the subject.”

Flurry gave a little nod.

“Since you seem to be uncomfortable with me talking about you alone I can talk to you as a group.”

She bowed deeply to them. “As Princess of Friendship, I wish to offer you my heartfelt thanks for saving Equestria.”

Each of them were speechless. Even Pound and Pumpkin, who had experienced Twilight bowing to them before, still felt a little uncomfortable.

Peppermint slowly moved one of her hooves in a circle, blushing. “I… I wouldn’t go that far.”

“All… all we did was save a friend,” said Masky.

Twilight rose. “Don’t be silly. Your actions have far-reaching implications, and it’s the main reason I brought you here today.

“There’s no way of knowing what Mayhem would have done if you hadn’t awakened that power of yours when you did. Maybe he would have stopped himself at the last second, or maybe he would have been devastated by what he had done once it was over. Or maybe he would have decided to keep pushing on, knowing that there was no going back once the rest of you were dead. 

“If there was no chance of forgiveness or undoing his crimes he might have decided it didn’t matter what he did anymore, and start down a path of true evil.

“Whatever actions he would have taken, it’s safe to say that nothing good would have come of it.”

None of them responded for a while. Finally Tree Leaf asked, “Well, what’s your point? It wasn’t like we were thinking of the world when we were fighting. We were just trying to protect each other.”

“I kinda understand how Flurry feels now,” said Pound. “I… I don’t feel like we did anything special. We just did what we had to do.”

“I feel the same,” said Pumpkin.

“I couldn’t disagree more,” said Twilight, smiling brightly. “Please, sit down. There’s much I want to say.”

Uncomfortable with sitting in the thrones of heroes the kids all just sat down on the edge of the table.

Twilight didn’t press the issue. “Pound, Pumpkin… on the day of your birthday I had a thought, and it couldn’t be more apparent that my thought was correct after what happened today.”

“What thought was that?” asked Pound.

“I’ve been a pretty big part of the past year of your lives. I’ve watched your growth, helping to teach you about true friendship. I’ve seen the hardships you’ve gone through in making the friends you have.

“Tree Leaf didn’t have any big issues, but he did have a problem with jealously. That led to him lashing out at Pumpkin. Pound, you pushed past your anger for Pumpkin’s sake, getting him back on your side. You empathized with his feelings, allowing you to form a bond with one another.

“Peppermint was dealing with a big issue of feeling neglected at home because of her new baby brother getting most of the attention. Her jealously exploded into rage and led her to attack her brother, with her father lashing out in return. She told me about how you were there for her, a total stranger. You helped her open up to her father, bridging the gap that had formed between them. 

“Masky was also dealing with heavy family issues of feeling neglected. It led to him putting up a wall and hiding everything inside. Once again, through your efforts, you helped him open up to his family.

“And finally there’s my niece Flurry Heart.” Her smile faded as she let out a little sigh. “I really was worried about her. She was acting like me back in my younger days, acting like making friends was useless and she just wanted to study.

“I tried to share my history with her, but she wouldn’t listen to me. She dismissed me. I wasn’t able to break the wall she put up.”

“Then you came to us,” Pumpkin said quietly.

Twilight nodded. “I thought that putting her in a situation with her peers might show her how wonderful it felt to have friends… but things went sour almost immediately after she arrived when she insulted Mayhem.

“The two of you were furious and wanted her gone.” She remembered the heartache she had felt in that moment, and a tear came down her eye.

“I really was being pretty rude,” said Flurry. “After they came out of the kitchen they politely asked me to come upstairs. Did you order them to give me another chance or something?”

“Do I seem the type to use my authority to order others around? Knowing how you feel about being a princess meaning others treat you differently I think you should know I’m not that type of pony.”

“You got a point there, but you must have done something to convince them.”

Pound nodded. “She bowed to us and begged us to try again.” He said it with an air of wonder, like he couldn’t believe it had actually happened.

“She opened her heart to us,” said Pumpkin. “How could we turn her down when she was hurting so much?”

Peppermint was having difficulty with the concept. “But you’re the adult, Twilight. Couldn’t you have just told them to do it?”

Twilight nodded. “Of course I could have, but it would have been meaningless. A friendship has to be willing. If I had been authoritative I could have just reminded the twins they had agreed to help Flurry, but then they would have been resentful towards me and Flurry, only helping out of obligation. 

“I had asked something huge of them, solving a big problem in the middle of their party. Since I couldn’t force them the only thing I could do is humbly request their help again and acknowledge that my request was selfish.

“I always knew they, and the rest of you, could help her. You just needed some time. My faith in you wasn’t misguided.”

“And we’re glad it worked out so well,” said Masky, throwing a hoof around Flurry. “She’s a great friend.”

“Same here,” said Flurry, returning the gesture. “I love my friends.”

Twilight was beaming. “I’m honored to hear it, because that’s why I wanted to talk to you all.”

All of them patiently waited for her to explain.

“It’s not something I like to think about, but the truth is that I’m not going to live forever. Maybe it will be old age, a powerful enemy, an accident… whatever the cause may be, one day I won’t be around anymore.”

“That’s not a pleasant thought,” said Flurry, frowning now. “I’m already scared enough of losing my parents one day.”

“I know, Flurry, but this is something I have to say.

“As princess, my goal is not to be the one to solve everything. It’s to teach others to take care of themselves.”

“You mean like a parent?” asked Masky.

“Hmmm… I guess you could say that. When someone dies, what becomes the most important is what they leave behind, and what I want to leave is as many ponies as possible that understand the meaning of true friendship.

“Pound, Pumpkin… I won’t take credit for the friends you made, but I did help teach you the lessons you needed to be able to make your own friends and keep them. Now you’re surrounded by close friends. You even helped Flurry make her own friend in the Crystal Empire.”

Flurry was grinning again. “Yeah, I love Crystal. She’s the one who taught me to really appreciate my special wings.”

“While I hope it comes far into the future, the thought I had during your party was that I wasn’t afraid of dying as long as there were children like you around.”

“Us?” said Pound, pointing to himself.

Twilight nodded. “You’ve proven your friendships over and over, helping out those in need and gaining their love and trust in return. When I congratulated you and Pumpkin for helping Flurry you corrected me, insisting that all your friends deserved some of the credit. Today, you proved the strength of your bond goes beyond mere memories, and together you were able to use a magic even I haven’t touched.

“I’m very much looking forward to your futures. One day, I feel you could be sitting in those seats for real, as the next Elements of Friendship.”

All of them blushed, looking awkward.

“Twilight, this is all a bit much,” said Tree Leaf.

Twilight closed the distance. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. You’ve more than proven yourselves capable. If you could do all this as children, just think of the ponies you’ll be when you’re adults.

“There’s no reason to rush either. It’s the same issue Flurry was afraid of. I’m not planning on sending you out into Equestria to solve friendship problems like me and my friends do. I want you to be able to just be kids as much as I’m sure your parents do, so I’d only ask you to help fellow kids in Ponyville.

“It’s the same for Mayhem. His powers can be utilized for good, and I’m eager to see him bond and learn with other kids as well. I believe he’ll grow past his childish tendencies and become an asset to Equestria right alongside the rest of you.”

“Do… do you really think we’re that special, Twilight?” asked Peppermint shyly.

“Of course!” she replied emphatically. “All of you showed the true strength of the magic of friendship today, your bond being strong enough that even after having your memories of each other purged you still felt connected to one another. Only a truly strong friendship could survive that, as well as create the darkness dispelling heart.”

Pumpkin bowed her head. “Thank you, Twilight, but I think I speak for us all when I say that we don’t feel as strongly about this as you do."

Pound nodded. “To think of comparing what we did to beating Nightmare Moon, Changelings, and all the other amazing things you’ve done… I just don’t think what we did measures up.

“This just started as an attempt to relieve Mayhem’s boredom so he’d stop being bad. And after our memories were taken away it just became about survival.”

“Mayhem said it himself that things were mostly just for show,” said Peppermint. “It wasn’t until the end that he actually was going to wipe us out.”

“It was just a game for him,” said Flurry. “If we got too beat up he could just heal us back up so we could keep playing. 

“We were there for each other as friends, and got Mayhem back on our side, but it really feels like that’s it.”

“We don’t think we deserve parades in our honor and trophies and stuff like that,” said Tree Leaf. “The stuff we were fighting against was almost all just imaginary.”

“You were doing it for real,” said Masky. “You were fighting the real things, who really would kill you. We were fighting watered-down versions who weren’t allowed to be fatal.”

“Hmmm…” Twilight gently tapped her hoof on the floor, looking a little put-out. “I kinda thought you’d be more excited.”

“What’s there to be excited about?” asked Flurry. “We proved the strength of our friendship, sure, and I’m glad our friendship is as strong as it is, but today was terrifying.”

“And it’s not like we want to brag about having our friend betray us,” said Pumpkin. “It’s going to be hard enough for him to make other friends without hearing that he recently went on a rampage.”

“Even if we got him back in the end,” said Pound.

Peppermint rubbed her front hooves together awkwardly. “I guess we’re trying to say that we appreciate it, but we just don’t think what we did is as big as you seem to think it is.” The others nodded. “Certainly not proof that we should be sitting on the thrones of the biggest heroes of Equestria.” More nods.

Twilight looked between all of the children, seeing now that she had pushed them too hard. Just like Cup and Carrot, the feelings of the day were still too raw. They hadn’t even had a chance to be alone and process the events of the day before she threw this upon them.

Bowing her head she said, “I want to apologize to all of you. This was not the best time to talk about this.”

She lifted her head. “In a way I’m glad to see this as your response. I want you to remain humble and not get a swelled head, but I felt it would be wrong not to congratulate you properly on your achievement.”

Pound smiled. “Don’t feel bad, Twilight. You’re the most humble pony we know. You’re not afraid to admit your mistakes.”

“Just like you said before, it was your lessons that helped me and Pound to make the friends we did,” said Pumpkin, also smiling now.

“Thank you for thinking of us,” said Peppermint, “and for spending time with a filly like me.”

“I don’t know if we’re going to be helping anyone else in the near future, but I want to keep the friendships I do have strong,” said Tree Leaf. 

“Same here,” said Masky.

Twilight let out a little sigh. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“Something wrong?” asked Flurry. 

“Well… I do think it’s about time I take all of you home. You’ve had a big day, and I think all of you could use some down time to think about today.”

“You seem down now, Aunt Twilight. Are you upset with us because we didn’t react the way you wanted?”

Twilight shook her head. “Not at all. I’m upset because I’m going to put a strain on your friendship.”

“Why?” asked Pound, confused. “You just praised our friendship.”

“Not the friendship between the six of you, but the one with Mayhem. I know you’re not going to like it, but I do need to inform all your parents about what happened today.” 

They all got strained looks on their faces.

Peppermint clenched, tears forming in her eyes. “I… I know it’s useless to try to talk you out of it, but I don’t want…” She took in a sharp breath. “I’m scared. Without the light of our friendship Mayhem may go back into the darkness. If my parents tell me I’m not allowed to see him anymore…”

A sympathetic tear came down Twilight’s face. “I understand what you’re feeling, Peppermint. I really do, but I can’t hide this.

“Just like Cup and Carrot, they have a right to know the truth about Mayhem’s betrayal. They’re your family, and it would be wrong of me to hide the danger he put on you simply to spare your feelings. I can emphasize that he was mostly just showing off and pretending to be after your lives, and that your feelings won him over, but ultimately they will have to decide whether they want you to play with him again.”

Flurry wasn’t too worried about her parent’s feelings. They had former villain Starlight as her main caretaker, after all. She didn’t know how the rest of the parents were going to react.

Masky let out a little groan. “Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“I… I won’t try to stop you, but can you please hurry up with your plans for Mayhem? Even if my parents bar me from seeing him again, at least if he starts making other friends he won’t feel so lonely.”

Twilight bowed her head again. “I give you my word.”

He hopped off the table, letting out a heavy breath. “Well… then let’s get to it, I guess.”

The other kids followed suit, murmuring their agreement.

The next hour was an uncomfortable one. Unsurprisingly, the parents of the Ponyville children acted with horror and outrage upon hearing about Mayhem’s actions. Twilight did try and soften the blow a little by not directly showing them the memories and only telling them in words.

She also told them about their child’s heroism and about her plans for Mayhem, but she knew it was no good. They, like Cup and Carrot, couldn’t just drop things immediately. They needed time to process what they had been told.

Finally, it was down to the twins and Flurry.

As they walked back to Sugarcube Corner none of the children had much pep in their step.

“I know you’re all feeling down,” said Twilight, “but I wouldn’t give up hope. Pound and Pumpkin, your parents have already agreed to give Mayhem another chance. And Flurry, your parents fully trust Starlight, a former enemy.

“At the very least, the three of you will still get to have permission to see Mayhem again. I can’t guarantee the other three, but I’m hopeful they’ll come around one day.”

Pound sighed. “It just… doesn’t feel like a victory anymore.”

A tear came down Pumpkin’s eye. “All of us fought so hard, and a part of our friendship circle may be gone for good.”

Twilight hesitated a few moments, then asked, “Are you mad at me for telling them?” 

That made them stop, and the other two stopped in turn. “Why would we be mad at you, Aunt Twilight?” asked Flurry. “We know that you didn’t want to tell them what happened. You were just fulfilling your role as a princess.”

“How can we blame you for being responsible?” asked Pound.

“We’re not upset at you,” said Pumpkin. “Today just feels so heavy.”

“I understand,” said Twilight. “This has been a big day for all of you.

“I know it’s probably pointless to tell you not to worry, but don’t forget that I gave you my vow as a princess that I’ll do everything in my power to help Mayhem just like I helped Starlight. Young or old, I give everyone the same respect, so you know that I’ll take my word to you seriously.”

Pumpkin gave her a hug, Pound following suit. “We know, Twilight. We have complete faith in you.”

“Same here,” said Pound.

Flurry felt a little antsy. “Do you think we could hurry things along a bit? I really just want to go home. I want to hug my family.”

Twilight lifted a wing, pulling Flurry to her. “Would you like to start with me?”

For a moment Flurry felt embarrassed, hoping Twilight didn’t feel slighted. She felt she knew her aunt better than that, so she let it go. “Yes, I would.”

She hugged all three of them. “Here we go. You ready?”

“Ready for what?”

With a flash they appeared in Pound and Pumpkins room.

Champ let out a startled yip and then a growl from the sudden intrusion. After a moment, when he recognized the smell and look of his owner, he let out a happy bark, running up to the colt and licking him.

As Pound hugged his dog he felt a sense of inner peace. When they had first arrived back from Mayhem’s world Champ hadn’t been there, and his parents hadn’t had him. He had to guess that Pinkie had taken him to find him by scent.

It didn’t take long for Tiger Lily to jump onto Pumpkin’s back before moving to her head, purring away.

Pumpkin also felt a sense of comfort from knowing that things were still normal. Their adventure truly was over, and they could just go back to their everyday lives.

After a minute of doting on their pets they put them on their beds to hug Flurry goodbye, knowing she needed that sense of normality as well.

When Flurry and Twilight left they brought their animals downstairs to the living room. Cup, Carrot, and Pinkie were all sitting quietly, seemingly off in their own worlds.

“Hello,” said Pound, making all of them look at him. Before he could even say anything else his emotions overflowed. He was just so happy to see all of them. If they hadn’t triumphed over Mayhem he never would have seen them again.

He ran sobbing towards his mother, the weight of everything that had gone on crashing over him.

Cup met him halfway, hugging him close.

Carrot hopped up as well, walking towards Pumpkin. 

She had been focusing so much on Pound and her mother that she felt a little surprised when she was picked up. As she looked up into her father’s loving eyes she also felt her emotions overflow and let herself go like Pound, holding him as tight as she could. 

After a minute even that wasn’t enough. She turned her head. “A-Auntie Pinkie!” 

The mare quickly walked over, adding her own comforting hooves to the mix. 

Without needing to be asked Cup moved towards the others with Pound, all of them in a big group hug.

After a time they all sat down on the couch. Cup and Carrot even allowed them to break the rule about the pets being on the couch, simply to allow all of their family to be nearby.

Things weren’t too different for the rest of the Ponyville children. As much as they didn’t hold Mayhem’s actions against him they also couldn’t help but feel so glad to be alive and still able to spend time with their family.

Flurry had a bit of an easier time of it. As soon as she arrived home and saw her parents she reacted just like the other children, running to them crying her eyes out. Too distraught to answer their questions about what happened she just said, “Hug!” And of course they complied, holding her close as she settled down.

She had never cherished a hug more. 

Shining felt some concern. Flurry was a wreck. He looked up questioningly at Twilight. “What happened, Twily?”

Twilight met his gaze. “There was a situation. It’s all taken care of, but it did have quite the effect on little Flurry. I’ll tell you all about it soon, but for right now Flurry needs your love.”

“Cleary,” said Cadance sadly. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her this down.”

After a few minutes Flurry had calmed down enough that she had stopped crying. Her raging emotions gave way to a sense of calm as the events of the day got replaced by the love of her parents.

She looked up into her father’s eyes, and he gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I love you, Daddy!”

He smiled down at her. “I love you too, Flurry Heart.”

“Me too?” asked Cadance, nuzzling her cheek.

“You too, Mommy. I love you.” Flurry got a small smile on her face, but after a moment it faded as she sighed. “Well… I guess it can’t be put off forever. Let’s go sit down so we can tell you about today.”

The cheer left her parents faces as well, wondering what had upset their daughter so. “Very well,” said Shining.
> 6-17: Family time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shining and Cadance directed Twilight and Flurry to an empty room. Once they were all sitting down Twilight told them about the events of the day. Unlike the other parents, Twilight shared the memories she had gotten from Discord with Cadance and Shining.

As Flurry expected her parents weren’t nearly as angry about Mayhem’s game as the other parents had been. They were, naturally, still upset that it had happened, but they didn’t rage as much as the other parents. They seemed more disappointed.

In the end, they decided to focus more on stabilizing Flurry than their anger. It was clear the little alicorn was stressed and needed their support.

Twilight hung around for a while afterward, talking about unimportant things with her brother and sister-in-law.

Flurry sat on her parent’s laps, not contributing to the conversation.

Twilight eventually noticed this, and said, "You’ve been pretty quiet, Flurry. Is there a topic you want to discuss? I don’t want you not to feel included.”

She shook her head. “Please, just keep doing what you’re doing. I have my family close. That’s what’s most important to me.

“I don’t feel like talking right now, but I’m enjoying just listening to all of you talk. It makes me feel like everything is alright, and that’s what I really need right now. Knowing that all of you are fine makes me feel less sad.”

“I understand. I certainly don’t mind spending more time with Cadance and Shiny.”

Cadance moved Flurry over to Shining’s lap before standing up. “I’ll be right back.” 

Flurry tensed. “Where are you going?” she asked in an unnaturally high voice. She hadn’t expected something so simple to hit her so hard, but it did.

Cadance looked with concern at her daughter, clearly not expecting her emotional outburst either. “I’m trying to help you, Flurry. I want to get something to help you feel better.”

“What will help me feel better is you staying right here! Didn't I just say that?”

Cadance immediately walked back to Flurry, pulling her into a hug. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to add to your stress.”

Flurry held her mother tight for a minute, calming down again. When she felt better she said quietly, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so pathetic.”

“Don’t talk like that, Flurry. You went through a traumatic experience. It’s understandable your emotions are still a little hyper. That doesn’t make you pathetic.”

Flurry didn’t want to respond to that, so she changed the subject. “What… what did you want to get?”

“A hairbrush. I know having your mane brushed is something you really enjoy.”

It was quiet for a little while. Finally, Flurry said, “I’d like that.”

“Okay.”

“But I also don’t want any of you to leave me right now.”

“That’s not an issue.” She went to the door of the room, stopping one of the Royal Guards patrolling the castle. 

“Yes, Princess Cadance?” the stallion said, snapping to attention.

“At ease, Sir,” she responded.

As he got back into a regular pose Flurry said, “Can you go to my room and get my special brush?”

Bowing his head he responded respectfully, “At once, Lady Flurry.” 

As he left Cadance took Flurry back to sit down next to Shining.

A few minutes later the guard returned with Flurry’s favorite brush.

“Thank you,” Flurry said gratefully.

“Of course, Lady Flurry.” He bowed his head before getting back to his patrol.

As Cadance began to brush Flurry’s mane Twilight asked, “Why Lady Flurry?”

“That was Flurry’s request,” Shining responded. “She’s still a little uncomfortable over the whole princess thing, and feels that she’ll connect with the guards better if they’re not using so formal a title.”

“Well, I’m glad she found a solution that works for her. As someone in an official position of power I can’t exactly order people not to call me a princess when I am acting in that capacity.”

“Same here,” said Cadance. “I do try to nudge them into being a bit more casual, but they consider it a matter of duty to use my title when addressing me.”

“I guess I should be glad I don’t have a Royal Guard assigned to me. I mostly just interact with those that can talk to me on my level.”

“Hey!” said Flurry. “Can’t you talk about something else? You’re ruining my relaxation talking about uncomfortable things.”

Cadance smiled. “Sorry, sorry.” 

“So why don’t we talk about you?” asked Twilight. Flurry tensed, looking afraid. The reason quickly clicked. “I’m not asking about today. I was just going to ask why you enjoy getting your mane brushed so much. It was the same thing at Pound and Pumpkin’s birthday. Cadance said it settles you down.”

“Oh.” The tension went out of the filly as she let out a breath. “I don’t really know. I think it’s just the feeling of closeness I feel when she does it. When I have a bad day and I go sit on her lap she holds me close for a little bit. Then she shows me how much she loves me by doing something I really enjoy.” She closed her eyes, reveling in the sensation. “Sometimes, she’ll even sing to me while she does it.

“It just became something of a tradition between us.”

Twilight grinned. “I know that feeling. Me and my mother had something like that since the time when I was around your age.”

“What was it?” asked Cadance.

“I remember,” said Shining. “Since babyhood is the time when a mother is most connected to her child the solution was obvious.”

Twilight gave him a curious look. She agreed with the sentiment, but she couldn’t see how it related to her own tradition.

“So what did she do?”

“Well, she’d set Twily on the floor, putting a diaper on her and rocking her like a little baby."

Cadance and Flurry started laughing.

“Hey!” Twilight cried out, blushing. “That’s not funny.”

“Sorry,” said Shining. “I shouldn’t have spilled the secret.”

“Thank you!” After a few moments she realized what he had done. “HEY! It’s NOT a secret because it NEVER… HAPPENED!”

Shining was cracking up now. “Oh, boy, Twily. You should see the look on your face.”

“Well, I don’t appreciate your little joke.”

“But it made Flurry laugh. Isn’t that the most important takeaway here?”

Twilight sucked on her cheek, looking ready to blow, but eventually she forced herself to take a few deep breaths to settle her emotions. “I am going to be the mature one here and let things go.”

“Aww,” said Flurry. “But that was funny.”

Twilight’s gaze softened as she looked towards her niece. Flurry was starting to talk and had relaxed enough to laugh. That was more important to her than Shining making a joke at her expense. “Alright, Shining. I forgive you.”

She took a few more breaths to regain her composure. “You know me. You know I love to read and learn.” Flurry nodded. “Well, my mother had me put that love to good use. I loved to make lists, and she used that love to create bonding experiences between us that also were great at cheering me up.

“The books I read back then were a lot simpler than the ones I read now, and Mom always kept some craft books around for us to work on. Since we obviously didn't want to ruin the books she'd have me write down the instructions.

"It didn’t matter what the material was. It could be popsicle sticks, jewelry boxes, or little carts on a track in our living room. We’d follow the instructions, me ready to check them off one at a time. Just the simple act of creating something and seeing the end result was always a special experience.”

Twilight smiled widely. She put a hoof to her head. “Wow.”

“What’s up?” asked Cadance.

“I have a sudden urge to go to Canterlot and create something with my mom.”

“Maybe she can brush your mane too,” said Flurry, looking very content as her eyes drooped. “It does wonders for me.”

Twilight gave Flurry a warm smile, glad to see she was starting to feel better.

Time passed, and eventually Twilight bid them farewell.

Flurry was a little sad to see her go, but she knew her aunt couldn’t stay there forever.

With Twilight gone she lost that sense of completeness, that link in the chain holding her together.

She felt a desire to be alone now, and went to her room. Her parents tried to coax her into staying with them, but she didn’t listen to them.

She had thought her negative feelings were gone. She had had a long brushing and time with her family. Everything had turned back to normal, the way it should be. Now it felt like they had only been pushed to the side for a little while, and they were still waiting for her.

A few months ago her life had felt like nothing but pressure; a pressure to excel, a pressure to be her mother’s heir, a pressure to be a hero fighting monsters. That pressure had finally gone away when she met her friends, but now it felt like it was returning. 

She knew her aunt meant well, but asking her to sit on her throne and suggesting that she would one day be part of the new Elements of Friendship just felt like that pressure was coming back. Her aunt realized her mistake and apologized for it, but it brought to mind the things she had been forgetting as she lived her ordinary life.

She was so deep in her thoughts she didn’t hear the knocking at her door a few minutes later. She didn’t even react until it sounded like an explosion went off nearby.

She jumped, letting out a yell as she looked around frantically for the source. Her eyes focused on Starlight, who was snickering.

“Hey there, Flurry!” she said brightly. “Back from your trip to Ponyville and you didn’t even pop in to say hello? If I hadn’t been out on a date with Sunburst I might have been offended.”

Flurry put a hoof over her racing heart. “H-Hello, Aunt Starlight.”

Starlight walked in, standing near the edge of her bed. “Well, I hope you don’t think you’re getting out of your magic lessons.”

Flurry glared at her. “Magic lessons? NOW? After everything that happened? Don’t you know what went on?”

Starlight’s eyebrow went up. “Should I?”

Flurry sputtered for a few moments, then her gaze softened. How would Starlight know if she just got back home?

“I thought you were going to cheer up a friend. Guess that didn’t work out so well.”

Flurry let out a huff. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Starlight shrugged. “Whatever. Not my business. At least I’m here to get your mind off your troubles.”

Flurry’s body tensed up. “I’m not in the mood! I’m not going to be able to concentrate on learning some new spell. My brain’s already fried as it is.”

Starlight sat down. “Well, that’s fine. We could always just review some of your previous lessons, like levitation. Doesn’t get much simpler than that.”

Flurry gave her a flat expression. “Levitation? Seriously?”

Ignoring Flurry’s poor reaction Starlight lifted up Flurry’s pillow and pulled out a feather from it. “Now,” she recited, “levitation is a skill every unicorn learns at the start. With a little bit of focus and a tiny bit of magic one can lift things up in the air.” With her magic Starlight lifted up the feather, then dropped it. “Now you try.”

Flurry crossed her hooves and rolled her eyes before lifting up the feather herself. Since Starlight obviously wasn’t taking the hint she didn’t care right now she’d just play along for a few minutes so she could get the mare to leave. 

“Levitation may be a basic skill, but it has many applications, based on how you use it and what you use it on. For example…”

Flurry grumbled under her breath before letting out a squeal as Starlight tickled her side with the feather. The filly jerked away as Starlight snickered.

“… I can make a grumpy filly laugh.”

Flurry glared at her again. “Knock it off! I told you-EEEE!” She jumped as Starlight tickled her again. “Stop it!” She leapt off the bed as Starlight continued after her, forcing unwanted laughs out of her. 

“Run, run, Flurry!” 

After a minute of this Starlight dropped the feather and grabbed one of Flurry’s pillows with her magic, giving Flurry a gentle whack with it. Continuing in her academic tone she said, “The bigger the object the more magic it takes to lift and focus it, but a little pillow is still very light. Certainly light enough to annoy a tiny alicorn.”

Flurry stomped up to Starlight. “CUT IT OUT! I’m not in the mood for-OOF!” She recoiled a bit as Starlight whacked her again.

Starlight teleported another pillow onto the floor in front of her. “Let’s see if you’ve grasped the lesson.”

Flurry looked down at the pillow. “I’m not playing your game!”

“Okay, then. More whacks for me.” She put a little more into it this time, knocking Flurry onto her butt.

“Come on, little baby! What you got?” She smirked.

Flurry was steaming now as she shot up, her face going red. She grabbed the pillow in her magic, whacking Starlight in the face with it. “Enough!”

“Oh, do you finally want to play?” Starlight asked as she dropped the shield in front of her face. She swung at Flurry again, who put up her own shield in front of her. Starlight teleported the pillow, and whacked Flurry in the back of the head. “Ooh. Such poor spell work.”

Flurry let out a yell, going on the attack. She was sick of this game Starlight was playing.

Starlight simply blocked all of her hits. Flurry was in such a rage her attacks were pretty direct.

The longer things went on the angrier Flurry got, especially with the smirk Starlight kept flashing.

Flurry teleported directly in front of Starlight. Dispensing with magic entirely she used her hoof and slammed it into Starlight’s jaw, knocking her to the ground.

She used her magic to grab a second pillow, and relentlessly assaulted Starlight’s prone form with both of them.

“I told you to stop! I don’t need this today!” She continued ranting and raving the entire time.

After a minute the haze of her rage cleared, and as she came back to herself she felt fear that she had actually hurt her aunt. “Aunt Starlight?” she said, trembling.

She felt a light tap on the head, and a pillow bounced off it, falling to the ground.

She looked up to see Starlight hovering in the air above her, balancing on her horn with one front hoof. “Hello there.”

“You… you…” She looked over at the Starlight on the ground, and it vanished into energy.

Starlight landed, giving her a hug. “Well, I think you’ve got the hang of levitation.” The humor in her voice faded as she asked, “Feeling a little better now that you’ve worked out some of those heavy feelings inside?”

Flurry wasn’t sure if she was mad or relieved. “You did that on purpose?”

“Sure did. It’s not good to sit around and mope. Better to funnel those feelings into something productive.”

“Like beating you with a pillow?” she asked flatly.

“Hey, whatever works.”

“I… I could have really hurt you!”

“Nah. I’m not your guardian because of my looks, you know. Just like I’m entrusted to look after you in case any baddies come after you, I also need to be competent to deal with you when you’re not in control.

“You still have much to learn, my apprentice, before you’ll be able to take me down.”

Flurry grumbled a bit under her breath. “I think I could beat you.”

“Well, I’m not out to fight any more today. You had your magic lesson for the day, so you know what that means, right?”

“Yeah…” 

“Ice cream sundaes!” Her voice trilled a bit at the end.

Flurry finally hugged Starlight back. “I think I'd like that. Can you… just not tease me anymore?”

“Can’t promise that, but it won’t be mean-spirited anymore.”

“I... I’ll settle for that.”

“Okay, so you ready?” As Starlight began to pull back Flurry grabbed her harder.

“No!” Flurry said. “I’m not done hugging you.”

“My apologies.” She increased the pressure as well. “I love you, Flurry.”

“And I love you too, jerk!”

Starlight chuckled.
> 6-18: Ice cream!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Flurry was ready she climbed onto Starlight’s back. “So what do you think?” the mare asked. “Should we bring the dork with us?”

“Of course!” said Flurry, and a with a flash of her horn they were outside Starlight and Sunburst’s room.

The door was half open, and Starlight could see Sunburst sitting at his desk reading a book. She jogged up to the door and bucked it open, making Sunburst jump and drop his book.

“Alright, you!” Starlight said in a playful tone. “You are hereby being abducted!”

“S-Starlight, please!” said Sunburst, catching his breath. 

“So is this your thing now?” asked Flurry with a touch of annoyance. “Kicking doors open instead of just knocking?”

“Could be!” she replied with a giggle. “Let’s go, Mr. Wizard!”

“But I’m right at the best part,” Sunburst complained as she dragged him by his tail towards them. He was going to grab the book with his magic, but noticed it wasn’t on the floor anymore.

Sunburst flipped onto his back. “We just went out,” he said in a defeated voice.

“This isn’t about me.” She lifted Flurry off her back, levitating her in front of Sunburst. “This is about this cute little filly who just had a magic lesson and wants her ice cream sundae.”

“So what do you need me for? Isn’t that your bonding experience?”

“Because she wants you to come along. Right, Flurry?”

Flurry had a sad face now. “I… I had a bit of a bad day today, Uncle Sunny. I just want to surround myself with the people I love to feel better. But if you want to stay here that's okay. I won't be mad.”

“So… you still want to go back to your book?” asked Starlight knowingly.

Sunburst stood up. “Of course not. If you need me I’ll always be there, Flurry.” Flurry put her hooves out, and Sunburst hugged her close.

“Aww, I knew you’d see reason.”

Sunburst rolled his eyes as he gave her a flat look. “You could have just asked nicely instead of giving me a heart attack.”

“Oh, but what’s the fun in that?”

Sunburst sighed. “Out of all the mares in the world I just had to choose you.”

Starlight nuzzled his nose lovingly. “And I know you don’t regret it for a minute.”

Reluctantly Sunburst smiled and gave her a kiss. “You don’t make it easy sometimes.”

“I love you too, Sunbutt.”

Flurry snickered. She was already starting to feel better again. Everything felt normal once more. Aunt Starlight was being a troll and Uncle Sunburst was being his dorky, timid self.

As she released Sunburst she smiled and threw a hoof in the air. “Let’s go! I want my ice cream!” As much as she didn’t care for Starlight’s methods she couldn’t deny that her emotions were sitting less heavy on her after their magic fight.

Starlight flashed her a smile. “See what you did, uncle of the year?” She kissed him on the cheek. 

His eyes turned into hearts for a moment. Starlight could grate on his nerves sometimes, but she was perfect to him. “As her Crystaller it falls on me to take on this task.”

“So you ready?” asked Starlight, her horn starting to light up.

“No!” said Flurry strongly. “No magic. I want to walk.”

“Suit yourself.” The glow faded.

Flurry climbed up on Sunburst’s back. “I’m ready now.”

She felt at ease as they walked out of the castle and to her favorite ice cream store. Like with her parents and Twilight before they didn’t talk about anything important, but that’s what made it important to her. She just wanted to forget her troubles for a while by talking about regular stuff with no big significance. 

Sunburst didn’t press her for details on what made her day bad, for which she was grateful. Some might find it inconsiderate he didn’t do so, but she knew the way he was. When she went through hard times he offered her his unfailing support, regardless of what he was doing, knowing that she would talk about it when she was ready. 

When they arrived at the shop they all took a booth. Since Flurry and Starlight were such regulars all the waitress had to ask was “The usual?” The two nodded, Flurry licking her lips in anticipation.

Sunburst wasn’t big on sweets, and the few times he tagged along he usually didn’t order anything. 

Flurry wasn’t having that this time. “Uncle Sunny, you’re not just going to stare at us eating today!”

He knew he couldn’t argue with her. “Look, I’ll just share with Starlight.”

Starlight blushed lightly as she gave him a warm smile. “Oh, you romantic, you.”

Sunburst gave her a questioning look at first, then blushed heavily. “Oh, um, I…” He coughed. “That wasn’t a…”

Starlight looked up at the waitress. “The usual, but supersize it so I can share it with my darling husband here.”

“Right away,” said the mare, leaving to put in their order.

Starlight nuzzled him. “Don’t be shy, honey.”

“I’m not being shy!” he said firmly.

“Oh, but it’s okay for you to be. That’s what I fell in love with, you adorkable twit.”

Flurry put her head on her hooves, feeling a sense of joy. “You two are always so charming together. I hope one day I find a cool stallion like Uncle Sunny too.”

“C-cool… stallion?” Sunburst said, looking flattered.

“Even if you don’t have a lot of magical power like me and Aunt Starlight, you still helped to save the whole Crystal Empire when I broke the Crystal Heart as a baby and no one else knew what to do. You’re a real hero, Uncle Sunny.”

His blush grew deeper, unable to stop himself from smiling.

“Hmph!” Starlight snickered. “Didn’t help that you also destroyed the book we were going to use to recreate it.”

“No,” Flurry replied, “but you still couldn’t have done it without him. You tried and failed to put the Crystal Heart back together, and it was only because he read so much stuff he knew what to do.”

“True enough.” She rubbed his beard. “Couldn’t let a catch like that get away.”

In an oddly confident tone he said, “So you only like me for my fame?”

“Is there anything else about you I should be interested in?”

His confident act faded almost as quick as it arrived. He took the question seriously, awkwardly trying to list his good points.

Starlight resisted laughing, and let him go for a bit before kissing him to quiet him down. “You know what I think is the best thing about you?”

Sunburst looked a little love struck. “W-what’s that?”

She kissed him again, looking at him adoringly. “The fact that you’re mine.”

He looked back at her lovingly. “And I love that you’re mine.”

Flurry was beaming, loving to see them being affectionate. Just like with her parents, her aunt and uncle were at their best  when she could have them together. 

“So,” Starlight started, “when are you going to give me a baby?”

“WHAT?” His hoof shot up, knocking his glasses askew as he went to adjust them. “Look… um… t-this isn't the best time to... uh...” He gulped.

“I don’t want to wait anymore.” Starlight said seductively as she slowly got right in his face. “Let’s make it happen! Right here, right now. I don’t care who sees. Let them watch!”

“STARLIGHT!” he said in a panic, jerking back and going green as he sputtered incoherently. 

Starlight burst into laughter as she retreated.

Flurry cracked up too. Starlight was such a joker. 

Sunburst adjusted his glasses, still flustered as he panted and tried to regain his composure. 

Starlight threw a hoof around him, nuzzling his cheek. “You’re such a dork,” she said lovingly. “I’m willing to wait as long as it takes for you to be ready. I would never rush you, silly.”

“Some jokes just aren’t funny!” Sunburst said with a huff.

“Aww, but it made Flurry laugh. Isn’t that worth something?”

Flurry snickered. Unintentional, but this was the second time today her family had made an embarrassing joke and asked to get a pass because it made her laugh.

When their ice cream arrived Flurry was feeling real good inside, and she knew she’d only feel better once they were done. 

Sunburst was still in a bit of a sour mood over Starlight’s joke, sitting quietly with his hooves crossed. 

Starlight thought of teasing him by throwing some ice cream at him, but she didn’t think it would go over well. She had gone a bit too far for that to do anything but push him away.

“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. “That joke was in poor taste. Sometimes I don’t know where to stop when I mess around.”

For a few seconds Sunburst didn’t respond, just staring at the large bowl. “I’m not really in the mood for ice cream anymore, so you can have it all.”

Starlight pushed her side up against his, giving him puppy dog eyes. “Oh, come on, baby. I really am sorry. Let’s not let one tasteless joke ruin things for Flurry.”

Starlight felt a bit of guilt. She had said it mostly to appeal to Sunburst’s good nature, but now that she thought about it she really didn’t want Flurry’s good mood ruined because of her. She couldn't afford to let this time out go south. There was too much at stake here for her, and if things went bad it could taint her relationship with Flurry forever.

She gave Sunburst some space, looking down at her ice cream but not seeing it. “I guess I really did screw things up, huh?” She couldn't bring herself to look at Flurry, feeling some fear now that she had made a huge mistake.

Sunburst heard the shift in her tone, and glanced over at her, feeling like she was actually taking responsibility for things. Her face was downcast, and she looked genuinely sorry now that she wasn't making light of it. “Look, you crossed the line, but you’re right. Flurry deserves to be happy.”

Starlight glanced over at him. “So you forgive me?”

“Not quite.” Sunburst’s horn glowed, and Starlight let out a squeak as an invisible pressure forced her head downwards right into her bowl of ice cream. 

Flurry gasped. She had never seen him do something like that before.

With a smirk he said, “Now you’re forgiven.”

Starlight sputtered as she raised her head, wiping off ice cream from her snout with her hooves. "SUNBURST!" Her eyes narrowed, and she looked like she was about to lose it. "Did you seriously just do that?"

Flurry began to laugh hysterically. It was one of the funniest things she had ever seen, if only because it was Sunburst that had done it, the very last pony she'd ever expect to do something like that.

“Come on, babe,” Sunburst said in a mocking tone. “I got Flurry to laugh. Doesn’t that count for something?”

Starlight tensed, hearing him repeat his words back to her. After a few moments she got a big grin on her face, pleased at this rare display of boldness. She let out a smug laugh as she used magic to clean the mess on her face. “You know you’re a dead pony later, right?”

“Worth it.”

“Woohoo!” Flurry cheered, pumping her hoof. “Go, Uncle Sunny! Show her who’s boss.”

“Oh, please,” said Starlight, chuckling. “Like I’m afraid of this guy.”

Satisfied, Sunburst grabbed a spoon and began to dig in to what remained of the ice cream. After a moment Starlight joined him, with Flurry starting in on hers as well.

Once they finished up they walked back up to the castle. When they reached Starlight and Sunburst’s room Flurry thought they’d spend some more time together inside.

“Say goodbye to Sunburst, Flurry.”

“Where’s he going?” asked Flurry.

“Yeah,” Sunburst said right after. “Where am I going?”

“Thanks for coming along, Sunburst,” Starlight said as she gave him a big kiss. “Flurry really needed it.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied. “Of course I’d do anything for my little Flurry, but that doesn’t explain-”

Starlight’s horn glowed, and a book floated over to them from inside. “I think we’ve bothered you enough for now, so we’ll let you get back to the book you were reading before I so rudely interrupted you.”

Sunburst took the book, and to his surprise there was a bookmark in it. When he opened it to that page he saw that it was exactly where he had been. He was pleased by her thoughtfulness. “Thank you, Starlight.”

“You’re very welcome.

“Give Uncle Sunny a hug and a thank you, Flurry.”

Flurry hopped off Starlight’s back and gave him a big hug. “Thanks so much for coming out with us, Uncle Sunny. You're the best!"

Sunburst got a bashful look on his face. “C-come on. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“It was to me! I love you!”

He hugged her back. “I love you too, Flurry. It was a pleasant outing barring that joke from Starlight.”

“Hey,” said Starlight playfully. “You already got your revenge so I think we’re even, hmm?”

Sunburst rolled his eyes.

When they split apart Flurry levitated herself onto Starlight’s back again. “See you later, Uncle Sunny!”

He waved goodbye as the pair walked off, feeling so lucky to have the two of them in his life.

When they got back to Flurry’s room Starlight set her on her bed, sitting next to her. “So did you have fun?”

Flurry nodded. “Yes, Aunt Starlight. I had a blast!”

Starlight’s chipper attitude slipped, and she suddenly had an oddly heavy look about her. “Well, there’s something I need to talk to you about.” 

“What’s that?” Flurry asked, feeling a little concerned.

“Like your feelings about your friend’s betrayal.”

Flurry tensed, pulling away and looking up at her. How did she know about that?
> 6-19: Fears
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry’s mind was racing. Starlight knew about what happened? The mare hadn’t left her sight since first coming to see her. When could she have found out?

“How… how do you know about that?”

“I ran into Twilight as she was leaving. Since I play as big a part in your life as your parents she shared the memories of the day with me.”

Flurry blinked a few times, her brain having trouble processing that. When her emotions caught up with her thoughts she growled, jumping up. “You KNEW? You knew the whole time?” She gave Starlight a hard smack, feeling a sense of betrayal. “You knew how I was feeling after what happened, and YOU STILL CAME IN HERE AND TEASED ME AND MADE ME LOSE MY TEMPER?”

“Yes,” Starlight responded, looking unfazed by Flurry’s assault.

Flurry’s horn began to glow in her fury. “WHY?”

“Because I care about you, Flurry,” she said sincerely. 

Flurry was so confused by her  answer that she couldn’t even muster an angry response, the glow fading. Starlight had her serious face on now. There was no trace of her mocking expression from before. 

“I’ve watched you since you were a baby, Flurry. I’ve seen you at your worst and at your best, and I have a pretty good grasp on the things you need.”

“And I ‘needed’ to be provoked when I was already in a bad mood? That made sense when I thought you were clueless about things, but now it doesn’t make any sense at all!”

“What you needed was an outlet for your feelings. Spending time with your family trying to forget a bad day is fine, but it’s clear it wasn’t enough. I pushed you to get your negative emotions riled up, letting you safely explode and work out some of the pain sitting inside you with someone who had the skill to withstand that rage. 

“I noticed that after our pillow fight you were definitely calmer.”

“So what? I don’t want to talk about what happened today!”

“Maybe not, but I think you need to. You know better than anyone the enormous pain you held inside for months before you met your friends. It was only once you talked about it that it was all resolved. You expressed the sentiment that if you had only talked about it sooner you wouldn’t have had to suffer so long.” 

Flurry twitched, tears forming in her eyes. 

“Today is no different. I let you express some of that to get it out of your system, then took you to cool off with Sunburst precisely so you’d have the emotional room to speak your mind without getting overwhelmed.

“I’m here, Flurry. No more mocking or taunting or playing around. I’m here as your sounding board. You can say anything you want to me, and I’ll wait as long as I have to.”

Flurry’s mind was in a whirlwind. She didn’t even know where to start. “Everything was too crazy! I was tortured and mocked and betrayed by a friend and made to forget all the friends I had. I just wanted to get away from all of that. Why do you have to bring this up now? Why couldn’t you wait until tomorrow, or next week?”

“Because I feel like as soon as I leave you you’re going to start dwelling on it anyway. Better to talk about it now and put it behind you than to pretend it doesn’t exist.”

“I was feeling perfectly happy just hanging out with the people I loved! Why couldn’t you just let it go? Now you had to remind me of it and those feelings are coming back!”

“Which is no different than what will happen when you’re on your own. The difference is that I’m here to help you through that rather than you trying it on your own.”

“Who asked you to butt in? I don’t care what your reasoning is. I… DON’T… WANT… TO… TALK… ABOUT …IT!

“You’re no better than Mayhem, tormenting me and doing things you know are going to hurt me.”

Starlight’s eyes narrowed.

“I guess I can’t get away from it now, now that you’ve reminded me. 

“What do you understand about my feelings? What do you know about how I feel and betrayal and loneliness and fear? You’re the last person I want to talk to right now, so you should just GET OUT!"

Starlight looked down at the ground. “You little fool. I understand a lot more than you think.” 

She hopped off the bed, blazing now as she closed the distance between them. “You think you’re so special? You think you’re so unique? You think you’re the only one in the world who has experienced the issues you have? Well, you’re dead wrong!”

Flurry didn’t respond as Starlight stopped in front of her.

“I’m not so different than you. Fears, responsibilities… I understand that. I understand how much normalcy means to you, which is the precise reason I wanted to free you of your burden. But… I… I also needed it for myself.”

“Hmm?” She saw Starlight begin to shiver, a scared look about her as her eyes clenched shut. “What…” She found her rage fading. “What do you mean?”

“Twilight… she’s a nice person, but a terrible liar.”

“Liar?”

Starlight opened her eyes, a dead look about them. “I ran into her after Sunburst went off to read. I told you that she showed me the memories of your adventure, but she didn’t show me all of them.”

Flurry’s eyebrow went up.

“Oh, she tried to hide it, but it was so obvious she was hiding something I’m sure she knew I would figure out something was up. She probably hoped I just wouldn’t ask about it.

“You see… there was an odd gap in the memories she showed me. The green colt came flying in, and then suddenly all your friends were on the ground and Sombra was before you getting blasted.”

A tear came down her eye. “Now… what do you suppose Twilight wanted to hide from me? Who showed up right after your friend was attacked?”

"Hmm? Well, that was-" Flurry gasped, her insides going cold.

“I pushed Twilight, demanding to know about that gap. Seeing I wouldn’t be dissuaded she reluctantly showed me the rest.”

Flurry lifted a hoof, lost for a response.

Starlight put a hoof to her face, letting out a sob. “I… I saw it all. I saw that fake tormenting you, telling you horrible lies. Telling you that I had only used Sunburst to get close to the royal family… that I had been lying to you your whole life. T-That I had been the one to throw you into that horrible place.” 

Her whole body clenched up as she hugged herself. “Saying… saying that I intended to KILL you and throw your dead body in front of your parents so I could wipe them out too when they were distracted by grief.” 

Tears came down Flurry’s eyes at the sheer pain in Starlight’s voice.

“I saw how you were so broken by your friends seemingly dead that you agreed to attack Celestia and Luna if it meant no one else you loved had to die.” Tears streamed down Starlight’s eyes. “The very idea that you’d even accept such an offer from someone posing as me disgusted me, and there was nothing I could do about it but watch the memories play, even as I wanted to grab you and hug you.”

“Aunt Starlight…” Flurry was trembling slightly too. Aunt Starlight was always such a strong mare. She was cool and calm and funny and a great role model to her… someone she aspired to be when she grew up. To see her breaking down like this felt so foreign.

“After it all… I felt what I’m sure you were feeling just a short while ago.” Her voice was a little more composed now. “An unbearable heaviness took over me. I almost let it take me, until Twilight pushed me.”

“Starlight… Flurry is very vulnerable right now. She’s having trouble standing on her own, and she needs the support of her pillars to serve as her strength.”

“When I thought of you I felt like you needed me. I couldn’t surrender to despair, not when you were so down yourself. I gathered my strength, overcame those feelings, and went to look for you. I played dumb so you wouldn’t get defensive, putting on my best face and acting like my usual self.”

“So,” Flurry said slowly, “that’s what all this was about?”

Starlight was quiet for a while. “I’d like to say that it was all for your sake… but the truth is that it wasn’t.”

Flurry gave her a questioning look. “Then who was it for? My parents?”

Starlight looked into Flurry’s eyes. “It was for you, but… it was also for me. Because I needed it.”

“So you were messing with me to make yourself feel better?”

“No! Flurry, no!” She let out a heavy breath, looking distraught. “I was afraid.”

Flurry was trying to put the pieces together, but they just weren’t adding up.

Starlight could see that Flurry didn’t understand. “A long time ago I lost myself. My best friend left me, and I blamed cutie marks on it, going down a dark path until Twilight snapped me out of it.

“Since that time when she pardoned me I’ve done my best to separate myself from the person I used to be. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, but through her efforts I reunited with Sunburst, ending that chapter of my life. I found happiness having him close.

“Then I was given a tremendous responsibility in becoming a caretaker for you, and you made me happy too. You really cared for me, and the first time you called me ‘Aunt Starlight’ it…” She smiled warmly as tears came down her eyes. “I’m sure it’s what a parent feels when they hear the same.

“Then I got married, and as you grew I began to play a bigger part in your life, teaching you magic and spending a lot of my free time with you.

“It all meant so much to me. For the first time since I was a child I felt genuinely happy. I felt like… like I had a family in you and Sunburst, and I was able to forget the past.”

Flurry smiled at her, but it faded when Starlight’s did.

“Mayhem,” Starlight said quietly. “I can’t wish that he got a harsher sentence when the only reason I’m here is because of forgiveness, but… I’m starting to remember things I’d rather not.”

She let out a little sob as she started crying again. “That’s why I needed that time out with you. I wanted to see the way you reacted to me.”

“Hmm? What do you mean, Aunt Starlight?”

Starlight clenched, her eyes closing for a moment. “ 'Aunt Starlight'… that’s right. You do still call me that.”

Flurry was starting to get really concerned. “What else would I call you?”

She didn’t answer that one. “I… I had to know. I had to see if the you way you acted around me changed because of today.”

Flurry’s head tilted. “Why would it change?”

“Because… because you believed that fakers lies.”

Flurry flushed, feeling guilty as tears came down her eyes. “Aunt Starlight, I’m so-”

Starlight put a hoof up. “You don’t have to apologize, Flurry.”

“But I do! I never should have-”

Starlight put the hoof to Flurry’s mouth. “I’m not blaming you, Flurry! I want to make that crystal clear. Being sent to another dimension full of the worst evil in the world and having your memories of your friends purged from your mind hardly left you with the mental capacity to think rationally.”

Flurry pushed Starlight’s hoof down. “So if you’re not blaming me then why does it matter? I figured out it was a fake at the end.”

“It matters because it terrifies me.”

“But why?”

“I can’t tell you what a relief it was to go out and have you treat me as you’ve always done. You figured out it was a fake Starlight telling lies, but what if… what if that got you thinking?”

“Thinking about what?”

“Like, ‘what if the real Starlight is no different?’ “

A pained look came to Flurry’s face. 

“What if you started questioning everything I had ever done for you? What if you started giving me suspicious or uncomfortable looks every time we were together, wondering if I was one day going to betray you?”

Starlight's breath caught for a moment, her eyes slowly shrinking. “And what if it didn’t stop there? What if every question I asked you made you think I was just gathering information for that time? Your suspicion would grow and grow until you saw everything I did as preparing for the time I would strike."

"I... but I wouldn't..."

Her breathing got shorter. “Everything I’ve achieved and gained would be ruined. Eventually you’d tell your parents you don’t want me around anymore and they’d banish me from the Crystal Empire and Sunburst would begin to wonder too and divorce me and Twilight would throw me in Tartarus and I’d be all alone for eternity and-”

“Aunt Starlight!” Flurry cried out, hugging the mare as tears came down her eyes. She was kicking herself for not doing it sooner. 

She sniffed. “Are you kidding me? How could you ever think that?”

Starlight looked down at her, panting.

Flurry extended her wings, wrapping them around Starlight as well. “Even if we’re not blood related you’re part of my family, now and forever. No stupid fake is going to take that away from me.

“Don’t… don’t say such horrible things.”

Starlight hugged her back, quietly crying. “I… how could I not be scared? So much time has passed. I’ve felt a sense of completeness and wholeness, experiencing joys I never thought I ever would. I consider you part of my family too, Flurry. To think of losing all that because an impersonator got into your head…” Her grip tightened as she let out a sob.

Flurry felt like breaking down herself. She had never seen her aunt in such pain. “I was a mess. That’s the only reason I was fooled. I know who you really are, and I want you to stay with me and my family forever.

“You and Uncle Sunburst… you make me so happy. When my parents were busy with their jobs you took care of me. When I didn’t have any friends I enjoyed just spending time with you because you were real with me.

“Today already had enough bad feelings.” She nuzzled Starlight’s cheek. “So don’t let something stupid like this hurt you too.

“I love you, Aunt Starlight, and that’s never gonna change! You got that?”

Starlight let out a heavy breath. “T-thank you,” she said thickly.

“In a bit of a bad mood, huh?”

“You could say that.”

“I know what will help.” Flurry said as her horn lit up.

“What’s tha-AH!” She felt a soft impact on the back of her head as Flurry chuckled. “What was that?” She saw a pillow on the floor. 

“You shouldn’t mope, Aunt Starlight. You should do something more productive with those feelings.”

Starlight sucked on her cheek. At first she was annoyed that Flurry was making light of her emotions, but she had done the same thing earlier, and it seemed Sunburst wasn’t the only one seeking a little payback.

She looked at the pillow on the floor, unsure if she wanted to go along with it. She could see that Flurry was trying to make her happy by copying her. 

She let out a squeak as she felt a tickly feeling on her side and jerked back, seeing Flurry give her a devious expression as she held up a feather. 

“Come on! What you got, baby?”

Starlight let out a huff, seeing Flurry's taunting gaze. If Flurry wanted to throw down then she was ready.

The next five minutes dissolved into a magic fight much like before. There was plenty of laughter, at first only on Flurry’s side, but Starlight got into the action after a minute.

When they stopped they were both panting, smiling at each other.

“Feeling… better?” Flurry asked as she caught her breath.

“Y-yeah.” Starlight replied as she took in a big gulp of oxygen. “That was fun.”

Flurry beamed. “I’m glad.”

Starlight returned the gesture, but it faded again just like before. “I’m sorry,” she said sadly.

“Hey, hey!” Flurry cried out. “I thought we just worked out your bad feelings. Why are you getting down again?”

“This… wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I came here to help you through your problems, but then I made it all about me and added to your stress.”

Flurry growled. “Don’t talk like that! I know better than anyone how bad it feels to hold in a deep, painful secret. I’m GLAD you told me about your fears. You think I wanted you to go through the same fear and pain I did for months, always wondering if I was scared of you and wanted to kick you out of my life?” Angry tears came down her eyes. “You think I wanted to see you hurting like I did? Never! I wouldn’t wish that on anybody!”

The anger faded out of her voice and expression. “Just like you’re here for me, I’m glad I could be there for you when you needed me.”

Flurry took in a deep breath. “And… I… feel…” She paused for a few moments. “I'm sorry for snapping at you before, Aunt Starlight. I know you were only trying to help."

"It's okay, Flurry," Starlight responded. "I know it's hard for you."

"I was trying to run from my problems again, and I don't want to hold it in like before.

"If you’re feeling better now I think that… that I’m ready.”

“I do feel better,” said Starlight. “I needed to hear that and dispel those feelings.

“If you need me I’m always here for you.” She sat down on Flurry’s bed, the filly quickly joining her. “So… you want to talk about today? Are you sure? I don't want you to feel like I'm pushing you.”

She was quiet again for a while. Finally, she responded, “Yes. I… think that it is what I need right now.”

“Okay.”

“But first hugs!”

Starlight chuckled. “I agree. Hugs first.”

The two of them held each other, feeling a sense of love for each other. 

“I love you, Aunt Starlight.”

“And I love you too, little Flurry.”
> 6-20: Piercing question
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So let's talk about today,” said Starlight, “where do you want to start?”

Flurry looked up towards Starlight. “What do you think, Aunt Starlight? Do you think I made the right choice? I really care for Mayhem, but maybe he’s too dangerous to be free. Maybe Aunt Twilight’s plan won’t work.”

“Considering I’m only here with you right now because of being pardoned by a princess for my crimes I certainly have a bias when I say I think you did the right thing.”

Flurry got an odd expression on her face, her cheeks going slightly red.

“What?” asked Starlight.

“I…” She looked away, her blush getting deeper. “I… just…”

“Come on,” Starlight said gently. “I told you that I’m here to listen to you.”

Flurry slowly looked up at her, but focused on her snout, unable to look the mare in the eyes. “I have a question, but it’s… uncomfortable.”

“That’s okay. Just take your time.”

“Do… does a part of you ever… wonder about what things would be like if you weren’t stopped?” Her cheeks felt red hot. “Like, do you ever regret Aunt Twilight getting in the way of your plans?”

The question was very disheartening to Starlight, and she understood Flurry’s reluctance to ask. “Why are you asking a question like that now? I thought we just established that you weren’t going to let a fake Starlight dictate what you thought of me, but now you’re asking if I wished I had continued to ruin lives?”

Flurry clenched, tears coming down her eyes. “It’s not… I didn’t…” She took in a breath, still unable to look Starlight in the eyes. “It’s not what you think!”

“Then what is it?” Starlight asked with an edge in her voice. “How did we go from what happened today to my past?”

“I don’t doubt you, Aunt Starlight, b-but… but I need to know while we’re on the subject. Before Mayhem revealed that we used to be friends I was already ready to forgive him, and that was because of you. You told me about Aunt Twilight pardoning you, and I saw how different you were from the pony you told me about, and I felt like Mayhem could do the same thing.”

“If you believe in me then why do we need to talk about it? I suffered enough watching that fake saying such horrible things.”

Flurry finally looked into Starlight’s eyes. “Because I want to understand.”

“Understand what?”

Flurry squirmed. “We only talked about it once. You told me, and it hurt.  I forgave you, and then I forgot about it.

“You… told me that you took me out to see if the way I was with you changed. You were worried that I would start thinking bad things about you.”

Flurry paused, trying to think of the right way to phrase what she was thinking. “I think of you as a trusted member of my family. If there was danger I would gladly put my life in your hooves without hesitation, and I couldn’t be happier that my parents think so much of you that they put you in charge of me in case of an emergency. I respect you as much as I do Aunt Twilight and Uncle Sunny and my parents.”

The praise caused Starlight’s expression to grow more relaxed.

Tears came down her eyes. “I know it hurts, but please believe me when I say that I asked my question, not because I doubt you, but because I’m afraid that I’m going to in the future. And that’s why… why I really need to hear it from you again. I want to hear you fully reject the bad you that you used to be, because I don’t want to start having second thoughts about you either.

“It goes beyond just you, though. When I think of Mayhem I wonder if I really did the right thing, even if Aunt Twilight said she would have done the same. I was the one that chose to forgive him. My friends left that choice up to me on whether to spare him or destroy him or lock him up. That makes me responsible for his actions if he ever goes bad again, and I don’t want to have any regrets over that or feel like I was just being selfish.

“Can you understand what I’m saying?” 

Starlight closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, starting to grasp what Flurry was going for. Flurry might have dismissed the idea of the fake changing how she felt about her, but it might be just in the moment. She wanted to preempt negative feelings hours or days from now by putting everything out in the open before it became an issue.

The filly made her position quite clear that she was dedicated to not letting the fake Starlight taint her relationship with her, the real one. Flurry was afraid, not of her, but of her own feelings.

She let out another sigh, knowing if she refused to talk it would damage her relationship with Flurry, a price too high for her to pay. “Fine,” she said in a resigned voice, opening her eyes.

“It all started with good old Uncle Sunburst. I don’t think I need to explain what the joy of a good friend is like. Our relationship was doubtless like the one shared by you and Crystal. We lived close together, spending our days side by side. He was the only friend I had… the only friend I needed. My feelings back then weren’t romantic, but he just filled me with joy every time we hung out.

“Sunburst’s magical ability sparked when a stack of books nearly fell on me, protecting me from harm. He got his cutie mark because of it… and then with that he was gone.”

Flurry bit her lip at the forlorn expression on Starlight’s face. “Weren’t you… happy for him at least?”

“I didn’t have time to be. Our connection had always been strong, sharing everything together, but that changed suddenly. He ran off, so excited by his cutie mark and his magical potential that he left me all alone without a second thought. He wanted to show it off. 

“And after he told his parents about what he had done they went with him to Canterlot to enroll him in Celestia’s school. He didn’t even say goodbye to me before he left.

“The feelings I went through at that moment I’m sure you can also understand, that moment right before Mayhem purged your memories. I felt like my heart had been ripped out and stomped on, suddenly finding myself alone.

“No matter what way I thought about it I kept coming to the same conclusion: my pain was a direct result of a cutie mark. If Sunburst hadn’t gotten his cutie mark at that moment he would still be with me.” Tears came down her eyes, finding her emotions back in the past. “Even if he didn’t go to Canterlot he still decided to show off for everyone in public first before sharing his joy with me. It felt like I had suddenly become unimportant to him.”

Flurry had an uncomfortable look on her face. “Did you… did you ever talk to him about this?”

“I’m not a child anymore, Flurry. I understand now that youthful enthusiasm drove him to want to show everyone.

“Well, time moved on. I never wound up making another friend. The few times I tried I was left with a seething fear that my new friendships would end the same way, and so I abandoned them before that could happen. Even if they already had a cutie mark it only meant that our lives were going to be pulled in different directions eventually. I wasn’t ready to face pain like that again, so I just spent most of my time alone.”

Flurry could identify with that. She had basically been the same when it came to her fears.  She had also let go of friendships easily. “But… you eventually got your own cutie mark. Couldn’t you have applied for Celestia’s school too?”

“I didn’t see the point. While I eventually found out after we united it was because Sunburst was ashamed he wasn’t particularly good at magic, he didn’t even bother writing me any letters since leaving. What would I gain from seeing him? I certainly didn’t expect our friendship to be renewed just because we were in the same school. If he thought so little of what we used to have he couldn’t even send me a letter I certainly didn't expect him to think any more of me once we saw each other face to face again.

“My thinking slowly grew warped. I began to blame cutie marks for all the wrongs that plighted ponies. And what I looked for I saw, because I disregarded anything that went against what I wanted to see. By making cutie marks responsible for breaking me and Sunburst apart it allowed both of us to be blameless.”

“Blameless?” asked Flurry.

“Meaning that it wasn’t something wrong with me that caused Sunburst to abandon our friendship. And by clinging to the thought that Sunburst was effectively brainwashed by his cutie mark it allowed me not to be angry at him. It allowed me to still care for him as my dear friend who had just been forced to be different, which tied into me not being personally responsible for our friendship ending.”

“I… get it,” Flurry said slowly. “So you were just looking for excuses?”

“Pretty much.

“I felt like I was doing a noble thing when I created my spell to take cutie marks away and replace them with equal signs. I didn’t get a sense of joy out of earning my cutie mark like so many others. The first thing I did when I got mine was to try and find a way to get rid of it.”

“Mmm…” All the ponies Flurry knew that talked about their cutie marks had always been so proud.

“I first used my spell on myself. My cutie mark came off, floating away for a bit before instantly returning to my side. I found that cutie marks were loyal little things, and had to be kept inside a sealed object or they’d go right back to their owners.

“At first I felt glad to be free of it, but I realized that I could do so much more for others with my spell, and the only way I could use that spell is by keeping my cutie mark. It was an annoying conundrum, but it was the best I could do.”

“So…” Flurry’s cheeks grew a little rosy. “You needed your special talent to bring ponies together, even though you were preaching they drove ponies apart? You... were kinda a hypocrite from the start, huh?”

Starlight gave her a dirty look for a few moments, but it faded. “Yes… yes, I was. I felt like there was so much good I could do for the world by getting rid of cutie marks, but that was only possible as long as I had mine.

“I took an abandoned patch of land and set to work, creating my own little ‘utopia’ in the middle of nowhere.”

Flurry’s eyes widened. “You set up that place by yourself?”

Starlight gave a little nod. “Who could I ask for help? I didn’t have any friends, and I wasn’t on the best of terms with my parents.”

Flurry was trying to picture it. “But… b-b-but the amount of wood and materials that would take…”

“Well, it wasn’t like I did it completely by myself. I did pay a company to at least deliver everything I needed, but everything else was all me. It took me a bit to figure out the mechanics, but my magic was up to the task."

“But where did you get the money to buy so much material?”

“ ‘Borrowed’ it.”

Flurry sucked on her cheek. “Stole it?” she asked to confirm.

“Basically. I took out a loan, never intending to pay it back. Of course one of my main reasons for building a place in the middle of nowhere was privacy as I enacted my plans, but it also ensured I would never have to worry about being pestered.

“I told myself it was for the greater good.”

“Mmm… you never mentioned thievery the last time you told me this story.”

“It just wasn’t something that came to mind. It would be like saying I blew up Ponyville after stealing one of Twilight’s books. I was just focusing on the main thing.”

“So, uh… did you fix that?”

“Well, I did offer up a nice magical artifact as collateral when I took out the loan, so it wasn’t like I gave him nothing. Not enough to cover all that I owed, but enough to make a nice bit of money off of.

“By the time I found him again he had basically forgotten me. It’s part of the risk of a loan business that you’re going to have ponies run off with the loot. 

"Twilight was with me, and she vouched for me about how I was starting over and trying to right old wrongs. He was, naturally, sore with me, but we worked out a payment plan and over the past years I’ve paid that off.”

Flurry looked away, sucking on her cheek.

“Does it bother you that I forgot to mention that?”

“No… but I just… I feel kinda sad.”

“Why?”

“Wasn’t it lonely? I can’t imagine a day without being around the people I love. To think of you being completely alone for days or weeks trying to figure out how to construct houses… it just makes me feel sad.”

“I see…”  She thought back to that time. “The days seemed to fly by. I had a goal clear in my mind, and I intended to see it through. Nothing else mattered to me as long as I could set things up for the ‘proper’ way ponies should be. 

“Once it was done I just needed to fill it with ponies. I would get to conduct my own little trial run and show the world how much better life would be without cutie marks. 

“I managed to convince a group of ponies of my beliefs. They were uncertain but willing. I had to play like I was also without a cutie mark by painting an equal sign over my own and pretending a worthless stick was the source of my power.

“I was… happy.” Starlight let out a sound of disgust.

“But… were you really?” Flurry asked uncertainly. 

“Oh, I thought I was at the time.” Starlight put a hoof to her face, feeling a pit of revulsion in her stomach. “I deceived everyone around me, but covered it up with more lies. I had to lie to myself constantly that I was doing the right thing. I told myself these ponies really were my friends, and things would never end the same way they did with Sunburst.”

She let out a rough growl as her hoof slid off her face. “I sat comfortable on my ‘throne’ with the best house in the village. When people started to veer away from the way I wanted them I’d break their spirits back to my will, all the time thinking it was what was best for them.

“But that was never the truth!” Her voice grew angrier and angrier. “I never cared about them as people! They were effectively just possessions or pets. Oh, sure, I claimed they had freedom to do what they wanted, but I never intended to let them go. They were mine, and what they wanted didn’t matter so long as I got what I wanted.”

Flurry felt a little scared. Starlight’s past thoughts were kinda horrifying.

“And that was why I hatched my grand scheme when Twilight came in and ruined everything I had set up. I hated all of them for taking me away from my new group of ‘best friends,’ ruining the trust they had in me and making me an outcast in my new home.”

The rage left her voice, and she began crying again. “Once again… I was all alone. It nearly drove me mad with grief.” She put a hoof to her heart. “Everything that I had set up, in order to make myself happy, had fallen apart.

“I didn’t want to face the wrongness of my actions, so the only thing I could do is keep pushing forward. I felt like I would drown in my emotions of sadness, and the only thing that gave me some sense of purpose was when I began to focus on Twilight. 

"The weight of depression that left me immobile would fade, and rage and revenge became the only things that gave me strength. It was the only thing that got my hooves moving. I didn’t have anything else to live for at the time so I’d return the favor to Twilight by taking her friends away from her.”

Flurry couldn’t really understand Starlight’s feelings. She had never felt a desire for revenge before. At least, nothing that wasn’t spur of the moment. She couldn’t imagine being so filled with rage she’d want to ruin someone’s life over it.

However, she did understand the feeling of loss. When Mayhem stated his intentions to get rid of her memories of her friends it had been one of the worst feelings of her life.

In a quiet voice she asked, “But why time travel?” She felt uncomfortable putting it forward, but she had to ask. “If you… if you wanted to make Aunt Twilight suffer couldn’t you have just…” She squirmed around, her stomach twisting in knots.”…k-killed them?”

Starlight sighed. “I was a bad person, but I wasn’t out to be a murderer. I still fancied myself a good individual.”

Again Flurry felt it tough to bring up what was on her mind. “But you were planning revenge. How is that good?”

“Because morality is different based on what side of the fence you’re on. Most everyone wants to think that they’re good. Probably even Sombra would have called himself a good pony.”

Flurry’s eyes narrowed. “He ENSLAVED all his subjects and forced them to do whatever he wanted! He probably would have killed my parents if he wasn’t stopped!”

Starlight gave a little nod. “True, and most anyone would call that evil. However, you’re seeing it from your mind and your perspective. In his mind maybe he had his own reasons for doing what he did, and justified them much in the same way I did. His reasons might disgust you if he told you about them, but to him they would be enough.”

Flurry crossed her hooves. “I don’t care WHAT his reasons were. Nothing he ever said could convince me he was doing the right thing.”

“And that’s fine. You don’t have to agree or understand him. We’re not talking about him anyways.”

“Right…” Flurry bit her lip. “So now… now we come to…”

“Yep.” Starlight was glad it was almost over. She didn’t like wading through these old bad memories. 

“I studied Twilight for a while after that, despite that Twilight wasn’t the only one to ruin me. Without Twilight’s magic to protect them I could have gone back and attacked my former friends but I put all my focus on the alicorn. I wanted to know what made her tick. I studied up on her history, and followed her around at times, trying to come up with the perfect revenge plot.

“It all came together during a lecture she gave on friendship when she talked about forming a connection with her friends before even meeting them. A sonic rainboom caused by Rainbow Dash caused all six of them to get their cutie marks the same day.

“When Twilight was away I tinkered with the map, fortifying Starswirl’s temporary time travelling spell with something more stable. Then when Twilight returned I struck, sending us both back in time to the moment of the rainboom and disrupting it before sending her back so she could see the results of what it felt like to lose her friends.

“I left the scroll with the spell to travel back in time behind, knowing she would use it. I knew Twilight wouldn’t just accept losing her friends, and so I also knew she would return, over and over and over. I had set it up so that whenever Twilight went back to the past I would be sent back too, a few moments before her.

“I had opportunities to destroy her if I so wished, but I wasn’t after her life. The very first time she came back I hit her with a spell that froze her in place, simply so I could spell out what I was doing.

“One time when she came back she found me talking to the one who had set this all off in the first place: Fluttershy. I put her in a rough predicament by talking her bullies into being nicer to her.

“Since the race that caused the rainboom only happened because of Rainbow standing up for her friend, the only way she could ensure history took its proper course would be to encourage bullying.”

Flurry winced. 

“In the end it became a game to see how long Twilight would last before her heart shattered. We would keep going and going and going, each pass hurting her heart a little more.

“At first she’d be determined, but with every failure to stop me she’d feel like she was letting down her friends. That mental strain would start to create doubt, and eventually it would become too much for her to handle.”

Flurry felt like there were worms crawling in her stomach, a chill going down her spine. She tried to imagine Mayhem doing that sort of trial with her. He sorta did. All his efforts at the end were mainly to try and prove they weren’t really friends and to get her to give up on them. 

Mayhem knew he could easily kill her, but in order to keep things interesting he simply fought to break her spirit and make her give up.

“Were you really that confident?” asked Flurry.

“I was in complete control. It wasn’t like I had to have a magic fight with Twilight every time. All I had to do was stop Rainbow from completing the rainboom. Just a little bit of magic to stop that moment is all it took.

“In one of the trips to the past we did wind up having a fight, but we stalemated. Honestly, that might have worked against me, but the fight drew the kids attention and they stopped the race to watch us.”

Flurry got a curious look on her face. “But Aunt Twilight is an alicorn and one of the best magic users in the world. I know you’re good, but you’re only a unicorn.”

“It’s like I said earlier: I was the one in control. I was perfectly calm in the heat of battle. On the other hoof, Twilight isn’t used to a prolonged fight. I’m sure that concern for her friends blurred her stability a bit, since it was after quite a few passes that she finally tried combat. She didn’t have her usual restraint, being a bit reckless with the power of her spells. As a result she exhausted herself pretty quickly.”

“That makes sense.” When she had gotten serious against the fake Sombra she had used way more power than she probably needed, leaving her completely wiped.

Starlight began to feel sick to her stomach. “I enjoyed it. I enjoyed every minute of it. Every time she failed to stop me I knew she’d suffer a little more.

“You… asked me earlier why I used time travel rather than just attack her friends directly. Part of that was just about being pragmatic. I could have done what Mayhem did, and push Twilight into constantly having to protect her friends from my assaults, but I wanted to see Twilight despair. The fake Starlight said that after the grief of loss passes it becomes rage at the one who hurt them. While me and Twilight were pretty evenly matched a rage boost to her power would have overcome me, and there would go my revenge plot.

“Time travel threatened her friendship with her friends, but it didn’t threaten them directly, and thus Twilight’s powers were kept in check. So long as she had hope and the map she would keep coming back for more while still being fully manageable.”

Flurry looked down at her lap. “So it was just supposed to be an endless loop of Aunt Twilight trying and failing?”

“Basically, but that got derailed after only eight or so times when she dragged me along for the ride when we returned to the present.”

Starlight’s horn lit up, and the area changed to match the dead landscape from the final alternate future. 

Flurry looked around, impressed at how real it looked, but she could still see all her furniture around her room, and despite the dust blowing around she couldn’t feel the breeze.

“I found myself in an empty wasteland, with seemingly no survivors. I didn’t want to believe Twilight at first when she claimed it was the present. She claimed that this wasn’t the first bad future she had come back to, but this one was the worst.

“I felt like she couldn’t understand me, and so I showed her what happened with Sunburst. She still wouldn’t accept that cutie marks drove others apart. She felt those differences are what brought them closer. 

“I went back one last time, now tired of my game. I decided I would rip up the scroll allowing this changing of time entirely, permanently changing the future.”

Tears quietly fell from her eyes. “I still remember that moment as if it was yesterday. Even before I surrendered to her Twilight saw me as a lost soul worth saving. She saw the pain I was in.

“It wouldn’t have been difficult for us to have a magic fight over that scroll, but she believed in the good in me and talked me down, encouraging me to try again to make new friends. Although she didn’t wish for the horrors that came from her not meeting her friends to come to pass, she still risked the world to save me too.”

She sniffed, feeling a little overwhelmed. “She saw how my actions were motivated by fear, and extended her heart out to mine. Despite all the pain and suffering I had put her through she still offered her hoof in friendship with no strings attached.  It was the first time since Sunburst that I felt… like I was truly being seen.”

She put her hooves to her face, gently sobbing.

Flurry put her wings around Starlight, crying too. She understood that feeling perfectly as she thought of her seven friends. 

When Starlight settled down she wiped her eyes. “Sorry,” she said with a sniff.

“Don’t be sorry, Aunt Starlight,” Flurry replied. “It took me quite a few fakes before I found friends who saw me for all I am. Nothing wrong with crying when you’re happy.”

Starlight took in a breath. “I suppose not.

“As for the rest, Twilight took me under her wing, I screwed up a bunch when I’d slip back into manipulation, and she eventually pushed me to rekindle my friendship with Sunburst. The rest is history.

“What I did in the past is horrible, but at the time it made sense to me. It felt like the only thing I could do. I wound up with a bunch of friendships that were ultimately insincere and only held together by lies and manipulation. 

“Past me saw it as a good thing. Present me can’t stand how stupid I used to be, and if it hadn’t been for Twilight I likely would have spent the rest of my life harming others. Good riddance to her. 

"Now I have relationships based on love and trust, where I don’t feel afraid and I have genuine connections, hiding nothing. As uncomfortable as it was, that was why I told you about my villainous past, because I didn’t ever want you to feel like I was keeping secrets from you.”

Starlight let out a breath. “So… you satisfied? Can we just leave the past in the past now?”

Flurry didn’t answer, a thoughtful expression on her face. Although some time had passed since she last heard the story it basically sounded the same as it had last time. 

Starlight figured it wouldn’t go so simple, so she waited patiently, closing her eyes.

After a minute Flurry suddenly tensed and gasped. 

Starlight opened her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

Flurry muttered to herself for a bit before she began shivering and bit her hoof. 

Starlight saw the expression on Flurry’s face switching rapidly, as if she was unsure what she was feeling. “What, Flurry? What’s going through that head of yours?” 

Flurry let out a heavy breath. “Nothing!” she cried out, her voice cracking.

“Don’t lie, Flurry. Maybe you don’t realize that your inner feelings are plastered all across your face, but you look like you’re about to blow.”

Flurry’s breathing shortened as she began panting slightly. “I noticed....but it can’t… I…”

“Yeeees?”

The filly shook her head hard. “It’s nothing!”

“Flurry!” Starlight said sharply, making the filly twitch. Her voice grew gentler. “Do you remember why we’re talking about this? You said this was an act of trust, not of doubt. If something has occurred to you that seems off then just be honest about it and let me try and explain it.”

“B-b-but you can’t! Y-you can’t just talk your way out of it! And… and…” She took in a sharp breath. “I… I feel like you lied to me!”

“Mmm…” Starlight really wondered what was going through her mind. “Flurry, I have told you nothing but the truth. Just because you don’t have an explanation for something I did doesn’t mean I don’t have one. Maybe you won’t like the answer I give, but you can at least give me the chance to account for myself.

“Whatever it is that’s going through your head just tell me. Please!”

Flurry’s eyes clenched shut, hating the terrible feelings going through her. They were too strong to keep inside, even though she desperately tried to.

She glared up at Starlight, her voice trembling. “Y-YOU said that you didn’t know what was happening until Aunt Twilight forced you to see that empty future, but that’s impossible! This wasn’t something you just did on the spur of the moment when you were angry. This was something you planned after weeks or months of studying.

“HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN? How? If you knew that Aunt Twilight saved the world a bunch of times with her friends then what did you expect was going to happen when you stopped her from meeting them?

“If you stopped my parents from meeting it would be stupid to expect me to still be born, so there’s no way you couldn’t know that stopping the rainboom would lead to the world being ruled over by all these horrible creatures!”

Flurry hugged herself, quietly sobbing. “I don’t like what you did to my aunt, but I can at least understand that. I can understand you were so upset you wanted revenge on her, but what about everyone else? You were willing to let the whole WORLD suffer because of it? Did you not care at all about all the hundreds of innocent lives that were ruined because of that?”

With every line out of Flurry’s mouth Starlight felt worse and worse. It felt like her worst fears were about to come to pass after all.

“And what about ME? Without Aunt Twilight to stop King Sombra and the Changelings I was probably never even born in all those other worlds. They probably died every time, never to have a hero to protect them! And all because of YOU! BECAUSE YOU JUST DIDN’T CARE!” With that Flurry broke down completely.
> 6-21: Starlight's answer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry was bawling, lost in her emotions.

Starlight couldn’t even muster up a response, fully expecting Flurry to bail at any moment. At that moment she felt like she’d rather be sent to Tartarus than have to see the dismay Flurry was feeling. 

Just as she was about to begin sobbing herself her emotions got derailed by confusion as Flurry suddenly threw her hooves around her. “HUG!” Flurry cried out pitifully, barely understandable through her crying. “H-HUG!”

Starlight was so thrown off she didn’t move, trying to figure out Flurry’s behavior. Things grew even more worrisome when suddenly Flurry grew quiet, as if her emotions had shut off.

Flurry looked up at her, a dead look on her face. “Disgusting…”

Again Starlight didn’t know how to respond. Flurry yelled at her, seeming furious, then she asked for a hug, and now the filly was calling her disgusting. 

Flurry sniffed. “I… I really am disgusting, aren’t I?”

Starlight’s head jerked back. “Wha-”

“I-I s-said that I believed in you, but n-now I betrayed you and hurt you. It’s not surprising you don’t want to hug me anymore.” Flurry’s hooves fell away from the mares sides. “I wouldn’t want to hug me either.”

If Starlight had thought she couldn’t feel worse she was sorely mistaken. As Flurry’s words processed she realized that the anger Flurry spoke with earlier was actually directed, not at her, but at herself. 

The realization of Flurry’s true inner turmoil made her entire body feel cold. The filly had seemingly found an unresolvable contradiction: despite professing absolute faith in her Flurry was finding doubt in her heart, and she found it unbearable.

Seeing Flurry’s vacant, numb expression made her wish that Flurry had been raging at her rather than feeling the self-hatred she was going through at the moment. 

Much like before she had to fight not to succumb to despair. Flurry desperately needed her love and guidance at the moment, and if she broke it would only make Flurry feel worse than she already did. She had to be strong, no matter what. For the sake of her darling Flurry she would do that.

“Forgive me,” Starlight said, pleased that her voice came out fairly normal. She pulled Flurry into a hug. “I wasn’t sure what you really wanted from me.”

Flurry didn’t respond at all.

Starlight wasn’t sure where to start. Even if she answered Flurry’s questions it still wouldn’t resolve the filly’s guilt over feeling doubt in the first place.

She glanced around the room aimlessly, trying to think of what to say. Her eyes focused on the brush by the vanity. Maybe a little personal care would show that she wasn’t mad.

When Flurry felt the brush going through her mane she finally reacted, letting out an anguished cry as she slapped it away and it fell to the floor. “Stop it! I’m not worthy!”

Starlight simply lifted the brush again. “Don’t be silly, Flurry. I can tell you need this right now. Can’t expect to be as good as your mom though, since I know that’s her special thing with you.”

Flurry felt the soothing brush, but she didn’t want to be comforted at the moment. She wanted to feel guilty. “W-WHY? Why are you… being nice to me?”

“Because you did nothing wrong, Flurry.”

“Of course I did! I-”

“Shhh. Far from being wrong, you did a very good thing.”

Flurry had no clue how to respond to that. It felt like Starlight was just lying to her to make her feel better. That doubt only made another jolt of guilt go through her, and despite herself she sat still, wanting to feel the calming sensation even as she felt so unworthy of it.

Since Flurry was at least being quiet Starlight felt she could start talking. “Listen, Flurry. Any relationship goes through snags. That doesn’t mean the relationship is worthless or should be given up on. Today a friend betrayed you simply out of boredom, putting you through terrible experiences, and yet it ended with you friends once again.

“This is no different. You saw what seemed to be an inconsistency in my story, and feel like I lied to you about how bad I actually was. I don’t blame you for feeling a little suspicious.” 

Flurry groaned and squirmed. “I shouldn’t!” she said angrily.

“And yet you do,” Starlight responded calmly. “Our feelings are something beyond our control. We may be able to control what we do with them, but the feelings themselves are something that are going to happen whether we want them to or not. Rather than hating and resisting your feelings you should try to work through them.”

“How?” Flurry said shortly. “And before you said it was a good thing that I was doubting you? What possible good can there be in that?”

“Because it means you’re not a braindead idiot!”

The answer caught Flurry off guard, confusion overtaking her feeling of self-loathing as she looked up. “Huh?”

“Any relationship worth something needs to go through evaluation from time to time, Flurry, and just like you said about my own feelings it’s not something I want you to obsess over.“

“What… do you mean by evaluation?”

“A strong relationship requires trust. Sometimes things happen which can harm that trust. If the foundation of that relationship is weak then the relationship will naturally crumble, but if the foundation is strong then it will only crack and can be repaired with time.

“I know you don’t want to hear this, but maybe I’m NOT trustworthy.” Flurry’s eyes clenched shut as she groaned. “Maybe I AM deceiving you or I did so in the past. The test of a relationship is whether it can stand up to scrutiny. This goes beyond just your relationship with me. It applies for all of them. 

“For example, do you trust your dad completely?”

“Yes!”

“What if, one day, you were walking around the castle and you saw a mare kissing and hugging your father?”

“B-but why? H-he’s married!”

“See right there?”

“Huh?”

“Just bringing up a fictional scenario causes doubt, doesn’t it?” 

Flurry winced. “D-darn it!” she cried out. “I’m such a stupid hypocrite!”

“Flurry!” Starlight said firmly. “You’re NOT a hypocrite.”

“B-but I am! I can’t even-” 

Starlight put a hoof to her mouth. “Just listen, Flurry. Please. I wasn’t trying to upset you with my statement. I was trying to make a point. It may sound contradictory, but your doubts come from your trust."

"I'm doubting people because I TRUST them? What sense does that make?"

“You know your father. You know the kinds of things he’d do and the things he wouldn’t do, so when you spy him seemingly doing something that he definitely wouldn’t do it naturally sets off little alarm bells in your head. It makes you want to know the truth.

“I was a little tactless before to get your attention, but the reason I said you’d be a ‘braindead idiot’ for not questioning anything is because that’s how betrayals happen. Maybe it’s a shapeshifting spell, a Changeling, mind control, a misunderstanding, or a genuine choice to do wrong… whatever the case may be, you shouldn’t just dismiss something strange you see in a trusted persons behavior.

“The other point to make is that, just because you can’t think of a reason someone seemingly acted differently doesn’t mean that there isn’t a perfectly reasonable explanation to account for it.”

Flurry pushed Starlight’s hoof away. “So let’s hear it, then!” she said doubtfully. “I see my dad making out with some random mare. What ‘perfectly reasonable’ explanation could he possibly have?”

“Those weren’t the words I used. I said that she was hugging and kissing him.”

“And? What’s your point? He’s clearly not pushing her away.”

“You see how your mind assumes when you don’t have all the facts?”

“I don’t see a single fact you could give me that would make it okay. Even if she’s just forcing herself on him she knows he’s married. They both seem like the bad guys to me.”

“Tell me, Flurry. While you were staring at your dad and this mare did you happen to glance down and see the filly next to them?”

Flurry’s mind felt scrambled. “Whaaaaat? I don’t care about some other stupid kid when I’m watching my dad cheat on my mom.”

“Which is exactly why you don’t get it. The mare was a visitor to the castle with her child. Naturally curious, the poor kid got separated from her mother when she went off on her own. By the time either of them realized what had happened they went into a panic.

“The filly quickly got herself even more lost as she started running around at random until she grew overwhelmed and just started bawling her eyes out.”

Flurry’s head titled, wondering what any of this had to do with her father being romantic with some random mare.

“Your father, kind pony that he is, heard the noise and found her. He comforted her, offering to find her mother, and the grateful filly jumped onto his back. It wasn’t long before he heard there was a flustered mother looking for her missing child.

“A few minutes later he finds the worried mare, and mother and daughter quickly hug and cry. When she releases her daughter she looks up at Shining, and is so overcome with gratitude at having her child returned safely that she gives him a tender hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Imagine walking in the room at that very moment. It feels like a totally different situation without that knowledge, huh?”

“But… b-b-but you… you said…”

“Yes? What did I say? When did I ever say that romance was involved, or that they were ‘making out?’ All I said was you walked in on your father being hugged and kissed by a mare you didn't know. Everything else came from your assumptions.”

“Well… I… I thought… I mean, the way you worded it made it seem…”

“I’ll say it again: your mind tends to assume when you don’t have all the facts. It may not feel good to think lesser of those you love, but that’s why it’s important to bring up those feelings. You may find out that what you thought was going on was completely different than what it appeared to be.

“Secrets kept, which suggest someone you respected acted inappropriately, only tend to fester and grow worse with time. The whole point of bringing these things up is to get an answer on whether or not they can be trusted.

“In my scenario your dad was who you expected him to be. When you question him about it he explains the situation and you move on from it. But… what if the opposite happened? What if he denied it ever happened, got real evasive, and either threatened you or bribed you to keep you quiet? Clearly, that’s not a person you want to respect.”

“No… but… he’d still be my dad.”

“True enough, but it’s better to see the truth with your own eyes than keep it hidden within you. Again, you only have to look at your own life to know that.

“It all comes down to trust. Without it, any relationship is doomed to failure. That’s why you shouldn’t feel guilty for having doubts so long as you give the other person a chance to explain themselves. If their explanation is fishy it gives you cause to be less trusting of them. If the explanation is good then it shows you had no reason to doubt in the first place and the relationship remains strong.

“In fact, the only reason you exist right now is because of those doubts.”

“Huh?” Flurry had no idea what that meant.

“Your dear Aunt Twilight saw something was very off about the Cadance she knew and loved as a filly. While she didn’t know it was an impersonator at the time, she was suspicious about the fake Cadance and confronted her. It turns out that she was able to cover herself and make Twilight look paranoid or just possessive over her brother, but it did make Chrysalis nervous enough to send Twilight to the same prison she put your mother in.

“If Twilight had dismissed her feelings just because she didn’t want to doubt a person she loved then your father would be a mind-controlled zombie married to a Changeling and you’d be Changeling Heart instead.

“I’ll say it again that your feelings are not an issue. What matters is what you do with them. If you kept what happened with your dad a secret you’d feel like you were lying to your mom and you’d feel like a phony being affectionate to your dad. And if you went right to your mom and told her what you saw you’d have created unnecessary strife. That’s why it’s good to allow the other person to explain themselves before gossiping about it or just dismissing them outright.”

Flurry nodded. “I understand.”

“So now we come to me. I do have an answer for you, Flurry. Whether or not you’ll accept it I don’t know, but, as we saw with that fictional scenario with your dad, just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean there is no explanation.

“So be honest with me. I know you already said your position, but you were too wrapped up in your emotions before to actually have a conversation about it. I want you to ask me again, guilt-free.  If I’m truly the person you believe I am then I shouldn’t have any fear of being questioned, and you shouldn't have any fear in asking.”

Flurry stared at her for a long while before gently tugging the brush away with her own magic and setting it back on her dresser. She felt calm enough now she didn't need it anymore, and she didn't want any distractions during such a critical discussion.

There was a reluctant tone to her voice, but it was steady now. “I… I trust you, but what you said seems like a lie. If you were studying Aunt Twilight while plotting your revenge, then how can you claim you didn’t know what was going to happen when you changed the future?”

“Your statement makes logical sense, but the thing you’re missing is a big assumption on my part.”

“Which is?”

“That Twilight was unnecessary to the world.”

Flurry gave her a perplexed look. “Why would you ever assume that if you knew what she did?”

“It was a huge flaw in my reasoning that Twilight herself wasn’t actually special. It was just her connections that made it so. If we removed Twilight from the equation then somebody else would step up and take her place. Effectively, the only change I expected is that Twilight and her friends would be strangers to each other, and, um… Sparkly Twilight and Flapjack and Blueberry Pie and so on would be the new heroes who took their positions up.”

Flurry was quiet for a little bit. “But… did you really think it was so easy? Did you really think that just anyone could use the Elements of Harmony?”

“I don’t think they’re so cheap that any random group of ponies could use them, but it all started with Twilight as the central pillar. Her element, magic, had been lost to time once Celestia left them behind in her old castle. 

"Celestia trained her because of her magical potential, but it isn’t like Twilight is the only powerful unicorn out there. She does have an entire school dedicated to training those skilled in magic, after all.

“Twilight’s story shows that you don’t have to be longtime friends to make them work. Twilight summoned the power of the elements the very day she met her five friends after just traveling together in a dangerous situation for a few hours.

“And you did the same yourself today when Mayhem messed with your memories. You awakened a great power simply out of the desire to protect your friends even though you initially dismissed them.”

Once more Flurry was silent for a bit before speaking. “You… make it seem so simple. Like…” She gestured around her blue-coated room. “Like you changing the future, and acting like it’s just a different coat of paint. Oh, what would it matter if my room was now green? All the furniture and stuff is still here, so no problem, right?”

“What are you trying to say, Flurry?”

“Let’s say you were right, and some other group of ponies did take up the Elements of Harmony and stopped Nightmare Moon. That doesn’t mean that things wouldn’t be worse. The ponies wielding them wouldn’t be the same, and maybe they wouldn’t solve the same problems Pinkie and Fluttershy and the rest solved. 

“There probably would be a lot of ponies that suffered because the element bearers weren’t the same, not because of the elements themselves, but because they’d live in different houses, and have different special talents. Some of them only came to Ponyville because of what happened after they got their cutie marks.

"Look at Pound and Pumpkin. They only have Pinkie Pie in their lives because she left her home to spread joy. It feels like without her they would be much worse off. 

"Or what about Pound's dog? The mare who brought her to Fluttershy's house because she couldn't afford a proper vet bill would have no one to turn to since Fluttershy would probably still be in Cloudsdale." 

“I can acknowledge that point,” said Starlight, “but in return wouldn’t just as many others be helped that weren’t before because of those different talents?”

“I… I don’t know.

“What about my parents? And the Changelings? And King Sombra? They were only beaten because Aunt Twilight was there. She noticed that my mom was a fake because of her suspicious behavior, and if the new Twilight didn’t happen to have a dragon assistant with them AND was smart enough to get past Sombra’s spells then she’d be done for.”

“If Twilight flunked her entrance exam then she’d likely just stay at home until the time of the wedding. Even if she moved out in that time, her being an Element bearer is insignificant here since I’m sure your dad would invite his own sister to his wedding no matter what. She’d still become suspicious and be sent to your real mother.

“I don’t think anything would change in regards to the Changeling invasion.”

“But in one of those futures the Changelings DID win.”

“That’s true…

“I don’t have an answer for King Sombra either. Considering the family connection, Shining might ask his sister for help alongside the new Elements of Harmony, but he also might not because of the danger.”

“Soooooo…”

Starlight took in a deep breath before slowly letting it out. “I never said that I accounted for every single possible change that might happen when I started my revenge plan. I didn’t particularly care about who was helped and who wasn’t as long as I got what I wanted.”

Flurry groaned. “Isn’t that exactly what I complained about at the start? You just admitted you didn’t care about what happened to the future as long as Aunt Twilight was miserable.”

“And I didn’t… mostly. I did make some bad assumptions about what the state of the world would be like when I broke Twilight’s friendships, but I never intended to drag the entire world into things. I thought others would become the element bearers in Twilight’s place, which is why I felt okay with what I was doing. It turned out that that wasn’t the case.

“All the major things, like Sombra and Nightmare Moon, I expected to be taken care of by the other element bearers. And for the little things… it shouldn’t only be up to six ponies to help everyone, so if someone else didn’t step up it was beneath my concern.”

“But that’s…” Flurry averted her eyes. “That’s a terrible thing to say, Aunt Starlight.”

“Look, we’ve already established I was a massive jerk, if time-travelling repeatedly to make someone suffer didn’t make that obvious, but that has nothing to do with this.”

“Nothing to do with it?” Flurry replied, looking a little angry. "You're basically confirming all the bad things I was thinking."

“You’re losing focus, Flurry.  We can sit around and nitpick every bad decision and assumption I made, but it's completely off-topic to what the main issue is. We aren’t here to debate whether my actions in trying to change the future and hurting Twilight were bad. We’ve already established that.

"I can’t help what my thought process was seven years ago. Those are past Starlight’s thoughts. It’s not how I feel today.  All I can do is try and improve who I am in the present.”

“Sorry,” Flurry said quietly.

“The purpose of this discussion is one particular point that bothered you. You asserted that I forged ahead doing something I knew was going to cause massive death and pain simply because my desire for revenge was so strong that I just didn’t care who got caught in the crossfire.

“The reason this bothers you is because it feels like I duped you about how terrible I was in the past. I made a confession to you about my past, but it feels like I left something crucial out that painted me in a bad light. It would be like telling you I took your sisters stuffed animal, while not telling you that I kidnapped your sister as well.”

Flurry tensed. “Even as an example please don’t!”

“Duly noted, but I’m sure you get my point. It feels like I told you about something bad I did while hiding the much worse thing I did. It wasn’t an outright lie, but that omission certainly feels deceptive.

“I understand how you came to your conclusion, but I hold to my stance. I thought there would be replacement heroes, and never meant to turn the future into a giant mess. I was ignorant and stupid, but I promise I didn’t go into things that day fully expecting those bad futures and not caring about their pain. I wasn’t out for collateral damage. 

“After all, what did I have to gain with the world belonging to others? If I had broken Twilight then my plan was to return to a slightly different Equestria. I guess, to use your euphemism, an Equestria with a different coat of paint. And then I would start my plans anew. With no Twilight confrontation there would be no memory of my true nature since she never came to visit.”

“Mmm…” Flurry didn’t look satisfied. “But wouldn’t the new Twilight be sent in her place, then? I don’t think anything would have changed there. Would you have gone back and broken them up too? And then the NEW new Twilight, until eventually no friends would exist and Equestria would be doomed anyway?”

Starlight got an awkward grin on her face. “Hmm. Well... when you put it like that I guess my plan was doomed from the start.”

“Pretty much.”

The two of them looked at each other for a minute. Finally, Starlight said, “Well, I’ve told you my story and tried to explain myself as best I can. The only thing I can do now is wait for your judgment.”

Flurry looked uncertain. “You’re gonna put this on me?”

“Is there anyone else here? All anyone else can do is give you advice. You’re the only one who knows what you feel in your heart.”

Flurry looked into a corner of the room. “I remember… the details are fuzzy now, but I remember when you first told me about things. You… weren’t the Starlight I knew and loved. It was so different from the pony you were that I couldn’t recognize you.”

A few tears came down her eyes. “When you told me about how you basically enslaved ponies it made me think about King Sombra. One day I saw that huge statue of Spike, and my parents told me about him and how he saved the Crystal Empire from Sombra by delivering the Crystal Heart to my mother.

“Then that feeling grew worse when you told me about how you tortured Aunt Twilight. I hated to think about you as a villain. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. It went against everything I thought about you.

“I really fought with myself for that next week. A small part of me…” She let out a little sob. “No. If we’re supposed to be being honest with each other then I can’t lie. It wasn’t just a little part of me. It wasn’t even close to fifty-fifty. At that time it was closer to eighty or ninety percent that I really felt like I never wanted to see you again. Hearing you talk about how badly you had hurt my family almost completely outweighed all the kind things you had done for me.” She sniffed, tears coming down her eyes. 

Starlight forced her voice to remain as neutral as possible, even though it hurt to know how badly she had upset Flurry. “I stayed away from you because I didn’t want you to feel obligated to forgive me. I wanted you to make your own choice. 

“I didn’t know the scale was tipped that heavily against me, since we never went into the specifics of things, but… in the end you did forgive me and put it behind you. What made you do it?”

“The one who changed my mind was Uncle Sunny.”

Starlight let out a growl, catching Flurry’s attention and making her look up to see Starlight looking into the distance. “Darn it! I told them all to stay out of it!”

“Does it really matter?”

“You’re darn right it does! The same way I avoided you I didn’t want everyone else pushing you to forgive me either. 

“And what did he say? ‘Oh, Starlight is nice. You should totally forgive her after being so great to you. She's just so miserable right now.’ I didn’t want forgiveness out of manipulation and guilt trips.”

“Oh,” said Flurry. “Is that what’s bothering you?

“Uncle Sunny didn’t push me. He didn’t even say anything about forgiving you, and we didn’t talk that long. I asked him whether he knew about your past, and if my parents knew too, and he said you all did.

“He told me that you were putting it all on the line out of a desire to be honest with me, and repeated what you said about being afraid of one day learning the truth from someone else.

“And he finished up by saying that you truly loved me, and that if I believed in him that I should believe that.”

Starlight let out a little groan. “Better than I thought, but I still wish he didn’t interfere.”

“It really means that much to you, huh?”

Starlight looked her in the eyes. “Of course it does! I told you earlier what my relationship with you means to me. I want our relationship to be genuine. It shouldn’t only exist because of expectations and the desire not to hurt feelings.

“You may not have said it openly, but I could tell you held me up as a role model with the way you praised me. I put it off for a while, not because I was afraid of you not looking up to me anymore, but just that you’d sever our relationship entirely. 

"I could take you losing your hero worship of me and taking me off the pedestal you put me on, but losing that relationship completely felt like it would have broken me just like losing Sunburst did when I was a child.

“I had no idea who might spill the beans or why anyone would have a reason to, but I had to ask myself what my relationship meant to me. I knew it would hurt much deeper if it came from someone else. Maybe you’d overhear Twilight talking about some new foe she redeemed, and bring me up as an example of how people can change.

“Whatever the case may be, I couldn’t stand hearing you praise me anymore without feeling like I wasn’t worthy of it so long as I was keeping such a big secret from you. As expected, you got mad and upset, hitting me and running off crying.”

Starlight’s eyes faded out. “That… was the worst week of my life. It may have been necessary for our relationship to be true, but it doesn’t change the fact that I had to hurt you badly. I spent a lot of time beating myself up before reminding myself it was necessary.

“I could barely focus on anything because I was so afraid that I had shattered our relationship, but I forced myself to stay far away from you. I knew you were thinking about it too, but I felt like seeing me in person might just influence you if you saw how miserable I seemed. Or maybe it would go the opposite, and seeing me would stir up those feelings of anger and betrayal further.

"It was also to stop myself. If I had seen you I probably would have bowed at your hooves and begged for forgiveness, something I desperately wanted to avoid." 

Tears came down her eyes. “Stupid Sunburst,” she said in an emotionless voice. “Why did he…”

Flurry hugged her. “You know why, Aunt Starlight. He did it because he loved you and didn’t want to see you hurting anymore. The same way that I love you.”

Starlight turned her head away, wiping away some tears. “Darn it,” she said to herself. “Stop crying.”

“What’s wrong with crying?”

“I just want you to make your own decisions.”

“But I am making my own decisions, Aunt Starlight. I can see with my own eyes how strongly you feel about valuing me. You’re a lot like Aunt Twilight in that regard. She treats kids with the same level of respect as adults.

“It’s the same now as it was back then. I didn’t forgive you just because Uncle Sunny told me that you loved me. I looked at all the people in my life and thought about how they treated you. 

“Whenever Aunt Twilight stopped by she always treated you friendly and with the highest respect. Uncle Sunny always treated you with love and care. And then there was my parents, who put you in charge of something they hold dear to their hearts.

“If I hadn’t heard about what happened I never would have thought you ever did something like that, because they treated you without any suspicion. I believe in the people I love, and I know they would never want to see me get hurt. If you were any sort of risk to me they would have separated us long ago. It was that that finally started getting me thinking about your good points again.”

Flurry pushed at Starlight’s head until they were eye to eye. “What became the deciding factor was how much you risked just to ensure you remained one of the best role models in my life. As Uncle Sunny said, you risked having me hate you forever because you wanted to be truthful to me.

“I was still a little cautious around you at first, but as we went about our lives I saw you were still the same Starlight I always loved. I didn’t give it another thought after that until now, because you never gave me a reason to doubt you.”

Flurry gave her a warm smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you more. I believe that you didn’t intentionally try to hide something from me, and I hold to my own stance that says I don’t want anything to come between us. I’m satisfied with your explanation.” She nuzzled Starlight’s chest.

Starlight let out a breath, releasing the stress that had built up as she hugged Flurry close, happy tears coming down her eyes. “I love you, Flurry.”

“I love you too, Aunt Starlight.”

“I only wish I had met Twilight sooner. I just gave up after Sunburst. I got lost in fear, and in that fear I turned into a rotten person that would do anything to keep my friends, even at the cost of my conscience.

“I forgot how warm the light felt until Twilight lit up my world.”

Mayhem passed through Flurry’s mind. In the lull between battles with him the draconequus had posed something much the same. He wanted to keep the six of them in his dimension forever. Much like Starlight, he wanted to keep his friends close by force, forgetting that it wasn’t true friendship.

She remembered the look on his face as she told him that he might understand why she wouldn’t give up if he had had any friends to protect, and how he had said his pride wouldn’t allow him to give up. He had forgotten the light too until they shot it at him to wake him up.

"Aunt Starlight?"

"Yes, Flurry?"

"Should it really be that simple?"

"What do you mean?"

"I really am happy that we brought Mayhem back to his senses, but he did something terrible to all of us. In fact, he may be even worse than you. Even if it was an evil reason you at least had a good explanation for what you did. Mayhem just did all this for fun.

"It's like..." Flurry let out a groan as she tried to articulate what she was thinking. "I love him, and I love you, but both of you did disgusting things and then were basically rewarded for it. Aunt Twilight made you her personal student, and while Mayhem was all for punishing himself we all fought to ensure that didn't happen.

"I'm... still feeling uncertain about whether I did the right thing in forgiving Mayhem. I want to keep him as a part of my life. That hasn't changed. But... should I have given him more of a cold shoulder? Maybe in the future he'll act up again because he expects that all he has to do is say sorry.

"The fake Starlight claimed that she basically knew that Aunt Twilight would accept her apology as long as she appeared sorry. She counted on Aunt Twilight's goodness to make her believe that she was truly sorry."

Flurry squirmed restlessly. "Am I... just being gullible too?"

A tear came down Starlight's cheek. Flurry was starting to doubt herself again. She just sounded so forlorn. 

She moved Flurry next to her and stood up so they were face to face. "When I first surrendered to Twilight I expected the worst. Having to come face to face with the wrongness of my own actions I thought I deserved nothing less than to be thrown into the deepest dungeon and forgotten about.

"But the opposite happened. Rather than hold onto my past she looked towards my future, and the mare I could become if I started over.

"Twilight followed her heart when she came at me with love rather than hatred. Much like you, she doesn't act because of her title or status, but because it's what she genuinely wants to do. 

"And THAT'S why the way she acts is so powerful."

"Powerful?"

"Impactful! Twilight acts in a genuine manner which is inspiring. At the end, I'm sure Twilight didn't forget for a second that I could finish destroying the scroll that would ruin the future forever, but she didn't choose to focus on that. She didn't try and force it from me, or attack me. She focused on me instead. Like I said before, she risked the world to save me as well, addressing my fears and encouraging me to find a new path.

"And that's why her words hit so hard. Someone who could be so kind to a person that sought to ruin their life... that felt bad for that enemy despite the pain... it made a huge impact on me. 

"As for you, I think you're forgetting that you didn't forgive a friend, but an enemy."

"What do you mean?" Flurry asked, confused. "Mayhem is a friend."

"True, but you didn't know that at the time. 

"I got to see your mind working. When it came down to it, you were already leaning strongly towards forgiveness before you began to remember Mayhem in your heart. 

"I doubt most people would have objected to us never surfacing again, but you and Twilight didn't offer blind forgiveness. In both cases, forgiveness was offered because it was clear we showed regret over our actions. Mayhem questioned this concept, but he didn't need to directly say he was sorry for you to see it.

"Something else you took notice of is that you didn't remember Mayhem like you did your other friends until after he had some sense knocked into him and began returning to the person you recognized."

Now that Starlight mentioned it Flurry had to agree. All throughout her adventure Mayhem remained firmly a stranger. Her heart didn't start to reach out to his until after his defeat.

"Twilight told me that every friendship is important. The greater the love in Equestria the stronger we all grow. It's much like the Crystal Heart that keeps this empire safe. When a crystaling happens everyone gathers together in celebration and love, and a new shard is added to the heart, increasing it's power. 

"Feelings tend to perpetuate themselves. Hatred and cruelty breeds more hatred, like that of King Sombra. Although it was overshadowed by their fear, I'm sure everyone in the Crystal Empire would probably agree that they hated him.

"Love, too, is something that breeds more of itself. Twilight showed me love, touching my heart. Those feelings made me want to honor that love by being loving in turn. That's how I found myself with an amazing husband and a darling niece."

That made Flurry smile.

"You could say that I got off too easy, but the results speak for themselves. I've done my hardest to distance myself from past Starlight, not because I'm forced to or I'm afraid Twilight will lock me up, but for Twilight herself. I value the second chance she gave me, and have no inclination to go back to who I used to be.

"I feel it's the same for Mayhem. You could have dismissed him or came at him with hatred for what he did, but instead you offered him a hug and forgiveness. Such acts of kindness don't go unnoticed." She put a hoof to Flurry's chest. "It touches the heart in a special way, giving you inspiration and making you want to rise up from the past.

"That's why I don't feel you or Twilight made the wrong decision in offering forgiveness. It gives a chance for that kindness to be paid forward. Isn't Twilight's plan for Mayhem to offer children wishes to live out impossible dreams? Just think of all the happiness that wouldn't exist if you didn't offer Mayhem his own second chance."

"But if he goes bad again-"

"Then it WON'T be your fault!" Starlight said firmly. "People are responsible for their own behavior. You can guide another person, but ultimately they're going to do what they want. 

"Maybe you will find a few fakers along the way, who are only pretending remorse, but try thinking a little smaller. Not every bad thing is going to involve the fate of the world. Wouldn't you rather spread as much love and friendship as possible and have a few fakes along the way, rather than dismiss everyone for possibly being fake and stifle the potential of others to do great things?

"You've said that you trust me as much as you do Twilight. Do you think Twilight made a mistake by not locking me up?"

"No... I don't think so," Flurry responded. 

"If Mayhem never goes back to his bad ways then it clearly means you had a big impact on him and made the right decision."

"And if he does?"

"Then it means you made the decision that felt right to you at the time, and nothing more. 

"Let me give you one more fictional scenario: you made me a bit sad today with your accusations, so I think I'm going to go to Twilight Velvet, your grandmother, and blame her for your behavior."

"Whaaaaa..." That was so out of left field Flurry didn't even know where to begin dissecting that comment.

"After all, if she hadn't had Shining Armor you wouldn't have been born and I wouldn't have felt those feelings. She's directly responsible for it."

"Wha-but-wha-" Flurry sputtered a bit. "That's ridiculous! I don't even see her that often, but you're gonna..."

Starlight got a smug grin on her face as she chuckled. "You can say you're responsible for Mayhem's behavior if he goes wrong again, but I can say it was your father's fault for causing your birth, and your grandmother's fault for birthing him, and then their parents, and so on. Do you see how ridiculous it sounds when I put it that way?

"All in all, it's misplaced responsibility. If Mayhem slips up again it's on him, not you. Yes, if you take it literally then Mayhem can't commit his new bad actions if he's locked up, but that doesn't mean that you should be locked up right beside him as if you did the deed yourself. 

"Pay attention to the way he acts, but don't dwell on it overmuch. That's the best you can do."

"Okay, Aunt Starlight."

Starlight got a whimsical look on her face. “Y’know, at the very end there, right before I gave up, I called Twilight egotistical and arrogant for thinking she mattered so much, but she really does.”

Flurry snorted. “You’re one to talk about being egotistical and arrogant, big mouth. That’s one thing that’s never changed about you since back then.”

“Hey!” Starlight cried out.

The filly began chuckling.

Despite herself Starlight joined in.

Flurry began laughing harder and harder, and Starlight followed suit, both of them setting each other off until they were gasping for breath.

After a minute they began to settle down. Flurry wiped away some tears that had formed, a huge smile on her face. “Ah,” she said calmly. “That felt really nice. I needed a good laugh.”

“Glad you got that laugh at my expense. NOW… can we finally talk about you? Or are there any other delays related to me you want to get off your chest?”

Flurry’s smile remained but it wasn’t as big. She nodded. “Yeah. Now I really do feel ready.”

“Good! And just so you know, I am so gonna kick your butt in your next magic lesson.”

Flurry chuckled. “Bring it on!”
> 6-22: True self
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So,” said Starlight. “Where should we begin this time?”

“I don’t know,” said Flurry. “I guess now I’m not feeling so uncertain about whether I should have given Mayhem a second chance, but I’m not sure what else there is to talk about.”

“You’re still having doubts about that? Don’t I make a good example of the value of second chances?”

“Well… it’s not the same as you. It’s been years since you did your bad things, so I have proof that you’ve really changed. This only happened today. Just because you changed it doesn’t mean everyone will, right?”

“Fair enough, but I think you should give your friend a little more credit. And I think you should give yourself a little more as well.  

“I believe your name is an excellent symbol. You followed your heart when you couldn’t rely on your strength to win. You inspired your friends to new heights, summoning a power that hasn’t been seen since the time of the founding of Equestria.”

Flurry let out a groan. “You… you’re talking just like Aunt Twilight! You make it sound like I did something amazing. I barely knew what I was doing. “

She hugged Starlight, tears coming down her eyes. “I don’t know anything. I’m just a stupid little kid! I’m weak and pathetic! I was totally useless! I couldn’t do anything on my own. I only succeeded because of my friends.”

“Like I just said you should give yourself more credit than that. It was you who carried your friends throughout this adventure. Maybe they had to remind you what it meant to sacrifice yourself for the sake of others when Mayhem made you forget, but once they did so you grew into your strength, being the inspiration for them.

“Against an exceptionally powerfully enemy you refused to give up, even when he had an overwhelming advantage. And because you didn’t surrender, keeping that belief in yourself, you finally unlocked the power to win.”

“But-”

“Shh.” She put a hoof to Flurry’s mouth. “That power may have been borne out of your unity, yes, BUT that unity was only borne out of the fire of your heart. You burned so brightly that the shadows of fear and doubt couldn’t survive, awakening that same courage in all of your friends when they were all ready to surrender.

“Without your determination to protect your friends this day would have ended with Mayhem still evil, and your friend’s just puppets in his toy box. No matter how much you try to deny it, this victory could only have been achieved with you. It may have been a group victory, but you were a necessary, vital part of it. You saved the lives of all your friends, and that’s something to be proud of.”

Flurry buried her face in her hooves, quietly sobbing.

Starlight rubbed her back. “I was there for you when you didn’t have those friends. Today you did have to face your biggest fears. Now that you have… was it really that bad?”

Flurry looked up. “YES! It was horrible! It was the worst! I’m… I…” She drifted off, burying her head again.

“I think, deep down, you know the truth. Try to remember what you felt earlier.”

A minute passed before Flurry put her hooves down. She wiped her eyes, some strength in them now. “I… I love my friends. I… I would…” She took a breath.

“Yes, Flurry? What about them?”

She was starting to remember the feelings she had, working together and protecting one another. She remembered the desire to protect all of them.

“Do you know what I see, Flurry?” Starlight said kindly, wiping away Flurry’s tears. “I see a girl who is far stronger than she gives herself credit for.”

Flurry sniffed, looking uncertain. She suddenly pulled away, hopping off her bed and pacing around the room. “Maybe I am! And maybe I don’t WANT it to be that way!”

“You don’t want to be strong?” Starlight asked curiously.

Flurry paused mid-step for a few seconds, then rounded on the mare. “That’s not the point! I hate this! I finally got to experience some peace and friendship. I finally got to just be a kid, then today I’m thrown into a nightmare world and forced to forget all that. I was tormented and tortured and-and-and…” She broke off, her eyes fading out as her breathing shortened.

She could still feel the terror permeating her being. The subconscious memories of her friends and joining up with all of them had been the only thing that had staved off the madness that had been eating away at her.

“So, then… are you resentful of Mayhem for doing that to you?”

“What?” She looked shocked at the idea. “No. No. No-no-no.” She shook her head. “It’s… I…”

“So you feel your love for him outweighs the evil he did to you? You can still love someone who betrayed you in such a way?”

Flurry felt oddly defensive. Starlight’s words had a tone of simply trying to get her to articulate her feelings, but it still felt like the mare was judging her choice. 

“Yes!” she said firmly. “He was a friend in need, and every time I’d fight to save him!”

Starlight nodded.  “Very good. So… if you’ve already put his betrayal behind you and made a plan to stop him from going off the deep end again then what is it that is still weighing you down?”

“So maybe I’m scared, alright! I don’t want to deal with this pressure again! It was hard enough back then. I don’t want those feelings to come back!”

She let out a huff. “Just when everything is settled Aunt Twilight pulled me and all my friends to the castle, asking all of US to sit in their seats, the thrones of the biggest heroes in the world, and talking about how she thought we should be the next Elements of Friendship. I mean, she apologized for it later, and I know she meant well, but I didn’t need to hear that, especially not today!”

“What’s wrong with that? You’re opposed to making new friends, or helping others make up and experience the same things you did?”

“Wha-that… that’s not the point!”

“So what is the point, then?”

“You know what that entails! Aunt Twilight doesn’t just help people make up. She fights these gigantic battles with the worst scum of Equestria.”

“The only thing she asked of you was helping children around your age. Nothing more.”

“I don’t want that responsibility!”

Starlight’s eyes narrowed slightly. “So you’d rather turn a blind eye to those in need?”

Flurry flushed, but her expression didn’t change. “I WANT to make my own choices! This is the same problem I had with being the ruler of the Crystal Empire. I don’t want anyone deciding my fate FOR me. If I’m going to rule I want it to be because I CHOSE to do it, not just out of expectations.

“It’s no different with that magic map. Aunt Twilight and her friends might want to help people, but that map thing just calls them whenever it wants. If I’m going to help someone it should be because I want to, not because something is telling me I need to go do it.

“I hate feeling different just because I was born with both wings and a horn! That’s something that hasn’t changed about me.” 

Starlight put a hoof to her mouth, considering Flurry’s words. “I see. I wanted to point out that it isn’t only alicorns that make up the Elements of Friendship, but, being an alicorn, you probably expect that you would be expected to lead.”

Flurry nodded hard. 

“So… what if you weren’t the leader? Pound seems to be pretty spunky and courageous from what you’ve said about him. He was the first one to throw himself in the path to protect you from the fake me. If he was the one in charge would that change how you felt?”

Flurry considered the question. After a little while she said, “No. It wouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Even if all the people close to me treat me like any other kid nobody else is. As soon as they see I’m an alicorn they’d expect me to be the one in charge.”

“I thought, after your relationship with Crystal, that you were okay with who you were.”

“I AM! I’m perfectly fine with the person I am. I just don’t like when people refuse to see me the way I want them to.

“I’m not ashamed of my wings anymore.” She unfurled them as far as they would go. “These wings are like a test to see who can look past my outward appearance to see who I am inside. That’s why I’m glad I was born with them. It weeds out the fakes who I would never want to be friends with.” She folded her wings. “But this isn’t about being teased or made fun of. It’s about being thrust into a responsibility I didn’t sign up for.” 

“Flurry, that’s called life. We all go through life with unasked for responsibilities. How we choose to respond to those responsibilities is what makes us who we are inside. We can either run from them or accept them.

“Just like today, sometimes no one else is there to come to the rescue, and someone has to step up to play the hero.” Starlight let out a sigh. “You said to your friends the reason you felt distressed when the fake me pretended to come back to her senses was because you had to accept that truth. You had to accept that I was a fake, and that meant that you were still going to need to be the one in charge of protecting your friends.”

“Mmm…” Flurry glanced at the ground. “That’s different… to me.”

“Why is it different?”

“Because it was only the six of us. I did have to step up for my friends because I didn’t have a choice. Out in the real world there are hundreds of ponies. Why do I, specifically, have to be the one to do it then? Is everyone else so bad at solving problems that I’m the only one who can help?

“And you! When you were talking about your past thoughts you said it shouldn’t only be up to six ponies to help everyone with the little things. And it shouldn’t!”

Starlight slowly shook her head. “You’re so naïve, Flurry.”

“Why? I’m just repeating what YOU said, and I agree with it.”

“I do feel sympathy for your plight. Being born an alicorn certainly hasn’t been an easy experience, especially with your large wings. However, that’s all I feel sympathy for. Your mindset is repulsive.”

Flurry growled, her eyes narrowing.

“Don’t give me that look!” Starlight said authoritatively. “What you’re saying is that you only want to help others when it’s convenient for you, a very selfish notion that’s a slap in the face to ponies like your mother Cadance and your aunt Twilight, who selflessly offer themselves to others. I guess it’s good you’re not interested in your title, because the title of princess is clearly wasted on you.”

Flurry’s eyes clenched shut as she began to sob. “What would YOU know? You’re an adult now. You have the experience and the skill to deal with all these things. I don’t! I’m still a dumb kid!”

“That’s not an excuse,” Starlight said flatly. “Some ‘dumb kids’ were able to relieve your feelings, so don’t act like age is stopping you.”

“Fine, but I don’t feel ready for all of this!”

“All of what, Flurry? Helping out another six year old? You act like Twilight is trying to replace herself with you right now. You’re letting your fears make you paranoid, just like you did when you thought you’d be plopped on the throne if your parents died.

“From what you and Twilight have told me about how your friends met, Pound and Pumpkin were able to help quite a few through personal family issues. If they can do it then why not you?”

Flurry began to shiver. “I told you before! I’m scared!”

“Scared of what, Flurry? If you don’t want to be a fighter then that’s perfectly fine. That’s what I’m here for. What issue do you have with helping others that’s got you so terrified?”

“I’m scared of screwing up and making things worse. I’ve learned the value of friendship, but I don’t think I’m qualified to start teaching others yet. It feels like too much responsibility. I’d feel horrible if I wound up destroying a friendship because I said or did the wrong thing.”

She sniffed. “I just want to be an ordinary kid. Maybe that does make me a failure as a princess, but I always knew I didn’t deserve the title in the first place. I never should have been born an alicorn.”

She looked at the ground, tears dripping onto the floor. “I know I’m just a pathetic loser. You don’t have to rub it in more." 

Starlight let out a sigh. She gestured to Flurry to get her attention, then patted her lap. Flurry stood still for a minute before slowly plodding over and hopping up, automatically throwing her hooves around the mare as she continued crying.

“I think I went a bit too far,” said Starlight “but my intentions are pure. You’re so much more than you think you are, Flurry.”

“Now you’re praising me?” Flurry said dully. 

“Your spirit has been drained from your recent experience. Mayhem may have restored the memories you forgot, but that doesn’t make you the same person you were before he did so.”

Flurry just raised her eyebrow, not responding.

“I think… with all the other things going on, that you’ve forgotten who you are.”

Flurry’s head tilted. “That’s stupid! Mayhem made me forget my friends. He didn’t make me forget that I’m Flurry Heart.”

“Sure he did. You just can’t see it.”

“I just used my name. What in Equestria are you talking about?”

“You may know your name, but that doesn’t mean you know who you are.”

“Huh…”

“Think about it like this, Flurry. When I began to take away ponies cutie mark’s their names may have stayed the same, but they were no longer the same person. Pinkie Pie was no longer her bubbly self. Twilight lost all her skill at magic. Everyone became equal so that no one could excel. 

“But, just like Twilight said about her friendships, it’s those differences that make you unique. They make you who you are.”

“Oh,” said Flurry. “I was taking it literally.”

“I know you were. And I can say with confidence that you have forgotten who you are.”

“Do I really seem that different to you?”

Starlight nodded. “Definitely. It wasn’t perfect, but you were definitely on your way to truly knowing yourself before. Now you’ve drifted far from that.

“The weirdest part of it all is that you without your memories seems like she understood things far better than the Flurry sitting on my lap right now.”

Flurry looked away. “I… I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Well, finding your identity is something that is usually done on your own, but I can give you some hints, and they all start with your friends. The rest will be up to you to figure out.”

Flurry looked back up and nodded.

“Crystal helped you to see the shape of who you really were.” With her magic she pulled Flurry’s wings out. “She helped you to accept yourself for being different.

“Do you remember why you overcame those feelings? It was for her. If she was ever in danger you didn’t want to let your shame over your wings cripple your ability to be there for your friend.”

As Starlight released her wings Flurry extended them in front of her, thinking of the long time it took her to learn to appreciate her wings.

Starlight poked her in the chest. “This fear floating around you isn’t a fear of being a hero or having to step up. It’s really a fear of being yourself and who you’re meant to be.”

Flurry gazed at her questioningly. 

“Once you’ve accepted the person you truly are you won’t be able to look back anymore. Your heart will accept nothing less than action. Sitting on the sidelines and holding back won’t be something you’ll accept.”

“And… who am I, truly?”

“That’s a question only you can answer, Flurry. You started to find her because of Crystal, and I think today you truly discovered her.

“You need your friends, of course. Meeting them for the first time they taught you the joy of friendship. The second time you met them ‘for the first time’ it was much the same. They inspired you and sacrificed themselves for you.

“This connection goes both ways, though. Stop and think for a moment about what your friends would do without you.”

Her horn glowed, summoning a memory.

Flurry looked around, seeing they were at the end of Mayhem’s game. Mayhem made his proposal to spare the pony who betrayed the others.

“Look at your friends, Flurry. Can you see the fear and uncertainty in them? The only one still calm in this sea of fear is you.”

“But…” Flurry’s ears went down. “But that was only because I believed in my friends and wanted to protect them. I can’t do it on my own.”

Starlight lifted Flurry and set her back on her bed. “You can tell yourself you can’t a thousand times, but when it comes to your friends it’s clear that your only response is ‘I can.’ And you did.”

Starlight began walking to the door of her room.

“Where are you going?” Flurry asked emotionally.

She stopped, turning her head around. “To let you figure things out. I told you that I was only going to give you some hints.

“I know who you are, so-”

“So why won’t you just tell me?”

Starlight smiled at her. “Because you don’t need me to. You already know everything you need to know. I saw her emerge today from your memories.

“Besides, don’t you remember what you told me? You don’t want someone deciding your fate for you, or pushing you onto a path you didn’t choose. If I tell you what I think, and you reject it, then it comes to nothing.

“You have to be the one to make your own choices, Flurry, just as you said.”

Flurry gulped, trapped by her own words. “But… I… I don’t even know where to start.”

Starlight considered her for a moment. “I already told you, Flurry. Take a minute and ask yourself about what your friends mean to you. Think about the feelings you have for them. 

“Then I want you to flip it around, and think about what you mean to your friends. Ask yourself where they would be without you in their lives. 

“When you can answer both of those questions with confidence I think you’ll find the answer you’re searching for.”

“But… but what does that have to do with anything?”

“Who you are is determined by the things that are important to you… the things you cherish most dearly and want to protect. If you can find that pony without your memories, then think of how much stronger you can be with them intact.”

Starlight gave her a big grin. “You are your own pony, Flurry. Who you choose to be is up to you. Knowing you as well as I do I’m confident that you’ll find the answer that you’ve already discovered and forgotten.

“Let me know what you come up with later.”

And with that she left.
> 6-23: Who am I?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry felt all scrambled at first, unsure of what to say or where to start. In the end she decided to focus on the two questions Starlight asked of her.

“What do my friends mean to me?” she asked out loud. The answer came to her in a heartbeat. “Everything!”

Her life used to feel so cold and dim. She lived in a state of constant fear, dedicating herself endlessly to studying until she’d become so exhausted she had to do something else to relieve her thoughts.

She felt afraid to tell anyone what she was really thinking, foolishly feeling like they’d tell her to get back to work.

When her parents told her that a friend of Twilight’s was having a birthday party she was all for staying home. She didn’t know them. Why should she care? But they forced her to go, overriding her protests.

A tear came down her eye. She had been such an idiot then. That day changed her whole life. Friendship, which she had dismissed before, became such a beautiful thing, solving half of her issues. And because they pushed her into a rant her parents overheard all her fears, and showed that they had prepared for them already, taking care of the other half.

And, just like that, the sun came into her world again. All the pressure, all the fear, all the uncertainty and heaviness that had pervaded her life for months… gone.  She smiled more. She laughed more. She didn’t have to pretend to be feeling alright when she wasn’t.

That day… it was everything to her. After her issues were solved, and they were all having a crazy snowball fight indoors, life just felt right. 

And her friends didn’t stop there. Pound and Pumpkin went out of their way to help her build up her friendship with Crystal Mine. 

Even though she had ultimately been the one to settle things with Crystal, she never could have done so if the twins hadn’t gotten Crystal to reveal her true feelings. By having some ordinary ponies there Crystal could talk to, the filly had spoken of what lied in her heart.

Following that, Crystal had been a steadfast friend, just as good as the rest. Her instincts hadn’t steered her wrong. Once Crystal could see past her princess status and just look at her as another pony it made their relationship real. She knew it was okay for them to get mad at each other sometimes. 

It wasn’t just about negative things, either. Crystal accepted her for her abnormally sized wings. Seeing how sensitive she felt about them Crystal didn’t just try to ignore them. The filly actively sought to help her get over that stigma of her previous bullying, and she was successful. Crystal’s unceasing support of her allowed her thoughts to slowly shift, until she got to the point that she was proud of being different.  

Pound, Pumpkin, Peppermint, Tree Leaf, Masky, Crystal… even Mayhem, despite his betrayal… they were all irreplaceable friends, who opened up her world to something she had never thought possible.

She began to gently sob. What did her friends mean to her? She couldn’t imagine not having them in her life. What they had done for her made a permanent impression on her heart. So long as she had them in her life there would always be a light in the darkness. She could persevere. She could keep going despite any hardship.

Even when they weren’t right next to her they were always close by inside. Just thinking about them could make some hard days a little easier.

Of course, she had her mother and father, as well as Twilight, Starlight, and Sunburst, but they were all family. She expected them to love her. The others had chosen to be a special part of her life. 

She put a hoof to her face, wishing that she had listened to Twilight earlier.

She sniffed as she slowly composed herself, her heart full of the love she had for her friends.

She wiped her eyes, turning her mind to Starlight’s second question: what did she think she meant to her friends, and what would they be without her in their lives?

That one was harder, because it wasn’t coming directly from her own thoughts and feelings. 

She felt a bit of an ache inside. For all that they had done for her, had she ever done anything for them in return? Even a single thing? They worked well as a group, having fun together, but was she just taking advantage of their kindness? Was she just another face in the crowd to them, someone who didn’t stand out at all?

She bit her lip, feeling a sense of anxiety. “I… I know I need them, but…” Tears came down her eyes. “… but maybe they don’t need me at all. Maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference at all to them if I had never met them.”

As despair began to clutch at her Mayhem’s voice echoed through her mind, as if to defy that thought. "No matter how bad I got, as long as it was the six of you, I knew you would be able to stop me."

Mayhem knew that he might one day fall back into darkness, but he wasn’t afraid of that because of his friendships with them. He knew that they would be able to save him. Somewhere inside he regretted what he was doing, but he was too into the game to acknowledge it.

Pound and Pumpkin had asked for her help with one of their classmates because he was dealing with the same sort of pressures she had been going through. 

They had also requested her presence to be part of helping Mayhem get past his boredom, even if things had gone sour. 

They didn’t exclude her from the group simply because she lived far away. She couldn’t always make it out there because of the far distance, but it wasn’t like distance was an issue with the magical journals. When one of them was having a bad day she’d be encouraging or compassionate.

When she could make it out there they always looked happy to see her. From what she could figure her friends didn’t really hang out unless everyone was there.

It was nonsense to think that she meant nothing to her friends. Maybe what she had done for them wasn’t as big as what they had done for her, but it wasn’t nothing. She wasn’t just an afterthought.

Flurry spent a long time just sitting on her bed, thinking about what Starlight had said. 

“Who am I?” she said to herself. “Aunt Starlight seems to think she knows… so how come I don’t?”

Her mind turned to what had happened today. She had been avoiding thinking about it, and the role she had played in things, but she couldn’t put it off forever. It might be scary, but she had to push forward if she wanted to find the answer she was looking for.

She used the same spell Starlight had used to summon a memory, and saw her and her friends right before Mayhem’s defeat.

Compared to how she felt inside now she could barely recognize herself. The Flurry before her was confident, staring danger in the eyes and laughing at it. She was openly defiant to a force far beyond her abilities and a source of hope to her friends.

“Is this… me?” The question hung in the air. No one else could answer the question for her.

She replayed the memory, focusing on a particular part.

“The five of you… you taught me things that no book could ever prepare me for. You taught me about true courage and not backing down no matter the danger, by risking your lives to protect me. Now I’m here to return the favor. 

“I know who I am now. I am Flurry Heart, alicorn princess, and I don’t want to be anyone else!”

The Flurry in the memory looked so tough at that moment. Her eyes were blazing with confidence and purpose, a raging inferno of inner strength.

The Flurry of the present felt like she was looking at someone else. Twilight had even asked her how she could feel more confident in the face of imminent death than when there was no danger. 

She looked at her friends, so recently in a state of terror, and saw the calm looks on their faces now. She had been the one to give that to them. 

She thought back to her battle against Sombra disguised as Starlight. She had put all of them in danger because she had been unwilling to fight. They had all suffered because of it. 

She thought of them all injured and laid out on the ground, and remembered the crushing despair that had ate away at her in that moment as she had screamed.

She could feel it at the edge of her consciousness, just waiting to emerge like before. She glanced towards the past Flurry again, wishing she could have her strength. It was quite an odd feeling, for sure, to be jealous of herself, to wish she could be more like herself.

Earlier, Starlight had said that the "real" Flurry had begun to emerge after she met Crystal, and then came out completely today. Was this Flurry the one Starlight was talking about?

“Who I am… is determined by the things that are important to me.” Flurry put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully, thinking again of Starlight’s words. The mare had seemed to be telling her something, but not directly spelling it out.

She thought back to before, back before she had met her friends. Not having any sense of modesty or restraint she used to… well, not flaunt her wings. That would imply she was doing it to show off or for attention. The reason she used to always have her wings out was because she was proud of them, in the sense that it made her like her mother. The two of them were alicorns, and her wings were as big as her mom’s.

She had been a cheerful child back then. Things had been so simple, but suddenly they weren’t. The stares of others, which she had thought of as similar pride that she was so close in appearance to her mom, actually weren’t. The first time one of the children made fun of her wings she thought he was just being mean. She brushed it off.

But it kept happening. As her family started her socializing the teasing continued. Sometimes it was whispered but overheard. Sometimes it was blatant and to her face.

She began to connect the stares of the children and their harsh words with the stares of the adults, realizing what they were really thinking. The adults didn’t insult her like the children did, but they didn’t have to. Once she understood what their looks meant they didn’t have to say a word. They thought she was abnormal… a freak. 

It… hurt. It hurt her deeply. The pain only grew and grew until she stopped opening her wings in public at all. Even at home she was very restrained, feeling like she was just an outsider to everyone who wasn’t part of her family. She could remember crying her eyes out some days over it.

Her parents were very supportive, but it didn’t change the way she acted. Whenever she went out in public she kept her wings firmly at her sides at all times. She had no interest in learning to fly. It would only make her stand out more. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, the same ponies that scarred her heart with their stares were the same ones piling more wood on the fire of her pain. She knew they were trying to be encouraging, but the more they talked the worse she felt. They got into her head, always bringing up the future where they expected her to be taking her mother’s place.

The children were no better. No matter who she hung out with it always made her uncomfortable because they were uncomfortable. Even as young as she was she could tell they weren’t being genuine with her. She compared the way her family treated her, and the way the kids acted, noticing a big difference. 

Most were overly polite, always trying to stay on her good side. There was always an underlying fear in the way they treated her, confusing her. What had she done to deserve such treatment?

That was something else she came to understand after many such encounters. They always called her by her title, never by her name. It was always “Princess, Princess” with them. They wouldn’t call her Flurry, even in addition to her title.

It always created an uncomfortable gap. No matter how much she wanted to close that gap it remained as wide as it always was. 

Oh, sure, she did meet a few ponies who weren’t afraid of her, but they were all self-serving. She had been having a great time with one colt, but he didn’t think much of her. 

She sniffed. She could still remember the hurt she had felt when he dismissed her, telling her he had only played with her because his dad was hoping to get something out of it.

She put her hooves to her face as a few tears came down her eyes. Outside of her parents, Twilight(who she didn’t see often), Starlight, and Sunburst, it felt like nobody cared about her. She couldn’t connect with anyone who wasn’t already supposed to care for her.

She slowly gave up on friendship, considering it a waste when there was studying to be done. Eventually, she’d give it another shot, but only out of necessity.

Things changed a little when she first met Crystal. After accidentally shoving herself out a swing with her magic the filly had come over to check on her, and they played together happily. For a time she experienced a genuine connection with another child. Crystal hadn’t noticed that she was an alicorn, and so treated her like any other kid. 

Things went sour during their second meeting. Once Crystal discovered who she actually was her attitude shifted to just like all the other children. That cursed gap, which hadn’t existed with this filly, returned in full measure. Crystal acted like she thought she was beneath her and unworthy of her time.

Her dream of a stress-free time of play, something she really needed at the time, was shattered. It was something so slight, but when Crystal spilled a drink on her she needed to leave before she exploded in anger. It was stress all over again.

She had had high hopes for their friendship, for a short time seeing what her aunt had talked about. Having that friendship regress just made her give up on friendship altogether. She just didn’t want to care anymore.

That could have been the end for her, but her Aunt Twilight was still looking out for her. She argued and complained and whined and cried, but her parents insisted she go to the birthday party of some friends of Twilight’s. What she thought would be an annoying, dull waste of her time turned out to be the best day of her whole life.

After the birthday party she thought about Twilight’s words. A friendship wasn’t only one-sided. Both people have to participate. If someone thought she was odd, or defined her by her princesshood or alicornhood, then it was her responsibility to show them she was more than just that.

Without those heavy feelings weighing her down she returned to Crystal and began their relationship anew. She tried to bring things back to the way they had been the first time they met, but it was difficult. She tried showing the filly a great time, but it felt like no matter what she tried she just couldn’t shrink that gap that kept them apart. She couldn’t form the connection she wanted.

Crystal only seemed to reluctantly allow their friendship. Flurry knew she was afraid, but she was hoping that after a few times the filly would calm down, but it just didn’t happen. Crystal still had that annoying forced politeness that drove her crazy. 

Feeling discouraged, she elected to ask her friends for help. Things hadn’t quite gone how she expected. She excused herself, claiming it was to go to the bathroom, but really she just wanted to hear Crystal’s true thoughts. 

She found out that she was at fault for the gap between them as much as Crystal was. Crystal eventually revealed that she really did want to have the same kind of friendship that she had with the twins. The reason it didn’t happen was because she had only been focusing on showing the filly a good time. She never once bridged the distance between them by opening up her heart and talking to her about her feelings. She hadn’t shared any of her problems and made Crystal feel needed.

Crystal even called her out on that during her rant, asking why she never told her about the bad thoughts going through her mind so Crystal could help her with them. 

Only a short while later she found herself creating that gap anew by being afraid of letting Crystal see her wings. Once more her friends came to the rescue, calling her out for not trusting Crystal enough to show everything she was.

To her enormous relief Crystal dismissed her fears, telling her she was perfect just the way she was. 

Things didn’t stop there, though. As their friendship grew and she told Crystal about the past the filly didn’t just offer encouragement or nice words. Crystal wasn’t content to just ignore the problem. She went out of her way to help her past it. 

When she tried to resist with pathetic excuses the filly called her out on it hard, becoming super determined to be a good friend to her by helping her through her feelings.

Crystal told her that her wings were a part of who she was, and she shouldn’t have any shame for something that wasn’t her fault.

The next few weeks were hard and embarrassing. Crystal pushed her into going around with her wings out like she used to. Once more she had to endure the stares of others and remember that painful feeling of realization of what they were thinking when they did so. 

It felt so humiliating for a long time. She approached her hangouts with Crystal with a sense of trepidation, knowing what she’d be forced to do once the filly arrived.

In the beginning her gaze was always focused outward, seeing every pony looking at her as silently mocking her. She could only go a few minutes before she couldn’t take it anymore and had to take a break.

Those days she felt like crying a lot of the time, hating how it made her feel.

Gradually, through Crystal’s endless encouragement, she found her gaze shifting inward. She began to truly see Crystal for what she was doing. Crystal has said that no matter what it took she was going to help her through her stigma. Day after day Crystal proved her words true, never faltering… never backing down. Crystal deeply wanted to lift her out of the darkness and free her of her self-hatred over her most noticeable attribute.

She saw how hard Crystal was fighting for her, and how much the filly truly cared about her. Crystal saw it her duty to help her, because she wanted to prove herself worthy as a friend. It was that realization that got her motivated in turn. 

She didn’t get past her feelings about her wings for her own sake. She did it for Crystal’s. Crystal was giving it one hundred percent in trying to be a good friend. She wanted to keep the filly close by and not see her get hurt. When she thought that Crystal could be put in danger because of her embarrassment about her wings she grew determined to overcome those feelings no matter what it took. She didn’t want to be the only one to be a good friend. She didn’t want to be the only one to fight for the sake of their friendship.

Her wings, which had long been a source of negative feelings for her, began to make her happy. They became a symbol of those she could truly trust with her heart. Pound and the rest didn’t laugh at her wings when she showed them, telling her that they liked her just the way she was. When she showed Crystal the filly had told her she was perfect as she was. 

Time passed, and she found herself changing. She began to find confidence in who she was. She found she no longer cared who stared at her wings, or who made fun of her for it. The only thing that truly mattered to her was being as good a friend to Crystal as Crystal had been to her.

She could remember that she had told Crystal she wanted to fill the void in her heart with her. Even after forging that bond with her Ponyville friends there was still an emptiness inside because she couldn't always go to Ponyville, even with magical aid. Even with the magical notebooks it just didn’t compare to a face to face conversation.

She would never dismiss her Ponyville friends, especially considering she never would have forged that bond with Crystal without them, but Crystal was a friend she truly needed even more than them. Crystal was someone who lived within walking distance, which made setting up days to hang out easy. 

Each of her friends had given her something special and improved her life. She thought back to Starlight’s words. “She said that Crystal helped me to start seeing the real me.” She was uncertain. “She helped me to become more confident and accept myself more, but… I don’t really know if I’d say I saw my 'true self' just because of that.”

She’d keep that idea in mind though.

She let her mind drift for a minute, knowing she was avoiding concentrating on Mayhem’s world and everything that had occurred in it. 

Was she ready for this? She didn’t really think so. Without anyone else nearby to hold her or offer comfort the thought of reminiscing about what happened felt daunting, especially because she knew it would be the most effective to use the memory spell to see it for herself. 

She put her hoof to her heart, a habit she had picked up, and thought of her friends. Even when they weren’t right next to each other they were still there inside her heart. She wasn’t alone.

She focused on her breathing for the next few minutes to calm herself. She did feel fear, but beyond that she found an overpowering curiosity. She wanted to know what Starlight was talking about. If she had a “true self” she wanted to know who it was. 

She didn’t exactly feel able to handle it, but she was at least willing to start probing.
> 6-24: Back to Mayhem's world
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry took a few deep breaths before she focused. She knew the spell that Starlight used to visit memories like they were real life, but she wasn’t as proficient at the spell as her.

She knew that seeing the memories rather than just thinking about them was going to make them so much worse, but she really wanted to know what Starlight had spoken about. Who was this “real” Flurry? What “answer” had she forgotten because of her experiences in Mayhem’s world? She felt like the only way to get those answers was to see it for herself. 

She closed her eyes as her horn began to glow with a bright light. When she opened her eyes she saw her and her friends in Mayhem’s world. Unlike when Starlight cast the spell things didn’t look nearly as real. Everything had a bit of a translucent aspect to it, all of them slightly see-through.

She watched as they all sank into despair because of Mayhem’s terms, until Masky had the idea to just give him what he wanted and play it like any other game.

She skipped ahead a bit to the battle with Tirek. With a cunning plan by Pound they managed to take Tirek down, at which point Mayhem appeared.

The draconequus’ voice reeked with condescension and malice as he stated his intentions to wipe their memories. Watching herself from the outside she couldn’t stop a few tears coming down her eyes as she saw the sheer terror on her past self.

And yet Mayhem just didn’t care at that point. He wasn’t swayed by their emotions, and erased their memories as their faces all went blank.

It was an odd experience. She could see things from both sides of the spectrum. She could remember things from the perspective of having her memories intact, but she could also remember things from the perspective of being without them. She really felt like two different people at the same time.

Her five friends all took off to the cries of family members, leaving her alone. 

Flurry paused the memory, once again feeling the sadness of her past self. She had “woken up” in a strange and unfamiliar place with no memory of how she got there, then insulted by her friends in the heat of anger. 

It had hurt to hear yet another person making fun of her wings. It wasn’t helped when right after that Mayhem toyed with her.

He gave her false hope that she had hurt him several times, only to be fine every time. When he tired of playing around with her he took off, telling her to grab the other ponies that had run off and come to his castle.

She had to stop again as her past self fell and began sobbing, once more feeling those feelings like they had just happened. She could remember how scared and upset she had been at that moment. Everything felt so hopeless. She had felt so alone, and there was no one to help her. And yet…

She continued on, knowing what her past self was thinking as she slowly grew quiet and stood up. At that time she hadn’t known what was going on. She felt something pulling her to them, though she couldn’t understand why.

Now that she had her memories back she understood what it was that drew her. Mayhem could mess with her mind, but not her heart. Somewhere inside she remembered the way they made her feel.

She grabbed Pound and Pumpkin, saving them from the Changelings, then saved Peppermint from the timberwolves. It had been a simple matter both times, but their next opponent was no pushover.

While the feelings she had weren’t as intense as they were for her earlier memories she could still remember the fear she had felt when she beheld Nightmare Moon.

It was here that her friends began to make a strong impression on her. She insisted she go in alone, feeling like only an alicorn could fight another alicorn. She was terrified at the time, not wanting to go in, but knowing she had to all the same. She had told the others to stay behind, and just as she went to protect Masky a single clear word rang out.

“NO!”

It had taken her by surprise. Pound had refused to stay behind, even though it would have been the safest option. She had thought them foolish at first, doubting her own chances of victory, and that was why they wanted to come along with her.

Pumpkin and Peppermint both added in their own support, telling her it shouldn’t be up to a kid like her to fight battles like this, and if she was going to fight they were coming along too. 

She smiled as her past self began to cry. Her greatest fear had been being forced into battles she wasn’t prepared for, and they helped to stave off that fear by pledging their support to her. Just knowing that she wouldn’t be fighting alone made her feel so much better inside.

The battle fared poorly. Pound and Pumpkin both took hard hits. Even though she told them to just stay down they told her they were fighting for something more than a princess or an alicorn. They were fighting for a friend.

With a combination of teamwork her four friends had managed to deal Nightmare Moon a hard hit, and she grew vengeful.

Seeing the danger, she threw herself between them and Nightmare’s blast. She hadn’t had the strength to completely block her spell, only surviving because Masky distracted her long enough to reflect her own spell back at her, giving them the opportunity to seal her into the shadows. 

With that they added Masky to their group, leaving only Tree Leaf.

Flurry bit her lip, her heart starting to race as anxiety went through her. She knew what was coming next, but she didn’t want to face it. What had happened there had caused all of them so much pain. Her friends got hurt, her heart got hurt, and it hurt Starlight as well.

For the next few minutes she struggled with herself. Did she have the courage to face this again? Did she have a choice if she wanted to know what Starlight was talking about?

She found herself wanting to grab one of her family members to be on this journey with her, or to just skip the fake Starlight altogether, but again she found herself being overwhelmed with curiosity. In order to truly understand she had to see everything, no matter how unpleasant it was. 

Reluctantly, she allowed the memory to keep playing. 

Tree Leaf was sent flying over their heads, and she stopped him with her magic. She had been ready to attack, but then Starlight came into the picture, crippling her ability to fight.

Her friends had been ready to fight. She was the only one holding back. In fact, she protected Starlight from her friends, refusing to believe that the Starlight she knew and loved was doing such awful things. 

Starlight deceived her, waiting until her guard was down before socking her in the face and knocking her to the ground.

Flurry winced as she heard the impact.

Her friends set up an attack again, and once more she protected Starlight from them before sealing them in a shield so they couldn’t interfere. 

She could feel her past self’s guilt. She still believed in Starlight, the only familiar face since she began her journey. She desperately wanted Starlight to come to her senses so she didn’t have to be in charge anymore.

She found herself in two minds as she listened to Starlight showing her “true self.” She could remember the anxiety and fear overtaking her as she recalled the feelings from the past, but a pit of disgust from her present self for even listening to such words.

Her trust in Starlight had faltered, and with every sentence out of Starlight’s mouth she could feel herself growing worse and worse as she watched past Flurry’s mind slowly cracking.

Even though she had forgiven Mayhem for what he had done she thought it was a good thing she wasn’t going to see him for a while. Despite what she said to Starlight earlier she was feeling some resentment now over the fact that he had brought a fake Starlight into the battle. 

It was bad enough he had taken away her memories of her friends, but then he tried to taint the memory of one of her most trusted authority figures. Everyone else just had to fight for survival. For her, this final challenge before getting to the castle just felt so personally tailored to her and her alone. Later on, he did say he made her the main character in his comic book story and did it simply for dramatic tension, but he had gone way too far.

She was so caught up in thoughts of Mayhem that she missed out on the rest of Starlight’s words until a bright flash of light caught her attention.

Her heart began to race as all her friends threw themselves in front of Starlight’s attack. She instinctively tried to protect them by creating a shield spell despite knowing it was only a memory, only for it to do absolutely nothing as Peppermint threw her past self out of the way right before all of them were sent flying by the attack.

Her breath caught, horror going through her, for a few moments forgetting it was the past as she began shaking. Her mouth went dry and her head and stomach began to hurt, chills going down her spine. 

She was practically gasping for breath, muttering “No no no no…” over and over.

Around this time her past self was rising, pulled out of her stupor by the physical pain of colliding with the ground.

As her past self let out a wail of agony her mind began to catch up to what she was seeing. She broke the spell, quietly sobbing.

It wasn’t real. It wasn’t real! Well, it was, but it wasn’t. It was all in the past. The problem was that it had happened at all.

“STUPID FLURRY!” she cried out, feeling self-loathing going through her. “Way to let all your friends down, jerk! Because of you your friends got hurt! It’s all your fault for being such a coward!

“They were counting on you! They were counting on you to protect them, but you just sat there and cried because you didn’t want to deal with it you big dumb idiot! Some friend you were, you disgusting piece of garbage!!”

As Flurry continued her verbal tirade against herself Starlight moved away from where she had been peeking through the gap in the almost closed door.

She slumped against the wall, her heart aching at the pain Flurry was going through. She let out a deep sigh. “Flurry,” she said quietly, “this is something you’re going to have to bear alone. I can’t save you this time.”

Her vision grew blurry with tears. “You have so much untapped potential, and unless you can overcome this trial you’ll never be able to start accessing it. You have to conquer these fears and doubts, or you’ll never become the pony you’re meant to be. 

“As you said yourself, you have to make this choice on your own. If I save you now I’ll only hamper this opportunity for growth.”

Even though she said that she found her hooves moving automatically towards the door, wanting to disregard Flurry’s future to help her in the present. 

She bit her lip, her body going stiff. She hardened her heart and forced herself to walk away. Flurry had so much confidence in her. The filly might be young, but she had to believe in Flurry too. She had to believe that Flurry would pass this test. If the filly couldn’t do it now then she would definitely encourage her later on, but for now the only thing she could do is have faith.

Knowing that didn’t make it any easier, even when Flurry’s words grew quieter and quieter with distance, making her feel like she was betraying her niece.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, wiping away a tear.
> 6-25: I am...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry found herself slumped in the corner of her room, her emotions numb. She let out occasional hiccupping sobs and sniffs, but beyond that she was quiet.

She was shivering slightly. “I have to face it,” she said emotionlessly. “I’m weak. I always have been. I’ve never been able to stand on my own four hooves. My friends, my parents, my aunts, Uncle Sunny… I’ve always been reliant on someone.

“Even if I did sit on the throne it would amount to nothing. Someone following after me would be ridiculous. I’d be the worst ruler in history.”

It was quiet for a minute. She tried to rise, but couldn’t feel any strength, and gave it up. “It’s no use. It’s not like I didn’t tell everyone how it was. Aunt Twilight and Aunt Starlight both tried to tell me that I’m more than I think I am, but this time… this time they were wrong.

“I can’t do this. I can’t. I’m just a weakling. I’m not strong enough for this. I can’t… I just can’t… can’t…”

She drifted off, unable to finish. 

“You can tell yourself you can’t a thousand times, but when it comes to your friends it’s clear that your only response is ‘I can.’ ”

Starlight’s words echoed in her mind, troubling her. Her friends had gotten hurt because of her, because she had been careless and listened to the words of someone she suspected was a fake. She didn’t want her friends to get hurt like that again. She cared about them so much.

“No! You don’t!”

Flurry flinched as Fluttershy’s words to Mayhem came next.

“What you’re actually saying is that your friends aren’t worth your time. They’re not worth improving yourself for. If you actually cared about them and what your friendship stands for, you’d accept responsibility for your actions by working to make it up to them.”

Those words might have been directed at Mayhem, but it felt like they were directed right at her too. She had said earlier that her friends meant everything to her, and yet here she was sitting in a corner and giving up.

She had let her friends down by being so wrapped up in the fake Starlight’s words that they had to take an attack meant for her, but hadn’t she made up for it by the end? The crushing weight of responsibility hadn’t bothered her when it came to protecting her friends. They had all been willing to die for her. They didn’t go into it expecting to live, and yet they didn’t care. Every single one of them threw themselves in the way of Starlight’s attack without a thought to their own safety. 

It had had a powerful effect on her, just like when they had decided to come with her to fight Nightmare Moon. When Starlight threatened to finish them off she found that all her doubt and hesitation vanished, and she went on the attack. She wasn’t going to let them be hurt again.

It was those feelings that had carried her through the rest of the battles. When Starlight was revealed to be King Sombra using an illusion she had been scared at first, but as soon as he threatened her friends she once again found her strength, and she didn’t let it drop from there. Her former terror of Mayhem was gone, lost to the yearning to protect her friends.

Mayhem had pushed her hard to try and get her to give up on them, but he couldn’t break her spirit. Even in the face of death he couldn’t make her give up, because her desire to be there for her friends was just that strong.

As much as she wanted to dismiss what she had done as nothing special she knew that she couldn’t. She had saved her friend’s lives. Maybe everything else Mayhem did was just meant to scare them, but Mayhem said it quite plainly that at the very end he had intended for things to be fatal because of his pride. 

As Starlight had said, the magic she had used could only have come from their unity, but that unity was only because she had given them courage enough to keep fighting when they were ready to give up. If she hadn’t been there everything would be ruined. 

Her mind turned back to Crystal. She had found courage and belief in herself due to wanting to be able to protect Crystal. She had to overcome her feelings over her wings, otherwise they would become a weakness that could be used against her. Not doing it would be putting a friend in danger, something that was unacceptable to her.

It was the same at the end of the battle. Mayhem began to specifically target only her friends to see how long she would throw herself in front of his attacks before giving up. He started off smug, but she kept at it so long it baffled him. He couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t just surrender.

She wasn’t content with just letting her friends live, which would have happened if she just let him win. She wanted them to thrive, which would only happen if they could be with their families again. It was that feeling that made her push on no matter the pain. It was that feeling that filled her with strength and courage.

She looked at herself in the present. What was she doing, sitting on the floor like a loser? She claimed that she valued her friends, but here she was trying to hide away in a corner because she didn’t want to face up to herself.

“My friends…” She uncurled her body. “My friends need me.” She pushed against the floor, trying to stand up. Her body still resisted her efforts, and she found herself getting angry about it. 

“MOVE, BODY!” she yelled, forcing herself up. Once she was standing she once again summoned the memory of the end of the battle and listened to her past self’s words.

“Aunt Starlight said who I am is more than just a name. It’s about what’s important to me. I… I can’t stay like this. I can’t remain a weakling. It puts all my friends in danger.

“I might wish to throw that responsibility onto everyone else now that I’m not stuck in Mayhem’s world anymore, but that doesn’t mean someone else is always going to be there to help them. If it falls on me to do it I want to be able to protect them again.” 

As uncomfortable as it was she had to fight this battle. No one else was going to fight it for her. 

She took a deep breath, and summoned the memory of her friends being attacked again. It still hurt, even though she was prepared for it this time. Like her, they all had had a vague feeling of being connected to one another. Even if they had been strangers before this she didn’t doubt that Pound would have responded exactly the same.

She bit her lip as Starlight began to coax her into betraying Celestia and Luna to allow Starlight to get Canterlot. Once more she found herself in two minds. As present Flurry she could see the ridiculousness of listening to Starlight and expecting her to keep her word, but as past Flurry she could remember that she just wanted to prevent more death. She had already been responsible for five deaths, or so she thought. The idea of losing her parents too was too much.

She supposed there was a degree of selfishness in there as well. As guilty as she felt a part of her still wanted to live.

Once more her friends displayed their courage and strength. Just as she was about to seal the deal with Starlight they all jumped into action despite their severe wounds. Masky used his shadow powers to stop her movements, Peppermint extended a hoof to knock Starlight back, and the unicorns pulled her back towards them with levitation.

She could feel her past self’s relief that they were all alive. 

Pound forced himself up, but immediately fell to the ground.

“Hey!” said past Flurry. “Stop! You’re too hurt to get up.”

Pound let out a weak laugh. “No. I’m not… too weak… for you.”

That one line basically defined Pound’s character. She could see him struggling the whole way, but he managed to stand and place himself between her and Starlight, simply because of the feelings he had for his friends.

Following on Pound’s lead all her other friends made a barrier between her and Starlight as well.

She found herself tearing up. They were all exhausted and injured, and yet despite that they fought on to protect her. She really did have the best friends in the world.

Starlight dismissed them, with Pound saying he didn’t care how hurt he was. He wasn’t going to move from that spot.

“Oh, brother! It’s barely worth the effort to finish you off.”

Almost at the same time as her past self she felt rage go through her at that moment, feeling a sense of catharsis as she took the fake Starlight by surprise and struck her.

Starlight tried to deceive her again by feigning she had just been controlled by Mayhem to act that way, but she could tell that the mare wasn’t being genuine. She put on an act herself, asking the mare for a hug to get in close for a powerful attack.

Just when Starlight was assured of victory past Flurry pulled back and struck her in the gut, making her wheeze, before firing a strong magic blast at her.

While she didn’t like that it had taken the form of Starlight, she once again felt a strong sense of satisfaction at seeing through the lies and protecting her friends.

The illusion they had been under faded as Sombra grew unable to keep his spell going. While her past self felt a sense of fear at Sombra’s appearance she only felt rage. It might have been a fake, but Sombra had caused so much pain, not only to her family, but to the entire empire.

That anger only grew when Sombra went after her friends rather than her simply to distract her attention. Her past self similarly grew enraged, her power exploding in her horn, all directed right at the cruel dictator.

Revenge might not be a good thing, but she certainly didn’t feel guilty over destroying Sombra, real or not. 

Mayhem showed up and congratulated them for their win before healing their injuries and restoring their energy.

Past Flurry was angry because she wanted to protect her friends. Present Flurry was angry just at seeing him again. He didn’t show any shred of remorse for throwing her worst fears at her. She was still aware of how he acted later upon his defeat, but she had to ask again why his final challenge before the castle was so personally directed at her. 

Even if it was only King Sombra it still would have struck a chord with her. It would have scared her. Wouldn’t that have been enough? But no. He had to make Sombra use some kind of illusion magic to take the form of someone she held dear to her heart and have her speak horrible lies about wanting to kill her and her parents.

Tears came down her eyes. “Mayhem, you jerk.” She sniffed. She had to fight with herself not to let those feelings spiral into something deeper. She didn’t want to start hating Mayhem. Once more she thought it was a good thing she wasn’t going to see him for a little while. She needed some space to process her feelings towards him.

She also had to fight not to start beating herself up for those feelings, just like she did when she felt doubts about Starlight. Her feelings were justified, but she still didn’t like thinking lesser of one of her friends.

The only thing she could do was continue on.

Having seen Mayhem for the first time, as well as his crazy powers, Peppermint began to doubt herself, feeling she wouldn’t be any use at all. 

It was here she saw that it wasn’t only at the very end that she began to inspire her friends. She offered words of encouragement to the filly, and saw her doubts fade away.

She pledged her life to protecting them, because they had done the same for her, and they headed to the castle.

After getting inside, and seeing the weird décor, Pound began to express doubt in their chances of victory as well. Once more she stepped up, telling him that it was all or nothing, and they couldn’t afford to let such thoughts get to them.

Pumpkin liked her new attitude. “You’re so cool, Flurry. You’ve become so tough since you helped us take down the Changelings.”

“I have to be! I’m done running and being afraid. I meant what I said before. I can’t ever forget the sacrifice you all made for me. 

“That monster is going down! There’s nothing else to say. I won’t forgive him for what he did to you.

“No more talking!” She began walking. “The sooner we end this the sooner I can get you home to your families.”

Flurry looked at her past self, agreeing with Pumpkin that she looked so cool, once again having that odd sensation of feeling jealous of herself. Past Flurry walked with a sense of purpose, and oozed confidence and determination. She had overcome her fears for the sake of her friends, and she was focused only on that goal of keeping them safe.

She skipped ahead a bit to the start of the battle, The only thing she was missing was walking through the castle and Mayhem feeding them.

Mayhem easily countered everything they did. Just like when she fought him he toyed around, letting them think they had gotten him only to reveal it did nothing at all.

Masky came up with his plan to win. Now that she knew the truth she realized how ingenious it really was. She didn’t know if Mayhem was reading their minds, but it became clear pretty easy that only a true sneak attack would actually work on him. Even when they seemed to get the jump on him he was always prepared for it.

Masky had to deceive them so they’d seem genuinely upset, because it was the only way to deceive Mayhem.

Mayhem was so caught up in his delight at the thought of Masky showing his true colors and seeing its effect on them that he forgot about the colt entirely until Masky slammed him right off his throne and sent him flying to the floor.

Seeing Mayhem lose his smug attitude did give her some pleasure. She knew it was mainly an act, but his attitude was still a bit overbearing.

Of course, he quickly got it back, revealing he wasn’t actually mad about things when he pretended to destroy Masky only to reveal he was perfectly fine.

Here Mayhem revealed his deception that this was all just a game and everything they fought weren’t allowed to kill, but were allowed to hurt. 

He moved on to the bargaining stage of things, revealing his power to warp reality for a good intention. He tried to talk all of them into remaining in his dimension indefinitely for an eternity of playtime with no rules to follow.

A part of her wondered what Mayhem would have done if they actually did all agree. All her other friends had accepted his offer when he conceded he would allow their family into his world if they would stay. She had been the sole dissenter, feeling he couldn’t be trusted.

If she had been swayed like the rest would he have left them without their memories and just start anew, or would he have returned their memories? 

Pondering the question she thought it likely he would have left them without their memories, because it would be easier to control them all. If they went back to seeing him as a friend they wouldn’t be content with just living in Mayhem’s world. They would still want to bring him back to the side of good. 

Once the high of battle passed would Mayhem start feeling guilty, or would he have really just kept them as toys to play with when he was in the mood? In the end, she supposed it didn't matter. 

Even though Mayhem seemed just like a little kid and was acting more like their old friend here she could still remember feeling nothing towards him. He seemed embarrassed over the pain he caused, and even apologized over it and asked them to decide what game they played next. On the outside he was starting to act like the Mayhem they knew, but her heart felt no connection to him. The only thing she could feel was a massive distrust towards him, which he quickly justified when he threatened to destroy her for refusing to stay.

Once more her past self excelled. Even though they still couldn’t score any meaningful damage to Mayhem she still fought valiantly. She could see past Flurry’s fear from his powerful attacks, but it didn’t stop her from fighting. 

After a little while Mayhem revealed he had given them all the special powers they had, before showing he could take things away when he turned her into an earth pony.

He tried to get her to surrender, but she refused again. Her response angered him, and he went on the attack. He returned her wings and horn, stating his intentions to make her friends pay for being defiant. He wanted her to do everything she could, and lose knowing she never had a chance in the first place. 

She could understand past Flurry’s anger as he seemingly aimed a water whip at her and deliberately hit Tree Leaf, telling her to pay more attention before her friends died before her eyes.

The battle continued, and Mayhem began to focus his attacks on everyone but her, just to test her will. When he kicked Pound in front of a meteor he also kicked away Peppermint when she tried to help. Even though he could have kicked her too when she went to grab Pound with her extendable wings he didn’t do so. She still wound up with a burn for her efforts, but it seemed clear at that point Mayhem wasn’t interested in directly attacking her anymore. 

She could understand his mind set. When it came to power his magic was so much greater than hers that any contest could be ended instantly without some kind of handicap. That was why he sought a different kind of victory than just who had more strength. He wanted to break her spirit and see her give up because it was the only way to get some entertainment out of such a mismatched fight. 

She began to feel embarrassed watching her past self, simply because of how much greater she was than her present self. She took blow after blow from Mayhem, turning down every one of his requests that she surrender.

It got to the point that Mayhem’s sadism became tempered by genuine bafflement.

Peppermint tried to get her to give up too, not wanting to see her get hurt anymore, and her past self just gave her a warm smile, throwing her off.

She then looked up at Mayhem, blaming him for why she wouldn’t give up. She began to laugh, declaring that she wasn’t afraid of him. “Even after everything you’ve done to me I feel so much strength inside I can barely contain it. My desire to protect these ponies is so much more than any fear could touch.

“Nothing you could ever do to me will take that away from me. So long as there is a breath of air in my lungs and a drop of energy in my veins I will fight you. Far from making me want to give up, you’ve only hardened my determination further.”

Her past self was so cool! She just felt more and more ashamed of how weak she was being in the present. Without a doubt, this was what Starlight was talking about. She had said that past Flurry without her memories understood strength better than present Flurry did. 

Even as she watched her friends anxious expressions relaxed, emboldened by her words and inner strength.

She dealt a crippling blow to Mayhem next. “This feeling… if only you could experience what it’s like. Too bad you don’t have any friends to protect.”

With her memories of Mayhem intact she could see how badly those words hit him. He had betrayed all of his friends. There was no one on his side. She could see that a part of him wanted to end things and apologize, but she could also see the moment he decided to be a sore loser.

He had worked so hard to break her spirit, yet he couldn’t do so. Her magical power might not be as great as his, but she wouldn’t give him the victory he wanted to get. She wouldn’t break down in fear or because the pain of protecting her friends had become too much of a burden to bear. On the contrary, he had only made her more determined, the complete opposite of what he was going for. 

Mayhem lost himself completely to his childish whims, deciding he didn’t want to play anymore as he destroyed the room of his castle and began to destroy his own world with tornadoes.

Here he gave their friendship its final test. He offered life to the one pony that threw all the others away. It was all or nothing now. 

Flurry could see fear take all her friends again, all of them looking rapidly around at each other to see if they would really sacrifice everyone to save themselves. Her past self just stared up at Mayhem.

The draconequus tried to coax her into betraying her friends, telling her she was the most important of the group, being an alicorn. It only made sense for her to be the survivor.

She did feel fear, but even more she felt her heart seeking out her friends. She could remember the image going through her mind of her playing with her friends. At that moment all the fear she felt faded away. She found inner peace in the love she had for her friends, and she shared those feelings with them.

Once again she listened to the words of her past self. “The five of you… you taught me things that no book could ever prepare me for. You taught me about true courage and not backing down no matter the danger, by risking your lives to protect me. Now I’m here to return the favor.

“I know who I am now. I am Flurry Heart, alicorn princess, and I don’t want to be anyone else!”

She asked the same question she had asked before. “Is this… really me? The real Flurry that Starlight talked about?”

Just like before, her declaration spread out to her friends, igniting their own hearts in the process. She saw the fear vanishing from their faces, replaced with quiet confidence as she began to speak again.

“Aunt Twilight told me that ponies working together with one heart have so much power at their disposal. All of you… if you believe in me, then know that we’re going to come out on top here! That’s what I truly believe, because I have faith in all of you and your strength.

"Even if I'm wrong and we can’t win I’m still going to fight to the end. I'd rather go to my death denying him the victory he wants than surrender and be his pawn. No matter what he does after that he'll always know that we beat him." 

“Flurry…” Listening to the words of her past self only increased the feelings that were going through her. She really was so much weaker than her past self.

Mayhem at first grew enraged when he saw they had lost their fear of him, but it turned into delight.

She asked her friends to lend her their hearts, all of them holding hooves and believing in each other.

She could still remember that moment clearly. She knew she couldn’t win alone. Life… death… whichever it was, she wanted to run to it with open hooves as long as it was with her friends.

Flurry’s horn glowed with a bright light as the Windigo-destroying heart appeared, sucking up all the darkness of Mayhem’s world and engulfing Mayhem himself, easily overcoming his powers until they were left in a blank white void. 

She found it interesting that Mayhem, who could do impossible things from a normal ponies perspective, found that own power an impossibility. 

They all began to celebrate, only to be reminded that they now no longer had a way out of Mayhem’s world. They found comfort in each other once again, holding hooves. 

To their relief Mayhem wasn’t actually dead. He had just been knocked unconscious, and woke up after a few slaps, completely shocked at his loss. He revealed that he had taken away their memories to stop them from using unity against him, and Flurry explained that she still felt connected to them regardless.

She put on her toughest face and ordered Mayhem to send them home, and he complied.

The draconequus was so subdued, the fear he had been instilling turned back on him when they could use a power that even he couldn’t match.

Here again was a trial. Although she usually hated the thought of royal duties her five friends put it on her to decide Mayhem’s fate. As a princess they put their trust in her to do the right thing by him. With her friends by her side the prospect didn’t scare her.

As she thought about things Mayhem glanced up at her, for the first time feeling that sense of vague familiarity she had gotten from her other friends. Her heart began to seek a connection with him as well, unlike when he had been acting evil. 

She figured out the reason, that he had been one of their friends too, and that was the deciding factor in pulling him close and hugging him.

She offered him forgiveness because of her memories of Starlight. If Starlight could mend her ways and become a great aunt to her then why couldn’t Mayhem do the same?

Starlight had talked about the powerful effect that forgiveness has, and how love begets love. She saw both of these things on Mayhem’s face as her past self hugged him. It clearly took him by surprise, finding it hard to understand how she could offer him kindness after doing such horrible things to her.

Mayhem began crying, the regret clear on his features. The anger she had been feeling for creating a fake Starlight began to vanish as she cried along with him. He had definitely done wrong by all of them, but she remembered why she wanted to forgive him in the first place. He was a lost soul who had forgotten the light, and she subconsciously remembered who he used to be. 

Later on Mayhem had stated the reason he created himself looking evil in Pumpkin’s ceiling mural was his belief in his friends that if he ever went bad again that they would save him. 

She knew the feeling of being submerged in darkness. Her seven friends had all shined light down the corridors of her heart, making the world sunny when everything had felt black. 

Her friends were always worth fighting for. They loved her enough to die for her, and she felt the same way about them. In the end, it all came down to faith and trust. She believed in her friends, and they believed in her. They were all connected.

She used the memory spell one last time, to the one scene that had become so familiar after seeing it several times.

“I am Flurry Heart, alicorn princess, and I don’t want to be anybody else!”

Past Flurry refused to run away from her true self, willing to fight until the bitter end no matter how much pain befell her. Rather than be jealous of her former accomplishments she felt she should learn from them. 

She unfurled her wings, saying her past self’s words. “I… I am F-Flurry Heart, alicorn princess, and I… I don’t… want to be anyone else.” The words came out halting and jittery.

She let out a breath, focusing her mind on her feelings for her friends. Just like before, this was all for them. If they truly meant that much to her then she would endure. She would find her inner strength just like when she did it for Crystal.

She said the words again, and they came out a little clearer this time. She said it several more times. Her mind resisted her efforts. It felt like with every repetition that she was committing herself to something big, and that frightened her.

She knew she had the potential to do great things. The only real barrier in her way was age and experience. Even so, it still scared her to think of what she might have to do in the future.

But… did she truly have anything to fear? Her bond with her friends surpassed memories and granted them a great power. Just like Mayhem had no fear in returning to evil because he had faith they would pull him back to the side of good, did she have any reason to fear when she had so many loyal friends strengthening her heart? 

Starlight told her that her true fear wasn’t in being a leader. It was in having to make the choice to do so. It was a fear of being her true self, because that Flurry was going to want to act. Her heart was going to demand action, and being on the sidelines was something she would no longer accept.

She was starting to understand what her aunt was talking about. Accepting that truth meant having to take on the responsibility of caring for others and helping them through tough times. It meant taking on their troubles and risking great pain. Weren’t her friends worth that?

“Yes!” she said. Her heart was calling her to action. She knew she would still be reliant on her friends in the future, just like her Aunt Twilight was on hers, but she didn’t want to be the only one to put in the effort. She wanted to stand strong. She wanted to blaze so bright that her friends could feel light even in the darkest of times, just like today.

She stood in front of her past self and smiled. “You showed how strong you can be without your memories, when the only thing you had was a vague feeling pulling you towards them. As Aunt Starlight said, I can be so much stronger now that I understand those feelings and where they came from.

“I want to grow. I want to become strong enough that I can always protect what matters to me. I want to be the pillar holding up my friends, because I know I can’t live without them.” Happy tears came down her eyes. “And I know they can’t live without me.

“Thank you, past Flurry, for protecting my friends. But now… now it’s time for me to take over. It’s time for me to be me. I know I can do it. How do I know?” She let out a giggle. “Simple. Because I already did.” 

She dispelled the magic, putting her hoof to her heart. She took a deep breath, and said the words one last time. “I am Flurry Heart, alicorn princess! And there’s no one else I’d rather be!”

This time the words felt fulfilling. She could feel a sense of rightness, knowing she had taken a big step towards becoming the Flurry she was always meant to be. 

With a flash of her horn she teleported outside of Starlight’s room, her heart blazing with purpose. She knocked hard on it, and a short while later Starlight opened the door.

“Flurry,” she said guiltily, not really processing her different attitude in her sadness.

“Let’s go, Aunt Starlight!”

“Go? Go where?” 

“I want a proper magic lesson this time. I want to grow stronger, and I know I can’t do it on my own. I need your help.”

“Flurry… are… are you okay?”

“I’m more than okay! I want action! I want to push myself! I need to become stronger, and it starts right now!”

“I… um…” Starlight was a bit taken aback at the change in Flurry’s demeanor from so short a time ago. She was positively blazing.

“What’s wrong?” Flurry asked. “I did exactly as you told me to do. I answered your questions, and I found myself again.

“You told me that you believed I would do it, so don’t look so surprised when I accomplished it.

“Now let’s go!” She gestured with her head before turning to the side irritably. “There’s no time to waste.” 

Starlight just stared at her, unable to respond.

Flurry tapped her hoof on the ground impatiently. “What? Why are you looking at me like that? It’s almost like you didn’t mean what you said when you told me that I would succeed.”

Starlight blinked. “Flurry… I… do… do you know?”

Her eyebrow went up. “Know what?”

Starlight turned her head. “Sunburst! Come here! Now!”

The stallion walked over with his nose in a book. “Are you here to interrupt my reading again?” He glanced up from his book. “What is-” 

He let out a gasp as the book fell to the ground.

Flurry looked between the two of them. Now both of them were staring at her. “What? What is it? I know my coat is white but I’m not a ghost, so stop looking at me like one.”

A tear came down Starlight’s eye. “You really don’t know, do you?”

“Unless you’re gonna stop being cryptic then I don’t care!”

Starlight pulled Flurry into the room, saying, “Your changes aren’t only on the inside, you know.”

Flurry grew angry, fed up with Starlight’s vague responses. “Enough! You better tell me right now or-”

She broke off, speechless, as Starlight pulled her in front of her mirror. She couldn’t believe it. 

There, on her flank, was a cutie mark of a lighthouse shining a beam of light in the shape of the Windigo destroying heart.
> 6-26: Be careful what you wish for
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry blinked several times, each time thinking that what she was seeing would disappear, but it didn’t. On her flank was a cutie mark of a lighthouse shining out into the distance, and in the middle of that light was the symbol of the windigo-destroying heart. 

“I… I got my cutie mark,” said Flurry in a quiet voice.

“You sure did!” Starlight said proudly.

“I… I got… I got a… a cutie mark. I…”

“Speechless, huh?” She chuckled. “You must be so proud.”

Tears formed in Flurry’s eyes as she buried her head in her hooves and began to sob.

“There, there. Don’t get all-”

Flurry slapped away Starlight’s hoof as she put it on her shoulder. “Don’t touch me!”

Starlight looked confused now. “What-”

Flurry was shivering. “This is terrible!”

“Terrible? But I thought-”

“Now I’m marked for life.”

She reared up and stomped her hooves on the floor before running off crying.

After a few moments of shock Starlight and Sunburst shared a look before taking off after her. 

She ignored their calls. When Starlight tried using her levitation to slow Flurry down the filly just teleported away. 

The two came to a stop. “What now?” asked Sunburst.

She put a hoof on Sunburst, and with a flash they were outside Flurry’s room. They could hear the sound of muffled crying inside.

“Oh, good,” said Starlight. “My hunch was right.” 

“What now?” asked Sunburst.

The mare tapped the floor a few times. “As much as I want to go right in and be comforting that’s not going to work. She’s too worked up. We’re going to have to wait for a few minutes.”

“Wait?” Sunburst said confusedly. “Whatever for?”

“I don’t like it any more than you do, but she’s not in a state of mind where she’ll be able to accept our love. Her emotions are running wild. If we go in and disturb her she’s going to poof away again and then who knows where she’ll end up.

"Now that’s she somewhere safe we can let her burn out some of her rampant feelings until she brings herself back to a somewhat stable state.”

Sunburst groaned. Starlight had a good point.

It was an uncomfortable wait. Knowing Flurry was so close and yet not being able to do anything was terrible, though at least she was staying in one spot.

Finally, Flurry’s emotions seemed to ebb. Her muffled wailing grew quieter. After another minute Starlight felt it was time enough. She knocked on the door and peeked her head in. “Hey there, Flurry.”

The filly tensed, trembling on her bed.

“Can we come in?”

It took a little while, but finally Flurry answered. “Whatever.”

The two of them closed the door behind them before sitting on either side of her bed. Sunburst picked Flurry up, holding her close.

“What got into you, kid?” asked Starlight. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you before, but I was so shocked because I eavesdropped on you earlier. 

"I heard you beating yourself up and miserable, and yet when you came to me you were holding your head up high and showing strong convictions. You seemed to have overcome your doubts and meshed yourself with the Flurry that went through Mayhem’s world.

“Those feelings seemed to be so strong that they even netted you a cutie mark over it, so-”

Flurry let out a strained noise, squirming in Sunburst’s grip.

“Talk to us, Flurry,” said Sunburst. “What’s going through your mind?”

The filly just shook her head.

He looked over at Starlight. “Let’s just… let it be for a little bit.”

Starlight looked down at Flurry, her mind working. “It’s… too real now, isn’t it? It felt fine to have this goal in your mind, but having it stamped on your flank probably feels like a beacon to others to rely on you, the exact thing you were trying to avoid right now.”

Flurry shuddered.

“You want to enjoy this time of just being a child, but with your wings and your cutie mark you just keep feeling like you stand out too much as the center of attention.”

“Y-y-yes!” Flurry sputtered out, rubbing her eyes. “Once others see my cutie mark it feels like everyone is going to start putting pressure on me again.”

“Is that your concern?” asked Sunburst. “Nobody will know what your cutie mark symbolizes if you don’t tell them.”

“Of course they will, Uncle Sunny! Every pony in the world knows what the 'Fire of Friendship' is. Ponies have this play every year all over Equestria. Even if it’s only part of my cutie mark it’s not hard to figure out that I’m supposed to do something big because I have this particular heart on my flank.”

Sunburst sucked on his cheek. He couldn’t really argue that.

“I get it,” said Starlight. “You weren’t expecting to actually get your cutie mark for a while, but just think of what your cutie mark means. You represent a spirit of unity and giving ponies a light in the darkness. It’s fine for now if you only want to use your talent on your friends. There’s no need to rush.”

Flurry looked away. “You… called me selfish before for thinking that way.”

“I did go a bit too far. I shouldn’t have been pressuring you like I did, especially when you haven’t fully recovered from what happened today. But even without me by your side you found something worth fighting for.

“Where’s the Flurry that burst in here demanding a proper magic lesson?”

“She’s gone! I hate this! I hate always feeling like everything is reliant on me.”

Starlight grabbed Flurry’s brush, once again brushing her mane. “So just get into fashion.”

“Fashion?” Sunburst asked incredulously. “How is that going to sooth her fears?”

“It will cover up her cutie mark, obviously. If no one else knows then there’s no problem, right?”

Sunburst bit his lip. “But… she’ll know. It would just change her fear from expectations to being found out.”

Flurry gave a jerky nod.

Starlight sucked on her cheek. Flurry had made so much progress, overcoming her fears for the sake of her friends. Now she was on the brink of losing it all because getting her cutie mark threw her off. She had to get Flurry back on track.

She thought it over for a bit, trying to think of different ways and topics to try to restore Flurry’s spirit, but she kept hitting mental dead ends. In the end, she could push, but it all came down to Flurry being receptive. Thus the question then became how to get her to be receptive.

It might just come down to time. Flurry had done remarkably, overcoming her trauma of the day to find the answer she was looking for, but it wasn’t surprising that it was temporary.

It was too late now, now that she had the mark. It wouldn’t just go away. It was there to stay.

Something came to her then, and her stomach tensed as a flush of guilt went through her. She could do something, but she had no idea how Flurry was going to react. Still, if she didn’t do something now Flurry would simply remain stuck in the grip of despair.

“Sunburst?” she said quietly.

“Yeah?” he responded.

“I really need you to trust me here.”

“I trust you. What do you have in mind?”

She shook her head. “Listen to me, Sunburst! You might find this questionable, but this is the only thing I can think of that might get through to her, so I really need you not to freak out.”

He didn’t know what she was thinking, but the flush on her cheeks and the uncomfortable look on her face suggested it wasn’t going to be pleasant. “I… get it.”

Flurry was only half paying attention. She didn’t know what Starlight planned to do either.

Starlight disappeared with a flash of her horn, only to return a few seconds later with an empty jar.

Sunburst’s eyebrow went up. 

“Well, Flurry,” Starlight said in a kind tone, “if that particular cutie mark is troubling you then let it bother you no more.”

Flurry gave a half glance over at Starlight, not even bothering to answer.

Starlight’s horn lit up, her heart racing with anxiety. She felt like she might be going too far, and Flurry’s parents wouldn’t be happy if they knew, but it was a risk she had to take.

A beam of light shot out of her horn, hitting Flurry.

Flurry gasped, feeling an odd sensation. It felt almost painful, and she let out a groan.

“Starlight!” said Sunburst in a panic. “What are you doing?”

Starlight ignored him, closing the jar she had brought.

Flurry turned to Starlight, feeling oddly tired.  She felt strange, though she couldn’t give a reason for it. It was just a vague feeling of wrongness. 

Her eyes widened as she looked at the jar Starlight was holding. Her cutie mark was inside it. Her head shot to her flank, seeing only an equal sign there now.

She blinked. “You… you took my cutie mark…”

“Problem solved, right?” asked Starlight. “No one will harass you about leadership now. Let them think you’re good at math.”

Flurry just kept staring before repeating herself. “You took my cutie mark.”

Sunburst gently tapped his hoof. He didn’t think this was such a good idea. If Flurry decided she liked not having her original cutie mark then she might not tell Starlight to revert the change. Given her fear of leadership that might very well be what happened.

He winced as her expression turned to a smile, seemingly confirming his fears.

“I can live with this,” said Flurry. “I like this cutie mark much better.”

“Glad to hear it,” said Starlight. Sunburst gave her a dirty look, but she ignored him. “There are a few side effects, though. This spell doesn’t just change your cutie mark, though. It makes you equal to the average of most ponies.

“I guess it fits, considering how you just want to be seen as normal. Well, now you are. As long as you have that cutie mark you’ll be forever limited. You won’t be able to run or fly faster than a normal pony. All that fancy magic you learned? Forget it. You’re stuck with basic levitation, since that’s the only spell that any average unicorn can use.”

Flurry’s smile faded slightly. “Oh… right. Well… I mean… I guess… when other ponies see how weak my magic is they won’t want to rely on me.”

“So you’re okay with this?”

Flurry hesitated. “I… guess so. I do feel a little strange, though.”

“Well, then I guess I’ll leave you be. Come on, Sunburst.” She began walking towards the door.

“Starlight!” Sunburst said angrily as he trotted up to her. “What are you doing?”

“You’ll see,” she replied.

She left the room, an incensed Sunburst ready to give her an earful when Flurry was out of earshot. 

She stopped a few feet outside the door, resting against the wall, and closed her eyes.

“What are you up to now?” asked Sunburst, glaring at her.

After about ten seconds she popped her head back in, “Oh, guess I did forget to mention one thing. Hope you don’t care too much about not caring about your friends, because you sure don’t anymore.”

Flurry gave her an odd look. “What do you mean?” She thought back to their teamwork and how close they had become, her heart beginning to fill with her love for them.

She tensed as she suddenly felt a reaction from her cutie mark. The passion she had just felt was gone. “W-what was that? What happened?”

Starlight walked back into the room. “Those special cutie marks are all about equality. That’s just how they work. You simply don’t care about your friends anymore…” 

She let out a smug chuckle. “Weeeell, at least not more than any other average pony. And considering how many hundreds of ponies there are in the world, there’s plenty that don’t care about them at all simply because they don’t know them. 

“Your cutie mark was a symbol of caring and wanting to protect others. You gave that up to decide to keep your equal cutie mark. So… all those powerful feelings of love you have for them will slowly fade until they mean nothing more to you than anyone else.”

“No!” Flurry cried out, jumping up. “I don’t like that. I love my friends and I would always do anything to-” Just as her passion began to rise again her cutie mark reacted once more, and the feelings faded like a sponge being squeezed.

The sudden absence of feelings scared her. “I… I don’t like this!” 

Starlight shrugged. “Why not? You have what you really wanted now, don’t you? You’re an average, unremarkable pony who will never stand out among the rest, and you can go unnoticed. 

“As soon as other ponies see how weak you are now they won’t want to rely on you, and you’ll finally be able to just live your normal life free of responsibility and expectations.

“You should be happier.”

“W-well… I…”

Starlight lifted up the jar with Flurry’s cutie mark. “You don’t need this silly thing anymore. Maybe my old philosophy was partially correct, after all. Certain cutie marks do just cause misery. So let’s just get rid of this. Maybe I’ll throw it in what’s left of my old cutie mark vault.” 

She lifted it with her levitation, the glow around it getting brighter as if to teleport it away.

“No, don’t!” Flurry’s horn glowed brightly for a few seconds, only for her cutie mark to flash again, the spark of her magic fading greatly until she could barely pull on the jar with her own magic.

Starlight just chuckled, easily stopping Flurry from taking it. “My, my. Is that really all you can muster?”

Flurry tried to jump at Starlight since magic didn’t work, and the mare simply lifted herself up in her magic as well, heading upwards with the jar until she was about ten feet up, and just hovered in place. 

“What makes you think you’re even worthy of this cutie mark?” She asked the question tauntingly, but her expression quickly changed to anger. “You’re such a flip-flop you’re barely worthy of being a protector. 

"You were supposed to be horrified that I stole your cutie mark, and yet you reacted with delight, perfectly willing to throw away everything that cutie mark meant to you… all the mental struggle you went through to obtain it.

“You think your friends are everything to you, but your response to my theft shows me otherwise.” She lowered herself until she touched the floor. “If what other ponies might think of you means more to you than your friendships then fine. If you don’t value the gifts you’re given then it’s only right to lose them as a consequence.”

She hit the jar with her magic, and it vanished.

Flurry’s heart jolted.

Turning around, Starlight said, “See ya!”

“No, please!” Flurry cried out, her lip trembling. “Don’t leave!”

Starlight paused for a moment to look meaningfully at Sunburst. She slightly jerked her head towards Flurry, and he nodded to show he understood. 

With that Starlight teleported away.

Flurry’s breath caught. She thought Starlight likely went back to her room, and instinctively tried to teleport to follow her, but when her horn flashed she only moved a few inches, if that.

She grabbed herself and began to sob. She had no idea where Starlight was, and had no easy way of tracking her down. And even if she found Starlight she might have hidden the jar in some secret place.

Sunburst sat down on the bed next to her, pulling her onto his lap. 

She looked up into his eyes, quiet for a few moments, before burying her head in his chest and breaking down again.

Sunburst took in a deep breath, thinking that Starlight was pushing too hard. He knew she was just putting pressure on her, and made sure he had understood to be there for her emotionally, but Flurry was only going on seven years old. The emotionally traumas she had gone through that day weren’t going to just go away instantly. 

Flurry didn’t think she had ever been this scared and miserable. Her bond with her friends was everything she lived for. No matter how bad the danger she felt everything would always be alright as long as they were nearby. 

Even Mayhem hadn’t been able to break the bond between them, even though he took away her memories. She had still remembered them subconsciously, and it gave her passion to fight on no matter what. 

But this was different. She couldn’t even properly muster her love for them without having it snuffed out immediately after. And this was only a few minutes she had been suffering from this. She couldn’t imagine how bad it must have felt for all the ponies in the town Starlight had founded. 

She surmised it couldn’t have been as bad as this, or else no one would have followed her for long. Her bond with her friends was being weakened because her cutie mark was directly tied to caring for others. 

She hated this. She hated the utter helplessness she was feeling. If she couldn’t tap into her bond with her friends then all she was in the end was a normal, unremarkable child. She thought that was what she wanted, but if it meant she couldn’t care about her friends it was too high a price to pay.

She wanted to think of her friends for comfort, but she had to keep them out of her mind to stop Starlight’s spell from taking away any more of her feelings for them.

“Flurry,” said Sunburst. “You know that Starlight isn’t trying to hurt you, don’t you?”

She looked at him with teary eyes, not responding.

“She’s looking out for your best interests. I know that Starlight isn’t planning to keep your cutie mark forever. She just wants you to feel what your decision will lead to.

“She won’t make you suffer for long. I’ll stay by your side until she comes back.” He wiped her eyes and gave her a smile. “Okay?”

She stared at him for a little while before letting out a long breath and setting her head on his shoulder as she hugged him.

To Sunburst’s relief she didn’t break down again.

Flurry trusted in Sunburst, and she trusted in her aunt. It was unpleasant, but this pain wouldn’t be forever. Soon enough Starlight would return.

She slowly began to calm down. “Thank you, Uncle Sunny.”

“You’re welcome, Flurry.”

As she relaxed she slipped up, allowing her heart to fill with her love for him, setting off her cutie mark once again. 

The serenity in her heart faded, leaving her miserable and just hoping Starlight would return as soon as possible. 

Each minute felt like an eternity.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes, Starlight walked back into the room.

As soon as Flurry noticed her she immediately pulled out of Sunbursts grip and jumped off the bed. She got on her knees and put her fronts hooves together, not even giving Starlight the chance to say a word before jumping in herself. 

“Please give it back!” she begged, quietly sobbing. 

“What’s the problem?” asked Starlight in a neutral tone. 

“I can’t stand it anymore! Every time I try to think about my loved ones all my feelings get sucked away.”

“But if you get your cutie mark back then you might have to deal with other ponies expecting great things of you. It’s better if I just hold onto it. By tomorrow I’m sure-”

“TOMORROW?” Flurry’s eyes clenched shut as she began trembling. “I can’t live without my love for everyone around me. It’s scary to think of having royal duties at my age, but I’d rather be put on the throne right now than go another minute without being able to feel my connection with my friends.”

She hugged herself as she broke down, pleading through her sobs to get her cutie mark back.

Starlight felt like Flurry was at her limit. The filly clearly understood the lesson, so it would be cruel to drag it out any longer.

With a flash of her horn the cutie mark jar appeared in front of Flurry.

When Flurry noticed the jar she immediately threw her hooves out and twisted the lid until it popped off. Her cutie mark left the jar, automatically returning to her side.

As soon as it was back in place everything felt right with the world again. That feeling of restriction faded, and she immediately thought of her friends, putting her hoof to her chest as she focused on her love for them.

Starlight sat on Flurry’s bed, lifting Flurry up onto her lap with her magic. She threw her hooves around Flurry, tearing up. “I’m sorry I had to put you through that. You needed to experience it so you could see it wasn’t as glorious as you thought.”

Pulling out of Starlight’s grip she went to sit with Sunburst again. She wasn’t quite angry, but she didn’t feel ready to show Starlight affection yet after scaring her.

Starlight let out a little sigh. She should have expected that. She wondered if she should just leave and give Flurry some space.

Sunburst tilted his head as Flurry whispered in his ear. He got a bit of an awkward look on his face. “Well, Flurry says she doesn’t want to talk to you right now.”

“I figured,” she responded.

“But she also said she wants you to sit next to me for when she is ready.”

Starlight complied, glad that Flurry wasn’t too upset with her.

Flurry grabbed her favorite brush with her magic, roughly shoving it into Starlight’s hooves.

If that was what Flurry wanted as an apology she would gladly oblige.

Flurry whispered again, and Sunburst said, “Flurry says go ahead.”

“Go ahead?” asked Starlight.

“Um… she says that she knows you have some boring lecture to give, and she’ll listen even if she doesn’t want to talk.”

“Oh. Right.

“Well, everything always comes down to choices, Flurry. Taking the easier way out might benefit you in some ways, but it usually means hurting the people around you in other ways. 

“That equal mark I gave you is a perfect example. It might help to teach strangers you’re too weak to be relied upon in a position of authority, but it also makes you too weak to protect your friends if they need you.

“You tried utilizing your regular powers to stop me from leaving with your cutie mark, only to see that you were so hampered you couldn’t mount any defense. 

“You let your old paranoia get to you, putting the expectations of others above your feelings for your friends. I guess realizing that is what made you come around.”

A pained look came to Flurry’s face. “N-no. That wasn’t it.”

“Then… what was it?”

“You… your spell was able to do something even Mayhem couldn’t do. It was breaking my connection with my friends. It was terrifying how much control it had over me.”

Starlight put a hoof around Sunburst. “I’m sorry it hit you that hard, but now you have your cutie mark back. You’re free to send your heart out to them again.”

“I know…” Flurry took a deep breath. “This is all so new to me. I… I don’t want to hide my cutie mark. Like Uncle Sunny said, even if I hide it with clothes I might still be found out. If… if someone looks at my cutie mark and tries to get me to do something too advanced for me I’m just going to tell them I’m not ready yet.”

Sunburst kissed her on the forehead. “I think that’s the best course of action. As we’ve tried to remind you before you’re still a child, even if you’re an alicorn. Before you got your cutie mark no one was asking you to save the world, so that shouldn’t change now. And if they try to push you then you’ve already came up with your answer.”

Flurry gave a little nod. “Today has just been too much. This last bit of sadness has killed my enthusiasm for any magic practice today. I need a good night's sleep to recharge.

"How about right after breakfast?"

"That sounds fine," said Starlight.

"Can I sleep with you and Uncle Sunny tonight?"

Starlight gave her a warm smile. "I certainly wouldn't mind, but what about your parents?"

"Oh, right. I still have to tell them about my cutie mark."

"No, Flurry. I meant why don't you ask to sleep with them?"

"Oh. Well, after today I know they would, but they're usually dealing with Skyla at night. I love her a bunch, but I don't want to deal with her crying half the night if she's feeling cranky."

"Fair enough."

"We should go and tell them the news, but first there’s something my cutie mark is telling me to do.”

She summoned her magic notebook over. “This is gonna be kinda long. Can you help me with the words, Aunt Starlight?”

“Of course, Flurry,” she replied, readying a quill.
> 6-27: Flurry's letter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike watched as Twilight paced around the room, occasionally grabbing a book at random, flipping through a few pages, then letting out a cry of frustration and dropping it.

He grabbed the book and put it back on the shelf, just as he had done for the last dozen or so. “Come on, Twilight,” he said. “You’ve been acting like this for the past two hours.” Mumbling under his breath he said, “And I’m the one that has to keep cleaning up after you.” 

Twilight looked down at him. “I’m sorry, Spike. I can’t help it.” She paced in place. “My niece almost died today. Me and my friends have been risking our lives for a long time, but they’re just little kids. There’s so much of life they haven’t experienced.

“Flurry had it the worst. She was so miserable and scared as the events of the day caught up to her. Oh, I should never have gone home, and now it’s too late to return.”

Spike put a claw on her. “Come on, Twilight. You’re not the only pony who can care for her.”

A tear came down her eye. “But she kept talking about wanting to keep her family close. I’m scared for her.”

“There’s always Starlight and Sunburst. You know how much they care about her.”

Twilight hung her head. “So they’re more worthy of being her family than I am, right?”

Spike groaned. “That’s not what I was saying!”

“But it’s true! I abandoned her! I’m the worst aunt ever!”

Spike hugged her. “Stop it, Twilight. Beating yourself up isn’t going to help anything.”

She hugged him back, quietly sobbing.

A few minutes later there was a hard knock on the front door of the castle.

“Who’s that?” asked Spike. “You expecting company?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, but I better see who it is. They might need my help… if I can stop myself from abandoning them too when they need me the most.”

“Twilight!” Spike said sharply. “Enough! Get your head in the game.”

Twilight let out a shaky breath. “I… I know.” She wiped her eyes, trying to compose herself.

When she felt ready the two of them walked to the door and opened it. She was surprised to see not just Pinkie Pie, but the whole Cake family.

“H-hey,” said Twilight. “Um… to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“We don’t know yet,” said Pound.

“You don’t know?” asked Spike.

Pumpkin lifted up her magic journal. “Flurry sent us all a note, and asked us to make sure to get this to you before reading it. I guess she figured that out of all our friends we’d be the most likely to be able to go see you.”

Pound scratched his head. “It makes sense, but for some reason she also said to make sure we brought Auntie Pinkie and our parents too. I don’t mind, because I really just want to be by all my family right now. I’m sure all our friends feel the same.”

Twilight flushed slightly with guilt, once more feeling like she had let Flurry down. She put it out of her mind, inviting them all in.

She wondered what Flurry had to say as they walked into one of the main rooms. They all took a seat at a table, Pound and Pumpkin sitting on their parent’s laps as Twilight took the book and began to read.

“Hello there, all my friends. This is Flurry Heart with an important message for all of you. That includes you, Pound and Pumpkin, but first I want you to get this to Aunt Twilight so she can hear this too, and make sure you bring Pinkie Pie and your parents as well. That’s super important. 

“I bet all of you are with your family already, since you want to be surrounded by those you love. It’s okay for them to hear this too.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about today. First off I want to give a big thank you to YOU, Aunt Twilight.” Twilight paused, once more feeling guilty. “You’ve… um… you’ve helped me so much, and I wouldn’t have come this far without you.” 

She stopped again, wondering what she had done. She hadn’t been able to help Flurry through any of her issues. She had had to rely on Pound and Pumpkin for that. 

She got her answer in the next paragraph. “If it hadn’t been for you I wouldn’t have met all my other friends. They helped to take so much of my pain and fear away. And if you hadn’t spared Aunt Starlight then I wouldn’t have the best (non-blood related) aunt ever! Over and over she’s helped me, all because you were kind and generous enough to give her a second chance.

“Even if… even if you didn’t solve my problems directly you still led me to ponies that could. When I was trying to run from friendship you pushed me towards it, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Especially after today, when our friendship got its first big test.

“You’ve…” Twilight sniffed. “You’ve always known what’s best for me, and that’s why you’re…” Tears came down her eyes. “…you’re the best aunt ever!”

Spike threw an arm around her. “You see, Twilight? There’s no need to get down on yourself. Flurry appreciates what you do for her.”

She gave a little nod. “Yeah. I know.”

“You don’t think Flurry appreciates you?” asked Pound.

Spike shook his head. “She just felt like she should have stayed at the Crystal Empire rather than return home.”

“Oh.”

“I agree with Spike,” said Pumpkin. “You shouldn’t beat yourself up. All of us really appreciate you, Twilight.”

Pound gave a hearty nod. “Here, here!”

Twilight smiled. “Thanks, you guys.

“Well, let’s get back to business and see what else she has to say.”

She skimmed the page until she got back to where she was before. “Aunt Starlight really helped me out after you went home. My feelings were still so heavy, and she pushed me into a magic fight to help me get some of those feelings out. After that we went out with Uncle Sunny for some ice cream, and it was a lot of fun.

“When we returned back to my room she let me know that she knew about what happened, and we had a long, long talk. The both of us helped each other, just like we all do with one another. 

“She revealed a fear that she worried I might dislike her after what happened today.”

“Huh?” said Pound. “Why would Flurry dislike Starlight for what Mayhem did? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Did you forget, Pound?” asked Pumpkin. “When we went to rescue Tree Leaf Mayhem had King Sombra posing as Starlight.”

“Oooh!” Pound winced. “Right.” He remembered the ache in his soul, seeing the fake Starlight crushing Flurry’s heart with every sentence out of her mouth.

Twilight continued, “I was able to reassure her that my feelings hadn’t changed, and she moved on to me. She pushed me hard to rediscover the pony I really was, the one that had stood up to Mayhem courageously. The one who inspired my friends to victory and took away their fear.

“In the end, it was just like what happened with Crystal in regards to my wings. I had to focus on something bigger than my own feelings. I found my inner strength back then because I saw how hard she was fighting for me, to help me past my fear, and I wanted to return that devotion. I wasn’t going to let my feelings get in the way of being there for my friends.

“It’s the same thing now. My friends are everything to me, and I can’t just sit around feeling scared. I found something to fight for, and I don’t want to let those feelings go, now or ever.”

Pound smiled. “It seems like Starlight really got through to her. I’m glad. She was the one I was the most worried about.”

“Same here,” said Pumpkin. 

“I’m glad to hear she’s doing well too,” said Cup, "but I’m still not sure why she insisted we be here for this.”

“Me neither,” said Twilight. “I guess we’ll just have to go on.”

She found her place and began reading again. “I did a lot of thinking when Aunt Starlight left me to figure things out, and there’s one thing I know for sure: all of us, we’re all connected by a thread of friendship. Not just me and her, or my friends or my family. I mean everyone.

“Aunt Starlight said that whether it’s love or hate, feelings shared with others tend to create more of those feelings, and Aunt Starlight herself is a big example of both kinds.  When she lost her closest friend it led to her shutting herself away and growing hateful, bringing pain to everyone she came in contact with until you came around, Aunt Twilight.

“It feels like the smallest actions can have the biggest of consequences sometimes. Aunt Twilight, just by lifting your hoof towards Aunt Starlight you changed the world. Rather than returning her hate with more hate, you came at her with love. You showed her a new path to walk down, and transformed her hate into new love. I saw how Aunt Starlight burst into tears of gratitude as she told me about her past again.”

Twilight’s eyes got a little misty, and she had to wipe them before she kept on. “And because you passed on love to her it allowed her to pass that love on to me. It gave me a teacher, an aunt, a friend, and someone I could confide in when my parents were busy with their royal duties. I wouldn’t be half the filly I was now if I hadn’t had her in my life. I adore Uncle Sunny, but I love it best when I can have them together.

“I know you can’t have me around as much as you’d like to, Aunt Twilight, b-but you’ll always be one of my heroes.” She sniffed, setting the book down as she put a hoof to her face.

“You see, Twilight?” said Spike, rubbing her back comfortingly. “You hold a special place in her heart. Starlight might be able to spend more time with her because she lives in the Crystal Empire, but she doesn’t love you any less.”

Twilight needed a minute to compose herself. Flurry’s words of love were eating away at the guilt and self-loathing she had been directing at herself, allowing her to feel more love and compassion for herself.

She was feeling pumped as she put her hoof down. The heavy feelings inside her were gone.

She picked the book back up, eager to see what else Flurry had to say. “I really saw today what you were talking about, Aunt Twilight. I saw how we couldn’t win on our own, but once we combined our hearts and fought as one our strength grew hundreds of times over.

“The more one of us grows and connects with each other the more we all benefit off of it, and I just want to see us all continue to grow. So, to my friends, I have something difficult that I have to ask to all of you.”

Pound and Pumpkin straightened up, focusing hard.

“I want each of you to go to your parents right now and give them a hug.”

Now they were looking at each other with confusion. “That’s supposed to be difficult?” asked Pound.

“Well, there’s probably more to it,” said Pumpkin, “but I don’t mind step one at all.”

“Me neither.”

They both spun around so they were facing their parents and hugged them. Their parents, naturally, returned the hug.

“Oh,” said Twilight.

“What is it?” asked Pinkie.

“I skimmed ahead.” She took in a short breath. “I can see why she called it difficult. Both of you are going to have to let go of your pride for this, and put love over your anger.”

Everyone else was wondering what Flurry could possibly be asking of them.

“Well, go on,” said Pound.

Twilight nodded. “As difficult as it is, and as much as it hurt us to hear, I want you to thank your parents for barring us from seeing Mayhem for the time being.”

The twins both tensed. “What?” asked Pumpkin flatly. “She didn’t write that.”

“Why on earth would she ask us to do that?” said Pound, getting annoyed.

Cup and Carrot also found it an odd request.

Twilight didn’t keep them waiting. “Like I’ve been saying, love is what keeps us all connected, and the stronger our love and connections the stronger we all grow, but what happens when two different loves start fighting?

“Our love for Mayhem allowed us to immediately put his actions behind us, just happy we had our close friend back to his senses. Our parents weren’t so forgiving. I saw the way Pound and Pumpkin fought with their parents over this, and it got me to thinking that they were fighting over the same thing, just about different people.

“Pound and Pumpkin were fighting to protect Mayhem, while their parents were fighting to protect them. Both groups had love for another on their minds as they fought, and it wasn’t until they could start putting their anger behind them and began speaking with their love that they reached a compromise.

“Just think about it. Would you really want to have parents that were totally uncaring that you almost died? Would it have made you happier to still have Mayhem right now if it came at the cost of your parents shrugging and dismissing everything we went through today?

“I don’t like this forced separation any more than any of you do, but I don’t think you should be mad at your parents because of it. In the end, their actions are motivated by their great love for you.”

The twins were scowling, getting defensive. They didn’t want to be grateful about being separated from their friend, especially when they felt he needed them more than ever at the moment.

Twilight could see them struggling with the concept, and knew she had to give them time to come to their own decisions.

After a minute Pound looked up and glared at his mother, expecting to see her looking smug and arrogant over things. He was ready to rage and be sarcastic over having even their friend say it was a good idea, but he didn’t get the chance. Rather than looking victorious his mother looked defeated and sad. 

The fire of his emotions drained out of him. In a neutral voice he asked, “What do you think about this?”

Cup sighed. “I understand the sentiment Flurry was trying to convey, but I really wish she hadn’t done it.”

Pumpkin glanced up too.

“As we’re all still settling down from today she got your emotions all riled up again.” Tears formed at the bottom of her eyes. “Were you expecting me to boast and hold it over your heads what Flurry requested? Do you really think I want to fight anymore today?

“Do you think I didn’t see the expressions on your faces, especially when you looked up at me? It… just reminded too much of how you looked after you came home from running away.” The tears began to slide down her face. “That moment, right before I begged for your forgiveness… that hateful look on your face like you wanted to tell me you despised me… I would rather just go back on my word and let you have Mayhem right now than to ever have to see that expression on your face again.”

Pound remembered that moment too. He didn’t know what exactly he was going to say to her, but all he knew at that point in time was a great anger and a desire to make her hurt as much as possible after the way she had hurt him. He had wanted to return her anger with his own, but seeing her break down in despair made him want to be the glue to put her hurting heart back together.

“Mayhem,” started Pumpkin, “he’s… he’s a close friend that we’ve been through a lot with. Friendships always go through tests, and this was the biggest one of all. We showed how much we’ve bonded with one another by still remembering each other in our hearts even if our memories were taken away.

“In the end, the final test came down to Mayhem himself. After we beat him he told us about why he made himself look like a villain in that ceiling mural on my side of the room. He showed himself opposing us as a symbol of his faith in us.

“It… kinda reminds me of what Auntie Pinkie said. She promised that even if we turned evil she would still love us always, and always try to bring us back around to the good side. Mayhem was the same way. If he ever returned to his old ways he trusted we’d be able to stop him. It took all of us to awaken the Fire of Friendship, but we did beat him. We did manage to get him back.

“We… we got what we wanted out of today: we saved our friend from doing something he could never take back. We’re okay with the way things ended up, but…” She looked down. “However, we know that you’re not happy. I can’t even feel any happiness over you not separating us from Mayhem for a while.”

“Me neither,” said Pound. “We love Mayhem, and we understand that he lost control because a being made of chaos magic hadn’t had any chaos in a long time, but… we love you too.

“I just can’t help but think of Drill Bit. When he and Flurry were going at it I saw the roots of his sadness. He wasn’t offered comforting when he was sad and upset. His parents just pushed him to become independent and make himself tough.”

Pound tensed, tears forming in his eyes. “F-Flurry was right. When I think of you being cold and uncaring about today it feels like my heart is being ripped open. I know how much today hurt you, but I can’t give up on Mayhem entirely. We have too much history together for that.” He gave her another hug, the tears coming down. “However, I’m willing to wait until you’re ready to give him another chance.

“I might not be happy about waiting, but I know that Flurry is right. You’re doing this because you love us, and I don’t want to hurt you over this anymore. Thank you for always looking out for us.”

Cup hugged him back, feeling warm inside. “I do love you, Pound. More than anything in the world.” She could practically feel Pumpkin staring at her. Looking up she said, “And you too, of course, Pumpkin.”

Pumpkin hugged Carrot. “Thank you, Daddy! I guess you need my hug, because Mom just said she loves us more than you.”

He hugged her back. “That’s alright. Our kids should always come before us anyway. That’s what it means to be a parent."

“So what’s next?” asked Pinkie. “I think they’ve got this lesson down.”

Twilight nodded. “Sure looks like it to me.” She picked up the notebook and found her place again. “To wrap up, I really want to see all of you next weekend if you’re not busy. I don’t want to let the bad things of today overcome the love we all share for each other. I want to celebrate our victory, and I know that Pinkie Pie is up to the task of making this event super special.

“There’s a certain theme I want for this party, but I don’t want to tell it to you over this notebook. I told you that I did a lot of thinking because of Aunt Starlight, and there’s a few things I learned about myself that I only want to say in person, when I can share my whole heart with all of you that have stood by me. From what Pound and Pumpkin have told me it shouldn’t be hard for Pinkie to set up this party without knowing what it’s about in advance.”

“Oooh!” Pinkie said excitedly, her eyes sparkling. She loved a challenge, especially when it came to making the perfect party. “This sounds fun!”

“I wonder what Flurry discovered?” asked Pound.

“I don’t know,” said Pumpkin, “From her note it sounds like she learned a lot already that she’s shared with us. What else could be left?”

“I wonder too,” said Twilight, “but I guess we’ll just have to wait. I’m not worried about her anymore.”

“Me neither.”

“Make that three,” said Pumpkin.

Twilight flipped to the next page. “Well, we’re almost at the end of her note.” She cleared her throat and continued reading. “In closing, I just want to thank all of you for being my friends. You give strength to my heart. Pound, Pumpkin, Tree Leaf, Peppermint, Masky, and Mayhem. I can’t ever forget what all of you have done for me.

“My friends… you saved me from the darkness. When I was lonely and couldn’t make any friends, when ponies made fun of my oversized wings, when I was hurting deep inside… you showed me the magic of friendship. And now I want to return it you in kind. I will grow stronger than anyone, so I can always be your light, even in the darkest of times.

“That’s my promise to you, and my duty as both your friend and as a princess.”

“Signed, Princess Flurry Heart.”

The twins sniffed. Copying Flurry’s habit they both closed their eyes and put their hooves over their heart. Even just through the words they could feel her heart reaching out towards them. The warmth of her feelings washed over them, making them feel like everything was okay. No matter how unpleasant the journey, either in Mayhem’s world or beyond, what did it matter so long as they were together for it?

With their eyes closed they didn’t see Twilight approaching, and let out cries of surprise as she picked them both up and held them to her.

“Thank you!” Twilight said emotionally. “I feel like I haven’t said that to you for a long time, but it needs to be said.”

She set them down, tears streaming down her eyes, but they didn’t seem like happy tears.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?”

“Flurry has become so strong in such a short amount of time, and it’s all thanks to you.” As they went to protest she cut over them. “I know! I know you’re going to say this was a group effort, but it did all spur from you.

“You just don’t understand how worried I was for Flurry back then.” Her horn lit up, and a memory of Flurry and Twilight showed.

“Just leave me alone!” Flurry said, annoyed. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, Aunt Twilight. I don’t care about making friends, so stop bothering me about it. I just want to study.”

Even though Flurry was raging the twins could see something behind her words. Knowing Flurry’s history they could see the fear she was masking behind her indifference.

Twilight said, “I could tell she was hiding something, but even though we all pushed her she just wouldn’t confide in us, not even to Starlight and Sunburst. We were at a loss… until I thought of you. I’d seen the way you had been growing, and I was certain if anyone could break through the wall she had put up it was the two of you. If she hung around a group of her peers it might be enough to get her to loosen up.”

She sighed. “But we both know it didn’t go so easy. Just a few minutes after her arrival she insulted Mayhem hard enough that he left the party out of fear he would harm her.”

She tensed, hugging herself. “That was one of the scariest moments of my life. Not because of a moment in the present, but because I was terrified she would wind up like Moondancer.”

Pound remembered the conversation they had about her. It was right before he had made up with Tree Leaf.

Pumpkin hadn’t been there for the story, but Pound did talk to her about it afterward.

“I… I lost my head a little bit. I didn’t know what to do. I was certain you could still help her, but you demanded that she be kicked out. It was your party. You had the right to decide what guests you had and it wasn’t my place to say otherwise. If you were only doing it out of obligation, or because I ordered you to, it would amount to nothing.”

“We both remember,” said Pumpkin. “It shocked us so much when you bowed to us kids like you were beneath us.”

“And then,” said Pound, “You begged and pleaded with us to give her another chance. We both saw how deeply you were hurting. You were worried about her, but also your brother and Princess Cadance.

“It’s like Flurry said: we’re all connected. When one of us hurts it hurts everyone connected to us. The two of us… we just couldn’t stand to see how sad it made you.”

“That’s something else Flurry was right about,” said Twilight. “Small things can lead to huge things. Just think about everything that went on in that bedroom during your party. Flurry was finally able to put away all the things that had been troubling her, all from the simple act of giving someone a second chance. 

“What if I hadn’t been able to convince you? What then? Bonding with all of you, releasing all her negative feelings, forming a true bond of friendship with Crystal… none of that would have happened. She would have stayed all alone and miserable, still holding all her painful thoughts.”

Pound gave her a warm smile. “But that didn’t happen, Twilight. It was because of you that we could push through. We saw the love you had for Flurry, and your sadness over not being able to help. We saw your fear. It was because you didn’t try to force us that we were able to put our feelings aside and pushed Flurry to open up.”

“The two of us,” said Pumpkin, “we just couldn’t stand to see you in so much pain. Not after everything you’ve done for us. You’ve taught us a lot, but you’ve also been very forgiving of our mistakes.” She blushed, smiling awkwardly. “Like that time I made you trip and slam your head into the ground to break your concentration so I could keep attacking Masky.”

Pound winced. “I still remember that as the scariest I’ve ever seen Twilight look… but in the end I think I’d still rather take that Twilight than an angry Fluttershy.”

Pumpkin gulped and nodded. “Definitely.”

Twilight and Pinkie began laughing.

Pound shivered. “I felt like she was gonna turn me to stone just with her gaze alone. I couldn’t move at all until she looked away.”

Pinkie put a hoof on Pound. “If there’s one thing to learn it’s that when you push a ‘weak’ pony too far you’ll see just how strong they really are. Just like when you finally found the courage to stand up to Drill Bit.”

Cup gave him a loving squeeze. “We were so mad at hearing about how he attacked you, but even more than that we just felt so proud of you. Completely on your own you finally managed to put all your training to work and won him over without resorting to violence.”

Pound beamed. 

“Hmm,” said Twilight, putting a hoof to her face. “Now that I think about it, that’s yet another example of what Flurry was talking about. You were steadfast against me punishing him for hurting you because you believed that you had started building a connection with him, and my interference would have broken that connection.

“In the end I believe you had the right mindset. Rather than holding onto the past you looked towards the future, and he’s another one that has come so far from who he used to be. He started out as just a bully who made your school life miserable. Now he’s your daily tutor and is a lot happier with who he is.

“Everything… it all starts with little things. That first step can seem so small, but it can blossom into something that affects everything around.”

Pound gave a hearty nod. “I love that I took that first step, because it’s led to so many good things. I don’t know if I’d even be flying yet without his help.”

Pumpkin was beaming. “Ever since we finished Flurry’s message I’ve just felt… protected, somehow. We were feeling better being around our family, but there was still just this… feeling of something being wrong. I’m not scared anymore.”

“I know what you mean, Pumpkin,” said Twilight. “I still had some lingering feelings that Flurry took away.”

“I can feel it too,” said Cup. “I’m glad she made her request. I think it helped us come to more of an understanding.”

Carrot nodded. “We don’t make rules simply to hurt our children. We make them because we want to protect them. I’m glad too that they understand our feelings and we understand theirs.”

“I’m just happy that all of you are happy,” said Pinkie. “And, of course, I’d never say no to an invitation to party. I’m gonna rock whatever theme she asks me for.”

“I think Flurry told us all what we really needed to hear,” said Twilight. “I’m sure you want to write your messages back to her. Just let her know that she really helped me too with her letter, okay?”

The twins hopped off their parents laps and hugged her. “Sure thing, Twilight!” said Pumpkin.

“Goodnight!” said Pound.

She hugged them back. “Goodnight, you two.”

After a few more goodbyes she sent them home with a flash of her horn. 

She found herself excited for the following week. What else was Flurry going to tell them? Why was she hiding what type of party she wanted? She knew she could always probe her niece for the answers, but she had no interest in doing so. It was clear that Flurry was happy. That was all that really mattered to her.
> 7-1: Consequences
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pound and Pumpkin were eagerly awaiting Flurry’s arrival. All their friends, except Mayhem, were already there.

Twilight was there too, just as impatient. She wanted the answer to the mystery as much as the others. What was it that Flurry had to tell them that could only be in person?

It was a little after ten. Flurry’s train was due to arrive soon.

“A big party today!” Pinkie said with a hop. “I’ve been thinking all week about the theme Flurry wants. Maybe it’s a superhero party!”

“Who knows?” asked Pound. “It doesn’t really matter to me. As long as it’s with our friends any party is going to be special.”

“I agree with that,” said Pumpkin. “Our bond is unbreakable, so we’ll have fun no matter what the decorations are.”

Their other friends nodded in agreement.

There was a knock on the door about ten minutes later, and when they opened it Flurry was standing there along with Cadance and Shining.

“Hey there!” Flurry said with a cheery wave.

Before the kids could swarm around her Twilight teleported over and picked her up in a loving hug. “Hello, Flurry, my wonderful little niece!”

“H-hey, Aunt Twilight,” Flurry said.

“I know Pound and Pumpkin told you what I said, but it’s something that I want to say in person too.” She kissed Flurry’s cheek. “Thank you so much for your letter. I was feeling a little guilty for going home last week. You helped me feel so much better.”

Flurry chuckled, feeling warm. “You’re welcome, Aunt Twilight!”

“Hey, hey!” said Peppermint. “Stop hugging all the Flurry to yourself.”

Twilight snickered, setting Flurry down. “I guess that’s all I get.” Looking up she greeted her brother and sister-in-law, and they returned her greeting in kind.

“So we’ve been waiting long enough!” said Tree Leaf. “What’s this big personal thing you wanted to tell us in person?”

“Yeah, yeah!” said Masky. “No stalling.”

“It won’t take long,” Shining said, his voice full of pride.

“It’s something very special,” said Cadance with the same prideful tone.

“So out with it!” said Pound.

Flurry looked at all of them warmly. “The five of you… you’ve done so much for me over the few months we’ve been friends. After my talk with Starlight I got to view the truth of our bond, and my true strength.

“When I came to understand that I received an eternal symbol of that bond.”

“What do you mean?” asked Pumpkin.

“Everyone… this is for you.” With that she turned to the side, showing them all her cutie mark.

They all gaped at her, needing a little time to process the mark on her flank. 

“Flurry... you-” Twilight started, blinking to be sure she wasn’t seeing things.

As the shock passed they all began to grow excited.

“Oh my gosh!” Peppermint cried out. “You got your cutie mark!”

“That’s awesome!” said Tree Leaf.

“Super cool!” said Pound.

Twilight hugged her again. “That is amazing, Flurry! I’m so proud of you!”

When Flurry finally got a moment of quiet to speak she said, “Thank you, everyone. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“No wonder your letter was so full of hope and love. You must have felt so overjoyed to get your cutie mark.”

Flurry and her parents all got strained smiles on their faces.

“What’s wrong?” asked Pumpkin. “We all read it, and you sounded eager to tell us about it.”

“Well,” said Shining, “there were some… complications.”

“Complications?” asked Twilight. “What do you mean, Bro?”

“Look, I don’t want to bring the mood down.”

Cadance let out a little sigh, putting a hoof around him. “And you know saying that is just going to make them want to know even more.”

Shining rolled his eyes. “Right.” He let out a huff. “Well, Flurry wasn’t happy with her mark at first. We didn’t even find out she had it until after Starlight helped her come to grips with it.”

“And?” asked Pumpkin.

“Flurry told us about her conversation with Starlight and how she got her mark. We were all feeling happy, but then…” He got a grumpy look on his face. “… but then Starlight told us something that kinda soured the mood.”

“Which was?” asked Twilight.

Cadance spoke up now. “She didn’t even realize she had her cutie mark at the time. She came to her realizations and was ready to go to magic practice so she could get stronger, but as soon as she saw her cutie mark she freaked out and lost all her enthusiasm.

“Flurry was unhappy with her cutie mark because it began to make her think of the past, before she met all of you kids. She thought that she was going to be loaded with pressure from ponies again.

“And so Starlight decided to put pressure on her to show her the value of her cutie mark.”

Shining sucked on his cheek. “And she thought the best way to do that was by equalizing her.”

Twilight flinched. “She WHAT?” she screeched. “Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.”

“It worked,” Flurry said in a small voice.

“That’s not the point, Flurry,” said Cadance.

“I wish that she had never used that spell again,” said Shining, “but if she was going to do it she could have at least asked Flurry first instead of blindsiding her. It would have come out to the same result, anyway.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Twilight, trying to remain calm in front of the children.

“Because it only took a few minutes before Flurry was begging for her cutie mark back.”

Flurry let out a little sigh. “Starlight’s spell did something to me that even Mayhem couldn’t do.”

“What’s that?” asked Masky.

“What my cutie mark symbolizes is like Aunt Twilight’s role in Equestria. It’s all about bringing others together and showing them light to help them do better.

“So… you can probably guess what happened when that ability was actively prevented. It was like being cut off from love.”

Cadance gently shook her head. “Well, I can’t deny that she had good intentions, and I certainly appreciate her being honest and upfront about her actions, but she still shouldn’t have done what she did. 

“We expressed our disapproval of her actions, and banished her from seeing Flurry for a month.”

“A month?” Twilight said quietly. “That’s quite a while.”

Pound knew how much Flurry looked up to Starlight. In a hesitant voice he asked, “Do… do you hate Starlight now?”

Both Cadance and Shining looked at him curiously. “No,” said Shining. “As Cadance said we know she had good intentions. She didn’t even fight us when we told her. She just accepted our judgment.”

“So that’s why she’s not here for the party?” asked Pumpkin.

“Somewhat. You kids may have heard some of Starlight’s past because of the fake Starlight, and that’s reason enough for this punishment.”

“I don’t get it,” said Masky. “You both said you believe Starlight didn’t do what she did for bad reasons.”

“Do you think Starlight is becoming bad again?” asked Peppermint.

“Or maybe it’s just revenge,” said Tree Leaf.

“No, no, no!” said Cadance. “Please. We don’t want you to misunderstand. When we set that punishment down we were both still sad and angry about what happened to Flurry because of Mayhem. Hearing about that didn’t help our moods any. We were a bit short with her, but it had nothing to do with vengeance.”

“Just as Starlight felt she was acting in Flurry’s best interests, we felt we were doing the same for Starlight,” said Shining. “We had to send a clear message that we weren’t going to tolerate things like that. Our children are our greatest treasures, and if we’re to leave them in the hooves of another we have to be sure they’re going to be safe.

“Starlight has come a long way, and we can’t risk her starting to get a taste for manipulation and becoming power hungry again. We don’t want her to start relying on spells to force others to change the way they act.

“I wish she had just tried to talk to Flurry more, or called for us, or just about anything else but that horrible spell. Maybe it was the most expedient option, but just because it was the quickest way doesn’t make it moral.”

Twilight gently tapped her hoof on the floor, unsure of what to feel. She felt disappointment as well, but she couldn’t quite get mad. She couldn’t disagree with what Flurry’s parents had decided.

She looked down at her niece, concerned. “What do you feel about this, Flurry?”

All eyes moved to the little alicorn. “I don’t like it, but I’m not fighting it either. It’s not like she’s missing out completely. We already had a party in the castle to celebrate. Having had a chance to cool off they allowed Aunt Starlight to at least be there for that before starting her separation.

“And it’s like they said. They were more trying to send a message than punish her. Today she’s Skyla’s foalsitter, so they’re starting to bring her back. I still can’t see her, though.

“I still have Crystal and Uncle Sunny, but it’s just not the same.” She shrugged. “With my parents busy during the day with their jobs and Uncle Sunny only book smart I haven’t had a proper magic lesson all week.

“I understand the importance of Aunt Starlight not going back to her old self, but all the same I feel like I’m being punished as much as her, and I didn’t even do anything wrong. I already can’t see Mayhem, and now I lost Aunt Starlight too.“

Cadance and Shining both got guilty looks on their faces. “Come on, Flurry,” Shining said weakly. “We can’t just let these things go.”

“Did I say I was mad at you? I know you’re doing this because you love me. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt a little. Of course, today I have all my special friends with me.”

“But what about Crystal?” asked Pumpkin. “Only me and my brother have met her. I thought we could introduce her to the rest of our group.”

“Well, she was, of course, at the party in the Crystal Empire. I wanted her to come here too, but her parents are going to visit relatives over the weekend and she wanted to go too.”

“Is that… okay?” asked Twilight.

“It’s not like she completely missed out. I already told you she was at my other party. We spend plenty of time together as it is, so I’m not upset about having more time to focus on my Ponyville friends.”

Twilight looked up. “So… are you planning to adhere to a full month?”

“We just wanted time for things to sink in,” said Cadance. “We both know that Flurry holds Starlight up as a role model, and is one of her biggest sources of support. In a few more days we’ll sit her down and talk to her again.”

“It’s extremely important that Starlight understands,” said Shining. “Starlight lost our approval for that stunt, but that’s easy enough to remedy. As we’ve said several times we don’t believe Starlight acted with malicious intent.

“However, things change completely if Starlight loses our trust. Flurry might not like being forced to stay away from Starlight for just this short amount of time, but if not doing this leads to Starlight starting to go back to her old self that separation might need to become permanent, and none of us want that.

“After all, we put a lot on Starlight. She acts as an aunt and a foalsitter. She teaches Flurry magic, is skilled enough to handle Flurry’s magic when she gets out of control, we’ve made her Flurry’s caretaker if we both were to die, and we put her in charge of protecting Flurry and Skyla in case of an invasion.

“With so much riding on her we can’t afford to let her regress. While she may have done things with good intentions this time, it can be all too easy to start pushing more and more until it’s starting to be done with selfish motives.”

“Well,” said Cadance, “it’s not as though good intentions alone make an action good. Starlight’s village was created with good intentions as much as for her own benefit.”

“True enough.

“Flurry isn’t the only one that sees her like family, you know. In the end, we’re doing this as much for Starlight’s benefit as ours and Flurry’s. We don’t want to see her descend into darkness like Mayhem did.”

“And I thank you for caring so much for Aunt Starlight too," said Flurry, "but I think we’ve lingered enough on bad feelings.” She looked up at Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie, I don’t have to spell out what kind of party theme I want, do I?”

The shift in topic took the mare a moment to adjust to, but once she processed Flurry’s question her eyes lit up. “A cutecenera!” She slapped her hooves together before hopping up and down. “That sounds super fun.”

“I just have one request, and it’s something I know you can accommodate.”

“Sure. What is it?”

“I want you to gather together as many ponies as possible that would want to join us. If my cutie mark symbolizes friendship and caring for one another then I want everyone to share in my joy. I only got my cutie mark because of all of you. It’s certainly not something I could have ever obtained alone.”

Pinkie gave her a warm smile before saluting. “Okie-dokie-lokie! I can certainly manage that. Give me two hours and I’ll be ready for you.”

“That’s all? I thought it would take longer.”

“Then you don’t know Auntie Pinkie Pie,” said Pound. “You’re not the only one that lives your cutie mark, you know.”

“I guess not.”

“Now then!” said Pinkie. “Shoo! I must work.”

Flurry nodded. “Let’s go upstairs and play.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Pumpkin.

They lost track of time as they played with one another. Eventually they noticed the noise downstairs and Pinkie came upstairs to call them to come down.

Flurry was pleasantly surprised. Besides all the decorations she could see all the ponies waiting for her.

Pinkie called for quiet, and once she had everyone’s attention she gestured to Flurry to speak up. 

Flurry hopped up onto a chair so she’d be higher up and more ponies would be able to see her.

She unfurled her wings as far as they would go, ignoring the expected gasps and staring. “Hello, everybody!” she said cheerfully. “My name is Flurry Heart of the Crystal Empire. You’ve all been gathered here today for my cutecenera, and I’m so glad you all could make it.

“I know I may look a little weird with these wings, but they’re what I was born with and a part of me. I wouldn’t trade them away for anything. There’s a lot more to me than that, so I hope you can look past that as well.

“I had a big lesson in friendship recently, and that’s how I got my mark. I already partied in the Crystal Empire with my parents, but I also wanted to party here with my Aunt Twilight and my best friends.

“I may be an alicorn princess, but I don’t need any special treatment. Today is just about sharing our love and friendship with each other, so let’s all have a great time everyone!”

Twilight clapped. “Well said, Flurry. Same with me. I’m not here today as a princess, but just as Flurry’s aunt.”

Despite their words she could still feel some tension in the air at having three alicorns at the party, but she was sure once the party started properly they would settle down and lose themselves in the fun.

Pinkie chuckled. “Well, then!” she said cheerfully, setting the needle on her record player. “Let’s party!”

Flurry challenged her friends to a game of pin the tail on the pony. It was a close match, but in the end Peppermint won.

Over the course of the next few games Flurry began to get the sensation that she was being watched. With so many ponies crowded around the area it was hard to tell if her suspicions were correct.

After a few more minutes she got confirmation about things when she suddenly felt a tap on the shoulder.

She turned around, and was mildly surprised to see it was Drill Bit. 

He didn’t speak right away. He just stared at her with an inscrutable expression, like he had something to say and wasn’t sure where to start.
> 7-2: The ones we help
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry waited patiently for Drill Bit to speak. The last she had seen of him was when she had given him encouragement when he had been afraid.

Pound had told her that he had been better since then, but he didn’t provide many details. Knowing that she had helped him through his issues had been enough for her.

“Who’s this?” asked Tree Leaf.

“Why’s he staring at you, Flurry?” asked Peppermint.

“He’s one of my classmates,” said Pound. “A very prideful colt that is very talented. Even so, this one time he needed Flurry’s help to get past a hurdle in his life.”

Drill’s eyes moved to Pound for a moment, before fixing back on Flurry. “So what’s it for?” he asked, finally speaking.

Flurry turned slightly so her cutie mark was visible to him. “My cutie mark is a symbol of my desire to help others, just like my mother and my aunts. I want to show friendship to as many ponies as possible, and give them a light in the darkness. No matter how hopeless they feel, I want to illuminate to them another path I can lead them down.”

Drill averted his eyes. “I told Pound not to talk about me to you. It wasn’t his place to go spilling all my secrets. I wanted to wait until I could see you again so I could tell you in person.”

Flurry nodded. That explained why Pound’s reply had been so sparse when she tried to follow up about Drill’s situation.

Drill met eyes with her again. “I’ve said this to Pound before, but my pride won’t allow me to remain a loser. That part of me hasn’t changed. 

“You’re a few steps too slow. I got mine a few weeks ago.” He spun, showing off his own cutie mark.

“Ooh!” said Flurry, happy for his success. Drill’s cutie mark looked like a Royal Guard helmet and a whistle.

His eyes faded out as he straightened up. “I was raised to believe that the only person one can depend on is themselves. I got a lot of success out of it, and it made me tough… but it eventually stopped making me happy.

“Pound eventually got to me, asking me to train him. I found the change in pace refreshing. I hid that from my parents, knowing they wouldn’t approve, with the end result being that when I talked to them it seemed like I wanted to give up my ambitions for nothing.”

He took in a slow breath. “It drove me crazy when we had our race, the way you saw right through me… the way you made me think about all my deepest fears.

“I tried a different method to get under your skin, because I didn’t want to accept your point of view. If your way was right then I thought it meant that my parents didn’t really love me. 

“You… you offered me friendship, telling me that even when your friends aren’t there next to you that you feel them inside of you.”

Flurry nodded, but didn’t want to speak. She wanted to let him get everything out.

A tear slowly came down his cheek. “That group hug you gave me… it made all the difference when I confronted my parents again. Feeling your hearts gave me the courage to stand up for my new beliefs.”

Flurry smiled.

“So… do you know a spell to view memories?”

Flurry nodded.

“I give you my permission.”

Her horn glowed, wondering what she was going to see.

***

Drill was in front of his parents, looking down. 

“What has gotten into you?” asked Sound Barrier, looking angry.

“Exactly,” said Finish Line, looking just as frustrated. “That’s your new ambition? Helping some loser?”

“You’re growing so weak. Isn’t it like we always told you? You hang out with trash like that Pound character and you’ll only-”

“Shut your mouth!” Drill Bit responded back.

There was silence for a few moments as she processed what he said, then her expression grew furious. “Excuse me?” she snapped. “What did you just-” She broke off as she looked at his face, feeling an odd sensation from him. 

It wasn’t just the anger that made her pause. There was a quiet strength that was emanating off of him.

“I told you to shut your mouth! You don’t know ANYTHING about Pound. Unlike me, he wasn’t born with natural talent, but he’s more than determined enough to make up for it. Every day he pushes himself to his limits and beyond, never complaining, and working to become as good as me.

“He used to be the worst in our class. When the school year started he couldn’t even hover. He was completely pathetic, and I hated him for it.

“Now he’s grown so much he’s unrecognizable. And you know what?” He slammed a hoof to his chest. “I did that! Me! I made him what he is today, and I think that’s something to be proud of. And I am proud of it and want to keep doing it.

“What right do you have to insult my friend?”

“Friend, huh?” She was recovering from her shock. “So you're really serious about this, then?”

Drill nodded. “That’s right.”

“So is that what you want to aspire to? You want to just stand by on the sidelines and watch as someone else lives your dream? You want to be just a step for others to walk on as you stay on the bottom?”

“No!” He shook his head hard. “Not at all.

“My dream hasn’t changed. I still intend to be a Royal Guard when I grow older.”

“And how are you planning to do that when you’re holding yourself back from your greatness?” asked Finish Line with a glare.

“WRONG!" Drill pointed hard at his parents. "You’re the ones that have been holding me back.” Their eyebrows went up. “Just having skill in flying and a bunch of accomplishments isn’t all it takes to rise to the top. It’s fine if you’re satisfied for me to merely be a grunt on the bottom rung. But as Princess Cadance told me there’s more to it than that.

“You told me you want me to become the captain of the guard after my brother. Being a leader requires you to be able to lead. You’ve been so focused on helping me to excel that you don’t seem to realize that my job as a leader requires me to help others to excel. 

“So helping Pound is helping myself, because it’s going to give me the skills I need to rise in the ranks.”

Drill Bit closed the distance between them. “You told me that if I found a new passion that I was just as skilled at as racing that you’d support me as hard as you did for that. If I can take a hopeless case like him and make him into someone decent then I can help anyone.

“So did you really mean what you said? Are you still going to support me?”

His parents both considered him. He still had that determined look on his face, inner strength radiating off of him.

After a minute Sound let out a sigh. “I suppose you have a good point. And you have seemed pretty bored lately, so if you want to leave the competitive circuit for a while then fine.

“But just because you’re going to focus on this other kid I hope it doesn’t mean you’re going to let your own skills deteriorate.”

“Not at all!” Drill responded strongly. “This new passion of mine hasn’t tempered my desire to be the best any. No matter what I go for I want to excel at it and give it one hundred percent.”

Finish Line got up. “It seems you’re growing up a little. I guess we were wrong about you growing weaker.

“All we ever wanted for you was to see you reach your full potential. We would hate to see your talent squandered.”

“I appreciate that you want what’s best for me, but I don’t like the way you go about it. You shouldn’t insult others just for not being as skilled as me. 

“Pound told me that I’m the only one that can train him properly, because everyone else is too soft on him. He calls me the tall wall he needs to be in his path to push him to excel. If I let my flying skills get rusty then I’ll be letting him down, and my eventual team.”

Sound got up as well, standing in front of him. “Maybe we pushed a little too hard, but it was always only for your benefit.” She nuzzled his nose, giving him a warm smile. “After all, you’re our little champion, and nothing makes me happier than being able to brag about how amazing you are. And now you’re only going to become even more amazing as you blaze your new path.”

His father gave him a hug. “Of course we’ll keep to our word. Do your very best, just as you’ve always done, and we’ll support you one hundred percent.”

Drill smiled. “I will!”

***

As the memory faded Flurry found herself crying happy tears. 

Pound and Pumpkin were doing the same. Drill had never told them about his conversation with his parents.

Pound especially felt warm inside. Drill Bit not only defended him personally, but called him a friend. 

“One more memory,” said Drill Bit.

Flurry nodded, once more using her spell to let them see.

This one Pound recognized, as he was there for it.

***

This memory was at school during pegasi training classes. 

“Attention! Attention!” Drill Bit yelled out. When everyone turned toward him he said, “I have something important that I need to say.”

He thought of Flurry Heart’s words, and copied her action of placing her hoof over her heart, feeling his friends there. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, and what that led to is a desire to help all of you.”

A bit of mumbling went through the children.

“I know I was a pretty nasty person in the past, but I’ve been learning that some of the things I was taught were incorrect. Now I feel I’m on a better path.

“My dream is to one day be a part of the Royal Guard just like my big brother. While I have plenty of skill in flight and competition, if I ever want to become a great leader I also need a lot of experience in teaching others.

“You’ve all seen what my efforts have done for Pound. Short of me and my friends, it wouldn’t surprise me if the former ‘flightless wonder’ outclasses every one of you now.”

Pound grinned. He had no idea how he stacked up against his other classmates, but he was certain he was no longer the worst.

“I know for the most part you’re allowed to do your own thing in this class as long as you’re practicing, but I don’t think you’ll ever reach the true greatness you deserve like that.

“All of you…” His expression grew warm. “…you have so much potential inside of you just waiting to come out if you work hard at it. Just because you weren’t born with natural talent like me doesn’t mean you can’t be great. Again, just look at how far Pound has come under my tutelage.

“I know I can’t force any of you to train under me, but I want to see all of you excel and become your best selves. You owe it to yourselves to give it your all so you can see how amazing you really are.”

Ms. Nimble was impressed. She had noticed Drill’s gradual change in attitude over the past few months. She felt like Pound had been a good influence on him. 

“So what do you say?” He pumped a hoof into the air. “Who’s ready to work their flanks off and see what you’re really made of?”

There was more talking amongst themselves. To them Drill felt like an entirely different pony. Before he had just been an arrogant bully. Now there was something different about him. He seemed calmer and happier.

“Do you really think I can be that great?” asked a filly.

Drill nodded. “Again, just look at how far Pound has come. If you haven’t improved as much as him it’s likely just because you’re not pushing yourself as hard as he is. The reason he pushes himself so hard is because I push him to do so. I can be a little harsh, but I make a good teacher.”

Pound laughed. “Got that right.” He took off in the air, doing two loops before landing back on the ground. “I never would have come this far if he wasn’t so completely annoying that I just want to smash his face in with a crushing defeat.”

“Hmph!” Drill scoffed, rolling his eyes before smirking. “Well, you can keep dreaming on that.”

Pound giggled. “I’ll get there one day.”

A few of the children took him up on his offer, the others just wanting to take it easy or not being too interested in flight.

Drill took charge, starting them off with wing-ups. He walked among the children, giving them little bits of advice here and there. 

When they took to the air Drill once again gave them advice. He went to each of them individually and helped to correct them when they messed up.

Unlike when he trained with Pound he wasn’t verbally abusive. He was critical and stern, but not in a nasty way.

Pound didn’t get the same treatment. He was still a bit of a jerk to him. Pound thought to complain about getting treated differently, but in the end decided against it. He didn’t want to only have respect for Drill Bit. He wanted to see the colt as his rival, no matter how different their level in skill. To that end, he needed to keep a degree of irritation and anger in his heart to keep himself motivated.

He now had to share his training with some others, but it didn’t bother him. Drill Bit just seemed so much happier. He might have needed Flurry’s help and a lot of time, but he felt like he could finally check off the success box on the task Twilight gave him. Drill certainly felt redeemed to him.

It skipped to the next day, where this time Drill Bit was wearing a whistle and a referee shirt to be more in character as a coach.

It skipped around some more to a little montage of successes in his students. Drill only looked happier and happier as these memories passed. There was a look of fulfillment on his face as he watched what he had brought about in his students.

Pound suddenly gasped, making Drill turn to him. “What?” he asked. 

Pound pointed. “It’s… it’s your cutie mark!”

Drill’s eyes widened as he looked at his flank. There really was a cutie mark there. He really was meant to be a leader.

He took in a slow breath and let it out, but he couldn’t hold it in for long. He jumped up and down in happiness, feeling so proud of himself as he cheered. 

That got the attention of his students, and they reacted with wonder at his mark too.

It skipped again to coming home and showing off his cutie mark to his parents and his brother. All of them were so proud as well, hugging him and kissing him and throwing congratulations and praise his way.

Drill Bit looked on top of the world, pure joy on his face.

***

As the memory faded this time Flurry saw that Drill’s face didn’t match up with what was just in his memory.

“What’s wrong?” asked Flurry. “It seems like you’ve gotten everything you wanted.”

Drill let out a sigh. “I have come to like seeing others relying on me. Having come as far as I could I found it felt nice to share my talent with others.

“Having seen me resolve things with our parents my brother returned to Canterlot to focus on finally getting the captain position. I’d gotten used to having my brother back, and now he’s gone again.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for him and I’m waiting to hear the good news, but that’s not what’s really bothering me.”

“So what is it?”

“I admit it. I needed your help to push forward towards my destiny. I had to rely on your support to lift me up, but… but I’m still not like you.”

“Hmm?”

“I just don’t like to rely on others. That belief of mine hasn’t changed. I want to keep pushing myself to be the best I can be. After all, there’s only room for one at the top. Maybe it’s a little lonely up there, but knowing that I earned it every step of the way makes it bearable.

"I still remember our conversation where you told me you feel that your friends are your strength. Do you think I’m wrong for thinking this way?”

Flurry considered the question. “I guess that depends. Is this what you want, Drill Bit, or are you still just living by your parents expectations?”

“I think my cutie mark answers that question. I’m walking the path I want to walk. It just so happens that it’s also what my parents want.”

Flurry nodded. “I see. In that case, my answer is no. I don’t think you’re wrong. Every pony is different and has their own reasons for doing things. If you’re not harming others, and you feel you are truly happy, then why should I tell you that your way of life is wrong just because it’s different than my personal beliefs? 

"However, while the motivation behind our actions is different I don’t think we’re that different.” She put her hoof to her heart. “We both want the same thing in the end. We both desire to be the strong pillar holding up others. We want to be able to have others rely on us for strength, and give them inspiration. 

"Although I do want to say that there’s nothing wrong with being independent, just don’t forget that when you do need help we’ll always be there to provide it.”

Drill nodded, moving like he was about to leave. He stopped and sucked on his cheek. “I’m so used to being tough that I… I find it hard to express my feelings openly when I don’t feel so strong. But… I do owe you for what you did for me, and I don’t like being indebted to others either.”

“Don’t be silly,” said Flurry. “A good deed is its own reward. Just hearing and seeing how much you’ve improved made it all worth it.”

Drill shook his head. “Maybe you feel that way, but I don’t. I wouldn’t feel right leaving this debt unfulfilled, especially since I don’t know if I’m ever going to see you again after this, so I’m returning your gift back to you.”

Pound wondered what Drill Bit meant.

Flurry also didn’t understand.

Drill closed his eyes, fighting his pride, then he closed the distance between them and threw his hooves around Flurry. “T-thank you,” he said, sounding choked up. “You…” He sniffed. “You were already living your cutie mark before you even got it. I was lost in the dark until I met you. I didn’t want to accept you or acknowledge the truth, until you forced me to see it.

“Lost and adrift out in the ocean, you shined a light down the corridors of my heart and showed me the way home. You helped me get my life back on track and towards the life I’ve always wanted.” He let out a little sob as he squeezed her tighter. “Thank you for everything, Flurry.”

Flurry let out a little sob as well as her eyes clenched shut and tears streamed down her cheeks. She hugged him back. “You’re very welcome, Drill Bit.” She could feel the warmth of his heart merging with her own, seeing she really had been making a difference in other’s lives even before their adventure in Mayhem’s world.

The other children grinned warmly. Only Pound and Pumpkin had been personally involved with Drill Bit’s struggle, but Peppermint, Tree Leaf, and Masky could still appreciate the heartfelt sentiment Drill Bit was offering. 

When Drill Bit released her he was blushing as he wiped his eyes. “That was thoroughly unpleasant. I don’t like getting emotional, especially in front of other ponies.

“Hmph!” He turned his head away dismissively. “Well, I paid my debt. Don’t expect anything else from me. 

“Keep on pushing, Flurry, but it will never be enough. Just like with getting our cutie marks I’ll always be one step ahead of you from now on.

“See ya, loser!”

And with that he vanished into the crowd.

Tree Leaf was the first to speak. “That… was pretty rude.”

“Don’t let it get to you,” said Flurry, still feeling warm inside. “He’s a colt with a lot of pride and a lot of talent. It took a lot of courage to share his heart with me, and I appreciate that. 

“His attitude at the end… I’m not going to take it seriously. He couldn’t leave things on such a sappy note. It’s just not his style.

“I hope he does continue to grow ever stronger, so he can be a role model to his team like I am to all of you.

“Little by little, I’ll prove myself too. I’ll show that me being an alicorn wasn’t just for show. I’ll keep fighting to be worthy of my princess status.”

Peppermint threw a hoof around her. “I think you already are, Flurry. Just look at how you changed his life for the better.”

“I guess I’m a little jealous,” said Pound. “He gave you all the credit, but I guess you were the one that ultimately got through to him.”

Flurry shook her head. “No. After all, Pound, how could I have helped him before I met all of you? If you hadn’t saved me from the darkness then I never could have shown Drill Bit the light. 

“We’re all working towards the same thing: lighting up Equestria with the fire of our hearts.” She put her hooves out to them, and, almost in sync they all reached out to each other, forming a small circle as they held hooves. “As I’ve said before we all are one. So long as we unite our hearts our victories are always shared with one another. When we shed light on another it only helps all of us become stronger.

“It’s just like with me and Drill Bit. By helping him to change and grow he, in turn, is now helping to train the next generation of fliers. And, by helping me, you taught me the true meaning of strength. You make me want to become as strong as I can be so that I can always be your light in the darkness, just like at the end of Mayhem’s game.

“Even if indirectly, each of you played a part in my success, and I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Each of them grinned.

She released them. “Now, let’s party already!”

“Yeah!”

As they were about to go play she felt a hoof tapping her on the shoulder, and turned to see a unicorn colt she had never seen before.  He seemed about her age, with a brown coat, a white mane, and red eyes. “Yes?”

“Um…” The colt hesitated. “Uh… could I speak to you in private?”

She gave him an odd look. “Why?”

The colt blushed. “Um, uh… it’s kinda hard to say in front of all these other ponies. I... would really prefer to talk to you alone.”

Flurry shrugged. “Alright, then. I guess I’ll be back soon.”

She followed the colt to a corner of the room where it was less crowded to hear what he had to say.
> 7-3: We'll always be friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The colt looked around as if to make sure no one was listening or looking in their direction, then said, “I saw you got your cutie mark. That’s… a pretty good mark to have.”

Flurry’s eyebrow rose. Did he really pull her away from everyone just to compliment her on her cutie mark?

“I… I don’t know if I should feel happy or sad.”

Her confusion only kept growing. “Why? What difference does it make to you?”

The colt looked around one last time. Once he turned back to her his face shifted into the form of Mayhem. 

Flurry’s mouth hung open. “You…”

“Hi, Flurry,” he said quietly before shifting his face back into a pony. “I… I don’t know how you feel about seeing me again. That seems like the kind of cutie mark you’d hate, and it’s all my fault you have it.”

Flurry was trying to get her brain to catch back up. “Hold up. What are you doing here looking like that?”

He restlessly moved one of his hooves in a circle on the floor. “Well, this was Mommy’s idea. She knows that your parents are mad at me, but she felt like a cutecenera was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I should be here for it.”

Flurry smiled. “Cool! Now you can play with us without anyone else knowing it’s you.”

Mayhem shook his head. “No.”

“No?” Her head tilted.

“She told me I could participate in the party, but you were the only one I could tell the truth to. I… am still being punished, after all.” He looked at the floor. “So I can be here, but I’m not allowed to play with any of you.”

Flurry’s smile faded. “But… but that’s…”

Mayhem hugged her. “It’s okay, Flurry. I’m just happy to be here. 

“Please don’t tell anyone else. If it gets out that I’m here Mommy might get in trouble for bringing me along. I know her. She’d take the blame for this, and I don’t want to see her get yelled at.”

A tear came down Flurry’s eye. “But you’ll be watching all of us having fun without you. Isn’t that even worse than not being here at all?”

“Don’t worry about me.” He let her go. “What about you?”

It took her a little while to respond. “I… I’m happy with my cutie mark. I was scared of it at first, but now I’ve warmed up to it.”

“I’m glad. I… I was scared you might hate me because my actions led to you getting it so early in your life. That’s the only reason why Mommy let me talk to you. She could see how scared I was, so she made an exception for you alone.”

He gave Flurry another hug. “I love you, Flurry!”

Flurry tensed, a few tears coming down her eyes as she hugged him back. “I love you too, Mayhem!”

Reluctantly he let her go. “Well… enjoy your party.” With that he took off.

It took her a minute before she could summon the energy to walk back to the rest of her friends. She certainly hadn't expected to see him. She felt bad for him having to miss out, but she couldn't put off her cutecenera for however long it took for all the parents to forgive him. 

A pit of guilt bubbled up in her stomach. She felt so inconsiderate. Why would it matter if she partied later if it meant she could have her last friend with her? 

She trudged back over to the group, forcing a smile on her face. 

“Hey, Flurry!” said Pound. “You’re back.”

“So what did he want?” asked Pumpkin.

“Oh, uh… nothing much,” she responded. “Just offering some congratulations on my cutie mark.”

“They couldn’t have done that right here?”

“Well, they’re a little shy.”

“Oh.”

Thankfully they dropped the subject after that. Flurry tried to get back into the party spirit, but it was difficult. Every so often she’d see Mayhem, and couldn’t help but stare. For the most part he was always standing alone not talking to anyone.

She stared at him long enough and often enough that her other friends began to notice. “Looking at that colt again?” asked Peppermint.

“Huh?” Flurry called out.

“Ever since that kid came over here to talk you’ve been acting strange,” said Tree Leaf.

Masky looked over at him. “He seems to be having trouble opening up. I haven’t seen him playing with any of the other kids.”

“So let’s welcome him to our group!” said Pound brightly. “Nothing wrong with sharing our hearts with someone new.”

“Yeah!” said Pumpkin. “Let’s go.”

Flurry followed at the tail end of the group, unsure of what to say as the others took off. It would seem strange if she tried to stop them, but at the same time she didn’t want to make Mayhem uncomfortable or think that she had spilled the beans.

“Hello there!” said Tree Leaf.

Mayhem spun around, surprised to see all of them standing there.

“You were looking kinda lonely,” said Pound, “so we wanted to let you know you don’t have to feel afraid. There are plenty of friendly kids in Ponyville.”

“Oh, um… thanks,” Mayhem replied.

“I’m Pound Cake. What’s your name?”

“Um, um…” Mayhem shrunk, his eyes darting around awkwardly as he tried to come up with something. “My… my n-name is… Havoc.”

“That’s a cool name,” said Pumpkin. 

“You don’t have to stay alone, Havoc,” said Masky. “All of us are good friends, and we’d love for you to join our group.”

Mayhem felt like crying. All his friends were right in front of him, and he couldn’t even let them know. The pressure to break the rules and just play with them in secret definitely came to mind, filling him with guilt. He had to get out of this situation pronto.

He flinched as he felt a hoof on his shoulder, seeing Fluttershy right next to him. He hoped she wasn’t going to be mad at him. He hadn’t done anything wrong. They had come to him.

“I think that sounds like a great idea,” she said sweetly. “A cutecenera is a once in a lifetime event for each pony. It would be a shame to spend it alone, even if you’re not the guest of honor.

“I know all these ponies personally, and I think you’ll get along fine with them if you just give them a chance.”

“Yeah!” said Tree Leaf.

Mayhem looked up at Fluttershy with confusion. She had been the one to tell him not to interact with the others, but now she was encouraging him to do the opposite. Maybe she was testing him… but he wasn’t in the mood for a test right now! Having them so close but having to be distant was almost more than he could bear.

“Give us a minute,” said Fluttershy, pulling Mayhem a short distance away.

When they stopped she sat down and moved her head close to his. “I know what I said before, but I noticed that Flurry hasn’t been able to keep her eyes off of you. I should have known this would happen, and I don’t want her special day ruined because of my thoughtlessness. Of course she’d want to spend this day with all her friends that had helped her get this far.

“You can play with them, but my rule hasn’t changed. Keep your identity a secret, okay? I don’t want them to accidentally call you by your real name. That would get you in trouble, and they’d get mad at me too because I would have to confess that I put the idea in your head.”

Mayhem nodded. “Okay, Mommy.” He put a hoof to his lips. “I won’t tell any of them. Promise.”

“Very good. Off you go, then.”

He sauntered over to the rest of the group, looking in better spirits now that he had Fluttershy’s permission.

“You feeling okay now?” asked Flurry.

He nodded. 

“So, Havoc, what kind of things are you into?” asked Peppermint.

“Oh, um… I guess a lot of things,” he said evasively.

Pound chuckled. “Well, that tells us a lot.”

Mayhem gulped. “Well, I… I just…”

“It’s okay, Havoc,” said Pumpkin, tapping his shoulder. “You’re having a little trouble opening up. It just takes some time. Why don’t we just play for now? We can worry about getting to know each other later.”

Mayhem nodded, glad she didn’t push the issue. The only big things he could think of to describe himself was his love for Fluttershy, his friends, and causing chaos, all of which were pretty big hints to his real identity. 

He tried to get into the games, but a part of him was still holding back. He still felt guilty over what he had done to them.

“Hmm,” said Tree Leaf. “I just thought of something.”

“What’s that?” asked Masky.

“Havoc is a bit of an odd name for a pony. It’s like your parents were expecting you to create problems for everyone around you.”

Mayhem got a pained expression on his face as Flurry flinched.

All of the others besides Flurry were chuckling, but as soon as Tree Leaf saw the teary expression on Mayhem’s face he immediately stopped. “Hey, I’m sorry! It was just a joke.”

“I… I should go,” said Mayhem, turning to walk away with a little sob.

“Hey, hey!” said Pound, trotting in front of him. “Come on. Don’t leave.” He gave Mayhem a hug. “He didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Yeah,” said Pumpkin, hugging him too. “You’re a cool pony, and we know Tree Leaf wouldn’t make such a statement if he thought it was going to bother you.”

Tree Leaf gave him a hug too. “I’m sorry,” he said contritely. “Please don’t leave. I didn’t mean to be insensitive.”

As they released him Mayhem thought of his actual name, and felt like Tree Leaf wasn’t wrong about him. Fluttershy had given him the name Mayhem as a similar name to Discord. Mayhem or Havoc, in the end he did live up to it and cause others a lot of grief. He had nearly killed so many ponies in his immaturity.

“I… I caused a lot of trouble recently,” said Mayhem, tears streaming down his eyes. “I wound up hurting a lot of people I cared for.”

“We’ve been through that,” said Pumpkin. “We got kicked out of school for fighting and made everyone upset.”

“The biggest thing we learned out of that,” said Pound, “is that our family and Twilight never stopped loving us. The only thing they hated was the behavior, and not us.”

“Your parents let you come to this party,” said Peppermint, “so they can’t be too upset with you.”

Automatically he cast his eyes towards Fluttershy before quickly looking away from her so as not to give them any hints. “I guess so. I just…” His eyes shimmered. “I just feel so guilty for losing control like I did. I… I can’t help but wonder if I’m just evil.”

“An evil pony wouldn’t feel bad,” said Masky. “If you feel guilty then just work hard to make it up to the ponies you hurt.”

Flurry felt her heart calling, walking up and hugging him. “Sometimes… we all let a little darkness cloud our hearts. That’s the point of sharing our hearts with one another: to remind us of the light. Things will always turn out alright as long as we come together with one heart. I’ve seen its power first hoof. The ones you hurt… I’m sure they’ve forgiven you, so don’t let this weigh you down.”

Mayhem hugged her back. “It’s just… hard. I feel so unworthy of getting another chance.”

“And that’s the beauty of love and forgiveness. It allows us to put the past of others behind us and focus on their future. Just like a certain special friend forgave me for calling him a horrible name, telling me he just wanted to take the bad things I was feeling away so I could shine bright. Even if we don't feel we deserve it, the ones we care for feel differently.”

It took a minute, but Mayhem finally released Flurry, looking a little better.

“Y’know, your name reminds me of someone else we know,” said Pound. “You’d probably get along really well with him.

“His name is Mayhem.” Mayhem tensed. “He’s…” He smiled. “He’s a really good friend.” The smile faded. “He screwed up recently too. That’s why he’s not here.”

The other children besides Flurry lost their spirit too. “I wish he could have come,” said Pumpkin, “but our parents are making us take a break from him for a while.”

“It doesn’t matter that we forgave him,” said Peppermint, hanging her head. “My parents were super mad about what happened.”

“Same here,” said Masky, sighing. “I’ve been trying to talk to them, but every time I bring him up they shut me down.”

“I haven’t had any better luck,” said Tree Leaf. “They just keep saying they need more time before they’re willing to forgive.”

“We haven’t fared any better,” said Pound. “Our parents say the same thing.”

“We can’t push the issue,” said Pumpkin, “even though we want to. As Flurry reminded us, our parents are doing this because they care about us. We understand that, but… it just doesn’t feel the same without all of us here.”

The others nodded in agreement.

Mayhem sniffed, seeing the love they still had for him. It was hard for him to not tell them that he really was there, but Fluttershy had laid down the rules, and he wasn’t allowed to tell. Peppermint looked at Mayhem, getting an awkward smile on her face. “Sorry. We didn’t mean to bring the mood down. You shouldn’t have to deal with our issues.”

Pound let out a little sigh. “Yeah. It’s not your fault what happened.”

Mayhem averted his eyes, trying to fight the guilt from returning.

“Well,” said Pumpkin, “Twilight is going to help Mayhem get back on the right track, so there’s no need to be worried about him. I know it’s gonna take some more time for our families to give him another chance, but eventually things will be alright again.”

Flurry continued her usual habit of putting her hoof to her heart. “I believe that too. Our hearts are always united in friendship. No matter how far apart we are we’ll always be connected by that thread. Soon enough we’ll all be able to play together again.”

She walked the short distance to Mayhem and grabbed his hoof. “For now, though, let us put our troubles behind us and just have fun together. Okay, Havoc?” She winked at him.

Mayhem smiled and nodded.

Feeling better now, he threw himself into the festivities with the rest of them, glad to see they were still thinking of him.

He did have one scary moment when Cup Cake checked in on them and asked about their new friend. He partially hid himself behind Pound, not wanting her to get a good look at him.

Pound let out an awkward laugh. “Sorry, Mom. He’s a little shy. We pushed him to join us because he was off by himself the whole party.”

Cup smiled down at Mayhem as she lowered her head a little. “You don’t have to be afraid of me. I’m not scary.” Mayhem stayed where he was. She decided to let it go. “Well, I just hope you continue to have a good time with my children.” 

Mayhem nodded, but didn’t speak, and soon enough Cup went on her way to see how other guests were doing.

There weren’t any more surprise guests over the course of the party, but Flurry did try and spread out and interact with more ponies than just her close friends and have them join her circle. Despite her friendly demeanor she did get a few that were too anxious to play with her because of her royalty status, but there were just as many that seemed eager to get to know her.

One of them asked if he could see her wings again up close, and she obliged, spreading them out as far as they would go. He looked with wonder at them, then back at his own wings, saying that he still had a while to go.

Flurry laughed at that.

The hours passed in a flash, Flurry loving every minute of it. She had found so much love in Ponyville.

As it started to get dark Pinkie brought out a big cake with a model of her cutie mark on top in the center, as well as a model of her near the edge with her wings extending all the way around it until they touched.

Flurry approved. 

Each of them dug in, loving it.

As the party wrapped up ponies began to leave. Mayhem hesitated. He didn’t know when he’d get another chance to play with his friends, and he didn’t want to go yet.  However, if he didn’t leave amongst the crowd it would really stand out. It would look strange if he left without an adult, and even stranger if he left with Fluttershy.

His friends seemed to read his mind. “It stinks, doesn’t it?” said Tree Leaf. “When good times have to end?”

He nodded. 

“But just because they have to end now doesn’t mean that it has to be forever,” said Pound. He pushed his head forward. “We’ll be able to play again soon.” He smirked. “Okay, Mayhem?”

Flurry and Mayhem both reacted with shock, while the other children got similar smirks on their faces.

“H-how…” He blinked. “H-how did you…”

“Come on!” said Masky. “For one thing, your ‘disguise’ sucks. You chose the same coat, mane, and eye colors as your usual form.”

“And your name!” said Peppermint. “It’s just a synonym of Mayhem.”

“And how you hid yourself from our mom,” said Pumpkin.

“And how Fluttershy was the one who talked you into hanging out with us,” said Pound.

Mayhem blushed a little, letting out an awkward laugh. Now that they pointed it out, he really had done a crummy job of hiding his true identity.

“Plus, the way Flurry kept looking sadly over at you, like she knew some secret but didn’t want to tell.” 

“So,” said Flurry, “you knew the whole time?”

They shook their heads. “No,” said Tree Leaf. “Not the whole time. It took about a half hour of playing together for me to figure it out.”

“Same,” said Pumpkin, the other children adding their agreements.

Peppermint gave him a warm smile. “Even if you chose a different name and a different look it wouldn’t have mattered. You couldn’t break our friendship even when you took our memories away. We would have been able to tell it was you no matter what form you took.”

Pumpkin chuckled. “Come on! We’re your best friends. Did you really think you could hide your heart from us?”

Mayhem groaned, looking on the verge of tears. “B-but I promised not to tell! Mommy is gonna be mad at me.”

Pound hugged him. “But you didn’t tell. We figured it out on our own. So there’s no problem, is there?”

“I… I guess not. But… but if you knew then why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well, you came here in secret,” said Peppermint. “We didn’t want to make it too obvious.”

Tree Leaf hugged him too. “It was enough just to know we had the last of our best friends here.”

Happy tears came down Mayhem’s eyes, and soon enough the rest of them joined in on the hug. He could feel all their hearts shining with his.

When they released him he said happily, “I have some great news.”

“What is it?” asked Flurry.

“I heard from Twilight recently. She said she’s almost ready. In the next few days I’ll be able to start my community service.”

“That’s great!”

“So has she picked out the children yet?” asked Peppermint.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m not involved with the planning, but I think maybe she’s just waiting for a free day.”

“Well, you have to let us know how it goes when you do it,” said Tree Leaf.

“I will.”

Things were quiet for a bit. Mayhem looked and saw that most of the ponies were gone now. He couldn’t put it off much longer. He took a deep breath and steeled himself. “I don’t want to say goodbye, but I have to for now.” 

He gave each of them a hug goodbye. “Thank you for being my friends.”

They thanked him back, and after a minute he left with a small group of other ponies.

Pound and Pumpkin went to Fluttershy, letting her know he had left. They also made sure to add in that they had figured out Mayhem’s identity on their own so he wouldn’t get in trouble with her. The mare didn’t look surprised.

It was a perfect day for all of them. Seeing Flurry’s cutie mark and how she had embraced it so fully made her love explode out into the world, touching everyone around her. Seeing Drill Bit express his gratefulness was an unexpected treat, and Mayhem being there in secret made it even better.

Soon he would start his own journey of repentance, and they couldn’t wait to hear how it went.
> 8-1: Pep talk
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayhem was pacing around the room, barely able to sit still. Today was the big day. Twilight was due to arrive in a few minutes, and he couldn’t wait to start his new adventure.

Fluttershy tried to calm him down, but she knew it was futile. He had been a bit subdued lately, and she knew he was probably eager to use his magic again, especially when it was for a good cause. 

When he heard the knock on the door he immediately poofed over and opened it, his face lighting up as he saw the alicorn. He floated up and gave her a hug. “Hi, Twilight!”

Twilight hugged him back. “Hello, yourself. It’s good to see you again.”

“Is everything ready?”

“It is, indeed. They’re all waiting for you.”

Mayhem did some loop-de-loops around the room, laughing in excitement.

Twilight chuckled, letting him burn off some steam before calling him back. “Come on now. Go say goodbye to Fluttershy and let’s get going.”

Mayhem stopped his antics, flying to Fluttershy and hugging her too. “Goodbye, Mommy. I’ll see you later.”

“Goodbye, Mayhem. Behave yourself, okay?”

He nodded. “I will.”

With that the two of them headed for the castle. Mayhem rode on Twilights back just like Spike usually did.

“Today’s the big day,” he said happily. 

“Indeed it is. Are you excited?”

He nodded hard. “I’m super excited! I can’t wait to meet all the little kids.

“So are they ready for me?”

“Not quite. All I told the parents was that I was conducting a friendship exercise and needed some interested children. They don’t know about you yet.

“I decided to start with just four. I don’t want you to get overwhelmed. Let’s just take things slow.”

Mayhem gave a little salute. “You got it!”

Twilight giggled. 

The draconequus leaned forward, holding her around the neck. “Twilight, you’re good friends with Mommy, right?”

“I should hope so.”

“She probably trusts you with her life.”

“As I trust her with mine.” 

“If she trusts you that much then I know I can trust you as much as her and my friends.”

“Thank you.” She felt his arms tense a bit around her neck, and turned to see an uncertain look on his face. All his former excitement and cheer had vanished. “Is something wrong?”

“Twilight… I… I don’t ever want to go back to that bad Mayhem I was before. S-so I’m… I’m really counting on you to keep me in line. Whatever it is you tell me to do I’ll listen. I trust that you won’t steer me wrong.”

“I’m glad to see you’re taking things seriously, but I don’t think there’s any need to worry.”

“But I’m scared! I don’t know what’s going to happen when I start playing. I might do something bad. That’s why I need you to be there for me.

“Please! I need to hear it!” A tear came down his eye. 

Twilight could see his past was getting to him. Once more she saw his childish mentality. She thought he just needed some reassurance, but not for his own actions.

She lifted Mayhem up in her magic so he was floating in front of her, and gave him a bow. “Mayhem, by my honor as a princess of Equestria, I promise that I will monitor your actions closely, and help to stop you from making mistakes.” Standing up she continued, “I don’t want to see this day go wrong either.”

All the worry seemed to drain out of the little draconequus. He was all smiles again. “Thank you, Twilight!” He gave her a big hug. “I love you!”

Twilight looked down at him warmly, hugging him back. “You're welcome, Mayhem. I love you, too.”

When she released him he floated back onto her back. “Okay! Let’s GO!”

Twilight began to trot, happy to see that Mayhem was cheerful again.

They arrived at the castle a few minutes later, and after walking down a hallway she stopped before a certain door. 

She set Mayhem down on the floor. “Okay, Mayhem. I want you to wait here for a minute. I just want to prepare them for you.”

Twilight got a thoughtful look on her face. “Mayhem, I remember how things went when you first met Pound and Pumpkin’s friends, and especially Flurry. I’ll explain to them that you’re going to look different than what they expect, but some of them might still react like Flurry did. I just hope you’re ready for that.”

Mayhem smiled. “No worries. Like you said, I just have to show them that I’m more than my appearance.”

Twilight mussed up his hair a bit. “That’s what I like to hear.”

She opened the door to a modest room with a group of children sitting on chairs.

“Hello again, everyone!” she said brightly.

“Hello, Princess Twilight!” they all responded.

“I’m not acting as a princess today, so you don’t have to address me by title if you don’t want to.”

A brown earth pony colt raised his hoof. “But you said this was a friendship exercise, right?”

She nodded. “That’s correct, but I’m not the one in charge of this. I just gathered you all here for the sake of another.

“Now, before I bring him in here I have to warn you that his appearance might be a bit alarming to some of you.”

“Does he have a really mean face?” asked a purple unicorn filly.

She shook her head. “Not at all. He’s just not a pony.”

“Is it a griffon?”

“Is it the dragon?” an orange pegasus colt asked.

“No. It’s not a griffon or Spike. In fact, it’s a species you’ve probably never heard of. He’s called a draconequus.”

“That sounds hard to pronounce.”

“Well, that’s okay. His species name might be a little long, but you can just address him by his name.

“Anyway, his is a rare species. In fact, there might only be two in the whole world.”

“Why so few?” asked the brown colt.

“Doesn’t that mean his species is going to die out?” asked the filly.

“Good questions!” said Twilight. “The thing about a draconequus is that they don’t need to worry about lifespans like us ponies. Just like Princess Celestia and Princess Luna they are ageless beings. He is over a thousand years old.”

“OOOO,” said a green earth pony filly.

“A draconequus is a being that is a mix of several different creatures. Both his arms and legs are all made from a different animal.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

The orange colt raised his hoof. “Is that the only thing that’s special about them?”

Twilight giggled. “No, it’s not. And that’s part of why I’ve brought you here today. I could explain what’s so special about him, but now that you’re prepared for his unusual appearance I think it’s about time I bring him in and let him introduce himself.”

She glanced behind her. “Okay. You can come in now.”

Mayhem kinda wanted to make a cool entrance by coming in one body part at a time, but he was afraid of making a bad first impression on the kids by scaring them.

As annoying as it was, he decided to just enter the room normally. He’d have plenty of time for showing off later.

Even with Twilight’s warning the children felt unprepared for seeing him in the flesh. It was unnaturally quiet as he stood next to Twilight.

“Hello, everyone!” Mayhem said brightly, waving. “My name is Mayhem the draconequus. Nice to meet you.”

Once their initial shock faded their expressions all changed, some of them awed and some of them afraid of him.

“Okay, everyone!” said Twilight, tapping the floor a few times. “Why don’t all of you introduce yourselves now?”

The orange colt’s eyes were sparkling as he said, “I’m Flash Step. I’m super quick.”

The brown colt was a little apprehensive as he said, “I’m Chocolate Chip.”

The purple filly also seemed scared as she said, “I’m Plum Pie.”

The green filly had a neutral voice as she said, “I’m Sweet Pea.”

“Okay,” said Twilight, clapping her hooves together. “Now that introductions are out of the way I can explain why I’ve called all of you here.”

Plum raised her hoof. “You want us to be friends with him?”

“That seems a little rude to just bring us all here and try to force us to be friends,” said Chocolate. 

Twilight didn’t lose her cheery attitude. “Quite right. That’s not why you’re here, although it certainly might be the end result of your time together.”

“So then what’s this friendship exercise?” Sweet Pea asked suspiciously.

“Mayhem here is learning about the magic of friendship, and he’s doing well, but he still has a ways to go. One of the best elements of a successful friendship is learning to share one’s gifts with others and put their happiness before your own. So that’s why the four of you are here, so he can share his special talent with all of you.

“Today is about making you happy, and if it ends with Mayhem making some new friends then great. I know Mayhem might look a little scary, but you shouldn’t judge someone just by their appearance. If you can see who he is inside I think you could be good friends with one another.”

Flash raised his hoof. “You said before that he can do something special. What is it?”

Mayhem grinned. “My power is to grant wishes.”

“Grant... wishes?” Chocolate said, his eyebrow going up. "You mean like a genie?"

He nodded. “Today is all about playtime. Tell me your impossible dreams, and I can make them a reality. We can go to space, or climb a mountain, or go digging for buried treasure.”

He could see he had their attention now. He raised a claw. “The only rule that must be followed is you can’t hurt anyone.” He gestured to Twilight. “Will you be my volunteer?”

She nodded. “Sure.”

With a snap of his claw a dragon about three times the size of a pony appeared, making all four children scream in terror.

The dragon started off friendly, acting like a dog as Mayhem threw a ball for it to fetch, wagging its tail, and panting in excitement with its tongue sticking out. 

“The things that I create act according to the rules I set, like having this dragon act like a puppy. It’s completely harmless.”

The children seemed to be calming down a bit.

“Now, to show you how the rules will be in the games we play. Twilight, you trust me, right?” She nodded. “So please just stay still and don’t do anything.”

The dragon reared back and inhaled, fire in its maw. It thrust it's head forward and let out a stream of flames, engulfing Twilight entirely.

The children looked horrified, staring at the sight open-mouthed.

However, when the fire stream stopped Twilight was none the worse for wear.

The dragon lifted one of its claws, and swung it in her direction. Twilight had to fight to make herself stay still, her body and mind naturally wanting to defend itself against a perceived threat. 

The claw seemed to impale her, but there was no blood and no cry of pain from Twilight. The dragon pulled back and swung its tail at her, hitting her in the side, coming out on her other side with again no reaction from Twilight. With a snap it disappeared.

Mayhem pointed at Twilight. “When my creations are acting nice and playful they’re very solid and can be interacted with. However, if at any point you’re in any actual danger of getting hurt they lose their solidity and just become mere illusions.

“As you can see, my rules are absolute. No matter what kind of crazy ideas for games you come up with we can play them with absolutely no chance of anyone getting hurt. Safety is the top priority no matter how we play or what we do today.

“Of course, I don’t know if any of you are going to want to play a game that would involve some kind of danger, but just in case you do at least you know that it’s completely safe. Nothing I create is allowed to harm you in any way.

“There’s one last thing I need to bring up before you can make your wishes though…” He looked over at Twilight. “Twilight, would it bother you not to participate in these games?”

She shook her head. “I’m doing this for your benefit. I don’t want to lose focus when I promised to keep an eye on you in case things went too far.”

He nodded, looking relieved. “Okay, so here’s the last safety rule. Let’s say you want to beat up a bunch of Timberwolves.” 

With a snap three of them appeared, and he whacked all three of them, turning them into a big bundle of sticks. After a few moments the sticks all reformed into one huge Timberwolf. “Maybe things are getting too intense. You know you can’t actually be hurt, but maybe you still feel a little overwhelmed. 

“What pony would you be most likely to look to for comfort? Twilight, of course, and she’s your safe spot. Literally.” He made a circle in the air with his finger and the area about ten feet around Twilight began to glow slightly.

He ran towards Twilight, the Timberwolf snapping at him all the while. As soon as Mayhem crossed the threshold of the circle the Timberwolf immediately gave up the chase, seemingly looking around for the being right in front of him as though it couldn’t see him, then went off in another direction.

He made the Timberwolf vanish, then said, “The last rule is that, so long as you are within this circle, you are no longer a part of my fantasy world. Maybe you’re not interested in whatever game someone else wants to play, or maybe you’re feeling frightened and need a break. Whatever the case may be, all my creations will completely ignore you while in the area around Twilight. This will ensure that you never have to force yourself to participate in someone else’s game.

"Now, this last bit isn't a rule in itself, but it relates to this rule. I want all of you to say the words 'to Twilight' for me."

"To Twilight!" they all repeated, and they reacted with surprise as they suddenly disappeared from their chairs and wound up in the circle around Twilight.

Mayhem lifted a claw. "This is your code word. Maybe you want out for a little while, but you're far away from Twilight when you get that feeling. This phrase will instantly teleport you directly to Twilight so you can break from the game without having to get through everything in-between.

“So with all the rules out of the way I want you to think about what you want out of today. Maybe it was something in a book or a movie, but think of something you’ve always wished you could do, and I’ll make it happen for you.”

Even Chocolate Chip and Plum Pie were losing their apprehension as they thought of what they wanted.

Flash Step was the first to speak up. “I want to have a pirate adventure! Finding buried treasure, having epic battles and exploring the sea… it sounds so fun.”

“Cool!” said Mayhem. “I can do that.” He lifted his claw, about to snap, but he didn’t do it. He got an awkward look on his face.

“What’s wrong?”

Mayhem opened his mouth, but nothing came out at first. “Um, Twilight? Can I talk to you in private?”

“Sure,” she replied. “We’ll be right back.”

They went to the room across the hall. “What’s wrong, Mayhem?”

Mayhem began to tremble, tears coming down his eyes. “This is wrong! It’s all wrong!”

“Hey, hey!” she said comfortingly. “What is it? What’s wrong?” 

“I can’t do it!" He hugged himself, sniffling. "I don't belong here. I’m just a big screw up! I’m only going to hurt more ponies and then the parents will never forgive me and I’ll lose all my friends forever and everyone is gonna hate me and--”

Twilight scooped him up, hugging him close. “Shh. None of that now. You're gonna do fine!”

He hugged her hard to the point it was almost painful and sobbed on her shoulder.

She gave him a little time to release his emotions before speaking. “Listen to me, Mayhem. I can understand why you’re so afraid. This is all a normal part of the reformation process. You feel like you’re gonna slip up and go back to your old ways.

“Starlight was the same way when I offered her mercy and made her my student. She screwed up a bunch as she climbed her way up, and at times she did revert, but in the end she did it out of fear of letting me down.

“The most important thing to remember is that no one is perfect. That’s what I’m here for.”

Mayhem didn’t answer. He just kept crying on her.

“I think you understand things better than you give yourself credit for. I know you feel guilty, but that says a lot about you. Pound and Pumpkin both learned that making a mistake, even a big one, doesn’t mean that you’re bad to the core. A bad action is different than being bad.”

“B-b-b-but I almost killed all my friends!” Mayhem cried out. “When’s the last time you tried to kill your friends, huh? No good person does that!”

“Discord sold us all out to Tirek for the sake of power. If we hadn’t gotten the last key to unlock Rainbow Power from me forgiving him we all would have been under his control forever. Just like with Flurry and you I didn’t just offer that forgiveness randomly. 

“While Tirek was demanding my magic in exchange for my friends they tried to discourage me, Fluttershy telling me they weren’t worth the sacrifice. Discord was trapped and drained of his magic like the rest of them, betrayed by Tirek the same way he betrayed us. I heard him talking to her, telling her that he thought she was worth it, and I could see the weight in his words and tone as he talked about how he had lost friendship and magic because of his actions.

“When Tirek released everyone but him he didn’t even complain about being stuck still. He didn’t react at all, feeling like he was getting what he deserved. I insisted that he be freed along with the rest of them.

“I didn’t demand Tirek do that because I expected Discord to gift me with the object that turned out to be the last key we needed. I did it because I could see his heart, and I wasn’t going to abandon him.”

She rubbed his back. “I’m sure you read Flurry’s note as well. Our power only grows as strong as it can be when we all combine our strength and work with one heart. That power was enough to overcome your reality-breaking powers and allow them to defeat you.

“I agreed with Flurry’s decision to forgive you, because like I told you that night I’d rather have you with us than to see you banished. I believe you are capable of being a great force of good to Equestria. That’s why we’re here right now.

“Do you remember what she said about Starlight? By offering Starlight love rather than coming at her with hatred I set her down a new path, where she has been a great asset to Flurry. You have that potential too to do great things with your power. I believe in you to be capable of that.”

Mayhem was quiet for a bit, then pulled away from her. “Why?” he asked, sniffling as he looked in her eyes. “Why… do you believe in me?”

Twilight gave him a warm smile. “Because you’re one of my subjects. As the princess of Ponyville I am connected to everyone. All are as my family. The mares and stallions are my brothers and sisters, and the colts and fillies my children."

"B-but... I'm not... a colt or a stallion." He hung his head. "So you don't really think of me as part of your family, then?"

Twilight bit her lip, quickly getting back her composure. "I'm sorry. The majority of creatures in Ponyville are ponies. I wasn't trying to be exclusionary. It's just the most common expression. I guess the more proper term I'm looking for is that I act as a parent to the children of Ponyville, whatever their species.

“As a parent figure one of my most important jobs is to believe in my children, and that includes you, of course.” 

He stared at her wide-eyed.

She put a hoof to his heart. “You too have the magic of friendship inside of you. Yes, you screwed up, but in the end your defeat came about because you wanted it to happen. As you said, you put your heart in your friends, believing that no matter how far you fell into the darkness your friends would come after you to pull you out.

“Sometimes we need to make some big mistakes, because it teaches us to be different ponies.” She coughed, catching herself this time. “Or different people, rather.

“Life is like a road with infinite paths one could take. When you walk down a certain road it can show you something you didn’t want to see, and that tells you that that road is a painful dead end, and then you don’t walk down it again.”

He looked away at the ground. “But I did walk it again. The day I first met my friends I tried to kill you and all your friends and took over their bodies.”

“I don’t think that counts. At the time you didn’t have any friends, so why would you care about harming others? You had no connection to them and didn’t understand love and friendship. 

“Yes, later on you did willingly choose to go down this route when you took them down to your world, but now you understand the gravity of such an action.

“Just think about it. You’re scared of using your magic now because of the fear of harming someone. The weight of that action hovers over you. As Fluttershy says, you should keep that feeling in your heart so you don’t succumb to the desire to ever act that way again, but you shouldn’t get so wrapped up in that feeling you stop trying.”

Mayhem looked uncertain. “But… I’m… I’m scared.” He looked up at her with teary eyes. "I'm really scared!"

Twilight hugged him again. “And that’s okay. It’s okay to be scared. That’s what I’m here for, to help stop you from walking that path again if you begin to stray down it.”

“What if… what if I do get too wrapped up in things? What if I don’t listen to you when you tell me to stop? I mean, when we first talked about this you said you were going to bring Daddy along so he could stop me if he needed to.”

She released him. “I thought about it, and, for the time being, I don’t think it would be good to have two of you around while they’re still trying to get used to one. However, don’t think for a moment that means I’m being careless.

“Watch this.” She set him down and backed up a few feet.

Mayhem looked up at her, and let out a yell as her head suddenly popped off her body. It wasn’t anything he couldn’t do himself, but that it was coming from her took him by surprise.

Her head reattached itself. “I’ve done a lot of thinking over the past week. I’m sure it would have been simple to gather some kids the day after what happened and start you right in on your new adventure, but the thing I had to consider the most was the safety of everyone involved. I needed to make sure everything was going to work out fine.

“In the end, I remembered the day we all met you, and how Pound and Pumpkin were pulling off all sorts of wacky stunts with just a tiny bit of chaos magic in them. The solution seemed obvious then. I asked Discord for the same, giving me enough of a boost to be able to step in and cancel you out if it came down to it.”

“Oooh,” said Mayhem, looking intrigued. “Do you like it?”

Twilight playfully rolled her eyes. “That first shot is a real doozy, but I’ve gotten used to it. I’m not interested in having this power full time, but it will be useful for your sake.”

She took his claw in her hoof. “I know you’re having some trouble believing in yourself, but do you still believe in me?” He nodded. “You said that you would do whatever I asked you, right?” He nodded again.

She moved her head down so it was closer to him and looked in his eyes. “Then I’m just asking you to believe in what I’m about to tell you. I believe in you, Mayhem. Just look at what happened across the hall.”

His eyebrow went up. “But... I haven’t done anything yet.”

“You sure did. You demonstrated your growth.”

“I did?”

She nodded. “When I first came up with my plan I said there had to be more of an emphasis on safety if you were going to be playing these sorts of games again. I expected that it would mainly come down to me paying attention to what was going on around me. That’s why it took so long, and why I made sure to get Discord’s power before commencing this.

“However, it seems I didn’t have to bother with that. You were a step ahead of me. Rather than letting your power just act as it would you came up with new rules to ensure everyone’s safety. You demonstrated those rules for the others so they’d know it was safe.”

Mayhem let out a breath. “Well… I… I did a lot of thinking too.”

She ruffled his hair. “You see? By feeling the consequences you learn from your mistakes so you don’t repeat them. This isn’t unique to you. It applies to everyone.

“Now let’s go back in there and start having some fun.”

Mayhem still looked a little uncertain. 

“I told you a little while ago that I consider everyone in Ponyville a part of my family. Do you think for a second I’d ask you to do this if I thought it was going to put someone in danger?

“It’s like I told you before: I believe in you! If you can’t believe in yourself then believe in me! Believe in the me that believes in you. Believe in the me who feels that nothing is going to go wrong.”

“I… um… I… I’ll try.”

“Not good enough!” said Twilight playfully, extending a wing and rubbing it against his side.

The draconequus jerked away with a squeak. "Hey!"

“Come on, you! Give me a smile!”

"S-stop!" He poofed across the roof as she extended the other one.

She smirked at him. "Oh, no. You're not getting away that easy. I hadn't planned to play around with Discord's magic but you give me no choice." With a flash of her horn she was covered in a cloud of smoke.

When the smoke cleared Mayhem stared at her open-mouthed, lost for words. 

Twilight now had eight sets of wings. One set was coming out of her ears, another from her neck, and the rest on her back. "Say hello to Equestria's first octocorn!"

Despite himself that made Mayhem break out into laughter at the sheer ridiculousness of it. He had thought Pound and Pumpkin's fusion form had been crazy awesome, but this was also super cool. As a being of chaos he heartily approved.

"Let's see you escape me now." All her wings extended like Flurry's had when she had superpowers, and though he tried to avoid them there was too many to dodge for long. Soon enough she caught him and began tickling him all over.

After a minute she stopped to let him catch his breath. “Feeling better now?”

He huffed a bit, and then nodded, giving her a smile.

“Good!" With a poof her extra wings disappeared. "Today is a great day to spread joy to others, and it’s the best way to make up for the pain you caused in the past. Just like Discord and Starlight there’s so much good you can do for others, and the only thing I want for you is to see you succeed.”

She hugged him close. “After all, you are one of my special children."

"Do... do you really think I'm that special?"

"I do indeed. After we left you that day I took your friends to my castle and told them that I felt they could be the next generation of the Elements of Friendship. But I didn’t exclude you from that. Not at all.

“Just like all of them, I wholeheartedly believe that you’ll be a great asset to them along the way as you continue to grow and learn. So don’t let your past drag you down, okay? Let’s look towards your future.”

Mayhem nuzzled her cheek as he returned her hug, feeling warm inside. “Thank you, Twilight. I needed that. 

"I… I already have a mommy, and she told me that she wanted to keep being my mommy for as long as possible. I couldn’t break her heart by replacing her with you, but I’ll gladly make you part of my family. You’re an awesome princess.”

A tear came down her eye. “Thank you, yourself. So are you ready to go show everyone a great time?”

“Yeah! Let’s do it!”

“Glad to hear it.” 

They released one another and headed back across the hall to the other room.
> 8-2:Pirates
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayhem and Twilight returned to the room with all the other children.

“Sorry for the wait,” said Twilight. “Mayhem just needed a little reassurance.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Flash. “Is he alright?”

Twilight nodded. “This isn’t the first time Mayhem has played these kinds of games with others, but the last time he didn’t have all those safety rules in place and his friends got hurt because of it. Now he sees the importance of being more careful with his powers.”

“Are… are they all right?” asked Sweet Pea nervously. 

“Their injuries weren’t serious, but he’s still feeling unsure about using his abilities. 

“I don’t want you to feel afraid. I am here too, and if necessary I can cancel his magic out. With all of Mayhem’s rules and my own magic I give you my assurances as princess that you will be completely safe.

“So then.” She looked over at Flash. “I believe you asked for a pirate adventure, right?” He nodded.

She put a hoof on Mayhem. “Alright, then. You’ve got the floor. Let’s begin.”

Mayhem nodded, lifting his claw and giving it a snap.

The room they were in disappeared, turning into a pure white void. 

The children looked around. “What’s this?” asked Chocolate Chip.

“This is my world,” said Mayhem. “Think of it as the landscape upon which I create your dreams.” 

He created a paint bucket, turning it over. More paint than the bucket could hold fell out of it, spiraling out into the distance as the world slowly formed until they were on the sea in a big boat.

Flash looked around, his face lighting up. “This looks so real! It’s exactly what I wished for.”

“Not yet,” said Mayhem. With another snap they were all dressed in pirate costumes.

Flash touched his new bandana, hooking his hoof through his sword handle and pulling it out of its sheath, swinging it around. “Now that’s what I’m talking about! This is so awesome!”

Sweet Pea tapped the floor of the boat, hearing the sound of wood.

Plum sniffed. “Wow. I thought this would just be a visual thing, but even the smell is just like being out on the ocean. I can even hear the waves.”

“It’s still hard to believe that this is just an illusion,” said Chocolate, looking up towards the crow’s nest, then slowly spinning in a circle as he took in everything. “It all feels just like reality. Playing with just your imagination has nothing on this.”

“So what’s next?” asked Sweet Pea.

“Here’s the deal,” said Mayhem. “I have a script planned, but I’m not going to tell it to you. I’m just going to let things happen, and move the story along if I need to.”

“Why won’t you tell us?” asked Chocolate Chip, his eyebrow going up. “What’s the big secret?”

“It’s not about keeping things from you,” Mayhem replied. “It’s about having fun. If you know everything that’s going to happen then it’s not as much fun. I don’t know everything that’s going to happen either for the same reason. I want to be surprised too.”

“But I thought you were in control of everything you create?”

“Yes and no. I can certainly make my creations do whatever I want them to, but I want to play too, and it’s boring if I know exactly what’s going to happen. In this case I give them a general personality, and then they act according to that personality. 

“For example, if I give someone a friendly personality, then they can do anything nice they want to, and will refuse to do mean acts. And if I give someone a mean personality they’ll commit villainous acts. 

"That being said, my rules are still firmly in place. You’re in no danger while inside my world.

“Now then. Let’s begin.” Mayhem snapped again, and suddenly the ship was full of ponies in pirate costumes.

One of them went up to Flash, bowing his head. “Captain Flash, Sir, you left your hat in your quarters.”

The stallion put the captain’s hat on Flash’s head.

A stallion up in the crow’s nest let out a cry of triumph as he set down his telescope. “Captain! We’ve spotted the island you were searching for. Are we ready to land?”

Flash needed a few moments to respond, still getting used to this.

“Captain?”

“Um… yeah!” 

They came upon a small island about a mile wide in each direction, filled with trees and vegetation.

After the ship landed they set down the stairs, walking off with a few of the crew accompanying them. 

“This is it, Captain. The treasure you’ve been seeking is said to be here. We’ve followed the treasure map perfectly.”

“Excellent!" said Flash, starting to get into his role.  "That’s what I want to hear.

"Make sure to bring the shovels.”

“Naturally.”

The group walked for about five minutes until they came upon a spot with a big X marked in the sand.

“I think we have our meal ticket,” said a stallion. “Let’s dig it up.”

Flash took a shovel, sticking it into the sand and throwing away a shovelful. 

Mayhem, Sweet Pea, Chocolate Chip, and Plum Pie all grabbed their own shovels and helped.

A minute later there was a satisfying thump as one of them hit something solid.

“That must be it,” said Flash. They dug around the area for a bit until they unveiled a handle. 

With their combined efforts they pulled the chest out of the ground. Once it was on solid ground they caught their breath.

The chest was locked, and one of the pirates used a crowbar to break it open, revealing a hefty assortment of bits and jewels of all shapes and sizes.

“Ooo!” said Plum, taking out an emerald. “It’s all so shiny.”

“This is a good haul,” said Flash. He pointed to a few of the pirate crew and said commandingly, “You two, carry this back to the ship. We’re eating good tonight.”

Everyone cheered. 

When they got back to the ship they set sail again.

Flash took in a deep breath as he leaned over the front of the ship. Nothing he had ever done was as cool as this. He was being a real life pirate… or as close to real life as he could get. 

That joy didn’t last. They had only been sailing a few minutes when there was a sudden impact that jolted the ship, instantly getting his attention.

He ran back towards the middle of the ship. “What’s going on?”

“Captain, it’s terrible!” said one of the pirates, pointing at another ship hot on their trail. “We’re being fired upon. They must be after our treasure.”

Flash got his game face on. “Well, they’re not getting it! We found it first.”

“Here, here!” said the rest of the crew.

“What should we do?” asked Sweet Pea.

“We’re going to fire back!” replied Flash. “We’re going to defend our ship and our stash!

“Ready the cannons!”

“YES, SIR!”

“Helmsman, change course for that ship.”

“Yes, sir!”

The ship became a flurry of activity. The children helped hand cannonballs over to the pirates, both sides firing at one another as they grew closer to the enemy ship.

There was a gasp from up above in the crow’s nest. “Captain!” he said fearfully. “That ship… it’s… it's...”

“It’s what?” asked Flash.

“Their flag. That’s the flag of the most notorious pirates to have ever existed. They’ve sunk dozens of ships and it’s rumored they might not even be ponies.”

“Not… ponies?”

“Some believe them to be ghosts. Very few have seen them and gotten away alive.” 

“G-ghosts?” asked Chocolate, shivering.

Flash grinned. “Is that right? Well, if they aren’t ghosts yet they’re going to be soon. No one messes with my crew and gets away with it!”

The others looked emboldened by his declaration.

The ships got closer and closer to one another, neither side able to land a decisive blow on the other. Eventually they got to the point that cannonballs were no longer viable because of how close they were to each other.

“It looks like we’re going to have to make this personal,” said Flash. “Let them board the ship. We’ll send them packing. We’ll make them regret ever picking a fight with us!”

“Here, here!” said the pirates.

The enemy pirates hopped and flew over to their ship, the two sides staring at each other.

Flash laughed, pulling out his sword as the pirates approached with weapons drawn. “All right! We’re gonna defend our ship from these creeps. I… uh…”

He looked at his sword, and his heart started beating faster. He gulped. “Hey, hey!” he cried out. “Stop! Pause! Pause the game!”

“What’s wrong?” asked Mayhem as the world around them turned gray and everything besides them stopped moving.

Flash took in a deep breath and let it out. “Look, I want to have fun and use my sword to defend myself, but I…” He tensed. “Well, I just don’t like the idea of using it on something that looks like a real pony. It’s one thing to pretend to attack someone in a fantasy game and they pretend to be hurt, but I really, really don’t want to see how that’s going to look in something that’s this realistic.”

Sweet Pea shivered. “Yeah. I don’t want to see that either.”

“I know that these are not real ponies,” said Chocolate, “but they act and look like they are.”

“So… what do you want to do?” asked Mayhem.

“I still want to battle,” said Flash, sucking on his cheek. After a few moments his eyes lit up. “I got it! Can you make them skeleton pirates? I wouldn’t mind hitting something that’s just a pile of bones.”

Mayhem nodded. “I can do that.” He snapped, and the opposing pirate ponies lost their flesh, though they kept their clothing.

Plum looked uncertain. “Well, that’s a little better because we’re not going to be cutting something that looks real, but… but now they’re skeletons.”

“Don’t be afraid, Plum. It’s all just a game. Remember my rules. They can’t hurt you, and if you get overwhelmed all you have to do is say the phrase I told you to get to Twilight.” 

She let out a breath. “I know.”

“Okay!” Flash said excitedly. “Let’s get back on track.”

Mayhem nodded, snapping. The color returned and the skeleton pirates continued their approach.

“Alright, everyone!” Flash lifted his sword up. “Let’s fight. We’re not letting them take control of our ship.”

The rest of them lifted their swords too and let out a roar, both sides charging towards each other. 

The two sides collided, each of them fighting.

Skeleton after skeleton was struck, turning into a pile of bones. Flash’s pirates did receive some ripped clothing, but no injuries. 

Plum Pie was panting. Even though this was really scary, it was also kinda exhilarating.

Sweet Pea felt the same. With Mayhem’s safety rules in place she wasn’t really afraid, and was able to just attack without worrying too much.

A few minutes later there was only a huge pile of bones littering the floor of the ship.

“We did it!” Chocolate said with a cheer, hopping up and down.

A laugh caught their attention. A skeleton bigger and taller than all the rest was standing there, wearing a captain cap and suit. He was also wearing an eyepatch. “Well done, well done!” he said, clapping. 

“So… you’re the captain of the skeleton ship?” asked Flash.

He nodded, chuckling.

Flash smirked. “You’re outnumbered! I think you’d be wise to hand over whatever you got on that ship of yours.”

“You sure did a number on me crew, but I think you’ll find it doesn’t amount to much.”

The captain’s body began to glow, and the body parts of all the broken skeletons began to glow as well. Before their eyes all the pieces came back together, leaving them surrounded by skeletons once more.

“W-what?” said Sweet Pea, feeling scared. “What did you do?”

The captain walked forward. “These be the members of me old crew. Even after we were finally taken down I still returned to continue my pillaging. As their icon of strength their loyalty to me was so strong they, too, returned to this world to remain by me side.

“For years we’ve sailed these seas, stealing from whomever we’ve pleased. So long as I remain in this world their loyalty to me means they will never fade away either. They’ll always rise again to fight by me side.”

His head went back as he let out a deep, cackling laugh. When it stopped he smirked at all of them. “It doesn’t matter what you do. You can knock them down a thousand times and they’ll always get up again to fulfill me will. 

“Your pony bodies will eventually succumb to hunger and fatigue, but me crew doesn’t have any of those pesky needs. No matter how long you resist your only option is death. We need only wait for you to tire before we strike a decisive blow.”

Plum was shivering slightly. “T-that means it’s impossible for us to win.”

“Heh heh heh! I’m glad ye see the truth. Will the rest of ye embrace your fates?”

Flash walked forward, brandishing his sword. “Never! Fight me, coward!”

The captain’s crew advanced on him, letting out cries of outrage. “Hold it!” said the Captain, making them stop. “Coward, did ye say, boy?”

“That’s right. Your plan is to keep bringing back your skeleton crew endlessly until we’re too tired to fight. That’s the path of someone too scared of losing to fight on their own.

“Fight me one on one. We’re both captains here. It’s only right that we decide this battle between us, don’t you think? Or are you too much of a chicken to do anything yourself?”

“I like yer spirit, boy!” He brandished his own sword. “So if it’s a competition of strength ye seek then let’s do it!”

Flash’s heart was thumping in excitement as the two circled around each other in the middle of the ship. He didn’t think today could get any cooler than this. Everyone had their eyes on him.

He let out a battle cry and suddenly struck, the captain blocking it. He dodged as the captain struck back in return. The two of them clashed, both seeking an opening.

“Go, Flash!” yelled Sweet Pea.

“You got this!” said Chocolate Chip.

“You can win!” said Plum Pie.

“Go, captain!” said Mayhem.

“Captain! Captain! Captain!” his crew chanted.

Flash heard all of them encouraging him, and it emboldened him. He struck strong and fierce, the clang of swords echoing constantly around them.

At first the captain looked arrogant and smug, but as Flash continued to resist him the grin faded, and slowly he began to look angry.

Flash could see the captain’s expression, and it only made him feel more confident. He flew into the air, then did a front flip as he came down to fill his blow with momentum. The captain was knocked off balance, and Flash hopped forward, knocking the sword out of his hooves.

A colossal cheer went out through his whole crew as the captain’s crew let out shocked exclamations.

“It’s over!” Flash said victoriously, ready to deal the final blow.

The captain laughed as Flash struck, dodging and tripping the colt to the floor. His sword went flying, landing at the captain’s hooves. He picked it up, and with a triumphant smirk swung it down.

“Yah!” Flash cried out as he pushed off with his two left hooves, turning over just as the blade hit the ship just an inch from his head. He hopped up and jumped, attempting to fly away to get some distance.

“Oh no ye don’t!” The captain lifted his hoof and a strange purple mist formed in the shape of a rope, wrapping itself around him and dragging him back to the ground. “Got ye, ye little rat.”

Chocolate gasped. “No! He’s got the captain!”

“Now… I know just what to do with ye.” The mist extended down his legs to his hooves. “Off the plank with ye! The sharks are hungry.”

Flash tried to fight it, but the mist felt solid. He couldn’t open his wings, and now his legs were moving on their own.

“No!” Chocolate called out, starting to run forward. He paused as the captain’s crew all blocked the way.

“Sorry, but this way is impassible,” said one of them.

“That’s right,” said another. “Your captain lost, and now he must pay the price.”

“Of course,” said a third, lifting his sword, “if you try to force your way past you’ll have to fight all of us.”

“Now… just stand there and enjoy the show. We know we’re certainly going to.” With that they turned their backs to watch Flash continue to be dragged towards the plank.

“What do we do?” asked Sweet Pea. “There’s too many of them to fight.”

“Even if we could it would take too long,” said Chocolate Chip.

Mayhem looked around. “There!” he said quietly, pointing to one of the cannons.

“What are we gonna do with that?” asked Plum Pie.

“Clear a path,” Mayhem said with a smirk.

The others nodded, trotting away towards the side of the ship.

When they reached the cannon they opened the hatch, putting one of the cannonballs inside.

Mayhem floated off the ship, pushing on the side of the cannon, but it wouldn’t budge.

Going above the cannon he shot a few streams of magic towards them, hitting them.

“What did you do?” asked Sweet Pea.

“I gave you a little magic. Now you can float like me. This cannon is too heavy to push on my own.”

Chocolate looked down and hopped, but only landed back on the floor. “How, um… how do I do it?”

“It’s not a matter of the body. Just use your mind and focus your will. Concentrate on what you want and it will happen.”

“Wait,” said Plum. “If you can float then can’t you just fly over them and save Flash?”

“And then what about you and the rest of the crew? If his crew is only still in this world because of the captain then stopping the captain will destroy the rest of them.

“If we only save Flash then everyone will be in danger.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

They closed their eyes, focusing. In such a high-stress situation the fact it was just an illusion had mainly been forgotten. They only had a short time before Flash was pushed over the edge.

It took a minute, but all of them got off the ground.

“This feels so weird!” Plum said with a heavy breath.

“No kidding!” said Sweet Pea. “It just doesn’t feel right to be in the air with nothing to support me.”

“I agree too,” said Chocolate, “but that’s not important right now. We have to save Flash.”

“Right!” the other two replied.

Fighting their trepidation they floated over the ocean, going on the side of the cannon with Mayhem.

Together the four of them pushed. They grunted and strained, giving it everything they had.

Finally, it gave way, moving little bits at a time but getting easier as they went until they had it where they wanted.

Their job done, the three children quickly got back on the ship, not feeling comfortable floating over the water.

They were all panting, but now they were ready. 

Flash’s heart was beating rapidly in his chest, standing on the plank. The strange force had vanished, but he had nowhere left to run. The captain kept jabbing at him, forcing him to back up out of instinct. He, too, was having trouble reconciling what his head and heart were telling him with the fakeness of the world and Mayhem’s safety rules. He tried to tell himself that none of this was real and he couldn’t be hurt, but that didn’t stop him from feeling terrified.

He was quickly running out of room to back up, and as he looked down at the water he could see a bunch of sharks swarming below, seemingly waiting for him to fall in. 

The captain jabbed at him again, and Flash backed up, one of his back hooves meeting empty air. He looked behind him and saw he had reached the edge of the plank.

The captain raised his sword. “Nowhere left to run, lad. Let’s hear some good hearty screams as you fall.”

Flash felt like he was at his emotional limit. Things were getting way too intense. He suddenly remembered the phrase Mayhem had gave him for just that moment. All he had to do was say it and he would be transported directly to Twilight.

A part of him didn’t want to say it out of stubborn pride. He didn’t want to quit the game in the middle while everyone else was still playing.

The captain gave a playful jab at him, faking him out. He automatically backed up, and as his back legs went over he fell halfway off the plank, holding on for dear life with his front. All thoughts of pride went out the window. The phrase was on his lips, but just before he was able to say it a loud bang rang throughout the area.

After another few seconds a cannonball struck the captain from behind, knocking off one of his arms and half of his ribcage. He stumbled in surprise, and fell off the plank, just barely managing to twist himself and grab onto it with his remaining arm. 

“CHAAAAAARRGEE!” screamed out Mayhem. The cannonball that had hit the captain had also taken down a number of skeletons as well. The ones who remained were so surprised by this turn of events that they were slow to respond as they were ambushed from behind. 

Flash scooted himself forward, getting on top of the plank with a sigh of relief.

He saw the captain still hanging from the plank, unable to pull himself up without another front hoof. Nearby was the detached hoof still holding his sword. He wrenched it out.

“It’s over!” yelled Flash, getting back his courage. “You’re hanging by a thread and your crew is being decimated again.”

“Hee hee hee!” the captain said. “Well done, but this is far from over.”

He swung forwards, then backwards twice, building up a little momentum before his third forward movement, swinging his back leg up and onto the plank and pulling himself up.

“No! This time it is over!” Flash said strongly. “For the sake of my crew and all the friends who stood by me I won’t lose. Not when they believed in me and gave me this second chance.”

The captain hesitated for a moment, seemingly affected by that statement. 

Flash unfurled his wings, flying right at him.

The captain grabbed his arm off the ground, holding it like a sword.

Flash collided with him, flapping as hard as he could, pushing the captain back until he fell on the floor of the ship. 

He flew upwards, dodging the energy that had imprisoned him before, and came charging down as fast as he could with a yell, breaking the captain into dozens of pieces.

Plum and the rest ran up to him, hugging him and congratulating him. 

He panted, smiling victoriously.

The light from before emerged out of the captain’s bones, with him now looking ethereal as he floated above them.

“Ye… ye actually did it,” said the captain forlornly. “Many years have I sailed these seas, and not one could defeat me.”

“It’s like I said,” said Flash. “I fought for the sake of my crew who believed in me.”

“Loyalty… it was me crew’s loyalty to me that allowed them to return to this realm alongside me. 

“Looking at you it’s starting to make me remember… remember the pony I used to be in the past. I first set sail for fun, to dig up treasure and see what the world had to offer. I had a crew who happily served me, and I treated them just as well.”

“So what changed?” asked Plum. "Why become a cruel pirate?"

“When I lost the love of me life I was filled with sorrow. That pain slowly turned to anger. I began to feel rage every time I saw a happy couple, and so one day I decided that if I couldn’t be happy that I would take happiness away from everyone I could. There would be no happy reunions for lovers returning from the sea, since they never would return home.

“Me crew didn’t quite agree with me, but they followed along nonetheless until the day our ship was finally sunk. It wasn’t enough to stop me. My grudge endured, and I returned as a skeleton to continue haunting the world.”

Tears began to come down his eye sockets. “I… I eventually forgot all about her and why I began to cause such destruction in the first place. It stopped just being about jealousy. I began to enjoy the harm I inflicted on others. It’s only now, in the face of defeat, that I see that there are others who still care.

“Ye… ye love yer crew and they follow ye without question. They saved ye, and ye protected them in return. Ye still are able to love and care for others. Don’t wind up like me. Retain that pure love of the sea.”

“I will,” said Flash, a tear shining in his eyes.

“Now… now it’s time. We don’t belong in the world of the living.

“Thank ye for breaking this grudge that has festered for so long.” His hat began to float and landed on top of Flash's head. “I relinquish this to you.” The captain saluted him. “May I be dismissed, captain?”

Flash gulped, a lump in his throat. He saluted the captain in return, tears gently falling down his cheeks. “Yes. You are dismissed.”

“Thank ye.”

The spirit of the captain faded, along with all the skeletons.

“At last,” said one of the pirates. “The seas are now safe from their evil.”

“Yes,” said another.

Flash walked up to the other children, extending his hooves towards them. They quickly closed the distance and hugged him. “Thank you… all of you. I couldn’t have done this without your support. I was helpless until you shot that cannonball and allowed me to turn the tide."

“You’re welcome,” said Plum. The others responded in kind.

After hugging each other for a while Flash let go. “That was fun. I would like to explore more of the sea, but…” He let out a good-natured sigh. “Well, I’m not the only one who wants to play today.”

“Okay, Flash,” said Mayhem, and with a snap the world dissolved around them until they were back in the castle.

“That was a lot of fun. Definitely scary when I was about to fall into the water, but that’s also kinda part of the fun.”

“I enjoyed it too,” said Sweet Pea.

“So!” Mayhem said cheerfully. “The day is still young. Who wants to make a wish next?”

“Um,” said Plum. “I don’t know if I’d call this my wish, but that was pretty intense. I’d really like a little time to settle down before we move right along. Do you think you could, like, I don’t know, summon some kitties or something?”

“Sure, but you don’t need me for that. My mommy is an animal caretaker. We can just go visit her.

“Is that okay, Twilight?”

Twilight nodded. “Sure. We can do that.

“Good teamwork out there, all of you.”

“Thanks, Twilight,” they responded.

“Okay, then let’s go to Mommy’s house!” With that he snapped.
> 8-3: All about Mayhem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They appeared outside Fluttershy’s cottage. Mayhem knocked on the door before opening it. 

Normally he would have teleported inside, but he thought it would be rude to bring a bunch of strangers inside without her permission.

“Mommy!” he called out, seeing her sitting down reading a book.

She looked up, a little surprised. “Mayhem! You’re back early. Did something go wrong?”

He shook his head. “No. Not at all.”

“Oh. Then… you’re done already?” She looked up at the clock. “It’s only been a half hour.”

He shook his head again. “No. I’ve only gotten through one of their wishes so far. We got to have a pirate adventure.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“It really was, but it was a little intense for them with how real it was. They wanted to relax a little before we moved onto the next one. One of them suggested playing with some cute animals to destress so I thought we could play here for a little bit.”

“Oh, that sounds lovely.”

“They’re all outside waiting for me. Would you like to meet them?”

She nodded, putting a bookmark in the book and getting up.

They went to the front door, where Fluttershy looked between the four children. “Hello, everyone,” she said warmly.

She noticed all of them staring at her strangely. “Is something wrong?”

“Mayhem called you his mommy,” said Chocolate, “but you look so… normal.”

“Yeah,” said Flash. “When he said ‘mommy’ we thought you’d look more… more…”

“Like a monster!” finished Sweet Pea. She immediately gasped and threw her hooves over her mouth as she realized what she said. “Oh, I didn’t mean… it’s just, if I didn’t know you your appearance is just like something you’d see in a horror story." She realized she was only putting her hoof deeper in her mouth, and was almost in tears as she tried to salvage things. "Um… I mean… uh…”

Fluttershy wasn’t sure how Mayhem was going to react. She still remembered his first meeting with Flurry, and how he left voluntarily out of the fear he was going to hurt her.

Mayhem walked forward and pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay, Sweet Pea. Don’t cry.”

“B-but… I…”

“ I don’t want anything to ruin this special day. I can tell you’re sorry, and that’s enough for me.”

Fluttershy and Twilight both smiled.

Sweet Pea slowly returned the hug. “I’m sorry, Mayhem. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“My friend Flurry Heart was born with big wings. Even though she’s only six her wings are adult sized. When we were helping her through her self-esteem issues one of the big things Twilight taught her was that if someone looks down on you for your physical appearance then it’s up to the one involved to show that they’re more than that.

“Maybe you just haven’t gotten over how I look yet. I know I don’t look like anything you’ve ever seen before, so maybe it’s just hard to come up with a word to describe me that’s not hurtful. Whatever the reason, I’m willing to give you another chance as long as you still want to try being my friend.”

“O-okay,” she said quietly.

They hugged a little longer, then Mayhem let her go. “You okay now?”

“I think so…”

“Well, we came here in the first place to relax after playing through Flash’s game, so now you need it more than ever.

“Anyway, this is Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy nodded. “That’s my name. Mayhem and I have a mother-son relationship, but we’re not blood related. I guess the most accurate way to describe it is that I adopted him into my life because he needed me.

“When I first met him he was very rambunctious and didn’t care about love or friendship. He only cared about what made him happy, even if it inconvenienced others. The reason he didn’t care was simply that he had never experienced it before. When I looked past his selfishness to show him affection he quickly found that he liked it.

“From that moment he’s changed drastically for the better. Having been exposed to true, unconditional love from me, he wanted more and more of it, and I was happy to provide it. He began to think about others, wanting to see me happy.”

She picked up Mayhem and held him to her. “He’s been a delight since he changed. He helps me feed the animals and sleeps with me at night. He just makes me feel so happy, especially when I see him growing like just now, when he forgave Sweet Pea.”

Mayhem let out a happy squeal, always loving it when Fluttershy paid him compliments.

“That makes sense,” said Flash. “Twilight did say there were only two of them in the world… that she knows of, anyway.”

Plum got a sad look on her face. “But, then…”

“What’s wrong?” asked Mayhem.

She squirmed a bit. “Well, maybe it’s wrong to ask, but… if you’re adopted, then what happened to your real mother?”

“I never had one,” said Mayhem. “Draconequus magic isn’t like pony magic. In a sense I’m just an illusion like the world we were just in. My daddy created me as his child, so I look just like him, but I can only exist through his magic.”

Unsurprisingly they all reacted with confusion. “So, wait,” said Chocolate, “if you’re just an illusion then why is Twilight doing all this? I mean, what's the point of becoming friends with you? Aren’t you just going to disappear and forget all of this?”

“It’s… not as simple as that,” said Twilight. “Discord is the original, and, technically, only draconequus. A draconequus has chaos magic. It allows them to do chaotic things, like creating those worlds you were just in.

“I guess the main difference between Mayhem and those pirates is that Mayhem has his own personality. His creations have pre-created personalities and act according to certain rules that he sets up in advance, but Mayhem has his own personality, likes, and dislikes. He’s capable of growing and changing and doesn’t act according to rules but his own thoughts and desires.

“That fake world is made by magic, but Mayhem is magic.” She picked up a clump of dirt in her magic. “You can see my magic aura surrounding this dirt. For ponies that is the extent of it." She moved a part of the dirt away from the rest. "But imagine for a moment that one day part of the magic in the dirt split up and could think and do what it wants.

“He has a limited amount of magic keeping him in this world, and when he uses it all up his mind returns to Discord, at which point Discord can just use up some magic to release him again.”

“That’s all… really strange,” said Chocolate. “It’s making my head spin just trying to process it.”

“Well, you don’t really have to understand his origins to have fun together, right?”

“No… I guess not.”

Sweet Pea sucked on her cheek. “Does it… bother you at all?” she asked Mayhem.

“Does what bother me?” he responded.

“Don’t you always have to be careful, never knowing when the next spell will send you back?”

“It’s not a problem. I usually have a pretty good idea of my limits. And even if I go back I just have to ask to come out again.”

“What does it feel like?” asked Flash. “I mean, when you’re inside, um, Discord?”

Some of the cheer left his face. “I don’t like it. I've only been out in the real world for a few months. When I first started learning about friendship I was only allowed out for little bits at a time. Mommy didn’t trust me to be on my own if she wasn’t around to keep an eye on me. And every time I had to go back in I hated it.”

“Wait a minute!” said Plum, looking horrified. “Twilight said you were over a thousand years old before, but you said you only came out recently. This Discord was keeping you trapped inside him all this time even though he knew it was making you miserable?”

“But wait,” said Chocolate. “If you’re that old then how come you still look and act like a kid our age? Something doesn’t add up.”

Flash chimed in right after. “And if you’re just a creation of Discord does that mean he can make a million Mayhem’s if he wanted?”

Twilight was pleased by all their questions. Cup had made a valid point that kids who saw Mayhem’s power might only be concerned about what they could get out of him without caring about the person behind the power. Tree Leaf’s response to that did seem to be happening. The fact that they were all questioning about his origins and trying to find out more about him rather than hurrying things along to the next wish showed that they were focusing on him as an individual rather than just selfishly thinking about their own wants. 

She found that she was curious too. Plum had brought up something she had never thought of before. “I’d like to know too, Mayhem. How is it that it took so long before you and Discord became two separate beings?”

“That’s something I’m curious about as well,” said Fluttershy, turning around and setting him down so they were all standing in front of him. “We first met Discord about eight years ago now. If you felt so disconnected from Discord’s attempts to befriend others then why didn’t you speak up to him earlier?”

Mayhem got a pensive look on his face, seeing everyone’s curious faces. It was something that he himself had never thought about until he was asked. He crossed his arms, his face furrowed in thought.

“I think,” Mayhem finally said, “that the reason I took so long to split from Discord is just that... I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know?” asked Fluttershy.

“Didn’t know what?” asked Chocolate.

“I didn’t know that I was a different person," Mayhem responded. "Me and Discord were one being for a long, long, long time, so I didn’t really know that I could be separate from him. I thought his thoughts were my thoughts, and his actions my actions.”

“So, then… when did you realize it? What sparked the change?” asked Twilight, fascinated by this new info. After all, she was delving into a magic that few had ever studied before.

Once again Mayhem grew thoughtful. Trying to think about the past, it was hard to differentiate himself from Discord. He shuddered a little at how uncomfortable that revelation was. The more time he spent in the real world the more he hated the thought of being stuck inside Discord.

He shook his head to clear his mind, trying to pinpoint it. “It’s… hard… to… to pick an exact moment. Maybe it started before I first came out into the real world, but the only thing I know for sure is that Pound and Pumpkin were the trigger.”

“Who’s that?” asked Flash.

“They’re friends of ours,” said Twilight. “Kids about your age. One of my best friends is their aunt.”

She was trying not to be impatient, but still that itch for new information was cropping up, her eyes hungry for knowledge.

“What about them?”

“The day of Mommy’s party Daddy gave them just a tiny sliver of his power so they could pull some pranks they shouldn’t be able to.

“My memories of that are a little fuzzy. Daddy was watching all of it, but from my end I can only remember things blurry.” He closed his eyes tightly, focusing as hard as he could. “All I knew was that suddenly things felt different. I was a part of not one, but two other ponies. Not only that, but their ideas and memories were fresh and different. 

“The pranks they pulled and the games they played were very satisfying. It was like living a whole new life that was very enjoyable. I wouldn’t have been able to say it that clearly back then, but I think I can say that now.

“And then… suddenly it was gone. I was gone.”

“What do you mean?” asked Fluttershy.

“I found myself back home, inside Discord. Pound and Pumpkin had gone a bit overboard showing off, and used up all the magic he gave them. They complained, and he gave them a little more magic. Suddenly I found myself inside the twins again.

“I think that that’s what clued me in. I started inside Discord, then I went to the twins, then back to Discord, and back to the twins. The constant back and forth, experiencing someone else’s thoughts and memories and ideas, made me realize that I wasn’t just Discord. 

“After all, I had only met the twins on that day through Discord, so I knew nothing in their memories was anything that I remembered. I could only see it because my consciousness was inside of them.”

“Fascinating!” said Twilight, her eyes twinkling.

Fluttershy chuckled into her hoof. 

“I… I did a bad thing after that,” said Mayhem, looking at the ground guiltily. “As I came to realize I was my own individual I began to mold myself into a real being. I found that I could talk to them, and by dangling the idea of more power in front of them I talked them into taking almost all of Discord’s power.”

“Mayheeeem,” Twilight said warningly. If he went and blabbed about how he had nearly murdered them all it would ruin everything she was trying to do. He would lose the support of all the children.

She knew he had already said enough the other kids were going to be curious if she shut him down right now, so she thought it would be best if she did the talking. “Well, they did succeed. While they only had a sliver of power the most Mayhem could do is simply talk to them, but once they had that much of Mayhem inside them he had enough power to take them over and complain to Discord directly about how much he disliked what his life was.

“He refused to relinquish his hold on the twins because he didn’t want to be stuck inside again, but we felt it was too dangerous for him to hold onto them. Chaos magic is unstable, and is only really meant for those who have bodies that are capable of containing it. 

“If it’s only a tiny bit it’s fine, as it will burn itself out given a little time. But they took in so much that it nearly destroyed their bodies.”

All the children shivered. “It… it was really that bad?” asked Plum.

Twilight nodded. “Mayhem was a little too addicted to his new freedom to care about the results so long as he didn’t have to go back into the darkness with no control. He lashed out, trying to do whatever he could to remain, even if it was by hurting others.

“In the end we had to hit him with Rainbow Power to force him out of the twins bodies, both so they could get their own minds back as well as to stop the overload of magic from breaking them.

“Once we healed the twins injuries Fluttershy expressed concern over Mayhem. She could tell that his actions, while selfish, were motivated partially through fear. That was the first time Mayhem was brought into the real world.

“The reason he cares for her so deeply is mainly that she showed him kindness and gave him the name he now has.”

She could see the children digesting this information. She thought she had done a pretty good job of not lying, even if she was fudging the complete truth of that day. Taking what she had learned she thought she could see why Mayhem had been so quick to try and kill them. It just wasn’t Discord’s style to kill others or otherwise render them incapable of experiencing chaos. Having just realized his separateness she could understand that beneath his vindictiveness really was a fear of disappearing and being helpless. 

Of course, she couldn’t completely write it off as just fear. His grand plan had been to give everyone a little bit of chaos magic and see Equestria rip itself apart in misuse of that power. Although, given how quickly he had abandoned that plan when just shown a little bit of kindness and affection, she also saw it didn’t take much for him to change his course. 

“Wait a second!” said Fluttershy. “I just thought of something. When Tirek invaded he stole all of Discord’s magic. If just having a tiny sliver of magic inside the twins was enough to make you realize you were separate then why didn’t you realize it back then?”

Twilight turned to her friend, acknowledging the strangeness of it.

Mayhem’s bottom lip jutted out. After a while he said uncertainly, “I… I don’t know. I’m trying to think of a reason but I really don’t know. I can remember his time with Tirek because it's part of his memories, but I don't remember anything after he stole Daddy's magic until after his defeat. There's just a big gap there.”

“Hmmm,” said Twilight, her eyes narrowed in concentration. “Tirek is another one with strange magic that few ever have. He grew stronger from absorbing the magic of others. That, in itself, is not unheard of, but when he took the magic of a pony their cutie marks vanished as well. 

“I haven’t had a chance to study his magic, so I have no concrete answers, but I have a few theories.”

Mayhem was staring hard at her, curious as to what she would say. 

“When I fought Tirek it was after he had absorbed Discord’s magic, and yet he never used magic like Discord. He only used brute force and magic beams. We fought to a stalemate, and rather than using Discord’s powers to trip me up he resorted to using my friends as hostages.

“It may be that Tirek simply converted that magic into his magic. Thus, it wasn’t chaos magic anymore. No chaos magic, no Mayhem.

“Tirek was a very selfish individual, stealing magic from everyone he came in contact with simply so he could be the most powerful. Perhaps his will was so strong that it negated your consciousness from stirring.

“Maybe it was the difference between Discord freely giving Pound and Pumpkin his power and Tirek forcefully stealing it.

“However, the most likely explanation I can think of relates to what I said earlier about his magic also taking cutie marks away. A cutie mark is a sign of one’s identity. It details what one is most gifted at. Their meaning may not always be immediately apparent, but it is a fact that cutie marks show your special talents. If one’s cutie mark proclaims who one is, then taking it away also takes away what makes someone who they are. 

“Discord isn’t a pony, and thus doesn’t have a cutie mark, but having his powers stolen still took away a large part of who he was. Thus, Mayhem was affected too. He only became separate when he realized he was separate, but he couldn’t formulate his own identity when hit with a magic that disrupts one’s identity.”

“It sounds like… all your theories are partly true if that’s the case,” said Fluttershy.

“I… guess you’re right.”

“This is all sounding pretty complicated,” said Sweet Pea.

“Yeah,” said Plum.

“So what about the other stuff we asked?” said Flash. "Are there more Mayhem's?"

“I don’t believe that Discord could make more Mayhem’s,” said Twilight. “At least, not ones with real personalities. Even though Discord gave Pound and Pumpkin his magic they both only talked with Mayhem, not Mayhem and another consciousness.”

“In all the time I’ve known him neither Discord or Mayhem have stated something about a third consciousness inside,” said Fluttershy. “I won’t say it’s impossible, given how long it took Mayhem to come out, but all signs point to Mayhem being truly unique.”

"I have my own question for you, Mayhem. I told you Discord gave me a little of his power so I could stop your magic if need be. Do you know what I'm thinking right now? Can you see all my memories?

"I ask that because, if you really are just one consciousness, then how is it that you could be in multiple ponies at once? Even if Discord gave some power to Pound and Pumpkin then shouldn't you still have been a part of Discord?"

Mayhem shook his head. "I can't see anything inside you. I think that only works when I'm not out in the real world. When I'm not inside Discord I can't see or feel him either."

"Interesting.

"As for Chocolate'’s question, our belief is that Mayhem is just the living embodiment of Discord’s magic, which is chaos magic. Mayhem, being a part of Discord, is as old as he is, but he’s only truly become his own individual being for a few months.

“He has Discord’s memories, but not his life experiences. For example, Discord changed when he experienced Fluttershy’s kindness, but when Mayhem first surfaced he didn’t care about love or her. At least not until he experienced it personally. That’s when he understood why Discord changed.

“Being that he’s so new to the real world he still has much learning and growing to do. This is why I brought the four of you here today to meet him. I know I can’t force anyone to be friends, but Mayhem needs them right now so he can become his best self.”

“Why?” asked Chocolate. 

“Hmm?” Twilight’s head tilted a little. “Do you not want to be his friend?”

He shook his head. “It’s not that. You said before that he has other friends, so why do you need us?”

“Ah, but recall what I said when I mentioned them. I told you that he’s played these games before he created the new safety rules, and they wound up getting hurt. His friends forgave him, but their parents were pretty upset over what happened. Right now he’s not allowed to see them, so I’m trying to find him new friends to fill the gap until that day comes. It’s something of vital importance.”

“Vital importance?” asked Sweet Pea. “I love my friends too, but is it that big a deal?”

She nodded. “It is in his case. It’s of the utmost importance.”

“Why?” asked Plum. “Why is it more important for him to have friends than any of us?”

“As a being of chaos magic his mindset is naturally childish to assist it. He needs a little chaos now and again or he gets backed up and begins to lose control of himself. It’s why he was so out of control when he first got to experience being inside the twins. It’s also why his friends got hurt during his games. He didn’t have any restraint.

“Think of it like… a sweet little kitten. That’s his normal state. It’s how he usually is, harmless and fun to play with. However… when life becomes too stale he slowly turns into a ferocious tiger. His games become a little too intense and he grows rambunctious, putting his fun before safety again.

“Since Mayhem is magic we can’t just put a magic nullifier on him to keep him in check. That only leaves locking him inside of Discord if he gets too keyed up, something none of us want to do to him as it takes away his sense of agency.

“That’s the true purpose of this friendship exercise. He gets to work out his boredom so he maintains control, and in return he gets to grant your wishes to bring you happiness. Everyone wins.”

Tears slowly came down Mayhem’s eyes. “I can’t blame their parents for being mad at me. I acted horribly.

“When the game ended I found my friends still waiting for me, just happy to see that I was back to being the friend they recognized. I think that hurt worse than if they had just yelled at me."

He hugged himself, quietly sobbing. “I… I… I don’t ever want to become a tiger again! I want to just be a sweet little kitten forever.

“T-that’s why I need you… all of you. I want to use my powers for the right reasons and to make other ponies happy.”

He looked at them. “Please… please be my friends.”

The children couldn’t say they exactly understood everything they had been told. In fact, it was all a bit much for them to comprehend. Mayhem was unlike anything they had ever met before, his origins completely nonsensical from an ordinary pony’s perspective. 

What they did understand, easily, was that he was in pain and in need of reassurance. 

Flash quickly trotted over to give him a hug. He had experienced what Mayhem’s powers could do when used for good, and it was awesome. It was everything he could have ever asked for in a fantasy adventure, and he had absolutely no desire to push Mayhem away.

Sweet Pea was the next to approach. She hadn’t had her turn yet, but that wasn’t important to her. It wasn’t why she was doing this. Mayhem had forgiven her when she had insulted him. She felt it was only right to comfort him in return.

Plum and Chocolate were last, hugging him as well.  They didn’t have a personal reason like the other two, but even if he was strange they still felt he deserved to be part of the world.

They all wanted to help him through this, and all that amounted to was just playing with him a little. It was hardly a difficult request.

“Thank you, everyone,” Mayhem said genuinely, feeling their support.
> 8-4: To the beach
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When his new friends let go of him Mayhem felt warm inside. He could already feel the new bonds forming with them. Now he had ten friends. That was a lot! He was already thinking about the letter he was going to write his other friends when he was done with his new ones.

Mayhem floated over to Fluttershy, hugging her.

She could see the dreamy expression on his face, and it also made her feel warm. 

She looked towards his new friends and bowed her head to them. “Thank you oh so very much for being his friends. I was devastated when I heard about how out of control he became after he grew too bored. 

“I’m sure that all of you have sometimes lost control of your emotions out of frustration or boredom, but with his powers it’s much more dangerous for him to lose control. That’s why this means so much to me to see Mayhem making some new friends.

“Thank you!” she said with a teary expression, squeezing Mayhem to her. “Thank you! Thank you!” Her head was practically touching the ground now in supplication.

The kids all got awkward expressions on their faces. “It’s… it’s not that big a deal,” said Plum.

“You don’t have to bow to us over it!” said Chocolate.

“It’s a big deal to me!” Fluttershy responded as she got up. “I have no desire to ever see Mayhem ‘turn into a ferocious tiger’ again either. I want him to always remain my sweet little angel.

“It’s more than just being friends. You’re keeping him safe and his heart strong.”

Mayhem looked at her sadly, always hating it when she got upset.

Twilight stood next to Fluttershy and patted her head. “I understand your gratitude, but you’re putting too much pressure on these children. 

“It’s the same as when I told Pound and the rest that I thought they could become the next Elements of Friendship. To them it feels like they’re being put on a pedestal they don’t deserve.”

Fluttershy looked away from Twilight to the children, seeing how uncomfortable they all looked. She knew Twilight was right, and that she had let her emotions get the better of her. 

“I’m sorry,” she said to them. “It’s just… Mayhem is like my child, and I worry about him. I just want to see him happy and safe, that’s all. I didn’t mean to overwhelm you.”

“It’s alright,” said Flash. “My parents can be overprotective of me too.” The others nodded in agreement.

“Hmm…” Fluttershy set Mayhem down. “We got so caught up talking about Mayhem that it seems we got way off track to what you were here for. You said you came here to release some stress after your first adventure.”

“That’s right,” said Plum.

“Mayhem, why don’t you introduce me to your new friends?”

“Okay, Mommy!” he said happily, pointing to each one in turn. “That’s Plum Pie, Chocolate Chip, Flash Step, and Sweet Pea.” 

“I’m pleased to meet all of you,” she said with a tender smile, hoping a friendly attitude would help dispel their stress a bit. She could see some of the stress leave their faces as they returned her smile.

She inhaled and then whistled into her hoof. “Come here, my animal friends!” A short while later animals of all types and sizes came towards the house. “You get to play with these children.”

“Ooo!” Plum cried out as she saw all the cute little bunnies hopping towards them, and trotted over to pet some of them.

Sweet Pea played with the cats. 

Flash flew around with the birds, having a light hearted race with some of them.

Chocolate chased some of the animals around.

While the others were relaxing Mayhem told Fluttershy about Flash’s wish and the pirate adventure they had.

Twilight sat and watched the others have fun. There wasn’t any danger as long as Fluttershy was there, so she didn’t have to keep an eye on him for now.

After a little while the children returned, eager to move on to the next game.

“Well, I’m wanted again,” said Mayhem, hugging Fluttershy, “so I’ll see you later, Mommy.”

“Bye, Mayhem,” she said, giving him a quick hug back.

With a snap the six of them were back inside the room in Twilight’s castle. “So… who’s next?”

“We already were above the water in that pirate ship,” said Plum. “Why don’t we see what’s under it? Go deep sea diving.”

“That sounds fun,” said Mayhem. Water appeared in a sphere in his claw, which he threw at the floor. There was a splash that went straight up, and the water landed in the shape of a circle about five feet wide. 

“LET’S GO!” he cried out, hopping forward. They expected him to just hit the ground and cause more splashing, but he disappeared through it.

After a few moments of hesitation the other children jumped in, followed by Twilight.

As they got their bearings they could see they were floating beneath an ocean.

Flash looked around, gently paddling. He put a hoof to his snout, feeling like he was running out of oxygen. He looked around for the hole they had come through, but he didn’t see it anywhere.

Before they began to panic Mayhem said, “It’s okay, everyone. Breathe.”

Twilight could see they were having trouble, real life logic interfering with the knowledge it was just an imaginary world. She moved to the center, and took in a deep breath, letting it out to a stream of bubbles. “Remember, everyone. This is Mayhem’s world, and he makes the rules in it. You can breathe underwater here.”

Even with Twilight’s demonstration to show it was safe they still hesitated until they were forced to draw breath. Though, once they got past that hurdle, they began to breathe normally. 

“What do you think, Plum?” asked Mayhem.

She looked all around. They were so deep underwater that she could barely see the light of the surface, though she could see everything just fine even without a strong light source. There were reefs and fish of all sorts floating by. The water was crystal clear, and it wasn’t until she took notice of that that she also noticed she wasn’t getting water in her eyes either.

“I like it!”

“Glad to hear it.”

They swam around for the next ten minutes, exploring the undersea life. After that Mayhem called them all over.

“You’re gonna love this next part.” He moved his body. “Okay, now copy me. All of you angle yourself so you’re facing straight up.” When they all were all in position he grinned widely. “Buckle up! It’s gonna be a bumpy ride!”

Before they could process that statement a stream of bubbles surrounded their bottom halves, and then without warning they were rapidly jettisoned upwards.

The surface grew more and more defined as they grew closer to it, and suddenly they were out, flying up dozens of feet until they lost momentum.

The others kids were all screaming in terror as they fell back into the water.

Mayhem was giggling like mad. “Wasn’t that awesome?” He created the streams again, but this time in front of them rather than underneath them. “Let’s go again!” 

He moved forward, getting caught in the stream and blasted upwards out of the water, only to land a little later, still giggling like crazy. 

Once the fear passed they had to admit that it looked like fun. They just didn’t like being taken by surprise.

Flash was the first to be brave enough to go for a second run, and when he came down his face was bright with exhilaration. The sudden weightlessness was scary, but it was also what made it fun.

It took a little while, but the other three got over their nerves and gave it a shot too, finding it to be enjoyable now as well.

After a couple of rounds Flash said, “Hey, Mayhem? Just going up and down is fine, but I think it would be even cooler if these were at an angle so we could go forward too.”

Mayhem’s eyes lit up. “Ooooo! I like the way you think, Flash!”

He snapped his claw. “Okay. This is just like when I gave you the floating power. Just use your imagination to angle it whichever direction you want. Don’t worry about hitting one another. My world, my rules, so you won’t get hurt if you crash into each other.”

They trusted him, and they liked being in control of some new powers, even if it was just in a fantasy world. 

It wasn’t long before they were blasting off in every direction, all five of them laughing and cheering and screaming like crazy. Shortly after that they began to make combinations, making new streams right where they were about to land so they'd be continually shooting off.

Twilight was sucking on her cheek. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but that looked like it would be a bunch of fun. She didn’t doubt for a moment that Mayhem would conjure up a stream for her. With a bit of Discord’s magic she could also just conjure up her own.

However, as much as she wanted to participate, she had given her word as a princess that she would carefully watch Mayhem and put a stop to things if he began to get too wild. Mayhem hadn’t conjured up any dangerous animals, like sharks, but even so she was also the safe zone if the other children grew too overwhelmed and needed a break. 

If Mayhem made a mistake that she could have prevented if she was paying attention she’d feel horrible about it. She’d have broken her word to him, and it might sour his new friendships, neither of which she was willing to risk when everything was going so well for him right now. 

She let out a little sigh, knowing she’d just have to suck it up and endure it. Today wasn’t about her, after all. 

After about ten minutes the adrenaline caught up to them. Sweet Pea was the first to call a halt, and the others didn’t put up any protest. 

Mayhem gently floated them out of the water and towards the beach nearby.

All of them were panting slightly and a little tired, but they all had mile-wide smiles.

“I’ve never done something like that before!” said Chocolate.

“Me neither!” said Flash.

“That was crazy fun!” said Sweet Pea.

“You are so COOL!” said Plum, giving him a big hug. “This wish is coming out just like I wanted it.”

Mayhem blushed at the compliment, returning the hug. “You’re welcome, Plum.”

“Cool?” said Flash. “Try AWESOME! This has been one of the funnest days of my life!”

The little draconequus squirmed a little in embarrassment, the blush getting deeper. “W-well, I think we should settle down a bit after all that excitement.” With a few snaps he created several towels on the sand, a few lounge chairs, and beach toys.

He laid down on one of the towels and closed his eyes, still feeling warm inside from their compliments. This seemed just like what happened with Tree Leaf. When they first met the colt had been dismissive of him and off-put by his appearance, but after the colt saw his power his tune changed.

The day Twilight had made her plan for him Tree Leaf admitted that at first he only cared about him for his powers, but then grew to care for him as an individual. 

It was obvious they enjoyed what he could do, but at Fluttershy’s they were all questioning him and trying to find out more about him. They even made him think about some things he had never considered before, letting him learn some new things about himself. 

He felt pretty certain that they weren’t only out to use him for his powers. Of course, there was no way to know that for sure, but if he was going to consider them his friends then that started with trusting in them. He wouldn’t treat them suspiciously unless they showed he had a reason to.

And, really, he was having so much fun he wasn’t sure if he’d care if they were only in it for themselves. He liked being able to cut loose and just be who he was. As long as he got to cause chaos now and again it would keep him in control of his powers until next he got to play with his friends again.

For the next few minutes all the children just sat and relaxed, enjoying the warmth of the sun. When they got their stamina back they worked together creating a big sand castle.

After that Mayhem got a wicked smirk on his face. “Hey, everybody! You ready for the new fun thing?”

“YEAH!” they said eagerly.

Mayhem snapped, and the four children were now wearing backpacks and a leather band was wrapped around their middles. On the front of the band was a long rope that ended in a handle.

Flash pulled at the band. It was snug, but comfortable. “What does this have to do with having fun?” he asked.

Mayhem chuckled. He grabbed the four handles and began running towards the water. He jumped, a pair of waterski’s appearing beneath him.

A strong breeze hit the area, blowing open the backpacks the kid were wearing. Out of them came parachutes. The chutes caught the breeze and pushed them back and up.

The four kids screamed as they suddenly took to the air, effectively turning into pony kites as Mayhem coasted along the water.

After the initial fear faded they quickly got into it. They were about twenty feet up, and they could see how sparkling clear the water was. 

After letting them enjoy the heights for a bit Mayhem gave them all their own waterski’s and had them descend. When they touched the surface of the water the parachutes disappeared. 

The four children were laughing at first, but Mayhem kept them on their hooves. He’d make sudden, sharp turns, making their hearts jump. He then created high waves to jump off of, adding another element of tension.

After another few minutes he called a halt, figuring they had probably hit their emotional limits even if they hadn’t told him to stop.

When they returned to the shore the ski’s disappeared, and unsurprisingly the four children collapsed to the ground, slightly dizzy and a bit drained from all the excitement.

Mayhem lifted his claw, moving the sun so that it was now close to dusk. The bright sky grew dim, though everything was still completely visible.

He sat down too, laying in the wet sand as the water gently rose and receded.

The other kids joined him.

“That… was… amazing,” said Plum. 

“And terrifying,” said Sweet Pea with a giggle.

“Terrimazing!” said Flash.

“I’ll go with that,” said Chocolate.

“Man, I wish I had powers like yours,” said Sweet Pea whimsically, looking up at the beautiful hues of the sky. “Every game would be perfect.”

“Hey!” said Flash. “Didn’t Twilight say you gave some of your other friends some of your power? Or, well, this Discord did.”

Mayhem tensed. “That’s true, but… I don’t ever want to do it again. It almost led to their death.

“I know you can say it’s only because they took in too much magic, but I don’t know the long-term effects of letting a pony have chaos magic… even if it is just a little dot. It might start to change them in unexpected ways.

“I don’t ever want to hurt my friends again, so I need to play it safe and keep this magic inside me. I certainly don’t mind using it to benefit all of you. I know this might not be what you want to hear, but I just can’t stand the thought of doing something to hurt anyone. I’ve done that too much already.”

Flash let out a laugh. “Ha! What’s with that mopey tone of yours? Did you think we were going to abandon you for saying no?”

He spun over so he was sitting on top of him. “It’s like you said. Today is all about playtime, so who cares about the past?” He tried to coax Mayhem into a wrestle. “We’re here now, so let’s make the most of it.” 

When Mayhem didn’t take the bait he picked him up and began flapping. The extra weight already had him straining, and he knew he didn’t have much time, so he chucked Mayhem into the water before diving in himself.

Mayhem broke the surface with a sputter. He let out a little sigh, smiling. “Thanks. I think I needed that.”

“No problem. You’re not allowed to be miserable today.” The other children voiced their agreement.

He turned to Plum. “So… are you satisfied?” His head tilted. “Hmm… we didn’t really spend a lot of time underwater like you asked for.”

“I don’t mind at all,” she replied. “Shooting out of the water and then paragliding and riding the waves was all super fun. I’m satisfied.”

“Good.” He snapped, and the world dissolved around them until they were back in the castle.

“Even though I’m seeing it with my own eyes it’s still hard to believe that none of this has been real,” said Chocolate.

“I know. It’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not with him,” said Sweet Pea.

Mayhem got a hurt look on his face. “B-but… I really do care about you.”

They looked at him oddly.

Twilight quickly stepped in before the mood was ruined. “Mayhem, they’re not talking about you. They’re just talking about your magic.”

Sweet Pea looked up at Twilight, then she pieced together what was causing Mayhem’s distress. 

She gave the draconequus a hug. “Sorry if that’s how I came off. I wasn’t trying to say that you’re being fake. Your fantasy worlds are just so convincing it feels like I’m really there.”

Mayhem returned the hug, letting out a heavy breath. “I’m sorry too. I’ve been working hard. I didn’t want you to think I’ve just been playing you all this time.

“So, two left.” He released Sweet Pea. “Who wants to make the next one?”

“Oooh!” said Chocolate. “What about a Power Ponies adventure where we team up to stop the Mane-iac?”

“I like it!” said Flash. “I definitely wanna be Fili-Second!”

As the others were getting excited and chatting about who they wanted to be Mayhem felt chills going through him.

He tensed hard, then began to shiver. Memories began flooding into his mind, sending him to the ground as he began to pant for breath, finally catching the attention of the children.

“Hey!” called out Flash. “What’s wrong?”

“Mayhem!” said Chocolate.

Twilight teleported over, picking him up and holding him close. “Hey, hey. Settle down.”

“No, no, no,” Mayhem said in a lost voice. “Not again! Never again! I can’t… I can’t…”

“What’s going on, Twilight?” asked Plum, concerned. 

Twilight gathered them all in her magic, then teleported them back to Fluttershy’s. “Go play with the animals,” she said, trying not to be rude in her urgency.

She opened the door without knocking, seeing Fluttershy had gone back to her book. “Fluttershy, I need you! Now!” 

The mare looked up, seeing the pain on Mayhem’s face, and she hopped up immediately, dropping the book on the floor.

“Look, Mayhem,” Twilight said sweetly. “It’s your mommy. It’s Fluttershy.”

“It’s me, Sweetie,” said Fluttershy, extending her hooves. “Come here.”

The words slowly wormed their way into his consciousness. He looked up, seeing her face, and quickly melted into her hooves, crying over her shoulder.

“What happened, Twilight?”

“The second wish went just fine, but the third child asked for a superhero adventure.”

“And then what?”

“That was enough.” Fluttershy gave her a questioning look for a few moments, but then understanding came to her. “Oh… I get it.”

“So it’s my fault?” came the voice of Chocolate from behind them, and Twilight turned to see the four children hovering by the front door. “I don’t know what I did, but I’m sorry.”

She felt she should have known they weren’t going to just go play while a friend was in distress, but she had been concerned that Mayhem was about to lose control. Now that Mayhem was with Fluttershy she owed them an explanation.

She went outside, taking them a short distance from the house. “I had to hurry to make sure Mayhem got some comforting, but now I can answer your questions.

“I told you that Mayhem has played these types of games in the past, but before he didn’t have his safety rules in place. Do you remember?”

They all nodded, listening intently. They could still hear Mayhem crying inside.

“I also told you that, because of that, his friends got hurt. Well, the situation that got all of them hurt was a superhero adventure.”

Chocolate let out a moan, feeling guilty.

“I needed to give him a little reassurance before we started Flash’s wish because he was worried about causing more pain.”

“But… why now?” asked Sweet Pea. “When you got back you mentioned his friends got hurt, and he didn’t freak out.”

“There’s a difference between talking about something and actually doing it. For example, you may find it easy to talk about the time you tripped and sprained a leg while scootering, but actually getting back on it and riding again can feel like too much. It’s a feeling that things are going to turn out the same even though circumstances are different.

“Even with all his protective spells, because it’s a similar scenario to the one that got his friends injured, he’s terrified it’s going to injure you too.

“I think it should go without saying that it would be best if you came up with a new wish, Chocolate.”

He gave a little nod, his stomach feeling heavy.

He jerked as he felt something on his back, and looked up to see Twilight next to him. “This isn’t your fault,” she said firmly. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Chocolate. There was no way you could have known that was going to happen, so don’t beat yourself up about it.”

“Why does that change anything? Just because I didn’t do it intentionally doesn’t change that I hurt him.”

Twilight was lost for a response at first. “Well… that’s not untrue, but you shouldn’t shoulder all the blame on your own.”

“Well,” said Flash with a grin, “if Mayhem is feeling down then let’s go cheer him up.”

That was met with approval from all of them, and they all went inside the house.

Mayhem was quieter now, Fluttershy gently speaking comforting words.

“Hey, Mayhem!”

The draconequus twitched as he heard Flash’s voice. He slowly let go of Fluttershy and turned towards them, Fluttershy hugging him around the stomach.

“I’m sorry,” said Chocolate. “I didn’t know a superhero story was what caused your friends to get hurt. We don’t have to do that. I’ll pick something else.”

“Go home!” Mayhem said miserably with a sniff. “I’m a danger to everyone. If you stick around me I’ll just hurt you too. 

“Sweet Pea was right! I am just like a monster out of a horror story! I don’t deserve any friends.”

“Mayhem,” Fluttershy said sadly.

“Go home. Go home before it’s too late!” He buried his face in his claw and paw, gently sobbing.

Twilight bit her lip, unsure of what she wanted to do. She thought it might indeed be best if she separated him from the children, at least until he calmed down. Not because she was afraid he would hurt them, but because their presence was setting off his guilt. 

Before she could suggest this Flash took the lead again, walking up to Mayhem and extending one of his wings and running it up his side.

Mayhem let out a squeal from the tickly sensation.

“Well, too bad!” said the colt. “You’re not getting rid of us that easily. 

“It’s just not my style to abandon a friend in need.” He hopped on Fluttershy’s lap and hugged him. “And you’re definitely in need.”

“But… b-b-but…”

“No buts! Do I need to throw you in another river? I told you that you don’t get to be mopey and miserable today.”

Mayhem poofed out of his hooves, settling on the floor with an angry expression. “You don’t understand! We did go through a superhero adventure, but I wasn’t on their side. I wasn’t fighting alongside them and they just happened to get hurt. I was the main villain they were fighting against.

“I separated them and threw some of their worst fears at them. I put so much pressure on all of them. It wasn’t just physical injuries. I actively terrorized them and only felt nothing but satisfaction over all of it just because it was relieving weeks of pent-up boredom.”

“So what?” said Sweet Pea. “That was in the past. It’s not who you are now!

“You’re kitten Mayhem now, not tiger Mayhem, and all of us like kitten Mayhem a lot.”

"Mmm-hmm!" "Yeah!" "That's right!"

His anger faded, and his eyes shimmered with tears. “But… I… I could…”

“Could what?” asked Plum. “Give us one of the best days of our lives? Allow us to do a bunch of stuff we’d never be able to do normally?”

“Twilight explained it all,” said Chocolate. “She explained why we’re here. You also said it yourself why you need us. You want to remain kitten Mayhem and never turn back into tiger Mayhem.

“None of us wants to leave you when you need us more than ever. Leaving would just put you in more danger.”

Flash jumped off Fluttershy and threw a hoof around Mayhem. “We’re your friends, and don’t you forget it, dummy! A true friend sticks it out when things get tough, and you’re definitely someone worth sticking it out for.

“I mean, come on! You let me live out my biggest fantasy. No one else could have done that.”

Mayhem looked between the four of them, seeing that none of them were going to leave. It meant so much to him. His legs grew weak, and he found himself crying again.  “T-thank you!”

Flash helped him back up, and the other three surrounded him, all of them hugging him.

Mayhem could feel their hearts melding with his. They really did care about him.

Twilight and Fluttershy were both smiling warmly at the group hug going on.

After a minute Mayhem pulled away from them, tears streaming down his eyes with a determined expression. “I… I’m not going to give up! If all of you are going to give it your all then I’m going to as well.

“I still have more wishes to grant, and I want you to all leave here fully satisfied!”

“Heh!” said Flash. “Now that’s more like it.”

He poofed over to Fluttershy and gave her a hug. “I have to go!”

She gave him a kiss. “Do your best.”

“I will!”

With that they teleported back to the castle to prepare for the next adventure.
> 8-5: Carnival and jungle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So what is it?” asked Mayhem, still sniffling a little. “What wish can I grant next? I don’t care what it is. I’ll make it happen.”

“We need some fun to get rid of that sadness,” said Chocolate. “So why don’t we go to a carnival?”

He nodded hard, snapping. Once more the world dissolved, and suddenly they were outside in a fairground. 

The place was bustling with activity. Ponies were walking around as carnival workers hawked their wares or encouraged others to play games. 

“That’s a lot of ponies,” said Flash. “Are we at an actual carnival?”

Mayhem shook his head. “No. Unlike our last two adventures I thought it would feel kinda empty if the only ponies were the workers. It would give the feeling of being abandoned. I just wanted this place to feel alive.”

“Oh. That makes sense.”

“But don’t worry. They won’t slow down our fun. They’ll play the games and ride the rides from a distance, but they’ll always be finishing up right as we get close.”

“Even better,” said Chocolate.

“So what’s first?” asked Plum. “Rides or games?”

“I could go for a game.”

“Well, this is your wish, so games it is.”

They sat down at a booth where you had to shoot water into a clown’s mouth to make an object rise to the top. Sweet Pea won that one by a hair. 

Next they went to a dart throwing game where they had to pop water balloons. Flash won that one by a wide margin.

As Twilight watched them go along the strip and try all the games she couldn’t help but find herself getting a little jealous again. It was hard watching so much fun going on and not being able to participate. But, as she had to keep reminding herself, this was about Mayhem, not her.

She conquered her jealous feelings by focusing on her gratitude. It was clear that Mayhem just wasn’t ready to play superheroes again, even if he would be on the same side this time. She thought that everything had been ruined, but as she had to be reminded occasionally she shouldn’t underestimate the power of friendship.

These four children, who had never met Mayhem before today, all fought for him, to help him past his guilty feelings and push him to keep on going himself. It gave him the courage to give it another shot, and now he was all smiles again as they played the games. These children were everything she could have hoped for. When Mayhem’s heart was crumbling they stabilized it, becoming the pillar holding him up.

She could see her plan already starting to succeed. Mayhem had now developed a meaningful connection with them, giving him new reasons to stay on the right path. 

When the children tired of the games they went on the rides. The Ferris wheel, a giant slide, bumper cars, the merry go round. After some coaxing they even were brave enough to get on a roller coaster. The screams of the children echoed throughout the park.

Plum looked a little green as she got off, needing to sit down for a bit to settle her nausea. The others waited patiently for her to recover.

“Hey,” said Chocolate. “What about some snacks? Cotton candy and popcorn!”

Flash licked his lips. “I could go for that… when Plum is ready, of course.”

“It’s fine,” the filly replied. “Just go without me. I’ll catch up.”

“No way! We’re a group. I’m not leaving you behind.”

Mayhem snapped, and the color returned to Plum’s face. She put a hoof to her stomach, a questioning look on her face. “I… I feel better, and cotton candy and popcorn sure sounds good right about now.”

They walked along the fairway for a bit until the smell of popcorn hit their nostrils.

When they arrived they all grabbed some snacks and drinks and sat at a nearby table stuffing their faces.

As they finished up Mayhem said, “So, Sweet Pea, have you given any thought to what you want your wish to be when it’s your turn?”

“Not really,” she replied. “Everything has just been moving so fast and been so fun I haven’t really thought about it.”

She got a thoughtful look on her face, looking up to the sky. After a little while her eyes lit up. “Oh! I know what I want.”

“Cool,” said Flash. “What is it?”

Sweet Pea opened her mouth, then paused. “Umm… are you okay with just regular heroes, not superheroes?” She got a sad look. “I don’t want to see you freak out like that again.”

“Well… what did you have in mind?” asked Mayhem cautiously.

“Well, my older brother Specter likes to read me stories. I really like the Daring Do books. I think it would be awesome to go through the jungle, exploring temples and stopping Ahuizotl from his newest nefarious plot.”

“Oh my gosh, yes!” said Chocolate. “I’m good with the carnival bit. That sounds way more exciting.”

“Well… if you’re sure,” said Mayhem. “I just don’t want you to feel shorted.” 

“No worries. Going to a carnival is something I could do any day. Getting to go on an adventure with Daring Do and be a hero isn’t.”

“Okey-dokey!” He raised his arms. “Don’t be afraid, okay?”

“Don’t be afraid of what?” asked Plum.

He brought his arms down, and the carnival sunk into the ground. A few moments later something crashed into the ground nearby, making them jump. When they looked they saw it was a jungle tree. More and more trees came down upon them, but never getting within ten feet of them.

Flash began to crack up laughing. “It’s raining trees!”

Plum chuckled a bit. “I guess it is.”

After the trees came bushes and other things until it looked just like a jungle.

“Incredible,” said Sweet Pea, her eyes twinkling in amazement. “I know it’s starting to sound like a broken record, but it just gets harder and harder to imagine that none of this is real. The whole world just came into existence falling piece by piece.

“And, to think… I get to be one of four children in all of Ponyville to get to experience this. I just feel so lucky to have a friend like you.”

“Mmm-hmm!” “Yeah!” “Got that right!” The others all voiced their agreement.

Mayhem blushed, rubbing his hoof on the floor bashfully. “I’m just happy I get to make you happy.

“So are you ready to begin?”

“YEAH!”

He gave the five of them costumes like Daring Do, moving gently up and down with elation. 

They looked at themselves, and then the others.

Suddenly they heard movement in the distance, the sound of hooves in the dirt getting closer to them.

They didn’t know what was coming. All of them were in a circle, and Twilight was a short distance away.

Daring Do jumped through a bush, stopping nearby.

“Ooooo!” Sweet Pea said in delight.

“There you all are,” Daring said with a huff. “I’ve been looking all over for you.

“We have to move quickly. Ahuizotl is getting ready to unleash his most nefarious plan yet. I’m going to need all of you for this. It’s going to be a job that’s too big for me alone.

“Are you all ready?”

The four children just stared at her, fanboying and fangirling internally even if it was just an illusion. They had Daring Do not five feet from them.

“Helllllloooo! Anybody home in there? We don’t have time to waste. If you’re not going to take this seriously I’m going to have to get someone else.”

That snapped them out of their reverie. “No, no!” said Plum. “We’re on the job. You can count on us.”

“So,” said Sweet Pea. “What is Ahuizotl up to this time?”

“He’s seeking the power of three special gems,”  Daring responded.

“What do they do?” asked Flash, squirming in excitement to be part of this.

“When combined, their magic can amplify the sun’s rays. If he then focuses that power through a telescope lens he can cause the destruction of entire cities. He could burn Equestria to the ground over the course of a few moons.”

Plum gulped. “That’s a lot of power!”

“Exactly!” She stomped a hoof. “I was too late to stop him from taking the first one, and for the second one I was overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers. I barely managed to escape. That’s why I’m going to need assistance, even if I don’t like relying on others much. Ahuizotl absolutely cannot be allowed to get that final gem. It would mean the end of Equestria.”

“You can count on us!” Sweet Pea said with a salute. “We’ll do everything in our power to help.”

“That’s what I want to hear. But enough talk. We’ve wasted too much time already. If we wait any longer it may be too late.”

“Yes, ma’am!” said Chocolate, also saluting.

“Follow close behind me, and don’t take any unnecessary risks. I don’t want to see any of you get hurt.”

With that they slipped into the underbrush, trotting for a few minutes until Daring suddenly told them to stop. 

“We’re getting close. I can see some scouts. I’ll get their attention. You sneak up from behind and tie them up.”

They nodded, approaching the scouts. Daring deliberately called out, and the two scouts came running. “It’s her!”

They passed right by the children hiding behind the trees, and they each pulled out their whips, wrapping it around their legs and tripping them up. 

As they fell to the ground the children grabbed some vines and tied them up.

“Good work,” said Daring, “but this is just the beginning. It’s only going to get harder from here, but at least you can handle yourselves.”

The children were glowing at getting praise from Daring Do.

They continued on, occasionally capturing more guards, until the temple came into sight.

“We’re close. Stay on your hooves.” 

“Yes, Daring!” they responded.

They came upon a line of raised circular stones overlooking a river, leading right towards the temple.

“Alright, kiddies. Time your jumps well. There’s probably crocodiles in the water.” Her eyes faded out in annoyance. “There’s always crocodiles in the water. I guess there’s just something about ancient temples they just love.”

They couldn’t help snickering.

Daring took a running leap, hopping from stone to stone with ease until she was on the other side. “No problem,” she said as she turned around to them. “It’s easiest to just do it all in one go.”

Sweet Pea went first, then Chocolate. As Flash was halfway across he heard a scream from behind him, seeing Plum sliding off the edge. “No!”

He grabbed his whip and shot it towards her, wrapping it around her leg. He stopped her for a moment, but her weight jerked him forward off the stone and now both of them were falling. 

He strained to fly, but the extra weight was proving too much for him.

Suddenly the extra weight vanished, and he saw Daring flying beneath him, holding Plum. As she ascended she grabbed him too and took him to the other side. 

As she landed by the others Plum was panting. “T-thank you, Daring.” Her face grew hot. “Sorry.”

“Eh.” She shrugged. “It happens.”

Plum got up and hugged Flash. “Thanks for trying to save me.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied, returning the hug.

“Alright!” said Daring. “Enough with the sappy stuff. We got a world to save.”

“Right,” said Plum, releasing him. 

The group walked a little further until they reached the entrance to the temple.

“Well… here we are. Keep your wits about you and don’t drop your guard for a moment. There are bound to be traps, and Ahuizotl himself might show up if he finds the location of this temple. They’ve at least narrowed the location down given all those guards, but it doesn’t seem they’ve found out the exact location yet.”

The temple was a dull brown with moss growing everywhere. There was debris in various locations. Age had definitely gotten to the place. 

Daring slowly walked forward, her eyes scanning the floor, ceiling, and walls. 

They followed behind her, walking through one room. The second room had a grate barring their passage. Daring tried to lift it, but it was too heavy.

She huffed as she gave it up. “Okay… that didn’t work.”

Flash spotted a lever on a wall. He flew up to it and pulled it down, figuring it would lift the grate.

Sweet Pea suddenly had a strange sensation go through her. It was like an inner voice, telling her to jump backwards. She followed it’s call, hopping back a few feet. Just as she did so a spear came spiraling past her, burying itself in the wall with a clang.

She gasped in surprise at how close she had come to being skewered. 

“S-sorry!” Flash cried out. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. I didn’t know it was going to do that.”

“Hey!” Daring called out angrily. “Don’t just go pulling random levers! These places are always filled with traps to stop ponies from entering.”

Flash blushed in embarrassment.

Plum shook her head in amazement and fear. She walked along the corner of the room, when her hoof suddenly sank into the floor. She looked down, seeing one of the tiles had descended. 

Just like with Sweet Pea she got an instinctual feeling of danger, and she dived to the floor just as a rain of arrows passed by over her head.

“Come on!” said Daring. “I just told you these places are filled with traps.”

“This is crazy,” said Plum as she stood up. “I could have been killed!”

“Exactly my point!" You have to approach with caution.”

“I will.”

The room went gray. “Did you feel it, Sweet Pea and Plum?” asked Mayhem as the world paused. 

“Feel what?” asked Flash.

“Yeah,” said Sweet Pea. “What was that?”

“What was what?” asked Chocolate.

Mayhem grinned. “I gave you all super senses for this game.”

“Super senses?” asked Flash.

“The whole point of this is to have an experience that feels real. It defeats the purpose if you can’t be hurt.” He snapped, and an endless rain of arrows came out of the wall, going right through him harmlessly.

“I mean, just look at this. How is this world supposed to feel real to you if everything is just going right through you? Of course, I can’t get rid of those rules and risk your safety.

“So what do we do? Simple. I give you the ability to read the threats ahead of time. Dodging out of danger still feels more realistic than being able to just stand still and not care about getting hit.” 

“Ooo!” said Chocolate. “I get it! That sounds cool!”

Mayhem smirked. “Well, let’s get back to the game.” The color came back.

“I found an inscription,” said Daring. “It says, ‘Only those who have displayed their courage and faced the dangers may pass. If you survive the four traps the path ahead will open.’ ”

“Well, we already set off two of them,” said Flash.

Daring bit her lip. “Well… I guess we don’t have a choice than to set the other two off. Don’t be reckless, though.” She scanned the wall. “I don’t see any more levers. Look around the room and see if you spot anything unusual.”

They split up and began to search the room. 

Sweet Pea finally noticed something. There were pony statues adorning all four walls, each one holding a spear. All the statues were rearing up, as if ready to throw, but there was an odd one out. It’s hoof was down, the spear pointing towards the floor. She pushed on it’s hoof and the leg moved until it was symmetrical with the rest. 

There was a click, and the children twitched as their danger senses went off. Panels opened inside all the statues, and spears shot out of them. They followed the call of their senses and hit the floor.

When the spears stopped flying they slowly got up.

“O-one more,” said Chocolate.

After another minute of looking around they hadn’t found anything.

“Nothing,” said Plum.

“Hmm,” said Daring. “Come here.”

They met up with her near a big piece of rubble on the floor. “Help me move this.”

The six of them all strained, but eventually they moved the pillar over. “Okay. Now stand back.” Once they all moved she began stepping on the tiles the pillar had been covering. Finally, one sunk in.

The four children could feel their senses tingling, and almost as one whipped at Daring, pulling her towards them just as two trees wrapped in vines came out of the ceiling and collided with one another with a loud thump.

Plum let out a heavy breath as several wood chips landed on her. 

“Whew!” Flash said in relief. “That was a close one.”

“Good job, team,” said Daring with a chuckle. “You’ll make me proud yet.”

That made them all beam.

There was a rumbling, metallic sound nearby, and they saw the grate being raised.

“Okay, let’s go.”

They entered another chamber. This one was thin, only about twelve feet wide and equally as tall.

Daring’s eyes darted around rapidly. “I don’t like this. These kinds of narrow corridors are always the worst. No room to really dodge.

“Well, nothing to it but to do it.”

She flew in the air, zooming across to the other side of the room as fast as possible until she was out of sight. She came back to them at a slower pace. “Well, either this room isn’t a trap, or the trap can be bypassed by a pegasus.

“It might be a little slower to progress, but I’m going to take you across one at a time. Any trap avoided is good to me, and in a space as tight as this it’s too risky to set one off.”

They nodded. 

“Flash, you can fly already, but just in case something happens where we need to move quickly you’ll be the last to go.”

“Okay, Daring,” he replied. 

She picked up Sweet Pea and took her across, setting her down at the exit to the chamber. 

As soon as she did the exit was blocked by a slab of rock that came out of the floor.

“Shoot!” said Daring. “I should have dropped you off outside the room, but I didn’t want to risk setting off a trap in another room while I was grabbing the others.”

A similar slab had blocked the way they had come in. 

Flash said, “Um… there’s another inscription on the slab that just came up. It says this is called the chamber of endless tears.”

“Endless tears?” said Mayhem with a mournful expression. “That sounds really sad.”

“Does that mean,” Plum said fearfully, “that we’re stuck here forever? Our tears will be ‘endless’ because we’re never getting out?”

“I sure hope not,” said Flash with a gulp. “Hmm?” He felt moisture on his face, and looked up to see it seemed to be raining.

“Uh-oh,” said Daring, also noticing the water. “I think I know what it means by ‘endless tears’ now.”

Sweet Pea twitched. “W-wait! You mean this water isn’t going to stop?”

“Exactly! And this room is completely sealed. There’s nowhere for the water to go. Once it fills up the room completely we won’t be able to breathe. We’ll all drown!”

A shudder went through the filly. Things were getting too real again. Her logical head knew she wasn’t in danger of drowning, but her emotional side could feel her heart thumping like crazy as the water coated the bottom of the floor and began to rise.

The other children were in much the same state. Even if it was only the appearance of danger it was enough that it felt real.

Besides, even if they would be unaffected, Daring, illusion or not, wasn’t bound by Mayhem’s rules and could still be hurt. Not a one of them wanted to see one of the coolest ponies drown when they could have prevented it.

Sweet Pea checked the exit door, wondering if it would say anything about how to disarm the trap, but it only said the same thing the entrance did.

They all began frantically looking around for a way to disarm the trap, but they couldn’t find anything.

“What do we do?” asked Flash with a note of panic.

The water was now a foot up their hooves and showed no sign of stopping.

Daring let out a huff. “I get it. I screwed this all up.”

“What do you mean?” asked Plum.

“The trap didn’t go off until we touched the floor of the room, but back when this temple was in use they couldn’t just be drowning their own tribe.

“The inscription about the endless tears isn’t in the room itself, but only the doors when someone is trapped as a message to intruders. I’d bet anything that right on the other side of that blocked door is a switch to stop the trap from being active. If I had only left Sweet Pea on the other side…”

Sweet Pea felt a jolt in her stomach. “Don’t… don’t say that. You couldn’t have known.”

“So… there’s nothing we can do?” asked Flash with a touch of hopelessness.

“I don’t give up!” said Daring. “If there isn’t a path then I’ll just have to make one.” She pulled off her coat. “You five, give me your clothes as well.”

The water was now up to the bellies of the children, and they didn’t feel like asking what she wanted their clothes for.

Once she had all their coats she began to wrap them all around the top of one of her front legs with a little assistance from Flash. None of them knew what tying clothes to her leg had to do with finding a way out, but the water was now getting close to their heads and they didn’t want to distract her.

Once all six sets of shirts were tied she took to the air. “Well, let’s just hope hundreds of years of aging has helped to rot this place enough.” With that she rammed into the slab blocking the exit.

Nothing happened, so she got some more space and hit it again. She let out a grunt as she hit, but still it didn’t give.

The children understood now. She was using the shirts for padding to lessen the pain of crashing into the wall.

Plum was getting antsy. The water was rising above her neck and near her mouth.

Daring let out a cry of frustration. She knew time was running out. She flew over to the other side of the room, kicking off with her hooves to increase her momentum as she flapped as hard as she could. 

She slammed into the slab with a gasp of pain, but there was a satisfying cracking noise. Daring hovered, holding her shoulder.

“O-one more.”

The children felt horrible. Even with six of them the shirts were of too thin a material to make any real protection. 

Daring sucked it up, returning to the other side of the room. She only had time for one more ram. She wouldn’t be able to get enough momentum underwater. If this didn’t do it…

Adrenaline wiped out her pain, and she kicked off with a yell, slamming into the slab as hard as she could.

The top of the slab shattered, and Daring came out the other side. Just as she expected there was a switch on the wall, which she quickly pulled down. 

The water stopped coming down and the remains of the slab descended back into the floor as the water spilled out into the room. 

Once she gave the room a cursory look to be sure no more traps were going to go off she dropped to the floor, quietly cursing under her breath as she held her shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Flash asked with concern. The others gathered around her.

“You all alive?” Daring spat out with a groan.

“Yes.”

“Then I’m fine.”

“But-” started Plum.

“I said I’m fine!” Daring said sharply. “I always put my life on the line, and injuries are just a part of the job.” She grimaced as her shoulder throbbed, and she grit her teeth until the pain receded. “B-but you’re different. I’m not going to let harm come to you brats.”

The others sat down to rest. After a minute Chocolate said, “We’re going to have to wait for Daring to recover before we move on.”

That made the mare growl. “I’ve rested long enough. We’re moving on.”

“But you’re hurt!” said Mayhem.

“I told you already. This is just a part of the job. In my line of work you don’t have the luxury of sitting around sucking your hoof when the world is at stake.” She pushed up, hissing a bit as she strained to get to a sitting position. After a moment she flapped her wings to assist her until she made it.

She slid off the shirts of the others. When she got her own off she made a makeshift sling out of it.

Flash winced as he saw the bruise forming on her shoulder before it was covered up.

Daring bit her lip. “With this injured leg I can’t carry you right now, though if need be you can ride on my back.”

“Let me take the lead,” said Flash. “If you’re hurt it would be best for me to go first since I can fly.”

Daring didn’t look enthused by the idea, but reluctantly she agreed. 

They proceeded with caution, but they didn’t encounter any more traps in the next few rooms. 

Sweet Pea said, “So what’s the deal? Did they give up?”

“I find this concerning as well,” said Daring. “When the path ahead is this free of twists and turns it’s much more stress inducing than being attacked in every room.

“Although… the path ahead may actually be clear now.”

“You think so?” asked Plum.

“Think about the nature of the two traps. First we went through a room that said we had to survive four traps to get the pathway to open. The first trap required good reflexes to get through, but as soon as you prove yourself a second trap is immediately sprung, this one inescapable. If you weren’t meant to be here and were good enough to get past the first room then your journey can only end in death in the second room. After all, we only escaped because these ruins are so old the material has started to deteriorate.”

“What about a unicorn?” asked Sweet Pea.

“Outside of the princesses, most unicorns don’t possess much power outside of their special talents. The average unicorn couldn’t have powered their way out of that, and you have to remember how old this temple is. Spells weren’t nearly as advanced back then as they are now.

“Anyway, what it all comes down to is that your average greedy explorer couldn’t have gotten this far. Having beaten the first room and having the path ahead opened they would most likely be blinded by the prospect of treasure and run straight into the second trap.

“Odds are, they probably expected most ponies to fall in the first room, and any who were good enough to survive would be lost in the second. They never expected anyone to actually be able to make it through both rooms, hence why there haven’t been more traps since then.”

“That makes sense,” said Chocolate.

“Of course, we shouldn’t take anything for granted. I could be completely wrong. Don’t drop your guard until we have the jewel and are out of here.”

The children nodded.

Their journey remained uneventful until they came upon a wide room with a high ceiling. In the middle of the room was a large set of stairs situated over a pit with a jewel sitting at the top. The rest of the room was unadorned.

“This is it,” said Daring. 

At her direction the five of them picked up whatever they could find and began throwing it all around the room, trying to set off any traps that may be there. However, no matter how much they threw, nothing happened.

Eventually, Daring accepted that there was nothing waiting in the room itself, and whatever traps there were would be situated around the stairs.

They all entered the room, heading towards the stairs.

“I’m getting a bad feeling,” said Daring. “There’s always one last trap. Buuuuuuut, again, that’s a hazard of the job.” 

Like before, she had them throw things up the stairs to see if anything would happen.

There was a grinding sound, and part of the ceiling shifted, a giant boulder falling onto the stairs and rolling down it towards them.

“Run!” Daring said sharply. They didn’t need to be told twice, all of them dodging to the sides. The boulder missed all of them, slamming into a wall.

“Dang!” said Sweet Pea. “Could they put any more traps? Sheesh.”

“Well, there’s always things that need to be protected at all costs. I am, essentially, stealing from them, even if it is for the right cause. I’m sure the ancient ponies wouldn’t want their jewel to be used to destroy Equestria, but I can’t explain to them I’m doing this to protect what they’ve left behind.”

She unfurled her wings, heading up towards the chest. As she neared it her wings hit some vines, and they snapped.

All four children suddenly felt their danger senses going off, and almost simultaneously yelled out, “GO RIGHT!”

Daring didn’t question, following their yells just as a swinging blade came out of the ceiling and nearly chopped her in two.

She inhaled hard at how close she had come to death. “Thanks, you guys. I owe you one.”

That made them all feel special. How cool was it that they had protected Daring Do?

She set down upon the altar, then immediately hopped off and hovered a short distance away, just in case one final protection was around the jewel. 

However, nothing happened. 

She set down, making a quick lap around the altar and then flying away again, but no more traps activated.

She landed, quickly grabbing the jewel and flying near the bottom of the stairs.

She kept her senses on high alert, rapidly looking around the room. After another minute, when nothing else happened, she finally relaxed. “We got it,” she said happily. “Now, let’s get out of here.”

“Right!”

Clapping caught their attention. “Well done, Daring Do!”

They all turned towards the voice, seeing the familiar blue figure of Ahuizotl.

“Ahuizotl!” Daring said with disgust. 

“Very well done. You made it all the way through, and all for nothing.”

“Nothing? You’re not getting this jewel without a fight.” The creature began to chuckle. “What’s so funny?”

“There’s no need to fight.”

“No need to-YAAAHH!” Daring let out a scream of pain as the jewel in her hoof suddenly lit up, lightning streaming around her.

The pain made her drop the jewel and stumble back, right over the edge of the abyss.

“Daring Do!” yelled Flash, zooming down and getting under her, straining his tiny body to the limit. 

Plum, Chocolate, and Sweet Pea all used their whips, grabbing Daring. Mayhem grabbed their tails, pulling them backwards one step at a time until Daring was back on solid ground.

Daring had blank eyes, but slowly stirred. “A-A-Ahuizotl,” she panted out. “W-what did you do?”

He began to chuckle again. “What you were looking for… was it this?” He held up a jewel identical to the one Daring had dropped.

“W-what?” Chocolate called out, looking between the two.

“It’s a fake!” Sweet Pea called out, understanding. “He already had the jewel before we ever got in here.”

“Wait, what?” said Plum.

“So that’s it!” said Flash. “Daring said there’s always one last trap. Everything… all of this was just one big trap.”

She understood now. “So then… he took the real jewel, and then replaced it with a fake that can electrify someone?”

Ahuizotl clapped again. “Very good, kiddies.”

“But wait,” said Sweet Pea. “If you switched the jewels that means you already had the third jewel before this. So what was the point of all the guards?”

Ahuizotl walked forward. “Simple. Daring Do has interfered with my plans one too many times. She is annoyingly persistent. In order for me to defeat her once and for all I needed to weaken her first.

“I could have begun my plans to melt what I wanted already, but that wouldn’t satisfy after all the aggravation you’ve caused. The very first thing I want to use this weapon on is you, and only you. When you’re gone nothing will be able to get in my way again.”

He raised the hand on his tail and snapped, and dozens of ponies entered the room.

Plum’s heart began to race. What were they supposed to do now?

“Capture all of them!” Ahuizotl commanded.

“Hold it!” said Daring, panting heavily and straining hard as she got to her hooves. One of her eyes was closed and her legs were shaking as she struggled to stay up. “If you want me, then fine. What do you care about these pathetic losers?”

That made all the children look at her, hurt looks on their faces.

Daring’s voice grew cold. “They’ve been nothing but burdens the whole way through, setting off every trap like they were trying to help you get rid of me.

“Let them go. These pieces of trash are of no use to anyone, so why get them involved in our quarrel?”

Ahuizotl stared at her for a little while, then shrugged. “I suppose you’re right. I don’t care about them at all. I could capture them to watch you squirm, but you’re already going to spend your final hour lambasting how you failed Equestria anyways.”

He snapped. “Tie her up! As long as she doesn’t resist you can safely remove the brats from my sight.”

The children watched helplessly as Daring was tied up. There were way too many for them to fight, and with Daring injured already there was nothing they could do.

Collars were slapped around their necks, and the henchponies gently tugged at them to keep them moving as they walked out of the temple.

“Just one hour,” said Ahuizotl victoriously. “In one hour the sun will be at the perfect spot for my test run of my machine. I guess this time you won’t be able to take the heat.”

Daring tried to make a retort, but she was too weak and barely got out a few muffled words before growing quiet and seemingly passing out. 

When they were outside the temple Ahuizotl planted a spike in the ground, trying the ends of the ropes to it. “You can stay here. When I’m through with Daring Do I’ll release you and you’ll be free to go. Of course, soon no place will be safe. Enjoy the time you have left.”

With that they headed off.

“We… we failed,” Sweet Pea said sadly, tears slowly coming down her eyes.

“We were played for suckers,” said Chocolate, also crying. “And Daring got hurt because of it.”

“We were supposed to be heroes,” said Plum, similarly crying, “but we blew it royally.”

Flash was crying like the rest of them, but after a few moments he said, “It’s not over yet! Even with a bad leg Daring pushed on. We need to keep going too!”

“But… does she even care about us?”

“You heard what she said,” said Sweet Pea. “We’d probably just get in the way if we tried to rescue her. She’s always managed to save herself before.”

“She saved our lives,” said Mayhem, making all of them look at him. “She had to call us worthless trash so they’d overlook us. If she made us seem too important they would have grabbed us too. 

“Being dismissive of us was the only way to give us a second chance. Now that we have it are we going to turn our backs on her and let her be burnt to a crisp?”

“But… but… I mean, can we even do anything?” asked Chocolate. “If it was just Ahuizotl then sure, but he has so many henchponies with him.”

“Daring put her trust in us,” Mayhem replied, putting a claw to his heart. “She brought us along on this adventure because she knew she needed help. If we do nothing then not only is Daring going to die, but Ahuizotl will slowly destroy all of Equestria. 

“We’re the only ones who can do it. We’re the only ones who know what Ahuizotl is trying to do and that Daring has been captured.

“If we don’t do this a lot of ponies are going to get hurt. Are you going to just let him hurt your family and friends? I know I’m not going to allow that.”

Mayhem put his claw out in the middle of them. “What do you say?”

A few moments passed, and slowly the spirit returned to the children. They each put their hooves on top of his.

“I say yes!” said Flash. “We’re gonna rescue Daring and stop Ahuizotl.”

The others voiced their agreement. “Then let’s do it! We only have an hour.”

Mayhem used his claw, sawing away at the rope until he was free. He proceeded to help get the collars off the others, then they headed in the direction Ahuizotl went.

Twilight followed behind them, feeling her heart thumping a bit. Even more than before she wished she could participate in the games. Daring Do was one of her favorite series, and things were playing out exactly like one of her books. It was extremely exciting.

At least this time it wasn’t so bad being a spectator. Watching them get through the traps, Daring’s capture, Mayhem rallying the children; it was all such a blast to watch.

She didn’t want to break their immersion, so she didn’t speak too loud. Still, she had to say, “Come on, you guys. You better win. The series can’t end here.”
> 8-6: Rescue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They traipsed through the jungle for a bit, and it was oddly quiet. Besides the ambient noises there was only the sound of their own hoofsteps.

“Hey, Flash,” said Mayhem. “We don’t want to get too close to them until we know where they’re taking Daring. Why don’t you go up into the air and see if you can spot them?”

He nodded, saluting. “You got it!” 

They paused as Flash took to the skies. He went up about thirty feet, scanning the jungle. 

He came back down a short while later. “Spotted them! They seem to be headed for a structure off in the distance.”

“Then let’s follow them,” said Sweet Pea. 

They walked for a few minutes, Flash going up now and again to track their progress.

“Ummm,” said Plum awkwardly. “I want to save Daring too, but do any of you have any idea how we’re supposed to do that? There’s a lot more of them than there are of us. They’re also a lot bigger and stronger too.”

“They’re not going to be expecting us to follow them,” said Mayhem. “That gives us the element of surprise.”

Flash hovered in the air and clopped his hooves together. “These ancient ponies are fond of their traps, right? I say we set up a trap of our own!”

“What did you have in mind?” asked Chocolate.

“We cause a distraction and get them to follow us, then we trap as many of them as possible. From what I saw all of Ahuizotl’s henchponies are earth ponies. I think a nice pit is in order.”

Plum smirked. “I like that idea.”

They stopped about twenty feet from the edge of the clearing that led to the temple. They couldn’t dig a pit out in the open. 

While the other kids dug holes with their hooves Mayhem sped the process along by making fully formed holes in the dirt.

With some covering they managed to disguise the holes.

With their traps set up they came out into the open, throwing rocks at the ponies guarding the entrance.

Their plan worked like a charm. They gave chase as the children ran back into the woods.

“Come back here, you brats!”

“We let you get away, and this is the thanks we get?”

“Stop those kids! Bring them before Ahuizotl and let them be set right next to Daring Do!”

“Surround them! Use our numbers to our advantage and don’t let a single one get away!”

It wasn’t long before the trap was sprung, and the surprised henchponies were letting out cries of shock, the earth crumbling beneath them as they fell into holes.

The ones in the back managed to stop themselves before they fell in, only to turn to the sound of determined yells behind them.

The children swung from the tree vines, kicking the stragglers into the holes with the others.

The five kids met up, slapping hooves and cheering at how successful their strategy had been.

Twilight quietly clapped, pleased with their teamwork. She was still enjoying herself very much, even if she had to stay on the sidelines.

“That won’t hold them forever,” said Mayhem, “but that doesn’t matter. As long as the path to Daring is clear that’s all that’s important right now.”

“I think that was most of them,” said Flash, his eyes twinkling with excitement. He was having as much fun now as he did during their pirate adventure. “Let’s go rescue Daring!”

“YEAH!” the others yelled, running for the structure.

It was much smaller than the temple they had just been in. It just seemed to be one big room with a raised altar in the middle. Sunlight streamed in through various carved holes in the ceiling and walls. 

In the center was what looked like a giant telescope, as well as a tall, thin covered object. Ahuizotl was standing in front of Daring Do, her chained up to a slab.

Ahuizotl looked up towards the ceiling. “Soon… very soon. When the sun is completely overhead the light will filter through the lenses and the jewels, growing stronger with each one." 

“You won’t prevail, Ahuizotl!” Daring said defiantly. “Even if you defeat me someone else will stop you. Evil never wins for long.”

Ahuizotl chuckled. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

He rose up, putting his tail hand on top of the scope. “Let’s just see how long that mouth of yours will continue to run." He pulled off the top, and the area about ten feet above Daring’s head suddenly began to melt.

Daring gasped.

“Oh, Daring. Just look at the delicious terror you’re experiencing. It’s just what I’ve been waiting for.” He pulled the cover off of the tall, thin object, revealing a full length mirror, facing it towards her. “Can you see it?” he asked maliciously. “I shouldn’t be the only one to enjoy this sight.”

Daring did look into the mirror, not liking what she saw there. She looked so pathetic. 

Ahuizotl laughed spitefully. “Oh, you do seem to be enjoying it. I just saw the hope draining from you.”

Daring couldn’t stand his taunting. She began to struggle, arcing her back and trying to escape, but she quickly stopped, panting.

“Just look at you. Is that really all you can muster?”

Daring growled, her eyes closing for a few moments before she jerked herself back to alertness. “Darn it! I don’t have any strength.”

“Wonderful!” He clapped. 

A bead of sweat came down her face, but even if her body couldn’t do anything her mouth still worked. “You went through all that work gathering the jewels, and for what? A tiny little beam two inches around? Some doomsday weapon.”

Instead of looking annoyed Ahuizotl began to laugh uproariously. When he got himself under control he reached inside a bag tied to his side. “You fool!”

Daring gaped as he pulled out three jewels of red, yellow, and blue. “W-wha-”

“Magnifying the sun’s rays is easy with a few lenses, but if that was all it was I wouldn’t need the jewels.”

He pushed one of three buttons on the side of the telescope, and a panel came out with an indentation in the shape of a jewel. He placed it inside, then pushed the button again, causing it to go inside.

The intensity of the beam magnified several times over, melting Daring’s hat. The hat split into two and fell on either side of her as it continued melting.

“And that is with just one jewel,” Ahuizotl said with dark amusement.

Daring was panting heavily. Not just from fear, but from the heat as well.

Ahuizotl seemed to grasp this after a few moments, as he placed the cover back on the top of the telescope.

He casually threw the other two jewels into the air and began to juggle them as he looked skyward to a hole in the ceiling. “Just a little longer before this will be at maximum strength. When the sun is completely overhead and combined with the power of the three jewels this whole place will become nothing but a smoking wasteland.”

He hit the second button and placed the second jewel, then continued to throw the remaining jewel up and down before catching it.

“How does it feel, Daring Do? To be so helpless… so powerless? How does the taste of defeat feel?” He saw Daring’s head drop. “Oh, did you pass out again? I hope you’re not going to be asleep for the finale.”

“I… I may have lost,” Daring said weakly, “but I still believe.”

Ahuizotl’s eyebrow rose. “You believe? Believe what?”

“I believe in those that will come after me. Your kind will always be stopped in the end.”

He rolled his eyes, slamming a fist into the third button. “How boring! I would hope your final words would be a little more interesting.”

He threw the final jewel into the air one last time as he prepared to put it in. He lifted his hand and closed his fist, only to feel empty air. “Huh?” He opened his fist to confirm it wasn’t there. He quickly looked around the ground, knowing he hadn’t heard the sound of it falling.

He heard a laugh above him, and looked up to see Flash flying above him with a stupid grin as he held up the jewel. “YOU!”

“Me,” said Flash, letting out mocking laughter.

Ahuizotl jumped at him, only for Flash to fly higher out of his range.

He heard the sound of clopping hooves approaching, and turned to see the other children. They used their whips to grab his legs and trip him to the ground.

“Y-you guys,” Daring said in amazement. “W-what are you doing here?”

Sweet Pea chuckled. “It’s just like you said. You believe in the ones who come after you. That’s why we’re all going to fight to save you.”

Daring gave them a cocky smile. “Go for it!”

Ahuizotl got up with a roar. “I have waited too long for this, and I’m not going to have my revenge ruined by a couple of brats!” He stomped on a tile, and a panel at the bottom of the altar opened, shooting out a net towards them.

Chocolate sensed the trap coming and threw himself in front of it to protect the others, but the momentum knocked him backwards and it grabbed all of them.

Flash gasped. He lifted the jewel up high. He knew he needed to help the others, but once he got near the ground it would risk Ahuizotl getting the jewel. He had to smash it.

“I wouldn’t do that!” Ahuizotl said with barely contained rage.

Flash was going to just ignore him until he heard the gasping breath of Daring. He turned and saw that Ahuizotl had his tail hand around her throat.

“Give… me… the … jewel,” he said slowly. “NOW!”

“D-don’t!” Daring wheezed out. “Pro… tect… E-ques-tri-a!”

Flash hovered there indecisively, the jewel still high above his head.

Off to the side Twilight was biting her hoof. Things were reaching a precarious point. How were they going to get out of this? Was Ahuizotl finally going to triumph? Was Flash going to choose Equestria over Daring?

Daring was starting to turn blue from lack of oxygen, and Flash lowered his raised legs, coming down to the ground. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t just sit there and watch Daring Do die. 

When he saw Flash approaching he moved his hand a bit to allow Daring to breathe, but still kept it firmly against her throat.

Daring gasped in breath for a bit as Flash climbed the stairs. 

Mayhem was trying to slice through the ropes just like he did before, but these ones were made of a much tougher quality than the ones before. He could only slowly saw through it a little bit at a time.

Flash approached, and Daring had gotten her breath back enough to say angrily, “What are you doing, kid? I told you to smash it! I’m not worth more than all of Equestria.”

“You’re too important to lose,” Flash replied. “I couldn’t abandon you when you put your faith in me.”

“Faith isn’t going to do squat when he destroys me anyway. At least if you smash the jewel you’ll limit the damage he can do even if he gets me! Now do what I tell you and break it!” She groaned as he pushed against her throat again.

“That’s enough out of you!” said Ahuizotl.

“Here!” said Flash. “Just stop.” He threw the jewel.

“At last!” he said, releasing Daring as he grabbed it out of the air.

He went up to the telescope and placed the jewel inside. “You stalled just long enough. Now it all ends!”

Just as he was about to take the top off the telescope it began to spark like crazy. “What? What’s going on?

“Did I put the jewels in the wrong order?”

He hit the button on the bottom. The panel with the blue jewel came out, electricity flying off it and shocking him.

He let out a howl of pain, falling to his knees. 

“He he!” laughed Flash, holding up another blue jewel. “You’re not the only one who can pull that trap.”

“The fake!” said Daring with a chuckle. “It goes off a short time after it’s held. Too bad he was so quick to put the jewel in, but that had to have done some serious damage to the machine.

“Good work!”

Mayhem finally finished cutting through the ropes, and they all gathered on top of the altar in front of Daring. “You lose, Ahuizotl!”

He rose with a long, frustrated yell. “Enough! I don’t care anymore! Even if I can’t conquer the world I can still conquer my hated nemesis! You won’t be able to get Daring out of her restraints before I can direct all it’s power at you.”

“He’s right!” said Plum. They only had seconds before Ahuizotl would take the top off. They wouldn’t be able to get to him or the machine in time.

“The mirror!” Daring said urgently. “Use the mirror!”

They grabbed the base of the mirror and pulled it in front of Daring before spinning it around towards the machine just as Ahuizotl popped the top off.

The magnified sun rays reflected back at the machine, frying it to cinders. 

The quick destruction of the machine was the only thing that stopped Ahuizotl from being completely fried as well, though he did receive some burns.

“Curse you, Daring Do!” he cried out as he looked at the destroyed telescope. “I will have my revenge on you one day! I swear it! You and your little cronies!” 

With that he hobbled off.

“Wait!” said Chocolate.

“Let him go,” said Daring. “We won.”

With a little bit of effort they were able to get Daring out of her restraints. “All of you were amazing today. You’ve done a great service to Equestria. I always knew I could count on you.”

Stars twinkled in their eyes. “Thanks, Daring Do!”

“I’m sorry. I hope you didn’t take it seriously when I said all those horrible things about you.”

“No worries,” said Plum. “We know you just said what you had to in order to protect us.”

Flash grabbed the surviving jewel and held it out to Daring. “Would you like to do the honors?”

“I sure would!” Daring replied, taking it and flying into the air, then hurling it down. It smashed into a million pieces. She wobbled a bit, still weak, and Flash flew up to stabilize her until she was back on the ground.

“Sorry. I’m still a little shaky, but at least the power of the jewels can’t be misused ever again.”

She reached out and hugged them all. “Thank you, all of you, for coming with me. I know it was dangerous, but I couldn’t have done this without your help. I’ll never forget what you did for me.

“You’re all incredible.”

Warmth went through the children as they returned her hug.

They closed their eyes, enjoying the sensation and the magnitude of their achievement.

When next they opened their eyes they were back in the castle.

“Oh, wow,” said Flash with a calm smile. “I think that adventure was the best out of all of them.”

“I agree,” said Plum. “That blew my wish out of the water.”

“Mine too,” said Chocolate.

“That was perfect,” said Sweet Pea. “It was everything I could have wanted out of my wish and more.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” said Mayhem. “I had a lot of fun too.”

It was quiet for a little bit, then Flash got a somber look on his face. “Well… that was four wishes for four ponies. Does that mean it’s all over now?”

“For today,” said Twilight, rubbing his head. “But there’s always next time. I’m planning on making these wish granting scenario’s a weekly thing.”

“So we can all come back next week and do this again with new wishes?” asked Sweet Pea with a bright expression.

Twilight nodded. “I can’t always promise it will be you, though. There’s nothing wrong with having a set of very close friends, but I want to expose Mayhem to all kinds of ponies.

“Today was an experiment to see how he would handle himself, and things went very well.”

“Why wait a whole week?” asked Plum. “Does it take that long to recharge his magic?”

Twilight shook her head. “Not at all. The issue is that there needs to be a balance between play time and work time. Him getting bored is bad, as it slowly brings out the tiger in him, but him having too much of a good thing is equally bad.

“I don’t want him to get greedy with his magic. He needs to show that he can have enough restraint to not have play time whenever he wants it or he’ll start to grow spoiled.

“It’s also a matter of time. As princess I have a lot of royal duties to attend to, and so I can't be spending every day or even every other day playing around. Mayhem means well, but right now I’m too afraid to let him do this on his own.”

Chocolate gave her a searching look. “After how he acted today why don’t you trust in him?”

“That’s not just my feelings. It’s his wish also.”

Mayhem nodded. “After what happened the last time I’d really prefer if she’s always there to supervise. I need someone bigger and smarter to let me know if I’m going too far.”

“Hurting his friends made it clear to him how potentially dangerous his powers can be. That is why we both agree on this matter.

“I mean, just think about what might have happened if I wasn’t there when you asked him for a Power Ponies adventure. He was completely out of it, and that might have caused his powers to do things he didn’t want them to. 

“It’s not that I think he’ll definitely harm someone if I’m not here, but neither of us want to see him harm someone else. It’s just safer for all of us if someone is there to supervise.”

They accepted that answer and didn’t fight her on it anymore. 

Mayhem went to each of them and gave them a big hug. “Thank you for playing with me. I had a lot of fun with all of you, and I enjoyed your wishes.”

Flash grabbed him in a headlock, giving him a noogie. “Same to you! That was totally awesome!”

Mayhem chuckled. “Today was really just what I needed. I really haven’t been using my magic at all since last week since I was kinda scared of it, and I was starting to feel a little cooped up. Now I feel all better.”

“Glad to hear it,” said Plum.

Twilight and Mayhem walked the children home. Mayhem did feel a bit of sadness as he said goodbye to all of them, but he knew he’d see them all again next week.

Once they dropped all the children home Mayhem sat on Twilight’s back as she teleported to the castle.

He nuzzled her cheek as he hugged her neck. “I love you, Twilight,” he said in a dreamy voice. “Today was just so magical. There were a few little hiccups along the way, but I’m really glad everything worked out in the end.”

She nuzzled him back. “Love you too.”

“Hmm… I said I’d make you part of my family, but what does that make you? Aunt Twilight? Cousin Twilight?”

“I consider all my friends like family, but I don’t have any special titles for them. You don’t have to give me a family title unless you wish to.”

“Well, if it’s all the same to you I like just calling you Twilight. After all, we don’t need special titles to know we’re family, right? It’s just something you can feel in your heart.”

“I agree with you there.”

He floated off her back, kissing her on the cheek before hugging her from the front and nuzzling her again. “Thank you for giving me a second chance, Twilight.”

Twilight felt warm as she hugged him back. “It’s for moments like these that I give those second chances.” A tear came down her eye. “Seeing someone embrace that chance and watching their progress always makes it worth it.”

They released one another. “Well, I’m gonna go home. I went to tell Mommy all about today.”

“Alright, then. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

Just before Mayhem snapped they heard a frantic knocking on the front door of the castle.

“I wonder who that is?” asked Twilight. “As hard as they’re knocking there’s not a lot of weight to it. Sounds like a child.”

Mayhem stuck with Twilight as she went to answer the door. He was curious. Maybe one of his new friends had come back needing something.

Twilight opened the door. On the doorstep was a blue pegasus filly about Pound and Pumpkin’s age. She was panting heavily and looked in a state of panic. “H-help,” she gasped out.

She tried to speak, but she was so out of breath she couldn’t get another coherent word in. 

Twilight  took a quick look around to make sure there wasn’t any immediate danger in the area before she directed her attention back to the child. “Take a  moment to catch your breath. I'm not busy, so there's no need to rush.”

The filly ignored her, still doing her best to speak despite her condition.

Twilight was afraid the child was going to make herself faint if she kept it up, and said meaningfully, “Mayhem.”

Mayhem looked up at her, then at the filly, feeling he knew what she wanted to ask. 

With  a snap the filly felt the pressure on her vanish, able to breathe regularly again. She took in a few breaths, already feeling amazed. If he could do this that easily for her then maybe...

“Alright,”  said Twilight. “Now that you’re better tell me what it is that’s got you so worked up you couldn’t take a moment to compose yourself first.”

She  looked tearfully up at Twilight. “I… I just wanted to make sure it  wasn’t too late.” She looked down at the ground, shaking. “Maybe it  already is. I… I just really needed to come here.”

Twilight sat down. “Are you in danger?”

The filly shook her head. “I came here for him.” She pointed at Mayhem.

“Me?” asked Mayhem, surprised.

She nodded, tears coming down her eyes. “I…” Her lip quivered. “I want to ask for a wish.”
> 8-7: A filly in need
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You want to ask for a wish?" Twilight asked the filly on her doorstep, extending her wing and putting it around her. “What’s troubling you?

“Actually, let’s start with your name.”

She hugged Twilight, saying, “I’m Spring Meadow.

“I just… I want to make a wish for my older brother Forest Meadow.”

“What kind of wish?”

The filly shuddered. “My brother was in a terrible accident a few months ago, and it’s all my fault!”

Twilight got a mournful expression, hugging the filly properly. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“What happened?” asked Mayhem.

“I didn’t listen,” said Spring as she pulled out of Twilight’s grip. “I was still a new flier, and I thought I was better than I was.

“My parents told me to be cautious and not fly too high. I got annoyed at them, thinking they were just babying me.” Her eyes clenched shut, followed by her entire body as she held herself. “S-s-so I went up to a high place to show off how good I thought I was.”

Mayhem bit his lip. He thought he could see where this was going. “You fell… didn’t you?”

She gave a jerky nod. “A hard breeze came up, and I lost control of my wings. My brother… he… he…” She put a hoof to her face, quietly sobbing. “He was nearby and saw me falling, and he raced down to save me.

“He… he succeeded. He did save me, but…” She sniffed, looking at the ground. “He had to go fast to get there in time, and he couldn’t stop his momentum as we got near the ground. He flipped over onto his back to keep me safe. He tried to fly horizontally to lower his speed until he got control, but it didn’t work. He crashed, slamming head first into the mountain I had jumped from.”

Twilight and Mayhem both winced.

She wiped her eyes. “He’s been in a coma ever since. I… I can still remember everything! Just like it was yesterday! The blank look in his eyes, the blood coming from his head; I see it every time I close my eyes! Every night I have nightmares about it!

“It’s my fault! It’s all my fault!” She began bawling, losing herself in her emotions.

Mayhem was crying along with her as he hugged her. He could certainly understand the feeling of hurting someone you cared about.

Twilight walked forward a few steps and joined in, wrapping both her hooves and wings around the pair. It was obvious Spring was in a lot of pain. It was for times like this that she had allowed Mayhem to remain.

After a few minutes, when Spring calmed down a little, Twilight released her.

Spring looked up at her, sniffing. Wiping her eyes she said, “My friend Sweet Pea told me about Mayhem and her adventures today.” She took in a shaky breath. “When I heard about what he could do I immediately took off, knowing that this could be my only chance to finally have my brother back.” She gulped, more tears coming down her eyes. “I had to get here before he went home or I might never get another chance.”

Now Twilight understood why Spring was so worked up she wouldn’t even take a moment to catch her breath before speaking. She was living with so much guilt and hurt inside.

Spring turned towards Mayhem. “It’s not too late, is it? Will you help my brother?”

“Of course I-” Mayhem paused, his face clenching. “Twilight, I want to help! It’s okay, right?”

She looked down at him, confused. “Why would I ever tell you not to help someone?”

“I told you that you’re in control of me today. I don’t want to go off using my power on others without your permission.”

She took a breath, taking a mental step back before she called him ridiculous for thinking he needed to ask permission to help someone suffering. She had to remind herself he was still feeling guilty over losing control of his magic and putting his friends through such terrible experiences. He was only trying to be obedient, finding it easier to just ask permission to know he was doing the right thing.

“Of course I’m going to give you permission to help her.”

Spring hugged Twilight. “Thank you!”

“However, before we do that there is one thing we have to take care of first.”

Spring looked up with a frown. “Can’t it wait?”

Twilight shook her head. “You said that when you heard about Mayhem’s abilities you ran away from home and came right here. Your parents are already concerned enough about your older brother. We don’t need them panicking over you too.”

Twilight and Mayhem crossed the threshold of the castle, closing the door behind them. “Okay, so where do you live?”

Spring glanced around, then let out a heavy breath. “I… I don’t know how to get back from here. I was in such a rush I didn’t even care about how I was going to get back.”

“That’s not a problem. May I take a little peek inside your memories to see where your house is?”

She nodded. “Whatever gets us to my brother faster.”

Twilight’s horn lit up, and she touched it to Spring’s forehead. She located the house inside her memories.

"Oh!" said Twilight. "You live right next to Sweet Pea. That makes things simple. Let's go to your parents."

The filly looked at the ground. “They’re not home anyway.”

“They left you home alone?” Twilight asked with concern.

She shook her head. “No. Me and Sweet Pea are neighbors and our families are really close. Especially because me and Sweet Pea are the same age, and my older brother and her older brother are too.

“My parents have been spending a lot of time at the hospital, hoping my brother would wake up, so I stay at her place most of the time.”

“Even so, we still need to make them aware of where you are and that I’ll be watching over you.” 

Spring knew it was pointless to fight it. The more she complained the longer it would take. “Fine then.”

With her magic she set Spring upon her back, then put a hoof on Mayhem and teleported the three of them, arriving in front of a house.

She knocked on the door. A short while later it opened.

“Hello?” said a mare anxiously. As she recognized Twilight her eyes widened and she quickly bowed. “H-hello, Princess! T-to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Twilight lifted Spring and put her on the ground.

“Spring Meadow!” said the mare, hugging the filly close. “You’re alright!

“You gave me such a scare!”

She released Spring, looking over at Twilight. “Thank you so much for bringing her back.”

“Of course.”

Sweet Pea came up shortly after. “There you are! Why did you run away like that?” After a moment she noticed who was behind her. “Twilight, Mayhem… what are you doing with her?”

Mayhem laughed awkwardly. “Well, not to make you feel bad, but she ran away because of you.”

“Me?” she asked incredulously. “All I did was tell her about how you had granted our wishes for fun times.”

“Can you not think of anything she would desperately want to wish for?” asked Twilight.

Sweet Pea looked up at her, and then the realization sunk in. “You mean… her brother?”

She nodded. 

“But… but how can he help? All he can do is make realistic illusions… right? His power is just for playing games.”

“I tried to downplay Mayhem’s powers as just making imaginary things real for games, but his powers are a little more than that. He can manifest his powers on reality if he chooses.”

Sweet Pea’s mother blinked. “Seriously? Then he can really help him?”

“That’s what we’re about to try. We’re going to head to the hospital right now, but I just wanted you to know she was safe. Will you entrust her to my care?”

“Of course!” she cried out emotionally. “I’ve had to watch Spring suffer for so long. If she can finally be free of her burden then do it!” A tear came down her eye. "My son has been miserable too without his best friend."

Sweet Pea herself was getting emotional. She threw her hooves around Mayhem. “I was scared of you when I first met you, but I know you’re more than that.” She sniffed. “Please…  please help my friend.”

He felt moisture on his shoulder, and when he pulled back he could see tears swimming in her eyes. He looked up at her mother, seeing the heaviness on their features.

Instinctively he copied Flurry, putting a hoof to his heart. He thought of seeing his friends at Flurry’s cutecenera, and how they were also in pain from not being able to see him. The situation was different, but the feelings were the same.

He was piecing together how valuable each friendship was, and how pain wasn’t only limited to the person hurting. Every person that shared a piece of their heart suffered right along with them. With just one accident two families were devastated.

He sniffed, saluting at them. “Of course I will.”

That made the two of them smile.

“Let’s go, Twilight!” Mayhem said emotionally. "There's so much pain going around. Let's turn it into happiness."
> 8-8: It's my fault!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With a snap they arrived outside Ponyville Hospital.

Walking inside the hospital the trio of Mayhem, Twilight, and Spring went to the reception desk.

The nurse greeted them pleasantly, though her smile grew strained as she recognized Twilight.

“How can I help you, Princess?” she asked.

“I’m here to see my brother,” said Spring from Twilight’s back.

Now her smile faded entirely. “Oh, it’s you, Spring. Your parents are here visiting too. I’m afraid there’s still been no change.”

“Okay. Can you give us directions?”

She nodded, and told them how to get to his room.

They thanked her and took off. 

A few minutes later they arrived at the room. Spring hopped off Twilight’s back and trotted into the room. “Mom, Dad!”

They both turned to her. “Spring Meadow?” said her father. “What are you doing here?”

She hopped up onto his lap and hugged him. “It’s gonna be alright now,” she said with a sniff. “Everything is gonna be just fine.”

“What do you mean?” asked her mother.

Twilight knocked gently on the door. “Hello there,” she said pleasantly.

Their eyes bugged out of their heads as they saw her. They both hurried to rise and bow to her. “Hello, Princess Twilight.

“What brings you here?”

“It’s a bit of a long story,” said Spring, “but he’s going to be okay.

“Princess Twilight, these are my parents. My mom is Clear Water, and my dad is Still Lake.”

“Pleased to meet you,” said Twilight. “Well, you already know who I am so why don’t you introduce yourself now?” She pushed Mayhem forward.

The two of them looked at him bewildered. They had never seen a creature like him before.

“Hello,” said Mayhem, waving to them. “My name is Mayhem the draconequus.”

A bead of sweat came down Clear’s face. “You, um, certainly have a knack for, uh… unusual companions, Princess. First the dragon, and now this.”

“Oh, Spike hasn’t been replaced,” said Twilight. “Mayhem is a friend of mine who’s here to help you.”

“Help out how?”

“Mayhem can grant wishes,” said Spring. “He’s going to heal my brother.”

Clear’s knees grew weak. “C-can you… can you really do that?” Just the idea that he could help her son was enough for her to put away any misgivings she had over his appearance.

“I’ll do my best,” said Mayhem.

He floated in the air, hovering over the comatose pony in the bed, feeling a little afraid. His powers had never let him down before. He had created new worlds, living creatures, altered the very fabric of reality… but even his great powers had their limits. He couldn’t bring someone back from the dead. Forest wasn’t dead, so that wasn’t an issue, but what if his powers couldn’t help someone in a coma?

Spring had been devastated by her brother’s injury, and her parents in turn. Even their friends were deeply affected by it. Everything was riding on him right now. All their hopes… all their wishes. If he failed at this he would only cause them so much more pain.

There was no point in dragging it out. Whether he succeeded or failed it was to his benefit to do it as quickly as possible.

He focused all his attention on Forest’s face, and snapped.

A few seconds passed, and everyone but Twilight was looking at him strangely.

“He should be alright now,” said Mayhem.

Clear’s eyes narrowed. “Is our suffering some kind of joke to you?” she said angrily. “Did you come here just to make a pun at our expense? ‘Oh, he’ll be better in a snap.’ Ha ha!”

Still looked at Twilight, fuming. “And you! You went along with this?”

Twilight remained calm. “I understand your frustration, but Mayhem’s abilities aren’t as flashy as unicorn or alicorn magic with their colored auras. For him, his magic really is done in a snap.

“Give them a demonstration.”

Mayhem snapped again, and Twilight turned into an earth pony. 

All three of them gaped at Twilight wide-eyed, speechless.

Spring rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. “Did… did he just…”

Mayhem snapped again, and her horn and wings returned. 

“As you can see,” said Twilight, “Mayhem has very impressive magic that goes beyond even alicorn capabilities. That was why I downplayed his powers as just creating realistic illusions for playing games.”

“If… if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it,” said Still, looking like his namesake.

“Me neither,” said Clear.

All eyes were drawn to the bed as they heard a groan coming from it. Forest began to squirm a bit, and Clear and Still both moved closer to the bed, their hearts racing. Spring hopped up onto the bed.

A few more seconds passed, and he grew quiet. Their disappointment was immense. He groaned again, and suddenly his eyes opened a crack. Another few seconds passed, and his eyes fluttered open. He put a hoof up to block the sunlight as his eyes adjusted.

All three of them were too shocked to do anything at first, but Clear was the first to react. She collapsed against her husband and began crying.

The noise got Forest’s attention, and he sat up higher. “Mom? What’s wrong?”

“You’re talking!” said Still, starting to cry himself. “You recognize us!”

“Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?” He looked around the room. “Wait. Am I in the hospital? Why?”

“You got into a bad accident and were in a coma, but everything… everything’s okay now, Son.”

Clear walked over and hugged him. “I’m so glad to hear your voice again. You don’t know how lonely the house has seemed without you.”

“A coma?” said Forest, blinking. “For how long?”

“Three months.”

His eyes widened. “Three months!” he said incredulously, sinking back onto the pillow. In a quieter voice he said it again to himself.

Twilight put a hoof on Spring, saying happily, “Well, you got your wish. You must be so happy. I bet you can’t wait to give your brother a big welcome back hug.”

Spring rose up, but instead of going to join her brother she hopped off the bed and headed for the door. 

Twilight looked at her with confusion. “Where are you going?”

“I… I don’t belong here,” she said with a sniff. “I don’t deserve to be part of this family reunion.”

Mayhem blocked the doorway as her family looked on with concern and confusion. “Why would you say something like that? You were so concerned for your brother that as soon as you heard about my power to help him you took off to find me, and wouldn’t even give yourself a moment to catch your breath.

“And now… now that you finally have him back you’re just gonna leave without even saying anything to him?”

“YES!” she screamed emotionally. “It’s like I told you at the start! It’s my fault! If I had listened to my family when they told me I wasn’t strong enough yet this never would have happened!”

She took in a shuddering breath, hugging herself. “I tore apart our family and made everyone suffer! I don’t even deserve to look at him anymore!”

Clear took a few steps toward her daughter and said, “Spring, it was just-”

“SHUT UP!” she said angrily.

Twilight used a spell to muffle her voice outside of the room so Spring could vent without disturbing the other patients.

Spring spun around, stomping her hoof with each repetition. “Shut up shut up shut up! I don’t want to hear it!” She was panting hard. “It doesn’t matter what you say! It doesn’t matter how many pretty words you try to use. It doesn’t change anything!

“It doesn’t matter if it was ‘just an accident.’ It doesn’t matter if I never intended for it to happen. It doesn’t stop it from being my fault. He never would have been hurt if I hadn’t been stupid and broke the rules. No matter what you say that won’t change.”

Her body tensed as she took in a shuddering breath, tears coming down her eyes.

Everyone was quiet for a little while.

Mayhem put a hoof over his heart, feeling a deep ache inside him. It all felt too familiar to him. He remembered thinking Masky was a terrible pony for hurting Fluttershy and the ones she cared about, until the next day when he came to Fluttershy and bawled his eyes out as he showed her how much pain he was holding inside.

He had thought Flurry was a terrible pony too for calling him hideous and a freak, only to see a short while later that she, too, was holding in a heavy weight on her heart. In the end, they weren’t bad ponies. They were only lashing out because of the ache in their soul.

Pound and Pumpkin had told him about the time they ran away because they felt like everyone hated them after they got suspended from school. 

Peppermint had told him about the day she met Pumpkin, how she had slapped her baby brother in a fit of jealousy and thought she was the scum of the earth. She felt like she deserved it when her father slapped her in return in his tired state.

So many ponies, suffering… needing someone to be there for them. And, right now, he wanted to be there for her. He wanted to free her of the burden she had been carrying, because he understood it better than anyone.

He walked up to Spring and hugged her, tears streaming down his eyes. “I know how you feel.”

She let out a growl, shoving him away. “Oh, really? Did you almost get someone you loved killed recently?”

“Yes!” Mayhem replied bluntly.

She gave him a curious look, like she wasn’t sure if he was being serious or just telling her what she wanted to hear.

“And, unlike you, it wasn’t an accident.”

Twilight stiffened. “Mayhem, I really don’t think-”

“Please, Twilight! Don’t!” He looked up at her. “For me, this is personal.”

“Personal?” she said quietly to herself. Her eyes widened as a memory came to her. Earlier that day, right before they began to play their games, Mayhem had lost himself in fear and loathing. His past misdeeds came to the forefront of his mind, leaving him a crying wreck just like Spring. Even though he had been forgiven he still felt the weight of guilt and shame on him. 

She understood him now, and why he couldn’t just let Spring’s feelings continue to consume her. Their feelings were far too similar.

“I get it, Mayhem. I won’t try to stop you, but…” She let out a slow breath. “If you tell this story it might make it more difficult to continue your weekly community service.”

“I don’t care about that!” He was blazing now. “This isn’t about me right now. I don’t care if my reputation becomes dirt or if they never want to see me again after today because of what I say.

“I just…” He blinked tears out of his eyes. “I just don’t want to see her in pain any more, and if my story can help her through her pain then I don’t want to hold back.”

He thought about Flurry, unhesitatingly taking all his attacks for the sake of keeping her friends safe. If the true nature of friendship was a willingness to sacrifice yourself for the people you care for then he wanted to do it too. He wanted to be just like his closest friends who all fought so hard to save him.

Twilight sat down and closed her eyes. “I understand. Do what you think is right.”

“What’s going on?” asked Still. “Is this creature dangerous?”

“He slipped up,” said Twilight. “Unfortunately, because his magic is so powerful, letting it get out of control caused a lot of pain all around. Once he came back to his senses he was immediately remorseful, all of us recognizing that it wasn’t really him acting that way.”

Spring glanced towards Twilight. “So he really did… almost kill someone close to him?”

Mayhem extended an arm. “I can’t really explain what happened without explaining what exactly I am. I’m not quite normal.”

“I think we’ve already established that,” she replied as she turned back to him, but her eyes went wide as his body turned into a purple-green plaid and became mist.

A few seconds later he reformed. “I introduce myself as a draconequus like my daddy, but what you just saw is what I really am.”

Her eyebrow went up, his statement distracting all of them from their sorrow. “So… what are you?”

“Put simply, I am magic. That’s all. Well, to be specific I’m chaos magic. I just take the form of my daddy because it’s the most familiar shape.”

“Okay. Um… is that important?”

He nodded. “It’s vitally important, especially to you.”

“Well, it cured my brother, so yeah.”

He shook his head. “No, that’s not what I mean.”

“So what do you mean?”

“My very nature is chaos, and yet just like my daddy before me I was able to control that power for the sake of love… at first.”

“At first?”

Mayhem nodded guiltily. “I’ve only been released into the real world as my own person for a few months, and getting to experience hugs and the love of the pony who chose to be my mother figure made me so happy I couldn’t have cared less about causing chaos, but something changed recently.”

“What did?”

“Boredom. I grew bored with life. I grew bored of the same things every day. I was too scared of hurting my mother to ask to visit my friends. I didn’t want her to feel like I cared about them more than her, so I kept it inside. Those feelings built up and up. Eventually she asked my friends to hang out with me on her own, but by that point it was too late.

“I wasn’t satisfied with the little board games. I wanted, needed something big, so I made a fake world where we could have a superhero adventure, but it wasn’t meant to be fun and harmless.

“I lost myself in my desire for chaos. Once I started I found I couldn’t stop. I stopped treating my friends like friends, but simply as playthings to ease my boredom.” He began to shiver, his eyes filling up with tears. “I erased their memories of each other and the knowledge they were only in a pretend world, making everything painfully real to them. I put them through such painful experiences, laughing all the while as I finally vented all the pent up feelings I had been stuffing down.

“When they finally beat all the challenges I put in front of them they faced me, and their endless determination to win drove me crazy. I was supposed to always be in command, but they just wouldn’t surrender, never giving up despite the power gap between us. 

“Even though I had been doing something evil, up to this point I had been still been controlling everything to make sure they didn’t die. I can heal injuries with just a snap, just like I did with your brother, but I can’t bring someone back from the dead.

“However… however…” He let out a sob, hugging himself. “In the heat of the moment, I was so lost in my enjoyment and my anger at them for not giving up that I really was going to let it happen. I forgot that they were my friends, and all that mattered to me at that moment was winning the game… no matter what it took to do it.”

Spring just stared at him. When Sweet had told her about Mayhem she had mentioned being off put by his appearance at first, but once they got going he had seemed perfectly friendly and cool. Her eyes moved to Twilight, wondering what she had been thinking when she let him loose to play games like these again.  

The parents weren’t thinking too differently.

Forest wasn’t sure what to think, though there was something gnawing at him he wanted to ask when he had the chance.

Mayhem drew a circle in the air, playing a memory. Flurry and the rest were all holding hooves as she asked for them to lend their hearts to her. “In the end… I lost. I forgot the power of the magic of friendship.” Flurry’s eyes grew white as they all lit up, the Fire of Friendship coming out of her horn and emitting a light out of it.

“It knocked me out, and the next thing I remember was Flurry slapping me to wake me up. As I came to my senses I grew afraid of her. I wasn’t supposed to lose. It shouldn’t have been possible, but by combining their powers they had overcome my abilities.

“I thought that was going to be it for me. I had betrayed all of them and even erased the memories of their friendships with me so I could play the part of the villain. The light from the Fire of Friendship hadn’t destroyed me like it did the windigo’s so long ago, but it did seem to purge the darkness from me, making me realize all the hurt I was responsible for. 

“I couldn’t understand how they had worked together so well when I thought I had ruined their friendships, but she explained it. Even if I took away the thoughts, I couldn’t take away their hearts. She could still feel connected to all of them even if she couldn’t remember them.

“And then…” He sniffed. “Then came the most painful thing of all: Flurry recognized me as well. Her heart remembered me… remembered the friend I used to be.

“I confirmed her suspicions, and to my surprise she hugged me."

The memory popped up. “I forgive you, Mayhem,” said Flurry.

“Why? I did so many horrible things to you. I betrayed our friendship and tried to kill you!”

 “I know you made some big mistakes. Without my memories of you I don’t know if you brought us here because we did something personally to hurt you, or whether it really was just out of boredom, but what I do know is that you have the potential to be good.

"Just like Aunt Starlight, you can change your ways. You can become a better you, and move away from the bad you of the past."

“Are you sure about this, Flurry?” asked Pound.

“All I know of you from this battle is that you were our enemy. But this is something that seems to go beyond memories. When I stop thinking and just feel… a part of me remembers who you were before this."

Her brow furrowed in concentration. “I feel… like… like at one point you saved me. Saved me from something huge. You, and all these other ponies, changed my life forever. I truly believe that in my heart. And that’s why, even if I can’t remember the friendship we used to have, I still want to forgive you.

“You used to be our friend. Wouldn’t you like to be again?”

Tears slowly came down the real Mayhem’s eyes as memory Mayhem broke down sobbing. “After everything I had done, after I had betrayed my friends and everything our friendship stood for… her first action was to forgive me. Rather than condemning me she tried to coax me back onto the side of good and renew our friendship.”

He hugged himself as he shook. “Throughout my ‘game’ I felt like there was a fog over my mind. I was totally out of control with no one to rein me in. After I was defeated that fog went away, leaving me with only the weight of my guilt.

“The very idea that she was just going to overlook what I had done just to have her old friend back only made me feel worse. I couldn’t accept it.

“When we got back to the real world I restored their memories, intending for that to be my final act. I told you that I’m just living magic. Once I use it all up I vanish and become a part of Discord again, and only he can let me out in my physical form again. I intended to remain inside him forever, so I could never harm them again. I told them to forget me, feeling like they’d be better off that way.”

Spring was biting her lip. She was understanding his feelings more than she wanted to admit. “So then… why are you still here?” she asked quietly. “Even if your friends forgave you I don’t think Princess Twilight would just stand idly by after hearing about what you’ve done.”

“The parents of all my friends are mad at me, and right now I’m not allowed to see any of them. That’s true.”

“And how does this all relate anyway, Princess?” asked Still. “Sweet Pea said you were gathering some children for a friendship exercise. That’s the only reason our daughter heard about him in the first place.”

“Mayhem showed genuine remorse for his actions,” said Twilight. “He is still new to friendship, and is still learning about proper boundaries.

“As he said earlier he is literally chaos magic from Discord. Like most children he can fight off his destructive impulses by focusing on the feelings he has for others, but he is a unique case. As a being of chaos his very being literally demands chaos or he gets rambunctious.”

The parents looked at each other before looking back at Twilight. “And you think that makes him safe to be around other ponies?” asked Clear.

“As I explained to the parents of one of his friends when I came up with my plan for his reformation, his power itself is not dangerous. You think of chaos as something destructive, but all it really means for him is just wanting things out of the ordinary to what’s normal. 

“What I determined is that boredom is much harder on him than it is for others, and so long as it doesn’t build up he’s perfectly docile. So, then, the natural thing to do was to consider how to stop it from building up. I couldn’t have him lose control like this again, so for his community service he would grant wishes to other children to get his quota of chaos in. With me being there as a moderator in case things go too far he could bring happiness to others as well as forge more bonds that would encourage him not to act this way again.

“Mayhem even went beyond my expectations, showing he was preparing for this day as well. He created a bunch of new rules for his fantasy games that made safety the top priority, both physical and emotional.”

“You’re a princess,” said Still, "so if you want to pardon him then that’s your call, but I don’t feel it’s right to hide something like this from others he’s going to be interacting with.”

“If I wasn’t there to observe then I would certainly agree with you, but I don’t feel it’s right to sour everyone’s opinion about him before they even see him. That’s why I didn’t want him telling about his past and I made his powers seem like less than they are. It’s forging these new connections that are going to keep him in line.”

“Hmph! Didn’t stop him from betraying his friends before. He still threw it all away just for the sake of a good time. Why should we expect a few more friends to make things any different?”

Spring saw Mayhem get a forlorn look on his face as he bit his lip, and she found herself identifying with him. “Stop it, Dad!” she said angrily. That got everyone looking at her. The anger quickly turned to sadness. “You don’t have to rub it in! Doesn’t it hurt enough without reminding him of his mistakes?” Her eyes were shimmering with tears.

“If Twilight hadn’t done what she did then I never would have heard about it from Sweet Pea.” She put a hoof to her heart. “When I heard about his powers I immediately raced over because, more than anything else in the world, I wanted Forest to wake up.

“He’s the only reason you have your son back, so stop picking on him! Or have you forgotten that already? Would you rather Forest still be unconscious?”

The two of them got guilty looks on their faces. 

Mayhem was surprised she was standing up for him.

“We got a little off topic,” said Twilight. “We lost focus on your daughter.”

“Yeah,” Clear said quietly. 

“Mayhem,” said Forest, speaking for the first time in a long while.

“Yes?” he replied.

“I’d like to make a request for a wish.”

“What’s that?”

“I want to see what I’ve been missing.” He had a somber look on his face. “It seems like my sister has been sitting with some heavy feelings.”

Mayhem stared at him, hesitant.

“What’s wrong? Can’t you do it?”

Now he looked away. “It’s not that I can’t, but… well, it’s not my place to invade someone’s memories for everyone to see without permission.”

“It’s fine,” said Spring emotionlessly. “Maybe then he’ll treat me the way that I deserve.”

“Well, I guess that settles that,” said Forest.

Mayhem felt uncomfortable. He didn’t want to bare her heart. It would be enough to just express her feelings and for them to listen, wouldn’t it? 

He looked towards Twilight, hoping she would give him an out. “Twilight, I told you that you’re in charge of my magic today, and I’d only do what you told me to do.”

Twilight could see the conflict going on in his mind. She took in a slow breath. “Mayhem… a broken heart is something that isn’t healed without pain from all sides. To truly learn what glue you need to mend it, it starts with understanding. With understanding comes compassion and empathy. Isn’t that why Flurry forgave you?” 

He flinched. 

“Do you remember this?” She summoned the image from Pumpkin’s ceiling. “You created yourself as the villain as a symbol of your faith in your friends that they'd do whatever it took to bring you back if you ever went down the wrong path. I don’t believe it was mere coincidence that you recreated those costumes when you did it for real. Even in the midst of losing control of yourself your subconscious mind was begging to be rescued.”

Mayhem gently shook, tears coming down his eyes.

“Your friends dove into your darkness to pull you out of it, shining the light of their hearts on you. Here before you is another who is drowning in the darkness. 

"You told me this was personal for you. Are you unwilling to dive into her darkness to pull her out of it?”

She walked a little closer and sat down next to him. “I will make no demands of you. So long as you’re not using it for evil I have no place forcing you to act. However, I feel you may be the only one here who truly understands her feelings.

“Do what you feel is right in your heart.”

He thought of his friends again. He had counted on all of them. Spring might not feel she deserved help, but her heart was clearly screaming out in pain. He couldn’t refuse someone who was in need, not when he understood her so deeply. She even seemed to feel a connection as well, standing up for him when her parents dug into him for his own mistakes.

He nodded. “Okay, Twilight. I’ll do it.”

He looked over at Spring, who had a defeated expression on her face. “Is it truly alright if I show your heart to everyone? This is something extremely personal.”

“I already said it’s fine, didn’t I? I don’t care what you do.”

Mayhem closed his eyes and sighed. “Alright, then.”

He raised a claw and snapped, and the room around them dissolved until it grew black.
> 8-9: Spring's heart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Still blinked several times. “W-what is this?” he asked as he looked around the black void they were now in. 

“This is my world,” said Mayhem.

“Your… world?” asked Spring. She spun around and looked up and down. “But there’s nothing here.”

“I create a blank spot, and then I let the people I’m with choose the paint that makes it up.” He snapped, and an orb of light came out of Spring, traveling to Mayhem.

“Hey!” Clear called out. “What did you just do to her?”

He extended his claw, taking the orb and lifting it above his head. “This is what you asked of me. This… is her heart.” 

Out of the orb came boundless beams of light, and slowly a new area appeared. They were now outside in front of a house.

“See you later, Mom!” said a familiar voice. “I’m going out for flying practice.”

Spring gasped as another her opened the door. 

Forest looked between the two. “Is this… a memory?”

Mayhem nodded.

He leaned back against the bed, trying to process it. It was what he had wished for, but he didn’t expect it to feel so real. He could feel a gentle breeze passing them by, and smell the usual scents around the area. 

Clear and Still were both amazed as well. They didn’t think his powers were this realistic either. It really felt like they were in front of their house, and if it wasn’t for there being two of their daughter they wouldn’t suspect that they hadn’t just teleported.

Past Spring looked so happy as she began trotting away. 

“Hold on!” said past Clear.

“What is it, Mom?” she asked, coming to a stop.

“Just… be careful, okay? I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

The cheerful look faded as she rolled her eyes. “Okay. Got it.” She didn’t give her mom a chance to say anything else as she took off again.

The brightness of the world dimmed a little, and even Spring’s thoughts came to them like they were in her head.

‘Every day it’s the same thing,” she thought angrily. ‘Be careful, be careful. Like I’m some kind of idiot. I’ve been flying for two months now and they still treat me like just a little kid. I’m tired of it.’

She took off into the air about ten feet as she began practicing. Only a short while later she took notice of a high cliff in the distance, and the wheels began turning in her head.

She smirked. ‘That’s it! If they won’t acknowledge my skills then I’ll just have to prove it to them. When they see me doing just fine up there they’ll never doubt me again.’

Spring bit her lip. She could remember this perfectly, and she felt so stupid over it later.

Past Spring landed, trotting towards the cliff. She knew her limits fairly well, and she didn’t want to exhaust herself just getting to the mountain. 

The parents were still having trouble with this. They were literally inside their daughters memories. It was one thing to have them transferred or even viewed in a little square, but for it to be this big and feel so real just felt impossible.

Past Spring got to the top of the cliff, about sixty feet above the ground. She looked down, and gulped at how high she was. As it was the realm of her memories the entire world grew hazy to simulate her brief dizzy spell.

She backed up a ways and got into a ready position. She was starting to have second thoughts about this. For a time she just stood there unmoving. Finally, she turned away. “This… isn’t a good idea.”

She walked a few steps, and her mother’s voice echoed in her mind, telling her to be careful. The world dimmed, to focus on her thoughts, and more echoes appeared, each one of her mother and father, always telling her to be cautious. 

She growled, turning right back around as the color returned. “I’ll show them! I’ll show them I can handle it. I’m not just some stupid kid!”

Present Spring’s vision went blurry with tears. She had never been more wrong in her life.

Past Spring charged, unfurling her wings and jumping as she flapped. At first she was ecstatic. She felt a thrill of exhilaration being so high up. Usually she didn’t have such a big open area to fly around in. She played around, doing simple maneuvers like angling her body to the left to fly in a circle or angling upward and downward to gain and lose air.

She was perfectly content, enjoying the open air, when suddenly everything went wrong. She decided to try doing a loop-de-loop. As she reached the apex and was completely upside-down a strong breeze came out of nowhere, catching her wings and disrupting her concentration.

She was knocked off balance, heading down fast as she began screaming. 

Even higher up Forest and  Sweet Pea’s brother Specter were hanging out on a cloud chatting. The sound of his sister screaming immediately had him jumping up and off the cloud. He didn’t know why he could hear her, since it was pretty far from their house, but reasons didn’t matter to him. He was sure it was her. Whether laughing or in fear he had heard her screeching enough to know that.

He raced downwards as fast as he could, so focused on getting down to the ground he needed to take a moment to figure out where she actually was so he could head there. He spotted her and angled slightly to line up with her. 

He was rapidly closing the distance between them. “Hold on, Sis!” he yelled. “I’m coming.” 

The world had been rapidly pulsing like a heartbeat to demonstrate her fear, but at the words of her brother it slowed down slightly, and she fought to regain control.

Forest watched his past self grab his sister. In the moment, with adrenaline running so high, he didn’t know what happened. He could vaguely recall it. He had had to rush so fast to get her before she hit the ground that once he actually got her he had too much momentum built up. He was going to crash into the ground if he didn’t do something quick.  

With the extra weight of his sister added to the mix he couldn’t properly control himself, and if he was going to crash he wasn’t going to let her get hurt, so he angled himself so he was going horizontally upside-down. He flapped his wings just three feet off the ground, holding tight to Spring. 

He thought if he could just lower his momentum he could land safely without incident. He was so focused on protecting her that he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings, headed right for the cliff Spring had jumped from.

Clear and Still were both holding onto each other. They knew what was coming.

Spring was sweating and shivering with her hooves over her ears and her eyes clenched shut.

Mayhem bit his lip, then snapped. The filly gently fell to the ground, fast asleep. He didn’t want to exclude Spring from things, but he felt it would be best for her if she blanked out for a little bit. He didn’t think she’d be able to take the trauma of experiencing her brother’s accident a second time. He felt like it might shatter her already fragile psyche, and then they’d never be able to pull her out of the darkness.

All of them could see him getting closer and closer, ignorant of what was behind him. 

Forest could feel his heart beating hard in his chest, seeing his past self seconds from the accident. 

None of them wanted to look directly at it when it happened, but they couldn’t block out the noise of the impact.

Forest dropped to the ground unmoving, blood coming from the wound in his head.

For a few moments Spring didn’t realize what had happened. She had been so lost in adrenaline and fear that all she knew at first was that they had landed on the ground and she was unharmed.

She was panting slightly as she got up with a sigh of relief. “I’m alive. Thank goodness.” She looked down at Forest with a smile. “Thank you, For-” 

Her eyes widened as she took in his appearance, her brain not wanting to accept what she was seeing. She fell to the ground in front of him, blinking repeatedly in a vain hope that one time she’d stop seeing the illusion in front of her eyes.

Her big brother, her hero, the coolest pony she knew… dead?

The shock began to wear off and she put her hooves to her face as she screamed in agony.

Specter landed on the ground. “Forest!” he called out in horror.

Spring began to shake her brother. “Wake up! Wake up, please! Please!”

“Stop, Spring!” he called out, pulling her away before she made things worse for him.

“No! Stop! My brother! Let me go, Specter!” She struggled to get out of his grip, but he wouldn’t release her. “Forest! Forest!”

Still and Clear were both hugging each other hard, crying on each other. It had been hard enough to hear about what happened after the fact, but having to see it personally, to see the suffering of both their children, was almost too much to bear.

A mare came by to see what all the noise was, and gasped loudly as she saw the body on the ground. “We need an ambulance immediately!” said Specter. The mare nodded and took off as fast as she could.

Spring was no longer fighting against him. She turned around and hugged him, bawling her eyes out. 

The stallion hugged her back. It was taking everything not to break down himself.

Time sped up until they got to the point the doctors arrived. They did a quick cursory examination before placing him on a stretcher and into the ambulance. 

“Is he alive?” Specter asked hesitantly before they drove off.

“For now, yes,” said one of the stallions, “but he’s in critical condition. There’s no time to chat.” With that he got in and they took off.

Specter released her and kneeled down. “Get on.” She complied with no fuss, and they flew to her house. 

When they arrived he banged on the door several times and opened it without waiting for them to come. “Hey! It’s me!”

Clear and Still came around the corner. “What’s wrong, Specter?”

“There’s been an accident. We need to get to the hospital right away.”

Clear felt a stab of panic, tilting her body to get a better look at her daughter. “What happened to her?”

“Not her. It was Forest.”

“Well, what happened to him?” she asked, her voice cracking. 

“He crashed and hit his head protecting her.”

Spring felt a stab of guilt as she saw her mother’s expression, and, just as before, the world shifted slightly, growing darker. 

The scene skipped ahead to them in the waiting room.

Still was pacing around back and forth, unable to sit still.

Clear was staring off into space, her mind too full to focus on anything. 

Specter was sitting next to Spring. He had tried keeping her on his lap for comforting, but she chose to sit alone. She was curled up in a ball.

The feelings were so raw she thought she might break already, the entire world fading out into a black void just as it was before Mayhem worked his magic.

There was another skip, and the world came back into focus as a doctor came to them with a grim look on his face. 

“He’s stable for now, but he did take a hard hit to the head. Right now his life is not in danger, but he also has not woken up. He appears to be in a deep coma because of the blunt force trauma he got from colliding with that cliff.

“Every patient is different, so I can’t tell you exactly when he might wake up.”

They went in to see him. Forest’s head was wrapped up in bandages, masking the seriousness of the wound.

Spring let out a pained wail as she stood over him. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!

“It’s my fault! It’s all my fault!”

“Spring,” said Clear, “please don’t blame yourself. It was a terrible accident. Your brother is still fighting.”

She tried to hug her daughter, but Spring pulled out of her grip, refusing to be comforted.

Time passed. Sweet Pea’s parents came in after Specter left to tell them about Forest’s accident. 

They expressed sympathy and sadness for him. Spring’s parents gratefully accepted their words, but just like with her own parents Spring couldn’t.

The more sympathy that was expressed to her the more her world seemed to dim.

Spring accompanied her parents for the first few visits, but she couldn’t bring herself to visit after that. She couldn’t stand seeing him like that. It just made her feel worse.

They saw the nightmares she suffered, feeling the weight that was slowly accumulating on her.

It cut to her laying on her bed, the world dark as her thoughts became prevalent. Above her were memories of ponies she knew. Besides her family and Sweet Pea’s family were a bunch of ponies Mayhem didn’t know. Twilight thought she vaguely recognized some of them, though she didn’t know them personally.

The common theme of all of them was that each one was kind and sympathetic. “I’m so sorry for your pain.” “It must hurt so bad. I’m sorry you have to go through this.” “I heard about your brother’s accident. Hang in there.”

The world went completely black, all the scenery disappearing as the word “why” began popping up all over the place. “Why?” she said. “Why is everyone being so nice to me?

“Don’t they understand that it’s my fault? Why won’t they hate me?” She pulled the blanket around her, burying herself underneath it. “Why do they even look at me like I’m not a monster?”

It was another stab to the heart for Clear and Still. There was so much they didn’t know was going on in the background of their daughter’s life. They knew she was spending more time alone. They did coax her out every once in a while, but they just thought she needed that time alone to process her feelings. They thought she was just grieving, and thought it would be wrong to try to force cheer into her life.

It skipped again to another day.

“Mom and Dad are at the hospital again,” Spring said emotionlessly as she sat on her side on her bed. “They spend so much time there now. It’s not like being at the hospital is going to make Forest wake up any quicker, but they still keep going anyway.

“I guess it’s not surprising. Whatever they can do to avoid me.”

That made them tense. “Why?” said Clear, though she knew the memory couldn’t hear it. “Why would you say that?”

“I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t want to see me either.”

Mayhem tensed. He knew those feelings.

“They always treat me nice when they get home. I guess after spending so much time cursing me at work and at the hospital that they get it out of their systems, so all they have left is kind words when they see me in person.”

Clear went weak-kneed as Still put a hoof to his forehead. Was that how their daughter really felt? 

More memories played, but it was just more of the same. Spring masked her true feelings, pretending to be okay while thinking her parents were similarly pretending. They’d see a scene where Clear or Still would tell Spring they loved her, and on the outside Spring would return the sentiment. However, above Spring’s head would be her true thoughts, saying things like “You don’t really mean that” or “How can anybody love trash like me?”

There were more nightmares, more self-loathing, and her heart just grew heavier and heavier in her despair. It was just an endless daily loop of pain.

“Please!” Clear finally said, tears streaming down her eyes. “I can’t watch this anymore.”

Mayhem snapped, and the flow of memories stopped.

Still looked at his daughter asleep on the floor, his heart breaking. “I didn’t know,” he said miserably. “All these feelings she was hiding inside…”

Clear was quietly sobbing on her husband. “We got so caught up in our own pain that we weren’t there for her when she needed us the most! 

“Sweet Pea’s family was so understanding and always took care of our daughter when we were at the hospital, but Spring was right. We couldn’t do anything for Forest but wait. We should have been there for the child that was in despair and we could actually help.”

Tears slowly came down Twilight’s face. “Flurry,” she said quietly, thinking of her niece. Though the source of their pain was different the two of them suffered from a common thread. They were both small children holding in a pain too great for them to handle, and feeling unable to speak about those feelings. 

Unlike Flurry, who didn’t have an obvious source of pain, everyone knew that Spring was suffering because of her brother’s accident. However, because of that obvious pain they missed the deeper pain she was hiding beneath it.

“So,” said Forest, his expression heavy, “this is what I’ve been missing out on all this time. Even if it was necessary to understand a part of me wishes I hadn’t seen it. “

“So, then,” said Still. “What do we do? How do we fix this? What’s going to save her from this pain?”

“Um…” Clear took a deep breath as she rose off her husband and wiped her eyes. “I know this isn’t exactly… good, but couldn’t we just… erase her memories of that incident? Could you do that for her?”

Before Twilight could say anything Mayhem said strongly, “Not a chance! I could erase the thoughts in her mind, sure, but it would amount to nothing. When I took my friends memories away they were still able to remember each other in their hearts. There are things that go beyond memories.

“If I took her memory away of her brother’s accident I’d have to change her memories of the next three months as well, and that’s too long. I could change the source of his accident to just being that he lost control while practicing a trick or something, then she wouldn’t blame herself, but then she’d just feel some deep sense of unease she couldn’t explain the source of whenever she looked at him. She wouldn’t really be any better off.

“And even if I could make it so that it’s completely gone from both her mind and her heart it’s still wrong to alter her memories like that. The past is there to learn from. If I forgot what I did to my friends it wouldn’t help me. My mommy told me to keep the feelings of fear I had deep in my heart so that if I ever tried to do the same thing again I’d remember that pain and stop myself. It would be wrong to stop her from learning too.

“If she won’t accept love then we just have to keep reaching out our hooves, or paw in my case, until she does.”

Twilight gave him a warm smile. She hadn’t interacted with Mayhem much, but it seemed like every time she saw him he had made progress in leaps and bounds towards understanding friendship. He had made a giant leap backwards when he got bored, but he had come out of it with new knowledge he was trying to pass on. She hadn’t had to speak a word, but Mayhem had said more or less exactly what she would have said. 

Clear sighed. “You’re right. I already knew it was wrong to ask. Now that we know her true feelings it would be immoral to take such an extreme measure without even talking to her first.”

“Well,” said Still, “it’s not going to get any easier from here. Let’s not put it off any longer.”

Mayhem nodded. “That’s what I want to hear. No matter how long it takes or how painful it is we’re going to rescue her from the darkness.”
> 8-10: Break through the darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayhem snapped. They left the world of Spring’s memories and were now back in the hospital.

Spring stirred, slowly rising up as she got her bearings. She eventually noticed everyone looking at her sadly. “W-what?” she said defensively.

She got a thoughtful look on her face. “Wait, what happened? We were looking at my memories. Why was I sleeping on the floor?”

“I put you to sleep,” Mayhem replied. “You’re already feeling tortured enough about what happened in your mind. You shouldn’t have to experience it in person again.”

Her expression soured as her negative feelings came back to her. “Why not? It’s not like I should forget how I almost killed my brother, right?”

“No, you shouldn’t forget it, but you should use that knowledge to better yourself, not to hurt yourself.”

Spring just rolled her eyes.

“We’re sorry,” said Clear mournfully. “We know that we haven’t been there for you lately, but please don’t think it’s because we wanted to avoid you or that we’re always talking bad about you behind your back.”

“We’re going to be there for you more,” said Still. “You don’t have to hold onto that guilt anymore."

“You don’t get it,” Spring replied emotionlessly. “I want to hurt. I want to feel this way! I don’t deserve peace and happiness and joy.”

“You’re not a monster, Spring! You’re just a child who made a youthful mistake. I know it led to tragedy, but we’re not going to hold that against you.”

Spring just stared at them blankly, unresponsive.

“Don’t you get it?” Mayhem asked, tears shimmering in his eyes. “Your brother sacrificed himself for you because he loves you! Even if he knew the results ahead of time he would have saved you every single time. He never would have abandoned you to save himself.

“Love is the thread that connects us all.” He put a claw to his heart, then lifted it and pointed, lights coming out in the shape of hearts. One sat in the center, attached to the others by a ray of light. “Every time we make a connection we share a part of ourselves with them, and they give part of theirs in return. When one heart suffers they all suffer, because our love is so deep. That love is the greatest source of strength, and it has the power to overcome anything.” 

He knew that first hand. When he had first taken over Pound and Pumpkin the twins had been completely under his thrall, but when he tried to kill the ones they loved they wrestled control back from him. Then, when they realized they didn’t have the strength to fight off his control forever, they attempted to sacrifice themselves so that he couldn’t use them as a host anymore.

Even though they were just weak children their strength grew as much as it needed to in order to keep their loved ones safe. And, of course, he could never forget what Flurry had done in his world. When he broke her recent confidence by taking away her memories of her friends she had been so weak, but through the battles she fought she found that confidence again in order to protect the others.

She hadn’t been wrong when she had told him that she had grown stronger than him. She had the hearts of all her friends with her, while he had been fighting alone. In the end, it was the love and desire to protect her friends that wiped out her fears. She blazed so bright that no darkness could exist, inspiring her friends and allowing her to create the Fire of Friendship to wipe out his own darkness.

The tears that had been hovering in his eyes fell down his face. “True love,” he said with a sniff, “is being willing to do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love, no matter how much it hurts yourself. Your brother risked everything to protect you. Do you really believe he could ever hate you after that?”

Spring showed a brief reaction, tensing as pain crossed her face, but then the walls went back up as her expression went blank again.

Mayhem sniffed, his voice growing emotional. “I told you my story! I’m far more of a monster than you could ever be. If I could be forgiven, and a bunch of villains that tried to kill or enslave a bunch of ponies could be forgiven, then why not you?

“I can’t… I can’t stand seeing you suffering like this!” He quietly sobbed. “You deserve to be happy too! All this time you’ve been attacking yourself and belittling yourself and thinking everyone hates you! But NO ONE hates you. No one has ever hated you.

“I know you made a big mistake, but I did too. That’s why I’m here now! That’s why I’m here at this very moment, to tell you that you can start over too.”

He wiped his eyes, but more tears replaced them. “You think I haven’t suffered over what I’ve done? You think I haven’t had nightmares and felt like total scum or that I should never have been forgiven? I’ve gone through that too, but there’s one thing that always makes me want to try again when I feel like giving up.”

“What’s that?” Spring asked emotionlessly.

“My friends! I told you before that we’re all connected, and recently I-” He paused for a moment, then decided it didn’t matter. As he had said at the start it didn’t matter what consequences came his way. The only thing that mattered to him right now was helping to pull Spring out of the darkness.

“Twilight.”

“Yes, Mayhem?” she replied.

“If you want to punish me later I don’t care, but can you just save it for after this?”

Her eyebrow went up. “What do you mean?”

“I snuck into Flurry’s cutecenera disguised as a regular pony so I could be close to my friends during one of the most important days of her life.”

Twilight wasn’t sure what she should say about that, but as he said that was a matter for another time. She closed her eyes and nodded, not wanting to shift focus away from Spring’s situation.

“What’s the big deal about that?” asked Spring.

“It’s because I went behind the backs of their parents, who hadn’t yet given me permission to play with their children again.

“My friends didn’t know it was me at first. I was told not to reveal my identity.”

Twilight’s eyes opened, taking note of that statement. That had to mean going to the party wasn’t his own idea, but someone else’s. Barred from his friends, and his nonexistent social circle outside of them, that only left Discord and Fluttershy. She could easily see Fluttershy feeling bad for him having to be alone while she was out partying. She could just as easily see Mayhem fudging the truth to protect her. 

She gave herself a mental kick, reminding herself that it was wholly unimportant right now. She had to keep her mind on the present situation.

“When I was first talking to them I told them I had made a big mistake, and that I felt like I was evil. They told me if I felt bad about what I did I couldn’t be evil, and that I should work towards improving myself.

“And then… they brought up me. They talked about another friend, me, that was missing from their group, one that had also made a big mistake recently, and that’s why I wasn’t at the party. I saw each of them expressing sadness at my absence. They talked about speaking to their families about me and getting shut down, because none of them were yet willing to give me a second chance.

“What I saw there… was a bunch of aching hearts. Each of them felt like something was missing, and they didn’t feel complete without me there. It made me see how important I’ve become to them.”

He looked at the ground, remembering the pain he had felt. “In the end, I was shown once again that I was underestimating what my friends are capable of. As the party came to an end they revealed that they had been aware of my true identity almost from the start. Not because I told them, or I had done something only I could do, but just from spending time with me. As one of them said to me, they were my friends, and I couldn’t hide my heart from them.”

He put a claw to his heart. “Connections don’t disappear. What I heard at the party showed me that, even after they had time to process everything that had happened, they still thought of me as a precious friend. I saw it my duty to do everything I could to be able to see them openly. Otherwise, they would only continue to miss me.

“Twilight understood this connection. That’s why she put me in a situation where I could use my powers to help others to enjoy their wildest dreams. She wanted me to grow. She wanted me to connect with other hearts, so that even if I did begin to think about going back to the old me I’d reject it, since she knows it would be meaningless to force it.”

He slapped his chest. “I’m here now because she believed in me to be able to change despite the bad things I did in my past. After what happened with your brother I’m sure you’ve realized your parents don’t just tell you things to get on your nerves.

“You’ve taken responsibility for your part in things and have strived to do something different than what caused the accident in the first place. You’ve done everything you could to walk down a different path than the one that led to tragedy, and now you have a second chance to do things right this time.

“You’ve suffered enough. Isn’t it time you let the past be in the past?”

Spring stared at him for about ten seconds, and then she growled, her eyes narrowing. “Maybe I don’t want a second chance! Maybe I don’t deserve a second chance. I don’t know who I’m going to hurt next with a careless mistake. It's for the best if I stay far away from my brother so I can't ever hurt him like that again.”

Fluttershy popped into his mind, glaring at him, and suddenly he began to feel anger creeping into him. He suddenly understood why she had done what she did. “You don’t understand anything! Even after everything I’ve told you, you still don’t get a single thing.”

“Hmph! Who cares what you think? All I asked you for was a wish to help my brother. I didn’t ask you to butt into my life or my personal business.”

“Let me ask you something," he said coldly. "Why did you ask me to help your brother?”

Her eyebrow went up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means exactly what I said. Was it guilt? For your parents? For you?”

She didn’t answer for a while, then finally she said, “What do you care?”

Mayhem could see she was getting standoffish now. “Because just like I said before you don’t understand. Whatever happened, your heart is connected to your family. Seeing you suffer makes them suffer. 

“Ultimately, if you continue on hating yourself and drowning in your pain then what I did was meaningless. Your parents have seen your heart and know all the pain you've been keeping inside, but even without that it was still obvious that you were hurting over not having your brother in your life. They would still be suffering with or without your brother being awake.

“But he’s different. While your brother was in his coma his mind was blank, but now that he’s awake he can feel again. He can hurt again.

“If you can’t forgive yourself then he'll start to hurt watching you hurt. If that happens, all you will have accomplished with your wish to wake up your brother is making him suffer even more than you already have.”

The glare cracked entirely as her eyes shrunk and Spring gasped, a shudder going through her body. She closed the distance between them and smacked Mayhem hard enough to knock him to the floor.

“Mayhem!” Twilight called out as her parents called out Spring’s name. 

The filly sank to the floor, gasping for breath as her eyes shrank to little dots.

Mayhem got up, rubbing his cheek. He wasn’t mad at all. He knew he had just touched a nerve, and almost expected the hit. Once more he thought of what happened with Flurry and Masky. He had touched the center of her pain, breaking her defensiveness, and he had to strike while she was vulnerable. 

“When my mother heard about what I had done to my friends she was devastated.” Spring looked up at him, still breathing heavy and looking lost. “However, her personality shifted immensely when I told her what I wanted to do. I tried to do what you did. I told her I was going to go back inside Discord and stay there forever so I could never hurt my friends like that again. 

“What she said then hurt, but she was right. I thought I was doing it to protect my friends, but I was only being selfish. I saw them hurting without me at Flurry’s party because a bond of the heart can’t be broken that easily. 

“I wasn’t really trying to protect them with my declaration. All I was doing was abandoning them to make myself feel better. She told me that if I really cared about my friends and what our relationship stood for then, instead of running away, I would do all I could to make it up to them.”

Spring looked away from him, quietly sobbing. “Y-you… y-y-you don’t…”

“WHAT?” Mayhem asked sharply. “I ‘don’t understand?’ Don’t give me that! I told you that I almost killed my best friends when my powers went to my head and I got too prideful to allow myself to lose! I understand it perfectly!

“I don’t care how many times you hit me! It won’t make what I said any less true! I was being a coward when I tried to abandon my friends to protect them, and you’re being a coward right now by trying to abandon your brother when I’m sure the only thing he wants right now is to have you back in his life!”

Spring flinched, putting her hooves to her face.

“You’ve been granted a great opportunity to start over and do the right thing. I certainly didn’t feel I deserved it when my friends overlooked my behavior and Twilight agreed with them and gave me a pardon. I’ve suffered and agonized over it, feeling like I was being rewarded for doing the wrong thing. I’ve suffered guilt and nightmares and hated myself too, but in the end I found that the one thing I couldn’t ever give up was my relationships with my friends. I couldn’t live without them.

“That’s why I’m still in this world. I want to do all the good I can for others so that I can earn the right to see my friends again. That’s what I owe them, both for hurting them in the past, and hurting them again through my absence in their lives.

“No matter how bad I feel about the past, I don’t ever want to abandon them again, because I know they’d be devastated if they couldn’t ever see me again. That’s why I’m going to keep walking down this path. I’m going to keep fighting, no matter how much it hurts. That’s the form my love for them takes.”

Twilight smiled at him, feeling his inner strength radiating off of him. He had found a purpose, and for that he would suffer whatever it took to get things back to the way they were.

“So what about you?" Mayhem said angrily. "Your brother almost died saving your life. What are you doing for him in return, huh? You finally have him back, and all you can think about is abandoning your relationship? Now I understand why Mommy told me she felt disgusted by me.”

A shudder went through Spring as she bit her lip.

“Since he’s woken up you haven’t spoken a single word to him. You didn’t even say thank you for what he’s done. You’ve blamed yourself for everything, but have you even once said you were sorry?”

“Yes! I have!” She got up. “And I hated it.”

“You hated having to apologize?”

“No! I h-hated being dismissed. All I w-w-wanted was someone to accept my apology, but everyone always treated it like it didn’t matter. No one took it seriously.”

“Why do you think so?” asked Still. “We don’t feel we acted that way. We weren’t callous or mean about it.”

“That’s not what I mean!” She turned to her parents, tears streaming down her eyes. “You talked to me like I should just get over it. ‘Don’t worry about it.’ ‘It was just an accident.’ ‘Don’t blame yourself.’ You… you never treated my feelings like they mattered! 

“It's just like today! It’s like I said at the start: this never would have happened if I had listened to you, but you always tried to act like I had done nothing wrong... like you thought it would make me feel better or something.”

The two of them looked at each other, then back to their daughter, crying themselves. “We saw you were suffering,” said Still. “In a time of greatest pain what would it have accomplished to rub it in? It wouldn’t have woken Forest up.”

Clear felt like she had a weight on her that was threatening to have her slide to the floor. “And yet we…” She sniffed, letting out a little sob. “We hurt you anyways, so focused on our injured son that we began to neglect you when you needed us the most.”

Mayhem looked a little put out, the blazing fire of his passion dwindling. “I… I feel like I finally get it.”

“Get what?” Spring asked, turning to him.

“I understand your pain, having gone through the same sort of experience you have. I wanted this for me, to swoop in and save the day; to be your hero and unite your family… but I’m starting to understand I can’t do that.

“No matter how much I empathize with you, in the end you were right that I’m just butting into your personal life when it’s not my place. This is a matter that should be settled between you and your brother.

“If you feel so responsible for what happened to him then you should at least have the guts to say sorry to him face to face.” He pointed a claw at her and moved it in a gentle circle, picking her up and setting her on Forest’s hospital bed.

She bit her lip and began to gently shiver, her breathing going up slightly. “I… I can’t.”

Mayhem floated next to the bed, taking her hoof in his claw. “If you don’t have the courage to talk to him then let me add my heart to yours. 

“I can’t solve your problem directly, but I can stand by your side until you resolve things.”

She looked over at him, her eyes filling with tears. She flinched as Forest called her name.

“Spring. Please… look at me.”

Her body tensed, but just as it seemed she was about to let go she locked herself away again. She yanked her hoof out of Mayhem’s grip, and she finally made eye contact with him, a scowl on her face.

“Go ahead, then!” she said angrily. “Just go ahead and say whatever you want. I already know what you’re going to say, and I don’t want to hear it! I’m tired of hearing it! It makes me sick!”

Forest stared at his sister, seeing how much she was suffering. Taking what he had seen and what she had just been saying to his parents he thought he knew what she needed. It wasn’t something he wanted to do, but he knew it was something he had to do for her own sake.

“I think you’re right,” said Forest.

Her eyebrow went up.

“We can’t expect our parents to stop being parents. Caring about and protecting their children is their job, even if it gets on our nerves sometimes. 

“You felt like living a rebellion to prove yourself, and if I hadn’t been there to save you then you would have died. You did something foolish, and in the end you brought all this pain on yourself. Just as you said, this never would have happened if you had just listened, so you’re responsible for what happened.”

“HA!” Spring said loudly, flashing an arrogant smile. “So at least you have the guts to acknowledge the truth. Someone is finally being honest for once.” 

“I lost three months of my life because of that accident.”

Spring had an almost ecstatic look on her face, laughing creepily. “And so the truth comes out. Finally!”  The grin faded as tears came down her eyes. “I knew it... I really am terrible.”

“Forest!” started Still, but with a flash Twilight teleported in front of them.

“Not a word,” said Twilight. “Trust your son. This is what she needs.”

“What she needs?” asked Clear, her eyes narrowing.

“Yes. Your daughter committed an error. Had your son not gotten hurt either he or you would have scolded her for her recklessness. However, because of his accident you never scolded her over things. You said that you didn’t want to rub in what happened to make her feel worse, but in the end she feels like she received no consequences for unintentionally causing such pain. Her sense of justice just can’t reconcile not receiving any criticism for her behavior just because it’s connected to a greater tragedy. 

“In trying to protect her you only deepened her sense of feeling unworthy of love. How can she make up for her mistake if you refuse to acknowledge it was a mistake? For her, you’re simply denying reality.

“She won’t ever be able to release the pain she has inside until she feels she’s paid for her mistake. Was that not made clear from what she was just saying to you as well as the part of her memories where she wondered why everyone was being so nice to her despite setting off the events that led to her brother’s coma?

“Now please stay quiet and listen.”

Neither of them could argue against her.

Forest took in a breath. Maybe it was necessary, but he hated having to hurt his sister to help her. There was so much he had missed out on. His own eyes filled with tears as he let out a little sob.

That sound caught Spring’s attention, making her head shoot up towards him. “F-Forest?”

His eyes clenched shut. “Maybe it’s true that you started the series of events that lead to this moment, but my own heart is aching too.” He sniffed. “I feel like I failed you.”

“B-but you rescued me.”

“What does that matter? As your big brother it’s my job to be there for you. While I was spending my time in this hospital bed I could do nothing for you. I couldn’t be there to sooth your pain and hug you. 

“All this time you’ve spent suffering, hiding your pain, and I feel I could have helped you through it so much faster if only I hadn’t been so weak.”

Spring got a pained look on her face. “Don’t say that! DON’T SAY THAT! You’re not weak! You’re the coolest and strongest pony I know! It wasn’t your fault.”

“If you can blame yourself for things then why can’t I do the same? If I had been just a little bit faster or stronger I could have gotten you out of danger without getting hurt myself. Then you never would have had to go through all this.”

“Stop it! Stop it! Stop attacking yourself! You saved my life.”

“And yet your life basically ended anyway. You’ve felt so lonely and isolated, stuck in the world of your inner pain with no relief. 

“You’re not the same Spring Meadow you were three months ago. You’re like a stranger. I can barely recognize you anymore. You don’t have the life and zest you used to.

“But, in the end, I think you’ve repented for what you’ve done. The both of us did the same thing, did we not?” She gave him a confused look. “You don’t get it? Just as I saved your life you also saved mine.”

Her eyes widened, her insides going cold. “W-what?”

“When I saw you in trouble I acted immediately, racing as fast as I could to your side to protect you, getting hurt in the process.

“When I was in trouble you heard about a creature with special magic, and you took off immediately, racing as fast as you could to my side to protect me, even despite all the pain you had already gone through.

“Maybe you did cause my accident through your carelessness, but when you had the opportunity to undo your mistake you instantly took it. Who knows how long I would have been in this hospital bed if it hadn’t been for you. I owe you my life.”

Her breathing got sharper. “No… don’t. I’m… I’m not a hero! Don’t… d-d-don’t… I didn’t do anything!”

“Oh?” said Twilight, smiling. “Then who should we blame for today, then?”

Spring sniffed, still breathing heavy as she pointed at Mayhem. “Him! It was his powers that saved Forest.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s true, but unimportant.” Spring gave her a questioning look. “Today is no different than the events that caused us all to be here in the first place: you broke the rules to fulfill a desire close to your heart.”

“Broke the rules?” asked Still.

Twilight nodded again. “I’m sure running off alone without telling anyone isn’t something you’d approve of in normal circumstances.”

“Oh, right.”

“In the past it was a selfish desire, to prove yourself to your parents. Today your desire was to help your brother.

“Think about it. Without Mayhem’s powers your brother wouldn’t have been healed, but as I said that’s irrelevant. The question that has to be asked is: how did Mayhem hear about your brother in the first place in order to heal him?”

Spring went stone still.

“I had never met you before you came banging on my door. Your parents never knew Mayhem before today, nor Sweet Pea’s family. And while Sweet Pea had met Mayhem, when she came home all she did was tell you about how much fun she had. 

“Did she suggest using Mayhem’s wish powers for your brother? No. When I brought you back home she didn’t think Mayhem could do anything for Forest because his powers were ‘just for playing games.’ She thought his powers were just about making realistic illusions.

“That rules everyone else out. The only one who both knew about Mayhem and had the idea to save your brother was you. You didn’t cause your brother’s recovery directly, but without your actions it couldn't have happened.”

Spring put her hooves to her face, quietly sobbing. “No. No. No. I… I wasn’t… I didn’t…”

Mayhem put an arm around her, chuckling. “Isn’t it just like you said at the start? Whatever pretty words or excuses you use this was your fault. Today… you’re your brother’s hero.”

Tears quietly came down her eyes. "I... I'm... it was... me? I... saved..." 

“I have another wish,” said Forest.

“What’s that?” asked Mayhem.

“Not from you. This is something only Spring can do.”

The filly looked up at him uncertainly. 

Forest could see that a lot of the weight had vanished from her expression. “I feel guilty because of all the guilt and sorrow you’ve felt. I feel like if I had only been better I could have saved you without getting hurt, and all of this could have been avoided.

“You’ve torn yourself to shreds emotionally, blaming and hating yourself.” Forest put his hooves out, pulling her closer. “I think I can forgive myself if you can do the same for yourself.”

She didn’t fight the contact. “But I… I don’t…”

“I know. I know it’s not going to be something that happens overnight. Nothing’s that simple. But we can both take steps towards making it happen together. My heart is with you, and all I want is to just spend time with you. After all, I’ve been out of commission for three months. I have a lot of big brothering to catch up on.”

She moved her hooves, hugging him back. “I’ll try… for you.”

“That’s all I’m asking for. 

“Do you want to hear my wish now?”

“O-okay.”

“My wish is just to see you smile. My heart is heavy with everything I’ve seen you go through. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to see that grin that lights up the world, and it would make my heart soar if I could just see it again.”

She was quiet for a while. “Can you just… tell me one thing?”

“What’s that?”

She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with tears. “Tell me… tell me you still love me. Everyone else has been saying how they think you feel, but I need… I need to hear it from you.” She sniffed, a lump in her throat. “I need to hear that you don’t hate me!”

Forest moved one of his hooves, rubbing the back of her head. “I love you, Spring! Our parents love you. Sweet Pea and her family love you. You even have the princess of all of Ponyville here to help solve our family issues. The only one who ever hated you was… you.

“Mayhem was able to start anew, and it seems like he’s learned a lot from the experience. I can feel that from the way he acts. He’s acknowledged the wrong he’s done, trying to use it as an example to help others to start over too. Now it’s your turn.

“I don’t want to dwell on the past when there’s an amazing present to explore. You’ve taken responsibility for what you’ve done and have been punishing yourself all this time. Whatever happened, I think you’ve more than suffered the consequences. That’s how I feel.”

He nuzzled her nose with his own. “You’re my special, precious sister. No matter what happens that will never change. I’ll always love you now and forever.”

“I… I have been punishing myself. I… I... I thought that if no one else was going to punish me for what I did then I would take on that job.

“All this time I never allowed myself to get too happy. I thought I didn’t deserve it. The longer you were unconscious the more I hated myself and the more I began to feel like everyone around me h-hated me too.” She let out a sob as tears came down her eyes.

“I… I don’t even know if I can ever smile again.  I still feel it in my heart. There’s still a lot of anger and hatred there. I don’t know what to do with all my feelings. They feel too strong to fight alone.”

“You’re never alone!” Mayhem said cheerfully, taking hold of her hoof again. “Hatred may make you forget that and wear you down, but if you look inside yourself the love from your family and friends is always there.

“Your brother, your parents, Sweet Pea… all they want is to see you happy, and now that they know the source of your pain I know they’ll be there to act as medicine to put together your broken heart, one bandage at a time.”

Happy tears came down his eyes. “My friends gave me a second chance after all the pain I caused them, and I know they worry about me, but I’m not afraid so long as I have them. What do you have to be afraid of when you have so much love waiting for you to remind you how special and amazing you are?”

She turned away from him to her parents. “Do... do you feel that way too? Please, I need to hear it from you too.” 

Clear and Still got up and walked over to the bed, kissing her forehead. “I love you, Spring!” said Clear.

“I love you too!” said Still.

Spring looked between the three of them, seeing them all giving her such warm looks. “Forest… I… there’s something I want to do.”

“What’s that?” he replied.

“I want… what I want the most right now… is just to grant your wish.” She swallowed, wiping away some tears. “I want to take away your pain... b-because I want to see you smiling too."

She struggled a bit, but she eventually gave him a small smile.

“There you are,” said Forest happily. “I can see it’s still frail, but I’ll help to make it more genuine over time. I want to make you smile every day until you remember how beautiful life can be.”

Her smile only lasted a few more seconds before her emotions overwhelmed her and she broke down sobbing, holding tightly to him. “I love you! I l-love you so much! I’m… I’m so happy y-you’re back!”

Still and Clear added their hooves to the hug, feeling like a family once more as they cried along with her.

Mayhem put a claw to his heart. Tears shined in his eyes as he thought of his friends, thinking that they’d be proud of him.

Their emotions got to him, and he felt a desire to hug something. He floated up and held Twilight.

Twilight was beaming as she patted his back. “Good job, Mayhem! You solved your first friendship problem. How does it feel?”

He looked up at her. “Amazing.

“Can I have a hug?”

She giggled to herself as she complied. “Of course.” 

She was a little surprised as he broke down like the rest of them, but then again he had his own past he was still trying to forgive himself for. She supposed it wasn’t that unusual, especially with his childish mindset.

“Go ahead and cry,” she said gently. “I’ll hold you as long as you want.

“I’m very, very proud of you, Mayhem. There’s nothing else I can say. You were amazing today.”

He stopped crying for a few moments to look up at her, clearly touched by her words, then he buried his head in her chest again.

Twilight gently bobbed, her eyes closed and a smile on her face. Past these tears would be the birth of new happiness.
> 8-11: Unsaved?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took a few minutes before everyone had settled down enough to separate.

Mayhem floated over to Spring, sitting down next to her. Her eyes were red from crying, but there was a calm expression on her face. She didn’t look like the world was sitting on her shoulders anymore.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

She turned to him and gave him a hug. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

“For what?”

“For hitting you before.”

Mayhem chuckled as he hugged her back. “You are forgiven, as long as you do one thing for me.”

“What’s that?”

“My wish is the same as your brother’s.” A tear gently came down his eye. “I just want you to be happy, so don’t hide anymore.

“Without all that self-hatred blocking your view are you starting to see all the love surrounding you again?”

She nodded. “Thank you… for helping my brother.”

“Of course. I was happy to do it, especially when I got to help someone else who was suffering needlessly.”

“I won’t forget this,” she said with a sniff. “Your powers can basically do anything, so I doubt I could ever be of any help to you, but if you ever need me I’ll be there.”

Mayhem squeezed her tighter. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I need you.

“My powers just make stuff. Making stuff out of thin air, making things vanish, changing the state of things… but there are things only you can do that my powers can’t even touch. One of those things is making friends to strengthen my heart.

“I told you about how I hurt my friends when I lost control. The whole reason Twilight is letting me grant wishes is to keep my powers in check. She wants my heart to grow stronger by forming more bonds with other ponies so I never betray them again.

“Just like I said before, our powers are only at their greatest when we all come together with one heart. I want us to share our hearts with one another so we can hold each other up when we’re feeling down or unsure.”

He pulled away from her, looking at her with teary eyes. “Will you be my friend?”

She nodded. “Will you be mine?”

He nodded back, and then they hugged again. 

“I want to grant your wish too,” she said in a dreamy tone. “It’s the least I can do after what you’ve done for us.”

Forest grinned as they split apart. His sister’s smile didn’t look so forced now.

He pulled the little draconequus towards him and hugged him. “Thank you, Mayhem, for taking care of my sister. Even if I don’t see you after today my heart is with you as well.”

Still and Clear joined in the hug. “We’ll add our own hearts too,” said Clear. “You saved both our children today. We got our son back, and Spring is finally smiling again.”

“Thank you so much,” said Still. “Our gratitude is eternal.”

Mayhem’s eyes shimmered as tears rolled down his cheeks. He had fought past the hate and changed it into love. Flurry popped into his mind, thinking of how she had done the same for him.

Twilight smiled warmly at the scene. She could see how much this meant to him. 

Spring got up and hopped off the bed. “Today is a very special day!” she said in an excited voice. Some of it faded as she continued. “My brain is still fighting me, but I don’t want to let it control me anymore.

“I want to celebrate Forest’s return in style! I want to have so much fun that my negative feelings will have to go away.”

“That sounds lovely,” said Still. “Let’s get Sweet Pea’s family and make a day out of it.”

“Yeah!” Spring called out excitedly, pumping a hoof, though just like before her enthusiasm waned a bit right after. The shackles of her guilty feelings had weakened greatly, but a part of her still felt like one good pull would lead to her sinking into those feelings again.

Clear picked her up and held her close. “Keep fighting, Spring.”

Forest got up, testing his legs. Standing was no issue. In fact, he felt as good as he had ever felt.

They called in one of the doctors. Twilight told them that Mayhem had helped to cure him, but kept his powers vague so as to undercut how great they were.

Forest was given a full examination. After the doctors were satisfied they wrote up his release papers.

Once everything was finalized they left the hospital. Forest unfurled his wings and took to the air, glad to be able to stretch his wings. 

After a minute he descended and grabbed Spring, throwing her on his back before taking off again. 

She held him around the neck as the two just flew around for a little while.

“I’m just feeling so joyful right now, Sis,” he said, turning to her with a grin before looking forward again. “It just feels so magical to be with you again.”

She nuzzled his neck. “Same to you. It just wasn’t the same without you around.”

“I’m just going to guess that after my accident you haven’t flown much, if at all?”

“No,” she said heavily.

“What do you say we go flying together tomorrow? We’ll work on your flying so you learn to have more control.”

She began to shake a little. “I’m… I’m not ready for that yet.”

He stopped and began hovering, looking at her. “I know that the past hurts, but you can’t let it control you forever. Besides, if you become a better flier then you won’t need me to rescue you when you lose control. Isn’t that a great way to protect me from having another accident?”

She stared at him for a little while. “O-okay, Forest.”

He smiled at her. “Come on. Fly with me now.”

“But everyone is waiting for us.”

“I don’t think they’ll mind waiting another minute. We have Mayhem and Twilight down there, so there’s no danger in us doing this together.”

She looked down at the pair, and after another minute she unfurled her wings and hopped off his back. She flapped to be on the same level as him, her heart already racing.

He took her hoof in his. “Come on. Just for a little while.”

With a touch of reluctance she joined in, holding his hoof tightly as they flew. The feeling of his hoof was comforting, but it was still scary. Not being up in the air itself, but just the thought that things could turn out the same way.

She didn’t think she wanted to fly. She wasn’t sure it was safe to ever fly again.

Mayhem’s words flitted through her mind, calling her a coward for thinking of abandoning her brother.

“She told me that if I really cared about my friends and what our relationship stood for then, instead of running away, I would do all I could to make it up to them.”

She couldn’t undo the past. She couldn’t stop her brother from ever having had an accident. What she could do is exactly what he said: improve her skills so it wouldn’t be her fault her brother got hurt again.

She felt a little determination flaring up inside her, and rather than just letting her brother take the lead she went and pulled him along.

“There you go!” Forest said as they descended a bit then rose.

It wasn’t long before her nerves got the better of her. “I can’t do anymore!”

Forest tugged on her hoof, pulling her to him as he hugged her. “That’s fine. I’m just happy that you were able to do that much.

“It’s like I said at the hospital. I know this isn’t something you’re going to overcome right away. I’m happy with bite-sized progress, as long as you’re still willing to walk alongside me.”

“I want to land!” she said anxiously without returning his hug.

“Okay.” He angled downward and settled on the ground.

Spring took in a few shallow breaths, now returning his hug.

“She’s still going to need more time,” Forest said genially. “She’s trying to fight, but she doesn’t have the strength right now. So, as she said, let’s spread some cheer and strengthen her heart.”

“Oh, Spring,” said Still, trying to keep up a happy demeanor to keep Spring’s spirits up.

Spring sat on Forest’s back, leaned over with her head against his and her hooves against his neck as they walked. She felt relieved to be back on solid ground.

She had her eyes closed, just enjoying his company and the knowledge he was back.

A short while later they arrived at Sweet Pea’s house and knocked on the door.

“Hello?” said Specter as he opened the door. His eyes widened. “Forest! You’re really alright!”

The two hugged. “It’s good to see you again too,” Forest replied.

Specter’s voice caught the attention of the others in the house, and it wasn’t long at all before they had all gathered.

“You did it,” Sweet Pea said, tears in her eyes. “You really did it.”

“Of course I did,” Mayhem said, grinning. “I said I would, didn’t I?”

The filly hugged him. “Thank you. 

“I’m so glad I met you today. Not only did you show me an amazing time but you helped my best friend.”

Mayhem returned the hug, a tear coming down his eye. “You’re welcome.”

Sweet Pea’s mother added her own hooves to the mix. “I want to thank you as well for following through. We’ve lived next to Spring’s family since the two of them were babies, and our families have grown up together.

“We’ve been just as distraught over everything that’s been going on with them as they have.”

Mayhem could feel their hearts melding with his, and more tears came down his eyes.

When he was let go Specter rubbed his hoof back and forth on his head. “So, you’re the little guy that got me my best friend back, huh? Thanks a lot.” 

He put his hoof out, and Mayhem pounded it.

“It’s just crazy to think about,” said Sweet Pea’s dad. “Our daughter has been gushing about how much fun she had and what you could do. It was wonderful to see her so happy, but then to hear you could change things in the real world… it just blew my mind.

“Our families are together again at last.”

Mayhem nodded. “I was happy to help, but it’s not over yet.”

“Not over?” asked Sweet Pea. “Forest is awake and out of the hospital. What’s left?”

Mayhem lifted his arms and confetti came raining down. “The celebration, of course! Spring has been feeling responsible for her brother’s accident, but she wants to embrace this second chance and try to put the past behind her.”

“I’m down for that!” said Sweet Pea, hugging her friend. “Let’s have some fun.”

Clear suggested going to Sugarcube Corner.

Twilight spoke up at the awkward look on Mayhem’s face. “Sugarcube is more about desserts.” She rubbed her tummy. “Me and Mayhem have spent the last few hours with the other children, so I’d rather go to a place that serves actual meals.”

“Oh, are you hungry, Princess?” said Still. “I know a good restaurant that makes some of the best hayburgers you’ll ever eat.”

Twilight licked her lips, wiping away a bit of drool. She had a real weakness for hayburgers. “Sounds great.”

Mayhem smiled as Twilight winked at him, saving him from having to explain why he couldn’t go there. He might have told Spring about his past in earshot of her family, but he didn’t want Sweet Pea and her family to know about everything right as they were about to party.

When they walked inside the restaurant the workers rushed to get a table ready when they saw Twilight at the front of the group.

They were given a circular table. They all ordered some food and then began to chat amongst themselves until their meals arrived, then they all dug in.

When Spring was full she pushed her plate away. She wasn’t super hungry. She mainly just ate because everyone else was. Even so, she was happy just to be around everyone.

She looked around, seeing she was the only one done. They were all so focused on eating no one was paying attention to her.

‘Like they’d want to pay attention to me anyway. I could have had these happy times earlier if I hadn’t been so stupid.’

Tears came down her eyes. Even with all her close relations nearby she suddenly felt very alone.

“If you don’t want your hay fries I’ll take them,” said Still with a chuckle as he shoved one in his mouth. He looked at her, expecting her to protest, but then he saw the expression on her face.

“Hey! What’s wrong, Spring?”

That got everyone looking at her.

Forest picked her up, sitting her on his lap as he put his hooves around her. “Come on, Sis. No tears. We’re all here for you, so don’t get upset.”

She sniffled. “I’m sorry. I started feeling like I shouldn’t be happy again.”

He nuzzled her cheek with his own. “Just stay on my lap, okay? We’ll keep working on lifting your heart out of the darkness.”

Sweet Pea moved her chair closer to Spring. “I’m here too. We’re not going to let this beat you.”

Still and Clear got up as well, hugging her until she felt better.

“Sorry,” Spring said again. “It’s just hard for me. All this time I’ve felt responsible for what happened to Forest. I’m trying to let go of that guilt, but it’s hard.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” said Specter. “Just know that our love is there for you. I mean, you’ve spent so much time at our house lately you’re like my second little sis.”

“You’re not alone!” said Mayhem. “So keep fighting!”

“I… I know," said Spring. "Just… please tell me again.”

“I love you!” said Forest, and her parents said it in kind. 

The words, plus the closeness to her brother, settled her down.

When they finished their meals they decided to go to the park to walk off their dinner.

Spring and Sweet Pea chased each other around, and had a contest with Specter and Forest to see how far they could skip rocks across the lake. Spring laughed as her brother messed up his throw and it immediately sank.

Even though he did the worst he wasn’t bothered in the least just because of hearing his sister’s laughter. 

Mayhem made more rocks for them, and the five of them competed for a while as the adults chatted amongst themselves.

When they grew bored of that Spring sat and dipped her back legs in the water and gently swirled them around. 

As the water stopped rippling and stabilized she could see her reflection in the water, the gentle smile adorning her face.

She felt happy. Genuinely happy. But almost as soon as she acknowledged that she felt it being pulled away by guilt. Who was she to think she deserved to be happy?

Monster monster monster.

Her breathing grew shorter as her old feelings began to engulf her.

Just before they took root completely her brother’s face passed in front of her, speaking of his wish for her happiness. She had told him she wanted to grant it so he wouldn’t blame himself for her negative feelings. Her parents had told her they still loved her too.

She began to pull away from the negativity, but it was too heavy to fight on her own. “I need hugs!” she said as she began to gently sob.

Her anguished tone caught everyone’s attention, and they quickly swarmed around her as she got up, throwing herself in her brother’s hooves.

“Save me!” she said as she looked into his eyes. “It hurts. I… I have to… to keep fighting. I want to… to make you smile.”

Forest hugged her tightly to himself as the others lent their hooves as well. “Good! You keep on fighting those bad feelings. We’re all here with all our hearts and love. We’re not going to let this beat you.”

Spring let out a shuddering breath as she cried, already feeling her bad emotions loosening their grip on her.

“I love you, Sis.”

Her parents added in their own feelings.

It took a few minutes, but she got her composure back. “Say it again. Please.”

“I love you!”

“I just really needed to hear that.

‘”I’m sorry I keep ruining the good mood.”

“Hey, hey!” said Sweet Pea. “None of that. We’re like family, and whatever you’re going through I’m gonna go through it with you.”

“Here, here!” said Specter.

“Please,” said Spring. “Let’s… let’s keep going. I don’t care what it is, but I want to do something fun.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Anything! I don’t care.”

Twilight whispered in Mayhem’s ear, and the draconequus got a grin on his face.

He giggled. “You’re gonna love this. It was a big hit at my friend’s birthday party.” He swirled his claw in a circle, and the area one hundred feet around them was transformed into a winter wonderland.

It was an odd sight for sure. Not just because it was out of season, but just because it was so localized. There were trees partly outside the zone that were half full of leaves.

“Ooo!” Sweet Pea called out. Now it was like getting some free wishes. She felt a little bad for the other three friends she had made today who had to miss out.

Specter looked around in amazement. “Shoot. Sweet Pea told me about what she went through today. Seeing it for myself it’s no wonder she was so excited.”

“No kidding,” said their mother. 

"This is pretty cool," said Spring.

“What do you say?” said Forest, giving his sister a squeeze. “You ready?”

She nodded, pulling out of his grip. She made a snowball, and chucked it at Sweet Pea.

It hit, and Sweet Pea made one in return.

Soon enough she was laughing again as everyone joined in.

The park wasn’t too crowded, but they did have a few bemused ponies wander by, staring open-mouthed at the sight.

Mayhem floated over to one of them, snapping some winter clothes onto them. “Hey there!” he said brightly. “Want to join in?”

“Am I dreaming?” said the stallion.

“Nope! I just made some changes to the area. 

“Play with us! There’s always room for one more when it comes to fun.”

He lifted the scarf he was wearing, having trouble believing what he was seeing, but after a few seconds he shrugged. “Why not?”

Every time a new pony came by Mayhem coaxed them into joining. It was a huge free-for-all, snowballs going every which way. He felt a sense of deep satisfaction at all the chaos going on.

In time they all got drenched and cold, at which point Mayhem dried them all off and created warm towels for them to lay on. 

Their extra guests thanked him for the fun times and went on their way.

Spring was lying down on the towel. It felt like it had just come out of the dryer and it was so comfortable. Her racing heart began to slow as she caught her breath. When her heart rate was back to normal she just stayed lying down enjoying the warmth and thinking about the past few minutes of fun.

She felt content. This was how life was supposed to be, sharing happy times with her family and friends.

‘Yeah, unlike the miserable times you caused by not listening, trash!’

Spring flinched and shot up, going to her brother's towel and shaking him. “Forest! Forest!” 

His eyes opened. “What’s wrong?” he asked with concern.

“Hugs! I need hugs right now!”

He quickly sat up and held her to him. “There, there. I’m here.

“What happened?”

“Those… those bad thoughts were coming for me again. Please! Please say it again.”

“I love you, Spring!” he said with all the love he could muster. “I love you, and I always will.”

Her shaky breathing grew steadier as she hugged him back, relaxing into his grip.

He rubbed her back. “You’re my special, precious sister. There’s not a speck of hatred for you in my heart.”

Still and Clear walked over to add in their feelings too.

She let their words wash over her, her self-hatred retreating back into the darkness as their light shined in her heart.

She didn’t need as long to bounce back this time. “Thank you, everyone. I’m sorry I keep making you worry.”

Clear ruffled her mane. “It’s fine. Those past thoughts can surface a million times, but every time let’s knock those foul lies back to where they belong: far away from you.”

Still kissed her forehead. “All of us are here for you no matter what.”

Spring moved away from her brother and stood up. “I… I think I just want to go home. Every time after we play and it gets quiet I just keep feeling guilty about being too happy. I’d feel better off just being close by my family doing something simple.

“Right now I just can’t be alone. Even if you’re just a short distance away I start feeling those nasty thoughts, so I want to sit on your laps and just get lots of hugs. I think I need that a lot more than playtime.

“I know… I know I said I wanted to celebrate and do lots of fun things, but I… I just can’t do it today. I’m just still feeling so weak.” Her eyes grew shiny. “Please don’t be upset with me.”

Sweet Pea walked up and hugged her. “Come on, Spring. Don’t cry. All of us just want you to be happy. 

“We can try again another day. It’s no big deal.”

Mayhem was moving up and down, feeling uncomfortable. “Well, if you want to go home then you can, but I don’t want to end things on a sad note.” With a snap a cart appeared next to him with cones and empty buckets. “How about some ice cream for the road?”

Spring nodded. “I’d like that.”

He grabbed one of the cones. “Alright. What flavors would you like?”

“Chocolate and strawberry.”

“Coming right up!” He poofed on a white vendor outfit, snapping to fill the tubs with various flavors.

After he created Spring’s cone Sweet Pea asked if she could have sprinkles.

Mayhem nodded as he made her cone with some rainbow sprinkles, then continued to take everyone’s order.

Just like with the snowball fight Mayhem was feeling really generous, so when a mare and her two children came by he asked if they wanted some free ice cream.

The two kids instantly gave their mom a pleading expression, and she quickly relented, even if she was baffled by his appearance.

Twilight felt pleased as she slowly ate her vanilla cone.

Spring ate her cone in silence. She was enjoying it, but she felt antsy at the same time.

She looked at Forest. He felt her glance and looked over at her. He closed the distance between them and put a hoof around her without her having to say a word.

The contact settled her enough that she ate the rest of her cone in peace.

When they all finished Mayhem walked over and gave Spring a hug. “Would you mind doing one thing for me before you leave?”

“What’s that?”

He summoned a polaroid camera. “Can I just get a picture of all of us together? I want to keep it as a memento of today.”

She nodded.

Mayhem stood between Spring and Sweet Pea in the front, an arm around both of them.

The two brothers stood right behind their sisters, while the rest of the adults stood behind their children. Twilight was in the middle of them in the back.

“Alright!” said Mayhem. “Now smile. Three… two… one… CHEESE!”

There was a flash, and the photo came out. He grinned as he took the picture. Everyone looked happy, though Spring’s smile was a little forced. She had tried her best, though.

Mayhem made copies of the picture for all of them. 

“Thank you, Mayhem,” Spring said as she took her copy. “I can never repay you enough for what you did for me.” She hugged him. “Thank you! Thank you!”

Mayhem returned her hug. “You’re welcome.

“Hey, next week do you want to…” He paused, then went to Twilight and whispered in her ear. He didn’t want to just do this without permission, or Twilight might get upset with him.

Twilight nodded. “I think that would be fine.”

Mayhem looked relieved. Now that he had that out of the way he said, “Granting wishes to children is gonna be a once a week thing. Do you want to join Sweet Pea for next week’s session?”

“Ooo!” Sweet Pea said. “I’d love it if you were there with us. You already got to experience a little bit of it, but it’s so much fun what he can do.”

Spring nodded. “Yes, I think I would.”

“Great! I’ll see you next week, then,” said Mayhem.

She nodded again. “Goodbye.”

“Bye, Mayhem!” Sweet Pea said with a wave.

After the rest of the farewells the two families left. They had only been walking a short while when Spring pulled her brother to a stop and hopped onto his back.

“Well,” said Twilight, “I think that’s everything for today.”

With a flash they returned to the castle. “Today had some unexpected visitors and some twists and turns, but I’m happy for them. No child should have to suffer like she did.

“I think I’m gonna go curl up with a good book.” She put a hoof on his shoulder. “So what about you? Unless someone else wants to come banging on my door I think you can finally go home to tell Fluttershy about today.”

Mayhem didn’t move or speak. After a little bit he pulled out the group photo, looking at Spring’s face. “Today was unexpected,” he said quietly. “Everything went amazing. You didn’t have to step in at all to tell me to stop or use your magic to force me to do anything.

“I even got to help someone in trouble and made so many ponies happy…” He got a somber look on his face. “It was everything I could have dreamed of.”

Twilight looked at him curiously. “Hmm? Are you feeling bummed that it’s over?”

He shook his head. “No… it has nothing to do with me. It’s about her.”

“Spring Meadow?”

He nodded, then looked up at her, tears in his eyes. “Twilight, did I even save her at all?”

His question baffled her. “What’s going on in that head of yours? Why would you ask that?”

“I thought I did everything right! I heard about when Pound and Pumpkin ran away, and when Peppermint slapped her brother and her dad hit her in return, and when Masky was having family troubles. I was inside of Daddy when my friends were dealing with Flurry’s problems, but I could see through him.

“All of them except Flurry were the same. They had a bad situation with their families. They yelled, they cried, they got out their feelings, and then it ended up with a lot of tears and hugs, and then that was it. After they got past the tears they were happy and things became good.

“I followed the exact same steps as those other situations.” He sniffed, tears beginning to slide down his face. “So why did only my situation turn into a failure?”

“A failure?” Twilight still wasn’t sure what he was thinking. It seemed to run at odds with everything they had accomplished.

“Spring had a lot of pain inside. She yelled, she got angry, she got sad. In the end she made up with her brother, everyone understood, she ended up in a group hug and cried. But even after that, even after she made up with her family and got all those bad feelings out, she still kept falling into the darkness. She’s still blaming herself and constantly needing to ask for hugs and reassurance that’s she not a monster.”

He hugged himself, quietly sobbing. “What did I do wrong, Twilight? I just wanted to be like my friends and save someone like they saved me. I tried so hard, but it feels like I failed. Why did it turn out so different for me?”

Now she understood. It seemed today was going to have one last bit of excitement after all. Her book would have to wait.
> 8-12: Professor Twilight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight put a hoof on Mayhem and teleported them to her favorite reading spot. She sat down in a chair, putting him on her lap. 

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Mayhem. In fact, quite the opposite. You did everything right.”

“So why did it turn out so different?”

“It turned out different because you’re looking at it the wrong way.”

He sniffed, wiping his eyes.

“The problem is that you’re trying to compare scenarios that can’t be compared in the way you want them to. Each pony, and each situation, is different, but let’s look through what you brought up.

“There are three key factors in play here. Factor one is severity, factor two is time, and factor three is the feeling of guilt. I’m going to talk about Spring’s situation last so you can see how those differences affect why she’s reacting differently than the rest of your friends, okay?”

He nodded, still letting out little whimpers and sniffs.

“Pound and Pumpkin have severity with the feeling of guilt. They did sit with those feelings for a few hours, and even left the house, but they ran into Fluttershy soon after. I’m sure I don’t need to explain how loving she can be.” 

He shook his head, sniffing again.

“She took away most of their guilt, and then moved things into a situation where they could resolve things with their parents, Pinkie, and me.

“Peppermint was the same. Severe guilt, but running into someone caring soon after.

“Masky felt a little neglected over a few months, so he has time. However, he had nothing to feel guilty over. His feelings mainly stemmed from the pain of having to lose friends rather than directly at his parents. His parents choosing to remain in Ponyville for his sake soothed those feelings, so he quickly got over it.

“Flurry… she’s the one I felt was closest to Spring. I, too, was thinking about her and comparing their feelings. However, there’s still a big difference between them.”

“What’s that?” asked Mayhem.

“Flurry did have all three. Her feelings were severe and overwhelming. She had time to let those feelings build. And she did have guilt whenever she spent too much time enjoying herself rather than studying.

“The main area where they differ, though, is time.”

Mayhem gave her a curious look. “But you just said they both had time to build up their feelings.”

She nodded. “Yes, I did. However, I was referring to where their minds were. Flurry’s mind was rooted in the future. She constantly worried about being forced to ascend to the throne. She had to study as much as possible so that she could protect her people when they needed her. She knew she was just a child, and nowhere near as strong as her mother, so she had to work extra hard to try and catch up. 

“When she was made aware this was never going to happen she saw she didn’t need to push herself so hard, and was able to let things go.

“Spring is different in that her mind is rooted in the past. Unlike Flurry, who feared a possible future in which she allowed others to come to harm by being too weak, Spring is living in a present in which she did allow someone to come to harm by being too weak.

“You can prepare for the future, but you can’t undo the past… or, rather, you shouldn’t mess with the past. Can’t forget Starlight and her time-traveling antics.”

“So… what does it all mean?” asked Mayhem. 

“What it comes down to is that, even if Flurry had all three qualities, Spring’s was far worse. That’s why it’s not as easy for her to just let it go.

“The thing is, when you hear something often enough, you start to believe it. All Flurry had was just reminding herself to study to prevent harm. Spring, on the other hoof, kept telling herself that she was a monster… that she was trash unworthy of love.

“She kept those thoughts inside, not sharing them with her family. Thus, there was no one to argue against that assessment of herself. Eventually, it changed from just lashing out in a flurry of emotions to becoming the truth in her mind. And because that was ‘true,’ it meant she really was a monster who didn’t deserve affection and her family hated her. 

“Everyone secretly hated her. Once her brother came back he would hate her too, but at least her parents and her brother would be happy with each other, even if they all didn’t want to be around her.

“Those kinds of prolonged thoughts, constantly attacking the self, are devastating to anyone, no matter how old you are. But they’re much worse to a child, because they’re still developing and just don’t have the same mental strength as someone older.

“That’s the biggest issue with violence against the self: there’s no one to dissuade that opinion. When you believe something horrible about yourself it tends to create shame and a desire to keep it hidden, then it just circulates endlessly inside.”

Mayhem let out a little groan.

“Now that we’ve talked about the differences between Spring and the rest of your friends I think we should get to your question. Did you save her? The answer is unquestionably yes.”

Mayhem bit his lip. “But if that’s true then why is she still so down on herself? I understand the differences between the situations but it still had the same result, didn’t it? She went through the tears and fought us the whole way until we finally got her to talk with her brother. They all hugged and told her they loved her and she talked about wanting to break free of the past… but she’s still dealing with the pain.”

“That’s the way you see it. I see it completely different.”

His eyebrow went up. “Are you trying to say she’s not hurting anymore?”

She shook her head. “Not at all. I’m saying your journey is complete.”

“But how can it be over if she’s still in pain?”

“You said something very significant earlier that I want to bring up.”

“What’s that?”

“You said a lot, doing your best to get through to her and have her be responsive. However, somewhere along the way, you gave up.”

His head tilted. “What? When?”

“Easy there. This is a good thing, because it shows that you’re starting to understand our true purpose.”

“True… purpose?” His head tilted the other way. “What does that mean? And how did I give up?”

“I don’t mean that you gave up on her, but that you gave up on being the one to save her. That revelation is what I mean.

“You said that you wanted to be the hero of the day, to swoop in and save her and make everything right. But then you realized you couldn’t do that, because this wasn’t an issue between you and her.

“No matter how much you talked, no matter what you said, you alone couldn’t fix her problems, because the source of her guilt is with her brother and the accident she caused. From there you shifted your focus from talking to her to pushing her to talk with her brother.

“That was the correct course of action, because even if you did get through to her on your own her guilt would never go away until she talked to him.”

“Okay… but why is that so important?”

“Let me ask you in return: what does it mean to solve a friendship problem?”

“Um…” His face screwed up in thought. “When the upset ponies are happy again?”

“That’s one answer, and to an extent you’re not wrong, but that’s not the answer I have.”

“So what’s your answer?” asked Mayhem, curious.

“Spring Meadow was very correct. When we go off into Equestria to solve friendship problems, or even here in Ponyville, we are essentially intruders butting in on things that are not our business. We see a problem that someone has, and then we inject ourselves into the middle of it to try and fix it.”

“But you’re helping ponies! Who would get mad at you for that?”

“That’s beside the point. I feel our true role as spreaders of friendship is to create bridges.”

“Create… bridges?” He scratched his head. “What does that have to do with friendship problems?”

“You mentioned before about love being the thread that connects us, summoning a bunch of hearts as a demonstration.

“What causes friendship problems is gaps that form, breaking those connections. Our job is to then meld those connections.

“The bridge building is a metaphor to bring those broken halves back together, but there’s one other key reason I used this as a metaphor instead of something like ‘bringing light to their hearts.’ And that reason is that it’s a symbol of what we do that you can apply to a real life situation.

“Let’s say one town wants to be connected to another town, but there’s a big hole between them. Of course the pegasus ponies can just fly over the gap, but not everyone who wants to cross over is a pegaus.”

“Okay. So then… you build a bridge to connect the two towns?”

She nodded. “And that is where our part in things ends.”

“Hmm?”

“Even if we build that bridge we can’t spend the rest of our lives standing beside it ready to mend it if something happens. We have to go on our way, possibly to build that next bridge.

“When we do our friendship exercises we try to make it so that the solution doesn’t depend on our presence. We go in, build that bridge, and then move on. For all we know the very next day that bridge will break again, but as I said we only have so much time to devote to these things.

“In your situation, you realized this. You saw that your role wasn’t to help her directly, but to build a bridge between her and her brother, closing the gap keeping them apart. Of course there’s nothing stopping you from checking up on her from time to time, but for the most part what comes next is all up to them. It’s up to them to keep that bridge strong, since as her family they’re going to be the ones she sees on a daily basis.”

“I… think I get it… but…”

“But what?”

Mayhem squirmed a bit. “Well, it kinda sounds like you don’t really care. You go in, help, leave, and then after that it doesn’t matter to you anymore what becomes of the ponies you helped.”

“I understand if I came off that way, but that’s not what I meant. The problem, as it always does, comes down to time and energy.

“As Princess of Friendship I’ve been to many places across Equestria. I simply don’t have the time to go to every town every day just to see if things have gone wrong since our last visit for a pony I helped.

“When our cutie marks start flashing and give us a location it signifies we are there to help. When it goes off again it signifies that our role has ended. From there we just have to trust that what we’ve done for them will endure. We leave with their gratitude, wishing them the best and knowing that if we see them again we’ll greet each other as friends.”

She looked up towards the ceiling, a wistful look on her face. “One of the lessons Celestia taught me after I became a princess was to acknowledge my limitations. No matter how powerful, everyone has limits both physical and mental. No one pony can do it all, and trying to will only leave you a wreck.

“It’s hard for me sometimes. Far from not caring it sometimes keeps me up at night. I worry about those I left behind, hoping that I made a positive difference in their lives that will last. 

“Or I think about the ponies still in need. Those just like Spring Meadow who I’ve never met but are in sore need of a friendship lesson. Her and her family are just one small group in all of Ponyville, and for all I know many of them could be going through a similar experience, if not as extreme.”

Twilight looked really sad now, and he felt uncomfortable. He had hurt her, just like he feared he would. 

“The fact of the matter,” she continued, “is that no matter what I do I will never be able to help everyone. All I can do is just be there for the ponies I see suffering in front of me. It’s just… hard to accept that because of who I am. 

“As someone with great power I’ve been entrusted with a great responsibility, and it hurts acknowledging that for every path I walk to help another I’m potentially leaving someone in need behind.”

A tear came down her eye.

Mayhem lifted his claw, wiping the tear away. 

She jerked, looking down at him like she didn’t recognize him for a few moments. She noticed the expression on his face, and she took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I have an adult problem. It’s wrong to force that burden onto a child.”

Mayhem just continued staring at her sadly.

Twilight sighed. This was going in a direction she didn’t want it to go. “Listen, Mayhem. There are some uncomfortable truths in this world. I know I just got a little swept up in my feelings, but I promise you this isn’t something that’s constantly on my mind. But, sometimes, when I’m not paying enough attention, I begin to drift into that mindset even though I know it’s not helpful for my mental state.

“How about a hug? You got one of those for me?”

Mayhem nodded hard, quickly grabbing her and holding her close.

“That feels nice.”

He grinned and released her. “Can I tell you what I think?”

“Sure.”

“I think there are enough guilty feelings going around today, and you have nothing to feel guilty for. If you already know it’s impossible to know everyone’s personal problems then you can’t take responsibility for it.”

“Believe me, I understand that perfectly. Most of the time I accept that truth, but sometimes it sneaks up on me when I least expect it.”

“You said before that you consider yourself like the mother of Ponyville. You’re really kind and sweet to everyone you know, and most importantly you’re not selfish.

“Today… you left everything to me. You just stood back and watched, trusting in me.” He gave her a teary smile. “Do you know how much that means to me? I almost quit at the very start of today, but because of your belief in me it gave me the courage to continue, and I had a really fun time.

“If I had stopped then I wouldn’t have been able to help Spring Meadow. That’s why I think you’re responsible for a lot more good than you think you are. For every pony that you help it gives them a chance to then spread good to still more and more ponies.

“Even if I did most of the talking I couldn’t have done this without you, Twilight. And I’m sure a lot of other ponies would say the same. You helped Starlight, and Starlight has been there for Flurry, and Flurry has been there for me and her friends. It’s all just one big cycle of love and connections, and for every pony you help that helps someone else you can take some credit for their success.

“You’re not allowed to deny it. It’s just like Spring said. You can say whatever you like, but it won’t change the truth.” 

She smiled at him. “That is a very healthy way of looking at things. Thank you.”

His grin faded. “Twilight, I know what you said, but I’m still feeling uncertain about Spring. What you said makes sense, but I still just don’t like that she’s still feeling alone and miserable.” 

Twilight got up, sitting him on the chair. “Well, you helped me, so it’s only fair I help you in return. Let’s help you get a better understanding of what went on when we left the hospital.”

She poofed a lab coat and glasses onto herself. “It’s time for learning!

“Are you ready to learn?”

Mayhem nodded, making his own pair of glasses and coat.

She chuckled, thinking he actually looked good in glasses.

“If you’re still curious about your question, then I’ll just have to provide evidence that you can’t dispute. It all starts with the bridge you built.

“Let’s start with a question. When she began to grow sad would you say that your bridge was crumbling?”

He nodded. “I think so.”

“Well, I disagree. Quite the opposite, actually. Those moments of sadness came in a sequence that shows that, far from her bridge crumbling, it was getting stronger every time.”

Mayhem pushed his glasses up his nose. “Professor Twilight, I feel like this is a contradiction.”

“I see, my student.” She made a chalkboard divided into four sections. “In that case, I must present my evidence.

“I want to talk about four specific moments. For each one we’ll analyze it, and then at the end we’ll look at all the data and see the results.”

She lifted some chalk in her magic, writing, “Scenario one: restaurant.” 

She put the chalk down. “Now tell me what happened at the restaurant. What happened when she got sad?”

“She got upset and was crying by herself until her dad spotted her.”

“Very good.” She moved on to the next quadrant. “Scenario two: after rock throwing. What happened here?”

“Well, we had just stopped throwing rocks and relaxing when she suddenly began crying and yelling about needing hugs.”

Twilight went to the third quadrant. “Scenario three: after snowball fight. What happened here?”

“After the snowball fight we were all sitting down and warming up, then she suddenly hopped up and started shaking her brother and asking for hugs again.”

She nodded, writing some more. “And finally scenario four: Spring goes home. What happened at the end?”

He got a somber look on his face. “She… she quit, saying she couldn’t handle playing today even though she wanted to work to make her brother happy.”

“Okay. We have all your answers. Are you ready to crunch the data and see the results?”

He nodded, paying close attention. “I trust you, Twilight, but at the same time I just don’t understand why you think I did as well as my friends when Spring acted so differently after she was ‘saved.’ Well, that’s why we’re doing this in the first place.”

“Just listen and watch the magic of learning. I think you’ll be surprised.

“Let’s talk about Spring’s darkness. I want to see how well you’ve been paying attention, so I’ll ask if you remember the three factors I brought up.”

“Um… it was… time, feelings of guilt, and… severity. Right?”

Twilight grinned. “Very good. Her feelings were rooted in guilt and shame, some of the most destructive emotions one can feel. Those feelings were severe because they led to a great tragedy. And, most importantly of all, is time. She had three months to brood on that accident.

“If you compare that to all your friends none of them have all three of those factors. Pound, Pumpkin, and Peppermint are all missing time. They only had to sit with those feelings for a short time. Masky had no guilt. And Flurry had nothing she was personally responsible for, even if she did seem to have all three factors.

“The reason Spring can’t let things go so easily even after her breakdown and reconnecting with her family is that it’s going to take some time to change ‘the truth’ back into the lie it is.”

“Hmm?”

“When you hear something often enough you’ll start to believe it, even if at first you know it’s a lie. It becomes even easier when you don’t have the mental state required to question such things. In her sad, guilty state, how could she possibly answer back to the inner voice telling her that she was a monster?”

He looked at the ground, familiar feelings emerging. He thought of what he had done to his friends. Over the past week he had felt like he really was a monster. He had tried to fight it, but he didn’t know what to say when his past was clearly there.

“Uh-oh,” said Twilight genially. “It seems like you understand too well what I mean. Come on back to me, Mayhem.”

Mayhem groaned, trying to get back his focus, but it was hard.

“Your past is not today. As you yourself said, the past is for learning from, not to be used to hurt yourself. A very wise statement.

“Well, why don’t we get to the explanation so I can prove how much of a difference you made in her life.”

Mayhem looked up at her. “O-okay.”

Twilight lifted her pointer, tapping it to the first section. “So what happened at the restaurant? Spring Meadow ate along with us, but at some point her feelings got the better of her. She was brought to tears by her bad feelings, and it only became apparent when someone else noticed. At that point they showed her love and got her back on track.”

She moved the pointer to sector two. “What happened after throwing rocks? She sat down and put her hooves in the water. A short while later she was sobbing and begging for hugs, grabbing everyone’s attention as her feelings took her a second time.”

She moved it to the next section. “What happened after the snowball fight? She was warming herself on the towel, and a short while later she was shaking her brother asking for hugs.”

She moved it to the final section. “And, finally, she said she wanted to go home. You said that was the point where she ‘gave up,’ but I see it very differently. There’s a lot we can learn here if we take these four situations as a group rather than just isolated incidents.”

“Like what?” asked Mayhem. “What changes?”

She set her pointer down. “Everything! If we take it as you see it, then, yes, you didn’t do much for her. She’s just as hounded by her bad inner thoughts as she was at the start, and in the end they became too much for her and she quit to leave.

“The problem there is that you’re focusing so much on the fact that she repeatedly got upset that you’ve completely missed what those moments mean.”

“And… what do they mean? Stop beating around the bush and just give me an answer.”

Twilight nodded. “It’s just like I told you earlier: with every time she got upset, far from her bridge crumbling, it only showed it was getting stronger. If we look at these four situations as a sequence you’ll begin to see this.”

She created a memory window, showing Spring at the restaurant, “Here we see Spring getting down on herself. She starts to cry, with no one noticing until her father took one of her hay fries.”

The memory changed to the river where Spring broke down asking for hugs. “This second time things are already different. Rather than someone having to notice she was getting upset, she managed to push herself to ask for help.”

It changed again to her on the towel and jumping up to shake her brother. “Here we see her asking for hugs again, but did you notice the tone of her voice? She is a little anxious in her plea, but she’s far more composed than the previous time she asked."

It changed again to Spring expressing her desire to leave. “And here we come to what I feel is the most important part of all. She acknowledges that she can’t keep going on like this. However, this isn’t giving up. It’s indicative of her desire to fight.

“She’s come to realize that after every lull in things, where she’s not talking or interacting with her loved ones, her thoughts began to overpower her.

“And what does she say here? ‘Right now I just can’t be alone. Even if you’re just a short distance away I start feeling those nasty thoughts, so I want to  sit on your laps and just get lots of hugs.’

“This is a huge statement if we look through these events.”

She picked up her pointer, tapping it in sequence to each quadrant. “At first she let her feelings completely overwhelm her and needed someone to notice. Next she almost had a repeat of this and broke down as she asked for hugs. Next she noticed her feelings trying to conquer her, and was far calmer as she asked for help.

“And then, finally, she said that she felt her feelings would only continue to haunt her if she just tried to play. She wanted to go home, sit on their laps, and get lots of hugs.

“Looking at it one more time we have her powerless to fight, then just barely able to fight, then trying harder to fight, and finally her doing her best to stop those feelings from emerging in the first place by surrounding herself with love. And all this is coming from the same filly who said earlier that she wanted to hurt and feel terrible by endlessly punishing herself.”

Mayhem was quietly whimpering. “I… I see. It does look a lot different like that.”

“I’m glad you’re starting to understand, but let’s look into this in a little more detail. I really want you to understand just what the bridge you built stands for.

“Spring Meadow has kept herself locked away for a long time. With your actions you finally made a path for her that is allowing her to start to trust her family again.

“Remember how I said earlier about something you hear enough becoming the truth to you?” 

He nodded. “Yes. I remember.”

“What she’s aiming for is creating a new truth. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say return to her original truth.” She dispensed with the chalkboard, coat, and glasses, going to sit with him again.

Mayhem did the same for his accessories. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t believe there was much trouble before her brother’s accident. Thus, her truth was love. My family loves me. I love me. I love life.

“Afterward, all that love turned to hate which she directed at herself. Now she’s struggling hard to turn it back to love.”

She gave him a hug. “I love you, Mayhem.”

It did make him feel warm inside, but it did seem a little out of the blue to just change topics like that.

Even so, he returned the gesture. “I love you too, Twilight.”

As they released each other Twilight asked, “How did that make you feel?”

“Good.”

“And that’s the point. Hugs are nice when done by someone you trust, but they can be hard to truly accept if you feel like you don’t deserve them. That’s why every time she got upset she told them to say the words. She needed to hear that ‘I love you.’ She’ll likely need to hear it over and over again over the next month until it sinks in.”

She spun him around so he was facing forward, creating an image of Spring on a circular platform, surrounded by a pure black lake.

“Her darkness has grown strong. Just look at how it’s right under her hooves.” Black, shadowy tentacles wrapped around her hooves, tugging at her. “That makes it easy for them to attack her. Alone, she has no chance to resist.” Spring began to sink into the shadows.

Mayhem tensed, taking in a short breath.

“However…”

I love you, Spring!

Forest’s voice echoed around them, and he appeared as a being of light. His hoof slapped away the shadows, then hugged her.

“Her past truth is a definite statement. ‘I am worthless. I am unworthy of love. I am a monster.’

“Every time she asks them to say those words again she’s making a stand against her previous thoughts. Her definite statement is now a question. ‘Am I worthless? Am I unworthy of love? Am I a monster?’

“Just the switching of those first two words is monumental, because it shows she’s finally willing to challenge her beliefs. She’s ready to try another answer, but she realizes she can’t rely on herself. She knows if she asks herself these questions right now she’ll only receive negative responses.

“And so she asks them to tell her that they love her rather than locking herself away and listening to that negative voice. With every repetition her resistance will gradually fade.”

The light coming from Forest gradually grew, the shadowy lake receding in response.

“Its power will slowly weaken. Then, when she’s received enough light and love from others, things will change again.”

Mayhem was fascinated. “Change how?”

Forest vanished, though some light still remained and the lake remained at the level it was. Shadows emerged like before, but they were slow and frail looking as they reached for her.

“Now… now she’ll be able to fight back.”

A tentacle grabbed her, and a cold voice said, “You’re a monster!”

Spring yanked her hoof out of its grip. “No, I’m not. My family loves me.”

Another shadow grabbed her from behind, the voice saying, “It’s your fault! You caused the accident.”

Spring again pulled away from it easily. “That may be true, but I’ve made up for it. I can’t change the past, so all I can do is keep fulfilling my brother’s wish to see me smile.”

There was a growl, and dozens of shadowy tentacles came out, all coming for her. There were overlapping negative voices.

She didn’t move, but just closed her eyes, a peaceful smile on her face. A heart rose above her, her loved ones coming out of it in light form.

The shadows hit them, and there was a wail. The shadows faded back down into the remains of the pool.

Twilight took Mayhem’s claw and put it over his heart. “With every expression of love, with every hug, her heart will slowly regain its strength. The monster inside her mind will lose its power and eventually become something insignificant.

“We can already see this starting to happen just from the four scenarios. Now that they all understand her pain they’ll be there for one another. By the time next week rolls around and we have your next wish granting session I think you’ll see an entirely new Spring Meadow. She likely won’t be one hundred percent better, but she’ll have begun the process of making walls to keep the darkness out.”

She picked him up as she rose, setting him back in the chair. “Well, now. That was a lot of information to take in. I gave you all the study material, so now it’s time for your test.

“Your test is just one question. And, to be honest, it’s not a pass or fail question. I can’t force you to change your views. This is no different than any other friendship lesson. All I can do is share what I know and hope you’re receptive.

“So here’s the test: I want you to answer your own question, the one that started all this. Do you still believe that you didn’t save her? Or do you think that your efforts have paid off?”

Mayhem felt his heart racing. “Do I have to answer right away?”

She shook her head. “Not at all. I want you to take as much time as you need to think it over and draw your own conclusions. After all, all I have done is share my opinions. Maybe I’ve gotten some things wrong.

“I don’t want you to give me the answer I expect to hear, nor do I want you to just abandon your current views simply because I’m an influential pony. If you want to maintain your original stance then I cannot force you to agree with me, but I do want you to at least think it over and give me your reasoning if you do.

“I’m not going to judge you for what you believe, so just be honest with me when you come to your conclusion.”

Mayhem closed his eyes, his face screwed up in concentration. He thought about everything Twilight had said, comparing it to his own assessment of the situation.

Twilight waited patiently for him to find his truth. She certainly didn’t want Mayhem to just dismiss what he had done just because it wasn’t solved immediately.

Minutes passed by, and eventually Mayhem opened his eyes.  “I’ve reached my answer.”

“Great! So what is it?”

With a small puff of smoke he turned into a small cat. He jumped off the chair, nuzzling her leg and purring. “I’m feeling perfectly kitty-like right now.”

She gave him a warm look. “Is that so?” He hadn’t answered the question directly, but he didn’t need to.

“I’m still learning. I’m not as smart or experienced as you. I need someone like you to help me understand the things I don’t get. That’s why it means so much to me that you’re willing to take one day of every week and devote it to me. 

“I mean, I know it isn’t just about me, but that doesn’t matter.” He floated up in the air, nuzzling her cheek. “You still trust me to act as a spreader of friendship every week.” A tear came down his eye. “Thank you for believing in me.”

He turned back to normal, hugging her neck. “I love you, Twilight. You’re my favorite princess ever!”

Twilight felt a little choked up as she returned his hug. “Thank you. I love you too.

“I see now why Fluttershy cares for you so much. You really are a little sweetheart.”

He flashed his teeth at her. “Yeah. She’s great.” 

“You helped me today too. I have something new to fight my own darkness: the knowledge that the good I do for others is usually paid forward to someone else. I guess Flurry was correct in saying that small things can blossom into much bigger things, both good and bad.”

His smile grew wider, but then it faded. “Twilight, I need to go home now.”

“What’s wrong?”

Tears came down his eyes. “I want my mommy!”

For a moment she looked surprised. After all his maturity and accomplishments she had momentarily forgotten that he was still a small child at heart. He had had a big day full of all sorts of emotions, and it wasn’t surprising he wanted to settle down with the one he loved the most.

“Okay. Let’s take you home.”
> 8-13: Home at last
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With a flash of Twilight’s horn they were outside Fluttershy’s cottage. Mayhem opened the door immediately, and his lip quivered as he saw her sitting down reading her book. “Mommy!”

He poofed over to the surprised mare, hugging her and crying.

“Oh, no,” she said sadly, putting her hooves around him. “Something went terribly wrong again, didn’t it?”

“N-no!” he cried out.

“Quite the opposite,” said Twilight, walking into the house and closing the door with her magic. “He got to have his playtime, but there were a few unexpected incidents. He helped a girl who was suffering terribly with guilt, and that in turn helped her entire family.

“He also helped me with my own issue. He showed he truly earned his redemption.”

“Wow,” said Fluttershy. “It sounds like you had quite the day. If you helped so many ponies then why do you seem so miserable?”

He looked up at her, tears still streaming down his eyes. “I’m just…” He sniffed. “I’m so happy you’re my mommy!”

She gave him a warm smile, a few tears coming down her own eyes. “I’m happy about that too.”

“I-I-I… I tried to kill you the day of your party. I hurt Pound and Pumpkin and everyone there, but after everything was over, and the twins were healed, you… y-y-you stood up for me.

“You could feel my heart even then, and-and rather than condemn me you asked for me to be let out. You said that you felt bad for me, even though I had just done something so horrible.

“And t-that’s not all!” His voice began to come out shaky. “You gave me a name when I didn’t have one, letting me be my own person apart from Daddy. And… and…” He began to sob, sounding on the verge of breaking down again. He squeezed tighter. “And you also gave me my first hug.

“E-even then, when I didn’t understand love, I could feel it. I could feel you meant it, and weren’t just pretending to care. And after that you began to look after me and teach me more about love.

“You didn’t have to do that.” He wiped the tears from his eyes. “You didn’t have to do any of this, but all this time you’ve been looking after me. Even when I screwed up again you still treated me with love by being mean to get me to stay and take responsibility for my actions.”

He set his head on her shoulder as he began to gently sob again. “You’re the reason I made all my friends. You’re the reason I was able to help Spring Meadow and her family, as well as Twilight. It was all you!” 

He squeezed her tight. “I don’t know if it’s a big deal to you, but it’s everything to me! I might not have been born from you, but I wouldn’t exist if not for you wanting to give me another chance. 

“I love you! I love you, Mommy!”

“I love you too, Mayhem,” she said serenely, letting out a little sob. “I never expected to be a mother. I didn’t think I could handle it… but then you came into my life. I knew you would need me from the first day, that moment when you looked to me as if to ask my permission to play with Pound and Pumpkin.

“At first… I just saw you like a smaller Discord. You were just someone I had to help. When you started calling me mommy I didn’t think much of it at first. If it helped you I didn’t mind. I didn’t see you as a son at first. I was effectively just foalsitting Discord’s kid.”

She pulled him back, staring into his eyes. “I don’t know when exactly the shift happened, but at some point I began to feel like I really was your mother in everything but blood. I loved having you cuddle with me at night. I began to get a warm feeling whenever you called me mommy. You made the daily task of caring for the animals easier, doing everything and anything you could think of to make my day better.

“You could be a bit of a hooffull at times, but I don’t regret it for an instant.” She kissed his forehead. “I’m so happy to call you my child.”

Mayhem gave her a warm smile.

“I sure would like to hear about what happened today.” She saw his face fall, but before he could say a word she continued, “However, right now I feel like you just want to cuddle some more and settle down.” Now she could see the relief on his face as she pulled him closer again.

“You’re right, Mommy. It’s not that I don’t want to tell you. I do! I really do! I know you’re gonna be so proud. I’m just feeling emotionally drained with everything that went on.”

“I understand. You can tell me when you’re ready.”

It was quiet for a little while as they snuggled.

“I’ve gotten you home safely,” said Twilight, “so I’m gonna head out and leave you two alone. 

“Goodbye.”

“Wait!” Mayhem cried out as her horn lit up.

He poofed out of Fluttershy’s hooves and appeared in front of her, hugging her. “You can leave if you want to, but I just wanted to make sure I said thank you again for being there for me today. If you hadn’t been supporting me all day I don’t know if I could have done everything I did today.”

Twilight returned the hug. “You’re very welcome.”

Mayhem got antsy, pulling away from her as soon as she released him. “Sorry, Twilight. I love you, but right now I just want my mommy.”

“I’m not offended.”

Mayhem floated back over to Fluttershy, who put her hooves out and held him again. “Bye, Twilight.”

“Thank you, Twilight,” said Fluttershy. “Mayhem has been pretty down lately, what with what happened last week. I’m glad you came up with the plan you did to get Mayhem out of the house and able to cause a little chaos. He might be a little down now, but I can tell he’s feeling better.”

“You’re welcome, Fluttershy,” Twilight responded.

Twilight bit her lip, wondering if she should bring up Mayhem being at the cutecenera. After a few moments she decided against it. Mayhem had gone above and beyond today, helping two families get back on track. Maybe it wasn’t quite right to keep it a secret, but after all the growth he showed she didn’t want to see him regress.

In the end, his statement about being told to keep his identity a secret showed that Fluttershy likely just did it out of sympathy. He also expressed the desire to keep on fighting to be able to see them openly again, so she didn’t think he would, on his own, defy the parents to sneak out to see them.

Looking at it on a scale, no benefits at all would come from spilling the beans. It would only have bad, possibly disastrous, consequences. If she told the parents, and they became angry enough to permanently ban him from seeing their children, it would devastate him.  If he lost the reason he was fighting, seeing his friends again, his heart would crumble. He would either give up and become a guilt-ridden recluse like Spring Meadow, or become so frustrated and full of pain he’d turn into a vengeful, wrathful being of destruction, neither of which she was willing to risk.

It was safest for everyone if she just kept silent. She had felt obligated to tell the parents about Mayhem’s actions because he had put their children’s lives at risk. What he had done here was really no worse than breaking curfew or stealing some ice cream. It was so minor it wasn’t worth blowing him up over it when compared to the good he had done.

She’d keep quiet about this as long as Mayhem didn’t make a habit of sneaking out to visit them.

With a final farewell she teleported out.

After about twenty minutes Mayhem finally spoke again. “I feel better now. I do want to tell you about today, but… would you mind waiting for a little bit?”

“I’ve already been waiting, haven’t I?” said Fluttershy.

“I don’t know if you’re going to get upset, but I want to tell my friends first. You already know a little bit, but they don’t know anything at all. I don’t want to keep them waiting. I want them to know everything is alright so they don’t worry about me.”

“That’s fine.”

Mayhem went and grabbed his journal, writing for a while. After he put down his pen he returned to her.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Would you like me to give you my memories of today?”

She shook her head. “No. I’d rather hear it from you directly.”

“It would be a lot easier the other way.”

“I don’t want to just take the easy way when it comes to you. Sure, with your magic I could know everything in a second, but that takes away what makes it special to you. 

“I want to hear everything. The good and the bad, the things you felt… all of it.”

“What did you mean about taking away what makes it special?”

“Your memories are a treasure, and I want to enjoy the journey with you as you tell me all about it. Just giving me everything would take away some of the real magic of the experience.”

“I… don’t really get it. What would change between telling you and letting you see it?”

“Because magic itself doesn’t create bonding experiences. What matters is the heart and soul you put into it.

“I’m going to explain things, and the first part of what I say may sound hurtful, but please just try to listen to everything before getting upset.”

“Um… okay.”

“For me, on a personal level, I have no interest in what you did today. After all, I wasn’t there for it. I didn’t get any wishes, so why should I care about it just looking solely at myself?”

That was a hurtful statement, and he tried real hard to not let it get to him.

“However, I care about and love you. I know that today was important to you, and so it’s important to me because it matters to you. 

“Where the bonding comes in is showing we’re willing to share our time with each other. I’m willing to sit here as long as I need to in order to get the whole story. And you show you value me by wanting to share your heart and experiences with me.”

“But isn’t that what I’m already trying to do?”

“Let me put it another way. When you make a fantasy game do you have every little detail planned out?”

He shook his head. “No. I think it’s boring if I know everything ahead of time. I like the mystery of not knowing what’s coming next.” 

“Exactly. If you snap and give me all your memories that’s boring for me. There’s no mystery, no buildup, no wondering what comes next or how you solved a problem. It’s just all there in one big chunk so I’ll already know how every situation ended.

"I want to experience this journey the same way you did: in little bits and pieces. That way I'll get to enjoy the excitement and mystery of not already knowing all the details.”

Mayhem nodded. “Oh! I get it. I see what you mean now. So, okay, I’ll tell you all about it.”

***

Pound and Pumpkin heard the familiar buzzing of their magic journals, and they both let out excited squeals. They had been so impatient, wanting to hear all the details of Mayhem’s first playdate session.

The pair were downstairs, helping to clean up the store for the day. They both ran to sit on the couch and opened their journals, flipping through until they found the relevant page.

Pinkie sat next to them. Even Cup and Carrot reluctantly walked over to hear about things. If they were going to allow their children to play with him again they needed to hear that he was making progress.

The pair at first were giddy, big smiles on their faces as they read in their heads. 

“That’s so cool!” said Pound as he read about the pirate adventure.

“I know, right?” said Pumpkin. “I’m actually a little jealous.”

They kept reading, flipping pages from time to time, joyful all the while, when suddenly their smiles disappeared and they began to look sad.

“Oh my gosh!” said Pound. “That’s horrible.”

A tear came down Pumpkin’s face, an old guilt building up in her stomach. “That poor girl.”

“What?” said Cup anxiously. “What happened? What did he do?”

Pound looked up at his mother. “He said that after all the kids left, and he was about to go home, another girl who was friends with one of the children came pounding on the door begging for a wish for her brother.”

More tears came down Pumpkin’s eyes. “She was a new flier, and she got so frustrated at her parents babying her that she decided to prove herself by jumping off a high cliff. She got caught in a strong breeze and lost control.

“Her brother managed to save her, but he smashed his head into the mountain and was in a coma for three months.”

All three of the adults winced.

“She was filled with so much guilt.” Pumpkin hugged her brother hard. “I know that pain. The whole reason Twilight got us into school was because I sent Pound to the hospital when I lost control of my magic. He nearly died!

“And I still remember that fear when you tried to prove yourself by jumping off the flagpole that first day. If things had been just a little different I would have been the one in her place.”

Pound hugged her back. “That was a long time ago, Pumpkin. I hope you’re not still holding onto that.”

“I’m not. I haven’t thought about that for a while, but just hearing about this filly makes me remember my feelings from back then.”

Cup and Carrot had a genuine interest in things now, and felt their hearts aching in sympathy. Pound was able to bring himself back from the brink of death due to Princess Luna and his own willpower, but there was a brief period where he had stopped breathing. They hated the idea of watching their children suffer.

The twins were reading aloud now so their family could follow along, eager and hopeful that Mayhem had been successful. It was an emotional rollercoaster, hearing Spring bounce between anger and sadness.

Even before Mayhem brought up the similarity they could already compare Spring’s actions to Flurry’s. 

They let out a loud cheer when they finally got to the conclusion, seeing Spring ready to begin again. 

“Oh!” said Pound as he flipped the page and saw the photo embedded in the pages.

They both looked warmly at the picture, happy tears coming down their eyes.

“He just looks… so happy,” Pumpkin said cheerfully.

“That’s the look of a job well done,” said Pinkie. “It was quite the tale. Honestly, I’m a little surprised at how much he was able to accomplish.”

“Same here,” said Cup. “I guess he’s coming along.”

“Sounds like it,” said Carrot.

Pinkie picked up the book, looking at the photo more closely. “Oh, I just wish I could have set up something special to celebrate. I could have made it so much more extravagant.”

“I’m sure you could, Auntie Pinkie,” said Pumpkin. “But it seems like it would have been too much for her.”

“I know…”

The twins grabbed their quills, expressing their happiness and wishing him the best until they could see him again.

***

Flurry felt warm as she finished reading. “I’m so happy he was able to help Spring Meadow.” Her eyes faded out a bit. “After all, I know how bad it can feel to hold in so many awful feelings.”

Starlight rubbed her head. “Well, I don’t think we have to worry about him anymore. It seems like he’s walking down a new road just like I did.”

Flurry nuzzled her, then looked up at her mother. “So… what about you, Mom?”

“Hmm?” Cadance replied. “What about me?”

“Aunt Twilight is so much older than me, with powerful magic and so much experience, and it sounds like even she has some of my old feelings inside her.”

“Oh. That.

“It’s just something that exists inside us. As princesses we are entrusted with the well-being of our people. Unfortunately, we just have to accept that the best we can do is keep up a general level of happiness among our subjects. We cannot possibly know of every single problem. 

“We can always be there for them if they request our aid, but as just one pony we can’t be everywhere at once and asking every pony if they have a problem we can help them with.

“I’ve had this princess gig for a lot longer than Twilight, and I’ve basically internalized this truth. However, just like her, it can pop up in times of stress. You have this feeling that you should be doing more, even when you’re doing all you can already.

“During those times I tend to rely on Shining here to set me straight if I can’t talk myself past those thoughts.” She rubbed her husband’s head. He kissed her cheek in return.

Flurry looked towards her cutie mark. “The power of togetherness conquers all.”

She hopped off her chair. “I’m going to go compose my reply.”

“Okay,” said Shining. “Thank you for sharing this with us.”

“You’re welcome, Daddy,” she said happily.

***

“Mmm…” Fluttershy had a neutral expression on her face. “So you told Twilight about me sneaking you into Flurry’s cutecenera.”

Mayhem felt a pain in his heart. “I didn’t mean to…

“No… that’s a lie. I knew exactly what I was saying. I just didn’t care. The only thing that mattered to me right then was doing anything and everything to help Spring because I thought her feelings were so similar to mine. 

“I didn’t mention you, though. I just told her I snuck in.”

“Is that so? Well, tomorrow I’ll go answer for that.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it was my idea in the first place. I was the one who pushed you to go against the rules because I felt bad for you.”

“But there’s no sense in both of us getting in trouble, Mommy.”

“Today was a day that brought about great joy. You got to enjoy fun times and save someone in need. Most importantly, you made a lot of new friends. I’m not going to let you take all the heat for this when it could disrupt all the progress you just made and push you even further away from your friends.”

“But I don’t want to see you get in trouble! Just let me-” 

He broke off as her eyes narrowed. She wasn’t giving him the Stare, but her gaze was intense. “No!” she said firmly. “I won’t hear another word about this. I committed this wrong, and it falls on me to answer for it.

“No matter what happens my number one goal is to protect you. I might have to bow my head in apology and beg for forgiveness, but I absolutely won’t let my choices ruin things for you. I refuse!”

She was blazing now, and he knew he couldn’t argue with her. “Okay, but…” He gulped, tears brimming in his eyes. “But I need you! What if she takes you away from me?”

She rubbed his head. “Mayhem, Twilight is one of my best friends. She’s not going to separate us. She knows very well what that would do to you.

“She’s not going to banish me to the moon or something ridiculous like that. Like I said, the worst she’ll likely do is make me apologize to the parents for defying their wishes. Even if they get angry at me that’s fine, so long as you don’t get punished for it.

“Frankly, it doesn’t really concern me. It’s a matter for tomorrow. 

“I’m much more interested to hear how you got through to Spring Meadow.”

He thought of Twilight, and he just couldn’t picture her doing anything bad to Fluttershy. Even though he was nervous about Fluttershy getting chewed out by the parents, he knew that at least Twilight would be understanding. 

He put it out of his mind and finished telling the story, ending up with Twilight explaining why he had done more than he thought he had done.

“Wow!” said Fluttershy. “You really did have a big day.”

“Mommy, what do you think? Do you feel like Twilight does?”

She nodded. “Each of us has our own life to lead. We cannot spend our whole lives focusing on just one problem or our own journeys will come to an end.

“We do all the good we can for ponies in need, then we leave them.”

Mayhem stared at her for a bit.

She could see a thought pulling at him, and then felt a stab in her heart as his face screwed up in pain. “What? What?”

Tears came down his eyes as he shivered. “Does… does that mean eventually you won’t be my mommy anymore?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“You… you said you can’t spend your whole life on just one problem, and once it’s over you leave them. But… but isn’t that why you took me in in the first place? So…” His lip quivered as he whimpered. “S-so… if I progress too much are you going to just move on from me?”

“Oh, Mayhem.” She began to cry as she held him to her. “Don’t be ridiculous. Our relationship has evolved far past just helping you learn about the magic of friendship. You’re no longer just someone I want to help. You’re part of my family now, and I couldn’t imagine life without you. 

“Please don’t say such things. I’ll never abandon you. Just like I told you last week, I want to be your mother forever.”

The relief he felt was immense. Fluttershy’s endless love and support was like his home base. Without it he felt like he wouldn’t be able to function and go off to help others. 

Something began to nag at him. It hadn’t come to him last week at Flurry’s party, but now that they had talked about it again there was something he remembered that he had to know.

“Mommy?”

“Yes, Mayhem?”

He stared at her for a little while. “Cup Cake said that I… I have trouble being honest with my feelings. So I… I… I want to be honest now, even if I am scared you’re going to get upset.”

Fluttershy put her serious face on. “I’m happy to hear that. I want you to be truthful with me. Unless you told me you didn’t want me to be your mother anymore I don’t think there’s much you can say that would devastate me.”

Gathering up his courage he said, “When I was at the cutecenera, before my friends recognized me, Tree Leaf said something about my fake name of Havoc. He said it was unusual for a pony name, which makes sense. I’m only a little bit pony, not that he knew that.

“The name I chose as a disguise is just a synonym of the name you gave me: Mayhem. Tree Leaf said that with that name it’s like my parents expected me to cause trouble for everyone.”

“For the longest time I… I was just happy to have a name. I never really gave it any thought, but…” Mayhem broke eye contact, looking at her stomach. Tears slowly began to drip onto his legs. “Is… is that true? Is that why you gave me the name Mayhem? Was it just a reminder of all the trouble I caused the day I came out into the open?”

Fluttershy held him close. “Thank you for being honest with me,” she said, a little tremor in her voice. His question did hurt a bit, but she was glad he asked it rather than keeping it inside.

“I remember when I first gave you that name. You thought it over for a bit, and then jumped up in delight.” She let out a little snicker, making Mayhem look up at her. “Well, it’s not really funny, but you took the name I gave you and acted like some heroic character even though you had bad intentions. ‘I am Mayhem! Everyone fear me!’ “

Mayhem let out a little moan. “Back then… I thought it was a perfect name. I was still mad about losing. I wasn’t won over yet. I still wanted to keep going with my original plans.

“That name seemed scary… a perfect name to call myself as I spread terror to ponies. But then… then you gave me that hug. I couldn’t understand it at first, but I really did like it. I wanted more of it, and then… that urge to cause pain and fear began to feel less important. I… I felt like you understood me, and for the first time I felt like I didn’t want to hurt someone so nice.

“Then… Pound and Pumpkin offered to play with me, and we ran around chasing each other. It felt… nice. I felt a lot of my frustration go away from just being free. After I experienced love and friendship my plans to try to do what I did again faded into the background. I just wanted more and more of it, and my thoughts just became about making you smile and seeing you happy.”

She rubbed his cheek. “And you’ve done that a lot,” she said warmly.

He smiled back at her, but then it faded. “But… even after I changed you still kept my name the same.”

Her smile faded as well. “Don’t be sad, Mayhem. That name is not a punishment, nor is it meant to be an endless reminder of the day we met. I told you when I gave you that name that I wanted to give you a name that complements your nature, as well as your partner. Discord and mayhem are words that complement each other, and being that you are a part of him it’s a fitting connection.

“When you returned from your superhero adventure and we settled everything Twilight said something important. She said that chaos isn’t necessarily a bad thing so long as it’s handled well, and she brought up when we had that huge snowball fight inside Sugarcube Corner during the twin’s party.”

She kissed his forehead. “Mayhem is in your nature. It’s a part of what makes you you. It’s what makes you special. Whether that power is used for good or bad is up to you, but mayhem, in itself, is not a bad thing.

“Your very existence can be considered a form of mayhem. You’re living magic, with a full personality. You get tired and sleep. You get hungry and eat. 

“Coming into my life can be considered mayhem. One day I had no children, and the next day I did. You brought a lot of changes into my life.”

She kissed him again on the cheek. “Don’t ever think I would be so cruel as to give you a name that I thought would hurt you. I love you, Mayhem, from the bottom of my heart. You’re my son, from now until forever. 

“However, if that name is now causing you distress then I’ll happily come up with a new one for you.”

Mayhem snuggled up close to her, silent for a few minutes. Fluttershy didn’t intrude on the quiet.

“I…” He paused. “I want…” He stopped again for about ten seconds. “That name was the first gift you ever gave me.” He looked up at her, his eyes shimmering with tears. “It was the first gift that anyone ever gave me. It was the first nice thing anyone had ever done for me.

“I trust you from the bottom of my heart, and I believe that you didn’t mean any harm. I don’t want to throw away what you gave to me. I want to be Mayhem forever.”

“Are you absolutely sure?”

He nodded. “I wouldn’t ever take a new name from someone else, but even if it was you that gave me another name I don’t think it would feel the same. It wouldn’t mean as much as it did the first time.” He put a claw to his heart. “Back then I was just an empty blob of chaos. You made me into a person with just a name and a hug. I don’t ever want to forget what that moment meant for me.”

“I see. I’m glad to hear that.” He let out a squeal as she tickled him with her wing. “I didn’t want to have to come up with a new name either. You’d always be Mayhem to me. You’re my little spawn of chaos, after all.”

Mayhem laughed, pulling away from her. “I have wings too!” He extended his wings, ready to tickle her back, but then he paused. “Nah.” They went back to normal as he sat back on her lap.

He nuzzled up against her. “With granting wishes, helping Spring Meadow, helping Twilight, and telling everyone about today I think I’m actually chaos’d out.”

“Oh, my!” Fluttershy said in mock surprise. “You? Tired of chaos?”

“I think I’ve met my quota for the week.”

“Oh. No tickles for me? I feel so left out.” He looked up at her with a downcast expression, and she quickly said, “I’m kidding. Don’t get upset.” She forgot how sensitive he could be to her feelings.

His face relaxed. “I think I just want to go to sleep. I’m kinda beat.”

She nuzzled his nose. “Well, it’s good to know that Twilight’s plan has been successful. As long as you keep exploring new things you won’t ever return to that naughty Mayhem from the past.”

“I sure hope so,” he said with a yawn, closing his eyes.

Fluttershy gently bobbed, closing her eyes as well as she enjoyed his warmth against her. She suddenly squealed as she felt something rub up against her.

Looking down she saw his wings against her sides, forcing giggles out of her even though his eyes were still closed.

He stopped after a few more moments. “Chaos is best when it’s a surprise,” he said sleepily.

She caught her breath before chuckling a little. “Alright, you got me.”

“Now you got some tickles.” He reluctantly opened his eyes. “Can we go to the rocking chair?”

“I think that sounds lovely.”

She got up holding him, flying upstairs to her room and sitting in the rocking chair.

She went back and forth, humming a simple tune as the little draconequus drifted off to sleep, him already wondering what surprises next week was going to bring.
> 9-1: The one in the shadows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayhem felt so excited. It was his second week of wish granting. That in itself was exciting enough, but he was going to finally see Spring Meadow again. He knew he could have visited at any point during the week, but he wanted to see if Twilight was really correct.

She had told him that after a week he’d see a whole new Spring. A Spring that was returning to her previous state of love and happiness. He showed patience just for that hope.

He opened the door to Twilight’s knock, floating up and hugging her. “Hello, Twilight!” he said joyfully. “How are you?”

She returned the hug. “Very good, thank you. What about you?”

He released her, flashing a big grin. “I’m so happy!”

“That’s what I want to hear. You ready to have some fun?”

He nodded hard and floated onto her back. “Yes, please!”

“Alright, then let’s go.”

“Bye, Mommy!” He waved to Fluttershy.

She returned the wave. “See you later, Mayhem.”

They teleported, and wound up outside Sweet Pea’s house.

“Hmm?” Mayhem said curiously. “What are we doing here? You don’t have everyone ready this time?”

“I have the other three waiting, but I thought you’d like to take this chance to talk to Spring Meadow and see how she’s done over the past week.”

“Oh! Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Twilight knocked on the door, and a short while later it opened. “Hello,” she said genially as she saw Sweet Pea’s mother.

“Oh,” she said. “Hello, Princess.” She turned her head and said loudly, “Sweet Pea! Twilight and Mayhem are here!”

“Oooo!” came a squeal in the distance, and soon enough the rapid sound of hooves came closer.

She came around the corner, and threw her hooves around the little draconequus. “Hi, Mayhem!” she said excitedly.

“Hello, Sweet Pea,” he replied.

The energy drained out of her, and her voice grew shaky. “I just… I… well, there’s just no words that can get across just how much what you did means to me.

“It’s just like old times. We’ve been having family dinners with Spring’s family all week. Things finally feel back to normal.”

“She and Forest have been nearly inseparable all week,” said Sweet’s mother. “She’s finally getting some pep back. All of us have been so much happier this week, and it’s all thanks to you and your magic.”

Mayhem sniffed, his lower lip trembling. He squeezed Sweet Pea, crying a little. He had really made a difference. Not just with Spring’s family, but Sweet’s as well. 

Twilight smiled down at him. She wanted him to keep experiencing the results of his good deeds. It would only strengthen his heart and make him more unlikely to go back to his out of control self.

She put a hoof on his shoulder. “Well, it seems your actions have had some good results, after all.”

“Did he think they didn’t?” Sweet asked as she released him.

“He got a little caught up in Spring’s lingering sadness last week, wondering if he had really done anything good for her if she was still miserable.

“I explained to him that she just needed more time to get past her feelings.”

Sweet let out a little sigh. “It is just like old times… but that’s certainly true. In the middle of playing together her eyes will sometimes look somewhere far away. 

“It’s like the flip of a switch. One minute she’ll be happy and joyful and laughing, then she suddenly shifts and starts crying and begging for hugs.”

Sweet hung her head. “I sometimes wonder if she’ll ever be all better.”

Twilight gave Mayhem a little push. He looked up at her, and she moved her head towards Sweet a few times.

It took Mayhem a few seconds to get it. He remembered what she had told him last week when he was expressing doubts. 

He looked back towards Sweet Pea and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Spring is gonna be just fine. I know it might seem like she’s just stuck in the past, but you’re focusing too much on just the fact that she gets sad rather than what it means.”

Spring’s eyebrow rose as she looked back at him. “And… what does it mean?”

“She’s building up experiences to fight the darkness. She spent a long, long time telling herself that she was worthless trash who wasn’t worthy of love. That took a real toll on her mind, but her asking for love and hugs is her way of overcoming the past.

“Whenever she starts feeling unworthy she goes to someone she loves and asks for them to connect their heart with hers for reassurance. As she does this over and over she starts to rebuild her broken heart with all those experiences.

“She’s told herself horrible things probably hundreds of times, building walls of self-hatred, so now she needs to hear nice things that much more so they can break down those walls and let the love in.

“It’s going to be slow at the start, but as she gets love every day those walls will grow weaker and weaker until she can break them down for good.”

Sweet gave him a small smile. “I guess you’re right. It will be a good day when she gets rid of him for good.”

Twilight and Mayhem both gave her perplexed looks.

“Why would you say that?” asked Mayhem. “I guess you just misspoke, but it sounds like you think Spring will be happy if her brother was gone.”

Sweet’s head tilted. “Why would you-”

She stopped, a thoughtful look on her face. “Oh! Oh… that’s right. You wouldn’t know, would you?”

“Know what?” asked Twilight.

“Well, I think it would be best if you got it from her directly. It’s her thing, after all. She should be the one to explain it.”

Mayhem was intrigued. If her brother wasn’t what Spring would be happy to be rid of for good, then who else could it be? And how did it relate to her feelings about the accident?

Twilight was similarly curious. Why would Sweet be referencing someone not involved in the accident? They had seen in her memories that no one blamed the filly for the accident, and only gave her sympathy. 

Sweet gave her mother a hug. “I’ll see you later, Mom. I can see both of these two want an answer to the mystery.”

“Farewell, dear,” she replied, hugging her daughter back. 

They went next door, knocking on it.

Clear opened the door. “Greetings, Princess,” she said with a bow. “How are you today?”

“Very good, thank you,” Twilight replied. 

Clear looked over at Mayhem, walking forward and hugging the draconequus to her. “Thank you so much, Mayhem. I wish I could say more than just that. It just feels so inferior to what I want to get out.”

Mayhem smiled as he returned the hug. “You’re welcome!

“Don’t worry so much about the words. I can feel your heart. That tells me everything you want to say.”

When she let him go she was teary-eyed like Sweet had been earlier. “Our family owes you a lot. Who knows how long Forest would have been in a coma if it hadn’t been for you? If there’s anything you need of us please don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Don’t cry. Just be happy. That’s all I want from you.”

She took in a deep breath, wiping her eyes and getting her smile back. Turning her head she said loudly, “Still! Spring! Forest! Twilight and Mayhem are here!”

It took a minute, but the three made their way to the front door as well. Just like Clear, their first action upon seeing Mayhem was to hug him in gratitude.

Mayhem felt warm from their love, tears gently coming down his eyes.

When he was released he hugged Twilight. “Twilight?” he said with a happy sigh.

“Yes, Mayhem?” she replied.

“Love feels good, doesn’t it?”

She chuckled. “It sure does. Is that why you’re hugging me now?”

He nodded. “I wanted to pass some of that love on to you. After all, it wasn’t just me that helped Spring last week. You helped too.”

“Well… a little bit. You did most of the work.” She rubbed his head. “But I appreciate the sentiment all the same. Nothing wrong with a little extra love in the world.”

He turned back to Spring. “So… who’s this mystery person?”

“Mystery person?” Spring asked in confusion.

He nodded. “Sweet Pea said something about you wanting to be rid of someone for good, and it seems to have something to do with your accident.

“The only person involved with the accident was your brother and Specter, and it doesn’t feel like you want to be rid of either of them.”

“Oh,” said Spring. “That. 

“The one I want to be rid of is King Sombra.”

Mayhem’s head tilted in confusion.

Twilight had a serious look on her face. “What does that mean?” She walked forward, an air of power emanating out of her. “You think King Sombra is possessing you? What does that mean?”

“Easy, Princess!” Forest said quickly. “It’s just a code word.”

Twilight glared at him. “A code word?”

“It’s something I came up with. Rather than thinking about it like she’s attacking herself, we use that to signify that her darkness is emerging and needs to be fought.

“All she has to do is say that Sombra is coming, or just the word in general, and we know it’s time for some affection.”

The fierce look on Twilight’s face faded, though she still looked somber. “And why is that your code word?”

“Shortly before my accident we learned about the Crystal Empire and King Sombra’s rule in history class. Not only was he turned into a shadowy form by the princesses, his name literally means shadow.

“Aside from that, one of his most devastating abilities was to make one live out their worst fears. Rather fitting from both sides, don’t you think?”

Mayhem nodded. “That makes sense.”

“It certainly relates when you put it like that,” said Twilight, “but that still doesn’t explain why you need a code word at all. Isn’t asking for hugs and affection enough?”

“My logic,” said Forest, “is that it works better for her as a visual metaphor. If you can identify where the threat is, then you know the direction to run to in order to get away from it. However, if you think about it as the thoughts coming from herself then there’s nowhere to run, as you can’t get away from yourself.

“Rather than just her mind fighting against itself, one side fighting for love and one fighting for hate, it allows her to view her troublesome thoughts as an intruder that has to be chased away.”

Twilight took in a slow breath. “So, then… Sombra. If her natural state is love, then when she starts getting down about the accident she views it as an outside threat taking control rather than an internal one. And when you show her love that threat is forced to relinquish its hold on her, receding back into the shadows.”

He nodded.

“That’s really clever,” said Mayhem.

“There’s one more reason I like it,” said Spring.

“What’s that?”

She got an awkward look on her face. “I still don’t like being babied.”

“Hmm?”

“Twilight asked why we use a code word rather than just asking for hugs and affection. The problem with that is that they’re not always connected to one another.”

“What do you mean?” asked Twilight.

“I understand why my parents are concerned. After all, Mayhem showed them my memories and all the nasty things I thought about myself. It’s certainly true that I’ve struggled a lot this week. Sombra has constantly invaded my mind and I’ve needed tons of hugs and nice words to fight him off.

“But… sometimes… he’s not there.  They’ve gotten used to thinking that if I’m asking for something that it means he’s in my mind, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes I just want a hug, and there’s nothing more to it. But they always acted like it was a full on disaster, and it made me uncomfortable. That’s why I’m glad for this new system.”

“Ah,” said Twilight, understanding now. “So Sombra is also used to avoid confusion. If you use his name it signifies you’re in considerable distress and need to be taken care of immediately, while if you just ask for a hug or to snuggle then it lets them know you’re still alright and are just seeking a connection.”

“Wow!” said Mayhem. “I can’t believe how in depth just using one word can be.

“So… you’re still having a hard time of it, huh?”

She nodded. “Sombra… is really strong. I’ve been pushing to fulfill my brother’s wish as much as I can, but I’m still weak. It’s really easy to fall into the darkness.

“It’s like I’m barely holding my head above water, and when I stop paying attention my head goes under. My family is always there to lift me out of the water, but as soon as they let go…”

Tears came down her eyes. “I just feel like I’m defective sometimes.”

“Don’t say that,” said Sweet Pea. “You just need more time to get past your feelings.”

“All I want to do is smile so I can make Forest happy too, but I can’t do it on my own yet.

“I’m just constantly dragging him down with my own stupid feelings.”

“That’s not true, Spring,” said Forest. “Don’t let Sombra’s lies rile you up.”

“It is true!” She spun around towards him. “Every single day all you do is spend all your time with me. You don’t go out anymore. You only talk to Specter when he comes to visit. The only time we’re apart is when you’re at school. Besides then I’ve completely taken over your life.”

Spring stomped her hoof. “I hate this!” she said angrily. “I hate having to rely on the person I’m trying to help. I want to do it on my own! I’m just too weak to do it by myself.” 

She let out a low growl. “How can I give when I’m taking away? With everything he does, going out of his way to spend so much time with me, I still can’t do anything for him in return on my own yet.”

Everyone looked down now, except Twilight.

“Don’t worry,” said Twilight with a calming smile. “I’ll help her past these feelings. I already know exactly what I want to say.”

Clear looked a little less worried. “Okay. I trust you, Princess.”

“We have to go. I have the other children in the castle already. I don’t want to leave them alone for too long or they’ll get worried.”

Forest reluctantly moved towards his mother.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Forest stopped and turned back towards her. “You’re coming with us. You are an essential part of this.”

“I thought…”

She inclined her heads towards Mayhem. “As I said to him last week, our jobs as spreaders of friendship is to create a solution that doesn’t require our continued presence. This is still a matter between you and your sister, so you naturally have to be there for a proper resolution.”

He nodded, looking relieved. “I’d rather be there anyway.”

Twilight bowed her head to Clear and Still. “I know you’re worried about your daughter, and rightfully so, but I give you my word as princess I will help resolve her feelings just like last week. By the time I return her to you she’ll be much better, so please put your burdens on me and let them flow away.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Still said humbly, bowing to her. Clear mimicked the motion.

Twilight’s horn flashed, and they were now in a room in the castle. “Stay here for a minute. I need to talk to the other children.”

“I’m staying here!” Sweet Pea said. “She’s my best friend, so I want to make sure you really do help her again.”

“I want to be here for it too,” said Mayhem, “but I do want to come over to say hi. And probably give them some board games or something so they won’t be bored waiting for us.” He let out a little chuckle.

Twilight nodded. “That’s fine.” 

They went a few doors over to the room they had been in last week. She opened the door.

When they saw Mayhem all the children got up and trotted over to him. 

“Hey, Mayhem!” said Chocolate Chip, giving him a hug. “How are you doing?”

“Good.”

“I got a real good wish today,” said Flash Step. “I’ve been thinking on it all week.”

“Same here,” said Plum Pie. She looked around, then asked, “What about Sweet Pea? She couldn’t make it this week?”

Chocolate looked disappointed. “It won’t be the same without the five of us together.”

“She’s here,” said Twilight. “I know you guys have been waiting all week for this, but I need to ask for just a little more patience from you. We have a bit of an emergency friendship problem to attend to. Shouldn’t take longer than twenty or thirty minutes.”

“What’s wrong with Sweet Pea?” Flash asked with concern. “If she’s in trouble we should be there for her, just like we did for Mayhem last week.”

“I thank you, Flash, for thinking of your friend, but it’s not her with the issue. It’s a friend of hers.”

“We helped her last week,” said Mayhem, “but she still needs a bit more help.”

“Do you want us to come along?” asked Plum.

“Again,” said Twilight, “thank you for your concern, but it would be best if you stayed here. She doesn’t need moral support right now. She needs to understand how much her brother values her.”

Mayhem snapped, and a toy box appeared. “I don’t want you to be bored while you wait, so this is for you to pass the time. Close the box, think about the kind of game or ball you want, and it will show up when you open it next.”

“Cool!” said Flash.

Mayhem waved to them. “Okay, we’ll be back soon.”

He headed for the door with Twilight, pausing as he heard his name. He turned around. “Yes?”

Plum gave him a warm smile. “I believe in you, but if you need our help we’re here for you.”

Mayhem returned her grin. “Thanks, you guys.”

They went to the room where Spring and the rest waited, closing the door behind them.
> 9-2: Hurting together, healing together
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Mayhem?” Twilight said cautiously. He looked up at her. “Is this really okay?”

“Hmm?” he replied. “Is what okay?”

“Last week you told me Spring’s situation was personal to you. That’s why you pushed so hard, talking about your worst actions and sneaking into Flurry’s party even though it might lead to bad things for you.

“Is it really okay if I take the helm this time?”

Mayhem smiled at her and nodded. “Of course.”

She was a little surprised at his quick response. “Are you sure?”

He nodded again. “Yep! After all, I already built the bridge. You’re just doing maintenance on it. So I’m still partially responsible for whatever you accomplish.

“Besides, what’s most important to me is seeing her do better. That’s why I told her all that stuff. I can’t selfishly try to do everything myself when you have a plan and I don’t.”

“Okay. I was hoping you’d say that.” She rubbed his head. “You’re really coming along in becoming more mature.”

He giggled. “Thank you.”

She turned to Spring, growing serious. “So now let’s talk about you.”

“Oh, are you finally ready?” Spring replied dully.

She nodded. “Forest, I’m going to share my insights in regards to you. Now, I may not get everything correct, but do please just allow me to speak. You can correct me later, but I don’t think I’ll be too far off.”

“Okay, Princess,” he replied.

She then turned to Sweet Pea. “Sweet Pea, I know you care about Spring’s situation, but I’m going to need you to keep quiet and not interfere at all. Spring has no issues with you, so there’s nothing you can do for her. This is a matter between her and her brother.”

“Okay, Twilight,” she replied.

“I’m serious about this. If you can’t keep your cool then I’ll have to ask you to wait with the other children.”

Sweet Pea looked hurt. “But why?”

“I just told you why. This is a matter that needs to be settled between the two of them. You have no place in her guilty feelings, and trying to get in-between them will only interfere with her healing. That’s why I’m telling you to just watch and trust that I’ll help.”

Sweet sighed. “Got it,” she said quietly.

Twilight finally directed her attention back to Spring. “As I just said to your brother I’m only stating what I feel. This is backed up by some statements that were said, but I may not have the whole truth. However, I have been doing this for seven years now, and my insights are usually good.

“You feel frustrated that you can’t help your brother on your own. However, I believe you’re far off from the actual truth. I believe you’re doing exactly what you think you’re not.”

Spring gave her a flat look. “So I’m helping my brother by being a pathetic emotional wreck?”

“Yes!” Twilight said bluntly, and Spring’s eyebrow rose. “Do you believe you’re the only one who has suffered through this incident? Your pain is obvious. You feel guilt over starting the series of events that led to this incident. Unsurprisingly, you’re traumatized by this. 

“However, I believe your brother is just as greatly traumatized by everything. After all, he has to live knowing he lost three months of his life that everyone else has.” 

Spring turned away, guilt on her face.

“Pay attention!” Twilight said sharply, making Spring jerk up and look back at her. “Stop thinking about yourself for once. I’m talking about him now.

“I want to show you two important memories, and dissect what they mean.”

Her horn glowed, showing Forest in his hospital bed. 

***

Forest’s eyes were clenched shut. “Maybe it’s true that you started the series of events that lead to this moment, but my own heart is aching too.” He sniffed. “I feel like I failed you.”

“B-but you rescued me,” said Spring.

“What does that matter? As your big brother it’s my job to be there for you. While I was spending my time in this hospital bed I could do nothing for you. I couldn’t be there to sooth your pain and hug you. 

“All this time you’ve spent suffering, hiding your pain, and I feel I could have helped you through it so much faster if only I hadn’t been so weak.”

Spring got a pained look on her face. “Don’t say that! DON’T SAY THAT! You’re not weak! You’re the coolest and strongest pony I know! It wasn’t your fault.”

“If you can blame yourself for things then why can’t I do the same? If I had been just a little bit faster or stronger I could have gotten you out of danger without getting hurt myself. Then you never would have had to go through all this.”

***

The memory faded. 

Twilight said, “You act like you’re solely responsible for everything, but your brother’s interpretation is equally valid.”

Spring tensed. “SHUT UP! No it’s not! It was me! It was all me!”

“Getting angry at me won’t change the truth. What you’re doing there is no different than what you were upset at your parents for. You’re just trying to deny the reality of what happened because you don’t want to harm him.”

“No I’m not! I started all of this! You said it yourself that I didn’t cause his accident directly, but it wouldn’t have happened if I had just listened to my parents.”

“And there might not have been an accident at all if Forest had been paying more attention.”

Spring took in a sharp breath, tears coming down her eyes as her eyes narrowed to slits. She charged out of her chair with a growl and headed for Twilight.

Forest jumped up as well to grab her, but Twilight used her magic to restrain him. She allowed the filly to hit her, Mayhem and Sweet Pea gasping.

Spring was panting for breath. “Don’t you… don’t you dare…”

Twilight rubbed her cheek a bit, but otherwise ignored the attack. “You don’t like the feelings that emerged when you felt I was attacking your brother. It was the same thing when that memory happened. You wouldn’t let him take the blame. You didn’t want to diminish his heroism, saving your life even at the cost of getting badly hurt himself.”

Spring hugged herself, quietly sobbing.

Sweet Pea went to hug her, but Mayhem grabbed her and shook his head. “Trust Twilight! Please. She’ll make things right. She gave her word as princess.” 

The filly at first tried to pull out of his grip, but then gave it up. She decided to hug him instead.

“M-my… my brother is a h-hero,” Spring said through her sobs. “I won’t… I won’t let anyone talk bad about him. I don’t care if you are a princess.”

“You can hit me if you like,” said Twilight, “but that won’t change memory number two.”

She created the memory window again, and Spring reluctantly wiped her eyes to pay attention.

The memory was still in the hospital, but it was near the end.

***

“I feel guilty because of all the guilt and sorrow you’ve felt,” said Forest. “I feel like if I had only been better I could have saved you without getting hurt, and all of this could have been avoided.

“You’ve torn yourself to shreds emotionally, blaming and hating yourself.” Forest put his hooves out, pulling her closer. “I think I can forgive myself if you can do the same for yourself.”

“But I… I don’t…”

“I know. I know it’s not going to be something that happens overnight. Nothing’s that simple. But we can both take steps towards making it happen together. My heart is with you, and all I want is to just spend time with you. After all, I’ve been out of commission for three months. I have a lot of big brothering to catch up on.”

She moved her hooves, hugging him back. “I’ll try… for you.”

“That’s all I’m asking for. 

“Do you want to hear my wish now?”

“O-okay.”

“My wish is just to see you smile. My heart is heavy with everything I’ve seen you go through. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to see that grin that lights up the world, and it would make my heart soar if I could just see it again.”

***

Spring sniffed, still a little angry at the mare. “Okay. So what of it?”

“You and your brother are no different than one another. Both of you are blaming yourself for the events of that day, and it hurts you deeply knowing that the other feels that way.

“Just listen to the things he’s saying. Your brother knows you’ve been suffering. He got to see your memories of that time, of things like thinking your parents were only nice to you because they spent so much of their day badmouthing you they got it out of their systems by the time they got home.

“At the time when you needed him the most, he couldn’t be there for you. He knows that, and it kills him inside. If he had only woken up sooner he could have helped you earlier.

“Far from just being a burden he has to carry around, I believe you’re helping him. Hugging you, telling you he loves you, assisting you through every step of your recovery… it’s all helping his own heart to recover. He’s making up for the time he couldn’t be there for you. 

“With every smile he helps you make he can start letting the past go as well.” 

Spring gazed deep into her eyes, uncertain about what she felt.

“You look like you don’t quite believe me yet. It’s all in the words he himself used. His heart feels heavy with guilt, but your smile ‘lights up the world’ and ‘makes his heart soar.’

“He said that this is a journey you’re going to take together, both of you improving one step at a time.”

She put a hoof on Spring’s shoulder. “Your brother has the rest of his life to go out in the world, but he only has right now to fight off your darkness. Once that’s taken care of and you return to your regular life then he can go out and you can separate. However, right now he needs you just as much as you need him.

“He said that he just wants to spend time with you, getting back some of what he lost the day of his accident. It makes him happy. I’d be willing to bet even your sadness makes him happy in a way.”

Everyone gave her strange looks. “Why?” Spring asked. “Why would that make him happy?”

“Because it gives him a chance to rescue you. It helps him to repay the debt he feels he owes you.”

She summoned the image of a heart. “Mayhem said last week that all our hearts are connected, and when one suffers all the other hearts it’s linked to suffer as well. It works in reverse too. When one heart smiles it makes the rest of them smile, making the bad things seem less heavy.

“Your hearts are linked together tightly, and the two of you are both fighting for one another. Your brother wants to help you to return to the carefree self of the past, and you want to fulfill his wish to see him happy by fighting to become that person.”

She turned Spring towards her brother. “But don’t just take my word for it. I believe that’s enough setup.”

She walked to Forest, putting a hoof on his shoulder as she looked him in the eyes. “Forest, I have only stated what I believe to be the truth based on what you said last week. If I really am correct in my assumptions then you need to understand what exactly your sister needs now.

“Last week you called your sister out for her role in your accident, something she needed to start confronting her guilt. You validated her feelings rather than dismissing her actions.

“This week, it seems to me that what she needs the most is for you to drop your guard. If you’ve been in pain like her, but have been pushing it to the side and acting strong for her sake, then you need to stop and be vulnerable. She needs to see just how much she really means to you so she stops feeling like she has no value.”

Forest nodded, and Twilight moved to the side.

The stallion met eyes with his sister. She was giving him a cautious expression.

As Twilight said, he had been acting strong for her sake in order to keep her spirits up, but deep inside…

Spring gasped as Forest’s eyes filled with tears and he began quietly sobbing. Her heart ached seeing his pain. “Forest!” She trotted over to him.

Forest pulled her close. “My feelings… they haven’t really changed from last week. I still feel like I let you down.

“When I’m completely alone my mind tends to come up with so many scenarios. I think about all the things I could have done differently so I could have spared you from the unbearable pain you’ve been living with. 

“Crazy things, like I could have stolen some clouds from the sky and made them rain in the area so you wouldn’t fly there. Even though I know there was no way I could have predicted what you did and what would happen to me… I just can’t help feeling responsible.

“And even when I tell myself there was nothing else I could have done and my injury was probably unavoidable, I just tend to feel disgust for being in a coma for so long. I shudder when I think of what would have happened if Mayhem hadn’t come into our lives last week. I might have spent the rest of my life that way… and… and then…” He began sobbing hard.

“Forest…” Sweet Pea wanted to walk over and give him a hug, but Mayhem was still holding onto her.

Mayhem hugged her. “I know it hurts right now, but soon it will all be better.

“Your families grew up together, and he’s basically family because of that, but they need to settle this themselves.”

She returned the hug, her own heart aching in sympathy. She could recognize Twilight’s wisdom on a logical level, but from an emotional standpoint it was killing her not to be able to share her heart with them.

Spring felt lost for words. Her brother had been so strong the past week. He was always bright and bubbly, doing his best to keep her mood up. She didn’t know he was hurting like her.

When Forest got his emotions under control he let her go and sat on his chair, Spring quickly hopping up onto his lap. “I’ve been in so much pain,” he said emotionlessly. “I just feel cold chills going through my body whenever I wonder what would have happened if it wasn’t for Mayhem’s powers.

“If I never woke up then you would have spent the rest of your life deep inside this web of pain. Even with only three months of torture you’re still so badly affected it takes everything you have just to fight on a daily basis. Just to think of what you would have been like after six months or a year… it keeps me up nights.

“The role of a big brother is to be there for the younger siblings and protect them, but I couldn’t…” Some tears came down again. “I had to rely on some outside assistance to get back on my hooves. I am forever indebted to Mayhem for helping bring me back to you, but in my heart I wish I hadn’t needed him.

“I feel like a pathetic excuse for an older brother…”

Spring tensed, crying. “Don’t talk like that!”

“I can’t get you out of my head when we’re apart. I worry about you so much when I’m at school. It feels just like I'm still in the hospital. Stuck somewhere where I can’t be there for you, powerless to do anything for you... it makes me feel horrible until I get home to see you again.”

He put his forehead on hers. “When I see you after I get home it’s the most wonderful sensation.” His voice began to regain some spirit. “I open the door to see you waiting for me, and your face lights up with this big smile. Seeing you happy helps to put away my own Sombra. I can’t lose myself in the darkness when I know you need me.

“I know…” He sighed, pulling back from her. “I know you may feel like you’re dominating my life, but this is the way I want it to be. I couldn’t be there for you when I was in a coma, and I can’t be there for you when I’m at school, but when I’m done I want to spend all my time helping you fight your darkness.

“You’re not the only one fighting with a sense of worthlessness, Spring. I think those memories Twilight showed are a perfect representation of how I still feel. Your smile still lights up my world, making my Sombra lose its strength. As you strive to forgive yourself and I see you progressing, it really does make it easier to forgive myself for not being there when you needed me the most. 

“Like I said back then, we’re a team. Our hearts are together. We’re walking hoof in hoof through the darkness together. You’re not just dragging me down and taking up all my free time. You’re the only reason I’m able to fight. I need you to be there for me, just like I am with you.”

Spring let out a slow breath, wiping away some tears. “You… you do?” she asked quietly.

“Don’t act like just because you’re a kid that your power is worthless. As Twilight said, even your sadness and weakness propels me to be more than I am. It gives me the chance to hold you and hug you and tell you I love you. When I can finally pry you out of the shadows taking hold of you, and see that wonderful smile return, it makes me feel so fulfilled. 

“After all, you said last week that your feelings were still so heavy you didn’t know if it was possible for you to genuinely smile again. But we’re proving that false, aren’t we? If I’m able to make you smile then I know that it’s possible for you to overcome your darkness for good, and it’s a goal that I strive for every day. Every time I hear you laugh, or see you smile from the heart, it allows me to tell myself that I’m not worthless, because I can create a priceless treasure.”

Spring blinked a few times. “I… I had no idea you felt that way.”

Forest averted his eyes. “I… I was afraid to be honest with you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re dealing with a lot of guilt right now. I thought if I told you how I felt you’d just attack yourself every time you felt unhappy. I thought you’d feel like you were letting me down, which would only make you feel worse. Either that or you’d start faking smiles even when you were upset.”

He returned his gaze back to her. “But please believe me when I say that you’re everything to me, Sis. It’s okay if you’re not happy all the time. It’s okay if you get down on yourself. When those moments happen, let me play the hero and come to your rescue. Let me help myself by helping you.”

Spring’s head drooped. “All this time I never knew how badly you were feeling. I… I’ve been so selfish.”

“Don’t say that, Spring. You’ve been through a lot.”

She shook her head, looking back up at him. “No no no. I’m not saying that because I feel bad. It’s just… all this time I’ve kept asking and asking for hugs and comforting and for you to tell me you love me, but I haven’t done the same for you.”

She hugged him. “I promise I’ll start saying it back. Now that I know how much you need me I’ll start saying it more every day. I’ll give you hugs and lots of love so your heart heals too.

“I want to be there for you like you’re there for me. I want you to know how much I care about you and see you get better too. Now that I know you’re hurting like I am it’s even more important for us to work together so you get better too.”

Forest hugged her back. “Thank you.”

“I love you, Forest! I love you, I love you, I love you!” She looked up at him with a teary smile. “You got that?”

“I love you too,” he said with a little smile. “Forever and ever.”

They squeezed each other, closing their eyes and smiling.

Sweet Pea let out a relieved sigh. “I think they’re going to be fine.”

Mayhem rubbed his cheek against hers. “I told you so.”

Twilight rubbed his head. “So did I do good?”

He nodded. “Yep! There was nothing wrong with my bridge, after all. She just needed to see that they were both walking across to visit each other’s hearts rather than just her always pulling him over.”

After a minute Spring pulled away, her expression calm. “I’m sorry, Forest. I wish I had known earlier.” She put her hoof to his heart. “It… really hurts when there’s so much pain here, but it hurts even more knowing that someone else is going through the same thing.”

“It’s okay, Spring,” Forest replied. “I didn’t know some things either. I was just trying to protect you, but it seems I only made you undervalue what you do for me. I’m not as strong as I look, but seeing you in need makes me want to fight.”

“That’s why I want to fight too! I felt like I wasn’t doing enough, so that’s why Sombra started to get to me. Now… now I know that I have been helping you, so he feels a lot weaker.”

“You have been helping me, but just… please don’t push yourself too hard. In time you’ll conquer Sombra, but don’t rush it. Let me help you walk until you can stand on your own again.”

She nodded. “Okay, Forest.” She nuzzled his chest before hopping off his lap. 

She walked over to Mayhem and Sweet Pea. “I’m feeling better now, so can we get to the wishes?”

Mayhem nodded. “Sure!”

Sweet Pea gave her a hug. “I’m glad to see you’re better. I was worried about you.”

“Sorry,” Spring replied, hugging her back. “I’m getting there bit by bit. It’s just… really, really hard.”

“Well, I’m here for you if you need me.”

“I know.”

With one last squeeze they released each other and headed for the room with the other children.
> The Spirit of Hearthswarming
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: This chapter is done in the style of Slice of Life(the episode), not really focusing on any of the main characters. I don't know how people are going to respond to it, but it's what came to me when I thought up this chapter. 



A filly ran outside, closing the door behind her. She curled up into a ball, sobbing into her lap. She had just received the worst news ever.

She had been crying for a few minutes when she heard a voice talking to her.

“What’s wrong, little filly?”

The child looked up to see a stallion standing over her. “I’m sad,” she replied.

“I can see that. It’s Hearthswarming Eve. What could be upsetting you on this day?”

“I miss my daddy!” She sniffed, wiping her eyes. “He’s on a business trip in Baltimare. He said he was gonna be back in time for Hearthswarming, but Mommy said there’s a big blizzard there now, and all the trains have stopped.”

Her eyes clenched shut as she buried her head in her hooves. “T-t-this is gonna be the first Hearthswarming without my daddy! Tomorrow is also my birthday, so he’s going to miss both!”

“Oh my! You were born on Hearthswarming? That makes you extra special. No wonder your sadness drew me to you.

“Tell me something, little filly. Do you believe in miracles?”

She looked up, sniffling. “M-M-Mommy said it would be a miracle for him to come home. She’s been sad too. If she doesn’t believe he’ll make it then why should I?”  

The stallion looked around left and right. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“I guess,” she replied without much interest.

“I’m not your ordinary stallion, Holly.”

She dismissed his comment at first, then she jerked. “Hey! How did you know my name? I didn’t tell you yet.”

“I told you. I’m special. I was called here because of your feelings.”

“Called here?” She gave him a confused look. “By who?”

He gestured with his hoof. “Give me your ear.”

She stared at him for a little bit before turning her head and pushing it towards him.

He got up right next to her. “I’m the Spirit of Hearthswarming.”

Holly backed up, staring at him uncertainly again.

“Hearthswarming is a time of beauty, love, and friendship. It’s a time of togetherness and a celebration of the display of unity that defeated the Windigo’s so long ago. 

“When hearts ache, and sadness overtakes the joy of the holiday, then it falls on me to go out to see what’s preventing it and do what I can to fix it.”

She looked him up and down. She didn’t notice it before, but the stallion did seem to have a bit of an ethereal air about him. He wasn’t translucent, but he didn’t seem quite solid either. 

“Do you want to see your daddy?”

She nodded hard, a hopeful look on her face.

“I don’t know. If you don’t believe in miracles then I don’t know if I should go out of my way to help.”

Her face fell. “B-but-”

“I’ll tell you what. If you promise me that you’ll believe with all your heart and soul that miracles can come true, then I’ll promise you that your daddy will be home by the time you wake up tomorrow.”

She jumped up to a standing position. “REALLY?”

“Really.”

She nodded hard. “I promise, Mr. Spirit.”

“Well, if you really want me to make it happen then I’m going to need something from you.”

“Anything!”

He gave her a warm grin. “I want you to smile. Give me the smile you’ll give your daddy tomorrow. Stop the tears and live the spirit of the holiday. After all, if you’re just gonna be miserable today then it means that you don’t really believe me when I say I’ll make it happen.”

She was so overwhelmed she couldn’t help but cry. The idea that she could still have a perfect Hearthswarming was so amazing she could hardly believe it.

After a short time she began to rub her eyes hard before shaking her head. “No!” she said strongly. “No more crying. I’m… I’m gonna save my tears for when I see Daddy tomorrow.” She wiped away another tear that formed when she said that.

With that, she gave him a pure smile, thinking of the three of them spending time together as a family just as they had always done.

“There it is,” said the spirit, his body starting to glow slightly. “I get strength from those who have the Hearthswarming spirit."

He put his hooves together, a sphere of light appearing between them. “This is the one you’re seeking, correct?”

Holly stared at it, and the face of a stallion appeared inside. “That’s my daddy!”

He nodded. “Strengthened by your belief I’ll make your wish come true. Just remember your promise.”

“I will, Mr. Spirit!” she said happily. “I’ll keep the spirit of Hearthswarming all day long if it means I can see my daddy tomorrow.”

He rubbed her head. “Glad to hear it. But, at least until tomorrow, keep our meeting a secret.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t think your mom is going to believe you until she sees the miracle for herself.”

Holly nodded. “Okay. I won’t tell anyone about you today.”

The door behind Holly opened, making her look back.

Her mother looked around. “Were you talking to someone just now?”

Holly looked forward, scanning the area herself. The spirit was gone. “Oh, um… no. Just… talking to myself.”

Her mother put a hoof on her. “Look, I know you’re upset, so I gave you a little time to yourself, but I don’t think you should be outside alone in the cold. It makes me nervous.”

Holly shook her head. “I’m not upset! Daddy is gonna be home tomorrow. I just know it.”

Her mother gave her a strained look. She didn’t want to encourage the filly to believe the impossible, but she was going to be miserable the next day either way. At least she could let her daughter enjoy today.

“Don’t you believe in miracles, Mommy?” Holly asked, pulling her mother out of her thoughts. 

The question took her by surprise. “I… used to. But at times like this…”

“Didn’t you say you named me after a Hearthswarming decoration because I was born on Hearthswarming and that made me your little miracle? Miracles happen, Mommy!” Holly said strongly. “You just have to believe, and I will believe. I’ll believe as hard as I have to so that Daddy will come home tomorrow.”

Tears came down her mother’s eyes. She was starting to have second thoughts. “I guess anything could happen between today and tomorrow, but you shouldn’t… um… that is… don’t get your hopes up too high, dear.”

Holly’s expression didn’t change, and that only made her mother feel worse. She couldn’t bring herself to crush her daughter’s hopes, but she also knew if she was this resolute it would only hurt that much more the next day.

She wished she could be like her daughter, but sometimes reality was cruel.

“Well…” She drifted off, a somber look on her face. She pulled herself out, now wearing a small smile. “Well, either way it goes, we still have friends in Ponyville we can see, and some parties to visit. Even if it’s just the two of us we can make the most of it.”

Holly nodded. “Okay,” she said cheerfully.

***

A stallion walked with his head down through Ponyville, his stomach burning with guilt and a sense of worthlessness.

It was chilly, and he really should have bundled up, but he welcomed the cold punishing him.

“Hello there!” said a cheery voice nearby. 

The stallion looked up, seeing another stallion standing in front of what looked like a department store. “Hello,” he responded in a dull voice.

“Names Spirit. What’s yours?”

“Slipstream.”

“Well, Slipstream, that’s not the look of someone in the Hearthswarming spirit. What’s got you down on this special day?”

“Just the weight of the world, is all.” He hung his head.

“Sure sounds like it.”

He made like he was about to continue on, then stopped. “Money has been tight this month. My wife was recently in an accident. She needed surgery. She’s okay now, but she’s not going to be able to work for a month or two. 

“My boss has been cutting hours, making things even worse. On top of an expensive hospital bill I also have to pay rent and provide for my family.”

He let out a big sigh. “I don’t care about making due with less. It’s my two daughters that pains me. I’ve been desperately trying to budget, but we just don’t have the money to buy them any Hearthswarming presents."

His head drooped until it was almost touching the ground. “I’ve been wandering around aimlessly for the past two hours because I just couldn’t take hearing them guessing about the gifts they are going to get. I don’t have the heart to tell them there isn’t going to be anything underneath the tree this year. They might not feel that way, but I’d rather they be disappointed than hungry. 

“We’ve been trying to shield them from how bad it is, but tomorrow they’re going to get a painful wake up. They’re only six. They shouldn’t have to deal with things like this.”

Tears formed in his eyes.

“Oh, my,” said Spirit. “That really is the weight of the world. I’m sorry to hear about your situation.”

“Thanks…” He sighed, wiping his eyes. “I guess I’m just going to wallow some more. Thanks for listening, anyway.”

Something caught his eye. There was a spinnable wheel divided into many sections on the table next to Spirit. “What’s that?” 

“Well, I didn’t want to bring it up, considering your situation, but it’s a prize wheel. For ten bits you spin the wheel, and possibly win a prize. It’s divided into one hundred sections. One third is nothing. Another third gets you half your money back. The last third has either double or triple your money back.

“Then there’s the hundredth space. That nets you the secret grand prize.”

Slipstream let out a humorless laugh. “I just happen to have exactly ten bits left. I have nothing left to lose anymore, so might as well complete this failure train.” He went in his saddle bag and emptied his wallet on the table.

He grabbed one of the pegs separating the sections and pulled it down hard, sending the wheel spinning round and round, a miserable look on his face. 

As it spun he didn’t even look at it.

“Aren’t you even going to watch?” asked Spirit.

“There’s no point. I already know I’m going to fail. I just don’t want to walk around with this false hope that if I had only given it a shot everything would have turned out just right. 

“Even if I won the double or triple it would take a ridiculous amount of tries to actually get anything significant. Surely not enough to fix my situation.

“I just want to lose and get it over with.”

The wheel slowed down, and even when it sounded like it was seconds from stopping he paid it no mind.

He was jerked out of his apathy by a bell sound. 

“Oh my!” Spirit called out. “I don’t believe it. You won the grand prize!”

“WHAT?” Slipstream called out, his head jerking towards the wheel. Sure enough, the wheel had landed on grand prize. “I… I actually won?”

“That’s right!”

“Wha… what did I win?”

“Come in, come in.”

They both went inside the store. 

Spirit directed Slipstream to a large pull cart. “You win this cart, along with everything inside it.”

Slipstream blinked. “But… nothing is inside it.”

“Exactly! Go fix that. The grand prize is that anything you can fit inside that cart is yours. Toys, food, household items; as long as it fits in the cart there’s no limit to what you can take.”

Slipstream slumped against the wall, his legs going weak as he slid to the floor. He put a hoof to his face, sobbing in happiness. The dark clouds that had been suffocating him drifted away.

Spirit gave him a minute before saying, “Your family is waiting for you. Clearly, this was a holiday miracle, so stop beating yourself up and get into the spirit of the holiday.”

Slipstream pushed himself up, wiping his face. “You’re right. There has been precious little to celebrate lately. My wife is going to be so relieved when she hears about this.”

For the next while he grabbed all the things they needed. He found the toys his daughters had wanted the most, just imagining their expressions when they opened them.

When he had filled the cart as much as he thought it was safely possible he went up to the front to see Spirit hovering around the exit. The stallion directed him to a mare behind a table, offering free wrapping for the presents.

Maybe it wasn’t proper, but he gave the stallion a big hug. “Thank you so much! If you hadn’t talked to me earlier this would have been the worst Hearthswarming ever.”

Spirit didn’t seem bothered, returning the gesture. “You’re very welcome. Live this day and tomorrow to the fullest, okay?”

“I will.”

He left the store with pep in his step, returning home.

He found his wife sitting at the kitchen table, a melancholy look on her face. That wouldn’t do.

“Turn that frown upside-down, Silk!” he called out, making her look up.

She gazed up at him, surprised by his change in demeanor. “What happened?”

“I won!”

“You won… what?”

“Come here, come here.”

She got up, curious, following him to the front door where her eyes went wide. “W-what is this?”

“They were doing a lottery at this grocery store, and I won the grand prize: a shopping spree. All of this didn’t cost me a single bit.”

Just like he had earlier she got weak-kneed, falling on him as she held him close.

“It’s a miracle,” she said thickly. “Just a miracle.”

“It sure is.” He kissed her. “We are truly blessed.”

***

A filly, Topaz, was panting and wheezing as her parents bundled her up, her face red.

“She’s burning up,” said her mother Sapphire.

“Why now of all days?” said her father Iron Heart. 

Through her hazy breaths Topaz said, “I’m… sorry… Daddy.”

His face went red. “Honey, I’m not blaming you for this. I just don’t want you to have to spend Hearthswarming in the hospital.”

She tried to put her hoof to her mouth when she coughed, but she just didn’t have the strength. Lifting one of her hooves only caused her to collapse to the floor.

“Are you alright?” asked Iron Heart.

“Not… really.” 

Sapphire bit her lip. “I really don’t want to bring her out into the cold during one of her attacks, but what choice do we have?”

“Just make sure she wears her scarf so she’s not breathing in the cold air,” said Iron Heart.

When they finished bundling her up Sapphire helped get their daughter onto Iron Heart’s back. 

As they were heading for the door Topaz said again. “I’m… sorry." She coughed. "I… know you… wanted to… party… today.”

Tears came down his eyes. “Topaz, you’re far more important to us than any party. You feel bad enough because you’re sick. Don’t beat yourself up too. Please!”

The trio went out into Ponyville, heading for the hospital. 

It was like a stab in the heart… a scar continually being reopened. Their daughter had been sickly since just a few months after her birth. An unfortunate electrical fire had started in their daughters room. Thankfully they had smelled the smoke and gotten her out before she suffered burns, but she had inhaled a lot of it. 

She had been living a fairly average life since then, but she had been asthmatic ever since. She couldn’t run. Even trotting caused her to get wheezy almost immediately. 

During the winter months she had it the hardest. Though they gave her medication to take it was still difficult for her. She couldn’t go out and make snowponies or have snowball fights like her friends. 

When she’d get sick, especially during wintertime, it would leave her bedridden for days or in the hospital.

Today was one of those days. She’d shown signs of a cold the day before, but it seemed to have escalated to the flu.

Even though they had put all her warm clothes on, as well as a scarf, the colder outside air still caused their daughters breathing to become even heavier. She was practically gasping in breath, coughing every so often.

Concerned, they increased the pace.

Iron Heart gasped himself when the weight on his back suddenly vanished. He spun around, only to see a stallion on his knees holding his daughter.

“Whew!” said the stallion. “That was a close one.”

Sapphire trotted over. “Oh, thank you for catching our daughter, but we really don’t have time to waste.”

“No one should have to suffer on Hearthswarming.”

“Well, life has other ideas,” said Iron Heart.

“And the spirit of the holiday disagrees.”

“Look, we don’t have time for wordplay. We need to get to the hospital.”

“Why is that?” 

“Hmm?” A sphere of light surrounded them. The area around them was warm now, the outside seemingly shut out. 

The stallions horn lit up, Topaz floating into the air. He pointed at her with a hoof, a beam of light coming out and surrounding the child.

“H-hey!” Sapphire called out. “What are you doing to her?”

The stallion just chuckled as he set her down.

The light surrounding her flashed before disappearing.

Topaz blinked, coming back to full alertness. “What the-” After a few moments she smiled. “I feel all better!” 

The pressure, the feeling that something was always squeezing her lungs, had faded. She began to laugh, taking in full breaths.

Sapphire and Iron Heart stared at their daughter incredulously before turning their gaze to the stallion. “W-who are you?” asked Sapphire.

He chuckled warmly. “Just the spirit of the holiday made manifest. This is our gift to you: health for your daughter.”

Sapphire looked at her daughter with tears in her eyes. Not just her current sickness, but the spirit had also cured her asthma.

“Of course, I do expect something in return for this.”

“Like what?” asked Iron Heart cautiously. 

“Have the best Hearthswarming you possibly can. After all, this is my holiday, and I want to see to it that as many as possible get to enjoy it.”

“That’s… that’s all?”

“That’s all.”

Iron Heart looked at Topaz now. The redness in her face had vanished, and she looked perfectly content. He began to cry too. “If that’s your price then I’ll gladly pay it.”

He turned back, bowing deeply. “Thank you!”

Sapphire mimicked the pose. “Thank you!”

“Now, now,” said the spirit. “Don’t bow to me. Just hurry up and pay what you owe.”

“Of course.”

She went over to her daughter, giving her a hug. “Honey, make sure you say thank you.”

Topaz went one further, trotting over and giving him a big hug. “Thank you for saving me, Mister!”

He patted her head. “You’re very welcome, little filly. It was my pleasure.”

After a few seconds he pushed her away. “Well, the day is young and I’m sure there is more misery about souring this wonderful day. I have to go.”

Topaz waved. “Goodbye!”

All three of them stared as the stallions body dissolved, starting from the head and moving downward until he was gone, the particles making up his body swirling around before heading off into the distance.

If they had had any doubts about what that stallion was they had faded. Teleportation was one thing, but they didn’t think even the princesses could dissolve themselves like that. It had to be something greater.

The warmth disappeared, bringing back the cold, but it barely mattered to them.

After a little while Topaz said, “I want to party! That’s what you agreed to, so let’s do it!”

Sapphire and Iron Heart both hugged their daughter. This truly was a Hearthswarming miracle.

“Yes,” said Sapphire. “I’m truly feeling the spirit now.”

“Me too,” said Iron Heart. “Let’s go fulfill our end of the bargain.”

“YEAH!” screamed Topaz.

***

Holly’s mom, Harmony, was drinking her morning coffee. She felt disturbed. She just couldn’t seem to get her daughter’s question out of her head.

“Don’t you believe in miracles, Mommy?”

Life had been a wonder since her daughter had come into her life. She had always wanted to be a mother, but for a long time she wondered if she was infertile. Despite their efforts they had failed to conceive over and over. 

It had been the most wondrous news when she found out that it had finally happened. She was actually pregnant. Her daughter being born on this day only seemed to confirm that something greater, bigger than themselves, had happened to them.

She hadn’t cared about the sleepless nights or the temper tantrums. Just finally having a child of her own made even the worst days worth it. She had named her daughter after something Hearthswarming related simply because it was a most miraculous day. The day that the three pony tribes finally put aside their differences and discovered the magic of friendship.

When had she forgotten what it was like to believe in the impossible? Forgotten what a miracle really was?

Interrupting her stupor was the sound of rapid hoofbeats. Holly came running in.

“Mommy!” she called out.

“Good morning, Holly. Happy birthday!”

“Oh, I just woke up, and I’m so excited. Is he here yet?”

“No… not yet.”

All the excitement drained out of her. “But… but…” 

She had done just what the spirit asked. She had kept her promise, so why wasn't he here?

She looked on the verge of tears.

Harmony picked her daughter up, setting her on her lap. “Don’t let your faith be shaken so easily, Holly! Maybe I’m just getting my hopes up for nothing, but I want to believe too. If there’s any way for your father to make it here today, then he’s going to come.

“As you said to me yesterday, you really are my little miracle. And you’re proof that miracles really do happen.”

She rubbed her daughters head. “So don’t give up on that belief of yours. You made me remember when I used to believe. So let’s keep hoping together, okay?”

She remembered what her mother had said yesterday about not believing anymore. Hearing that she had changed her mind, and hearing her mother’s encouragement, settled her emerging feelings before they could really take hold.

She took in a deep breath, thinking about her promise. She couldn’t lose all hope just because her daddy was a little late. The spirit had told her he would be there when she woke up, but she had only been awake for a minute. As soon as she had arisen and remembered her promise she had felt full of energy. Maybe he just didn't expect her to wake up so soon.

The two of them ate breakfast and washed the dishes together.

Just as they were heading to the living room they heard a rapid knocking on the front door.

Harmony felt a jolt in her heart. She didn’t know if she was really ready to open that door, as it might not be her husband, but it would do her no good to put it off. 

Holly jumped up and down repeatedly. “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!”

They both went to the front door, Harmony unlocking it and opening it.

Her eyes filled with tears, hardly believing it. Her husband really was standing right there before her.

“DADDY!” Holly screamed, running over and throwing herself at him. “You made it!”

He hugged her. “It’s so, so good to see both of you. You have no idea.”

Harmony added her hooves to the hug. “Same to you, Spark.

“So… the storm let up?”

He pulled away from her and set Holly on the floor. “Let’s get out of the cold.”

“Right.” 

They went inside, and he closed the door behind him. “I… don’t know how to explain it. I’ve never seen the likes of it in all my life.”

“What happened?”

“It was still snowing. The blizzard hadn’t let up a bit. I was staying at the station in some vain hope that there would still be a possibility something might go my way.

“Then, right before my eyes, the snow began to melt… but only on the tracks.”

“What?” asked Harmony.

“It blew my mind. The tracks and the train both became devoid of snow, and nothing else.

“For a while no one knew what to do. It was just so surprising. But eventually the conductor decided that if the tracks were clear, no matter how it had happened, that he’d make the trip if there were those who needed it.

“It just felt like a miracle directing me back home to both of you.”

“Of course it was!” said Holly. “He kept his promise.”

That got both her parents looking at her strangely. “Who are you talking about?” asked Harmony.

“That’s who I was talking to yesterday. It was the Spirit of Hearthswarming.”

Her parents glanced at each other now, unsure of how to respond to that.

Holly ignored her parents reactions. “He came to visit yesterday when I was all sad. He knows when ponies aren’t in the holiday spirit, so he came to cheer me up.

“He said that if I didn’t cry, and stayed happy, and believed with all my heart that a miracle could happen, that he would bring you back home to me by the morning.”

Harmony bit her lip. “Look, I don’t want to burst your bubble, but that was probably just some random stallion from around town that wanted to cheer you up.”

Holly shook her head. “Nuh-uh! It was a miracle spirit. If that was just someone in town then they couldn’t have done anything all the way in Baltimare. No one’s magic could travel that far except maybe the princesses, and that was definitely not a mare talking to me. 

“If it wasn’t a spirit then how do you explain what happened to Daddy’s train?”

Neither of them had an answer for her.

Eventually Spark said, “Well, who knows? Maybe it really was a spirit or maybe it wasn’t. However, I think what we can all agree on is that a miracle certainly happened today.”

Holly nodded. “It’s okay if you don’t believe, Daddy. I know the truth.

“I… I kept to my promise.” She let out a shaky breath. “I didn’t cry all day yesterday, b-b-because I said I was gonna save all my tears for when I saw you again today.”

She hugged him again, breaking down in happy sobs.

Spark held her back, happy he hadn’t missed his daughter’s special day.

Harmony added her own hooves to the mix, adding her heart to theirs.

***

Slipstream sat by the fire next to his wife, sipping hot cocoa as his daughters played with their new toys. The massive weight that had been on his shoulders had finally gone. He had finally been able to truly share in his two daughter’s enthusiasm about their coming presents, teasing them about it. When they got to open their presents they were overjoyed.

He knew he wasn’t completely in the clear, but he felt like the worst was over. That unexpected windfall had gotten them back onto solid ground. It no longer felt like his next step was going to break the earth underneath him and sink him into an endless abyss.

Maybe it really had just been blind luck that he had gotten the one in a hundred grand prize, or maybe the owner had intentionally let him win. He had been too bereft of hope to even look at the wheel the whole time it was spinning, so it was certainly a possibility.

After Silk took a sip of her cocoa she said, "I've been thinking. Where did you find that place where you won all that stuff yesterday?"

He didn't remember the exact location, but he described some of the stores he had passed by.

"It's strange, isn't it?"

"What is?" he responded. 

“Ponyville is a relatively small town. The majority of the stores are small and specialize in a particular thing. When did we suddenly get a big department store?"

Now that she had brought it up he felt similar confusion. He hadn't recalled ever seeing anything like that before, except in big cities like Canterlot and Manehatten. In his depressed state he hadn't thought twice about the unusualness of it. It really seemed like he would have heard about something like that being built in Ponyville.

Silk gave him a playfully serious expression. "Be honest with me now. You went and robbed a whole bunch of places, didn't you?"

He chuckled. "Could be, though that would be pretty brazen walking around with a cart full of stolen items."

Before he could dwell on it further the fire suddenly sparked, catching his attention.

Out of the fire came an envelope, propelled upward towards the ceiling before gently drifting downward in his direction.

He blinked, dumbly reaching out his hoof for it and catching it. Despite seemingly coming out of the fire it wasn't charred at all, nor warm to the touch.

"What was that about?" asked Silk.

"I have no idea," Slipstream responded. 

He stared at the envelope for a little while. The outside was blank, so he turned it around and opened it, taking out a small letter. It only consisted of a few lines.

Dear Slipstream,

Sometimes life can drag you down. That's when you need a miracle to lift you up.

Enjoy the gift and live to the fullest with your family.

Signed,

The Spirit of Hearthswarming.

Slipstream read the last line a few times to be sure he was reading it correctly, then read it out to her.

“The ‘Spirit of Hearthswarming,’ huh?" asked Silk with a bit of wonder. "So yesterday you had supernatural help?”

His logical mind was trying to reject the notion, but things just didn't add up if he just thought of the mundane. The store that seemingly shouldn't exist, the letter popping out of the fireplace unharmed right when he began to question things...

He glanced upward. “Well, whatever you are, you were a lifesaver. The least I can do for you in return for saving my family from misery is embracing your holiday, Mr. Spirit.

“Thank you.”

***

Sapphire woke first in the morning. She could remember dancing and chatting and playing games, but she also felt a bit unsettled. Some part of her couldn’t help but wonder if what had happened yesterday was actually real. 

Their daughter had certainly been suffering, but was she that bad off that it needed supernatural intervention? 

She shook her husband awake, and shared her concerns when he was alert enough to listen to her. Surprisingly, he felt the same way. 

They both went to their daughters room, seeing her still fast asleep.

They got close to her bed, but didn’t wake her yet. They just listened for a while to the sound of her breathing. After caring for her condition most of her life they were pretty familiar with it sounding off. Her breaths were usually shallow, or accompanied by wheezing. She’d usually have to sleep slightly elevated, and would sometimes be woken up several times a night coughing up a storm.

They were concerned enough they still had a baby monitor in her room, just in case she needed them and couldn’t make it to their room or call out. They rarely got a full night’s sleep either. Even when she stayed with other family they still couldn't sleep completely soundly. They'd worry about being woken up and hearing their daughter had another attack.

Last night was the first time they had slept through the night since the accident. They hadn’t heard a peep all night. They couldn’t hear any sign of a wheeze, and she was taking in long, slow breaths.

It was almost overwhelming to know that their daughter was truly at peace for once in her life.

They couldn’t bring themselves to wake her up, disturbing her first uninterrupted deep sleep.

They looked at her with tender eyes, gently crying joyful tears.

Everything was really okay now.

***

Fluttershy hummed a Hearthswarming tune, feeling content. Discord had gotten her a nice, warm sweater, while Mayhem had given her a coupon for “one million free hugs.” If it had come from Discord it would have been a bit corny, but coming from Mayhem It was charming.

In a joking voice she said, “You went out an awful long time looking for the ‘perfect present’ yesterday. Didn’t see anything you wanted to buy?”

Mayhem shrugged. “I think the best present is love.”

Discord rolled his eyes. “Ugh.”

Mayhem just stuck his tongue out at him.

Fluttershy giggled. “You know, you’ve been acting strangely ever since you came home yesterday. You’ve been real giggly and smiley.”

“Oh… you know… just getting into the spirit of things.”

She gave him a questioning look at the emphasis he put on the word. He also had a bit of a mischievous smirk on his face now.

“I don’t know if I like the sound of that,” she said, still with a lighthearted tone. “It sounds like you and Discord got up to something while looking for my present.”

“Don’t look at me,” said Discord. “I got your present a while ago. I don’t know what he was doing yesterday.”

“Hmmm.” Her expression grew serious as she looked back at Mayhem. “I thought you told me that Discord was taking you around to go shopping. So you lied to me?”

Mayhem got an awkward look on his face. “Well… I mean… I’m part of Discord, so it wasn’t really a lie.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “A truth on a technicality might not be a lie, but it’s still dishonest.

“Is there a reason you couldn’t have just asked for Discord to accompany you rather than go out by yourself?”

“Well, I just… didn’t want anyone to know.”

“Why is that?” She glared down at him.

“I thought Twilight might get upset with me if she knew what I was really doing.”

Discord scratched his chin. “Why on earth would Twilight be upset at you buying a Hearthswarming present?”

Mayhem sighed. “I guess I can’t hide it any longer.

“I lied because I thought it would make you happy, Mommy. Not the lying bit, of course, but what I was really doing.”

Fluttershy gave him a questioning look. “First you say you didn’t want anyone to know what you were doing, but now you’re saying you wanted to make me happy? Which is it?”

“Both.”

Her eyebrow went up. “Both?

“Why don’t we stop dancing around the issue? Just what were you up to?”

“I feel like I’m a really lucky person. I have a great mother, amazing friends, and a great teacher in Twilight. My life is going super well, even if I do miss my old friends.”

Mayhem looked down, pushing a claw and paw together. “When I thought about how good I have it, and how special so many days have been, it just made me think about the ones who aren’t so lucky.”

Tears started to come down his eyes. “Just because it’s a holiday doesn’t mean everyone is happy. Sometimes people have problems. I know I can’t solve everyone’s problems for their whole life, but I really felt like this day should be special no matter who you are.”

Fluttershy felt like she was starting to see where this story was heading, her glare fading to a more neutral expression.

Mayhem wiped his face. “Twilight told me that she doesn’t want me becoming too well known around town because then everyone will just come to me to fix all their problems instead of doing things they can handle themselves, or become too comfortable with the idea that they’ll never have any bad times so long as I’m around.

“That’s when I got the idea. Rather than just make something happen seemingly out of nowhere, or going up to people as myself, I’d take advantage of this being a holiday and play the part of the Spirit of Hearthswarming. I’d let people chalk up the impossible to some magical, sacred being rather than chaos magic.

“I… I did invade their privacy a bit. Whenever I saw someone sad and miserable I’d look at their minds to see what was causing their distress, and manipulate things to fix it.”

He looked up now, tears coming down again. “There were quite a few people having a horrible Hearthswarming Eve. One of the people I helped was someone who was going through financial problems and couldn't even afford any presents for his children. Another had a daughter that had caught the flu and was asthmatic, barely able to breathe. 

"Not counting their family, I think I helped like eight or nine people, and every time just seeing the cheer on their faces made my heart swell.”

Fluttershy felt choked up now. “So you snuck out on your own… in order to spread kindness and generosity to those most in need?”

He nodded. “I’ve watched you for a long time. You always show kindness to everyone you meet, so I wanted to be just like you if you had this kind of power.”

Discord gave a sincere clap. “That is extremely noble. However, why all the secrecy?”

“Because no one needed to know it was me. I didn’t go and help people just so I could brag and have everyone pat me on the back about how nice I am. I did it because I wanted to help.”

Fluttershy felt extremely moved. She lifted up her coupon book. “I’d like to start redeeming my present.”

“Okay, Mommy,” said Mayhem, floating over to her and giving her a big hug.

She held him back, happy tears coming down her cheeks. “I am so, so, so proud of you, Mayhem. I know you weren’t in it for anything more than seeing others happy, but now that I know I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you how much joy you’ve brought me by helping others.

“That’s an even better present than this coupon book.”

"Well, that was going to be my secret present to you. I didn't want to just give you nothing, so that's why I gave you that book, but that was always the real present. I already knew that you care more about the heart inside the present more than the present itself."

She nuzzled his face. "That's very true.

"Well, now that I know the secret will you tell me about yesterday? I want to share in the good feelings too."

"Okay, Mommy, but I have to do one thing first."

He poofed upstairs. "She won't hear me up here."

He began waving to you. "Hello, readers! Can you believe this author? One hundred and sixty six chapters of a story involving me, Discord, and Pinkie Pie, and the only time he breaks the fourth wall is during a possibly non-canon holiday special? For shame!"

He shook his head. "Oh, well. I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday, and got to share in a little bit of the happiness I brought to others even if you're not having the best holiday yourself."

"Mommy's waiting for me, so I'll say goodbye for now! I'll see you in the next chapter." With a last warm smile he headed downstairs.
> 10-1: Stop being perfect
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayhem was beaming as he looked at the wall of Fluttershy’s room. She had allowed him to make a wall of memories to look at every day. He had pulled snapshots from his memories, setting up photos of his adventures with his new friends.

Playing pirates, going to a carnival, swimming deep undersea and above it, and going on a Daring Do adventure; his first trip through the world of his friends wishes had been a blast.

Then after that he had helped Spring Meadow with her own wish, bringing her and her brother together.

The second trip had been just as amazing. Spring Meadow had wished for them to be the size of mice, having to run around in a world where they were only a tenth of their size and avoid getting squished. It was incredible how at that size even a button could be deadly. Not that they were ever in danger, but even tiny objects from a normal ponies perspective could be gigantic when you were so small.

Plum had surprised him, asking for a scary wish. She had seemed a bit timid and one of the most scared of him at first, but she requested a world overrun with zombies. They had to run from house to house, fighting them off. The end goal was to get to Twilight’s castle, the only safe space left and the only place where they were working on a cure.

At Flash’s suggestion, he started out already infected, giving them a time limit to get there before he turned completely and went after them. They really had to work together for that one. The pressure was intense. Even in a fake world with no actual risk of harm he still didn’t want to let a friend down by letting them turn into a zombie.

So many fun wishes, and Spring had fit right in with their group. 

As he continued to stare at all the pictures his smile slowly faded.

He could already feel the anticipation building up, and he couldn’t satisfy his desire for chaos for another week. 

Fear began to creep into him. If things continued on like this it could wind up turning out like before. 

There was only one thing to do.

***

Fluttershy knocked on the door of Twilight’s castle. A short while later the door opened.

“Hello, Twilight,” said Fluttershy genially. “How are you today?”

“Very good,” she replied.

“Hello!” said Mayhem.

“Hello, Mayhem.

“So what brings you two here today?”

“Mayhem said he wanted to speak with you, so here we are,” said Fluttershy.

“Sure. Come on in.”

They went to one of the rooms in the castle, where the three sat down, Mayhem on Fluttershy’s lap.

Once they were settled Twilight said, “Okay, so lay it on me. What’s on your mind?”

Mayhem let out a little sigh. “I have a problem, and I’m not sure what to do about it. That’s why I wanted to come to you. You’re the smartest person I know, and you were the one who came up the plan for my reformation.”

Twilight grinned at the compliment. “Well, as a princess or as your friend I’m here to help. What’s your problem?”

He sighed again, sucking on his cheek. “Twilight, I’m getting bored again. These weekly chaos sessions are amazing, and they work off a lot of my excess energy and desire for trouble.

“The problem is that they’re too amazing. They’re the only highlight of the week. Once they’re over it becomes so quiet I just start thinking all about what’s going to come at the following week’s session.

“I’m…” He wrang his paw and claw together anxiously. “I’m kinda getting scared. Feeling bored is what caused all this trouble to start with.

“I still can’t see my old friends, and Mommy is a little anxious about me hanging out with my new friends without you there to supervise. I… I know I lost a lot of trust when I went crazy, so I don’t blame her for being nervous, but all I have all week is her and sometimes Daddy.”

He let out a little groan. “I’m… just not sure what to do. I want something more, but you said you wanted to keep these as only weekly sessions as a symbol that I can’t always have what I want.

“Can you help me again?”

Twilight nodded. “The solution is obvious to me.”

“Mmm?” His eyes widened. “You already have a plan?”

She nodded again. 

“Wow!” he said, smiling wide. “You’re really good at this! Just like when you helped Spring and her brother.”

“You think so? Maybe I could even… make a job out of this. Nah… that’s crazy.”

Mayhem giggled. “Don’t play with me, Princess Twilight.” He was already feeling better. He had seen first-hand Twilight’s skills, so if she said she had a plan he knew he could put his trust in her to fix things.

“I want you to try something for me, and I can almost guarantee it will take your bored feelings away.”

“I’m listening.” He leaned forward.

“Well… don’t take this the wrong way, Mayhem, but you are incredibly spoiled.”

He scrunched up a bit, his grin fading. “Sorry…”

“I’m not criticizing you. I’m only stating a fact. 

“How could you not be spoiled? You have magic that grants you whatever you want whenever you want it, with basically no restrictions. There are a few things your magic doesn’t affect, but you are simply too powerful for your own good. 

“I have great magic. I did even before I became an alicorn. However, I started out pathetic. I had to struggle just to turn a page in a book. I had great potential, but I had to push myself to grow into it. Since you were ‘born’ this way you’ve never had to struggle for anything.

“And, so, this week I want you to do your best not to use your powers at all.”

He gave her a curious look. “Why?”

“You really think that will help?” asked Fluttershy. 

“No, not on its own," said Twilight. "But we’ll get to that.

“Mayhem, what makes you bored? You mentioned during the pirate wish that knowing everything that’s going to happen is no fun. You like the mystery of just having a general script and then letting everyone else do whatever they want.”

He nodded. “I remember that.”

“Your power is impressive, truly. However, it’s also very dull.”

“Dull?” asked Fluttershy. “Most ponies would do most anything to have power like his.”

“And that’s part of the problem. His powers are ‘perfect,’ and when something is perfect it has nowhere to go.”

“What do you mean, perfect?” asked Mayhem.

“I’m saying your power is what is causing your boredom. You say you like mystery, but your power always creates exactly what you want with no effort. How can you feel any real satisfaction out of what you use your power for if there’s never any challenge in it?

“Let’s say you wanted to make a polished wood table. An ordinary pony has to gather the wood, the tools and supplies, and set aside time. Then they have to very carefully cut it into the right sized pieces, sand it, coat it, varnish it, and hammer it together. This could take hours, but at the end he has a product made out of his hard work.

“But when it comes to you… well, what is there? One little snap, and you can create a table just as nice looking. It just won’t feel like an accomplishment. A feeling of triumph wouldn’t feel earned, even though you have the exact same product. 

“In fact, your table is always going to turn out just a little bit nicer. After all, you don’t have to worry about fatigue or distractions or precision. It’ll just come out fully formed.” 

Mayhem looked uncomfortable. 

“I need some of Discord’s magic to keep you in line during our weekly sessions, but immediately after they end I send it back to him. I have no interest in having this power full time, because there’s nowhere to go with it.

“As ponies we’re always striving to better ourselves. We try to be better than the day before. Learn something we didn’t know yesterday. Try something new we never tried before. As we accumulate experiences we grow, but no matter how long we live or how many friends we make, there is always something new tomorrow. We are never perfect.

“With your power there is nothing to strive for. It doesn’t grow. It doesn’t change. It doesn’t get better or worse. It’s just… stagnant.

“Look at Pound and Pumpkin. When Discord gave them some of his magic they were perfect too. Without any practice or experience with chaos magic they mastered that power instantly; breaking their bodies into pieces, turning into alicorns and fusing their bodies together, destroying an army of Changelings with a lightning tornado…

“It may be the ultimate magic, far exceeding my own, but in the end… it’s boring. So long as you rely on that magic to do everything for you then you’ll never grow past what you are now, and that boredom during the rest of the week when you’re not granting wishes will never fade.”

Tears came down Mayhem’s eyes. “So, then… my power is bad?”

Twilight got up and nuzzled his nose with her own. “Not at all. You saved Forest with that power. I’m not saying your power is bad, because it can have great applications, but I’m saying it’s holding you back from becoming your best self.”

“S-so what should I do?”

“I want you to think about what you said to Spring’s mother. Even if you didn’t realize it at the time you showed some amazing insight.”

“I did?”

She nodded. “Even if she didn’t sound enthused with the idea, she still suggested wiping her daughter’s memory of the incident to free her from her guilt. You wouldn’t stand for it, calling her out and telling her it was a horrible idea.

“You said at the end that if Spring wouldn’t accept our love then we’d just keep reaching out to her until she did. Once she woke up from her forced nap you put your whole heart and soul into helping her. Even before that you risked everything just to help her when you put your standing at risk by telling about what happened with your friends. After she woke up you risked getting in trouble again by telling her about sneaking into Flurry’s cutecenera.

“You did realize you had to mend the gap between her and her brother rather than helping her directly, but in the end this victory came about because of you and the sheer effort you put into it. I had to help change your perspective so you realized you didn’t fail, but I could see how much it meant to you when you understood.

“Now would you have felt the same if you had taken her mother’s suggestion? Probably not. Rather than work through her pain you’d have just taken a shortcut.

“It felt so fulfilling because you had to work at it rather than just getting it instantly. You had to take a hit, you had to have her yell at you, but in the end you pushed through and succeeded.”

Mayhem nodded. 

“The biggest problem with your magic, besides its inherent perfection, is simply that it doesn’t take any time. If you exclude the time spent sleeping and eating, that’s a large number of hours to spend during the day in which you have to decide what to do with all that time.

“It may feel like your adventures with your new friends are the most amazing thing, but that’s only because it’s the only time you slow down!”

“Slow down?” asked Mayhem. “What do you mean?”

“That carpenter I spoke of before might decide he’s going to make ten tables on a certain day. If each table takes an hour to make then that’s ten hours. For you that’s ten snaps… ten seconds. If you really wanted to you could make them all in one. Is it any wonder then you’re wondering how to spend your time? Everything your magic can do happens so instantaneously it doesn’t give you any time to have a real experience.”

Mayhem gave her a curious look. Some of that sounded vaguely familiar.

“These wish-granting adventures are one of the rare times your magic is used to create a journey rather than an end result. You set up an adventure through your magic, and then all of you play through it. You do sometimes use your magic to influence that world, such as changing it from the middle of the day to twilight, but you’re still going through it in real time.”

“Oh!” said Mayhem, sitting up straighter. “I know now.”

“Know what?” asked Fluttershy.

“What Twilight is saying is a lot like you said to me when I tried to tell you about last week.”

“And what was that?” Twilight asked, curious.

“I tried to just snap all my memories of that day into her, but she told me she wanted me to talk it out instead. 

“She said it wasn’t magic that made bonding experiences. It was showing interest in each other’s experiences. If I gave her my memories she wouldn’t have the same mystery I did as we went through our wishes and Spring’s problems.”

She nodded. “That’s correct.

“What does this all mean in regards to you? I don’t want you to simply not use your powers and have that be the end of it. That’s not going to cure your boredom. I want you to start learning and trying new skills without using your powers as a crutch.

“Stop trying for perfect! Have the courage to make mistakes! Have some fun!

“Try to make that desk. Maybe not even a desk. Maybe just something simpler like a new birdhouse for Fluttershy’s animals. Cut some wood, get a hammer and nails, and then attempt to make it.”

Mayhem looked intrigued.

“Here’s something else that’s going to sound negative, but just listen to my reasoning before you think badly of me.

“I want you to fail.”

His eyebrow rose as his head tilted. “You want me to fail?” His eyes darted left and right. “At what? And why?”

“To gain experience. We tend to look at mistakes as something horrible, but if we go back to what you said: the past is for learning from, not something to use to hurt yourself. If one attempt doesn’t work then try a different method until you succeed.”

Mayhem looked crestfallen now, his eyes shining with tears. “I… I never really thought about it before, but… I really don’t have any skills at all. I don’t even know what I’d be without my magic.”

Fluttershy gave him a squeeze. “You’d be the same wonderful child you are now.”

“Mommy…” He spun around in her hooves and hugged her.

She rubbed his back. “Don’t be sad, Mayhem. It’s never too late to learn some new skills.”

“That’s right,” said Twilight. “I have tons of books in the library about hobbies.

“All you need to do is find a balance. If something is way too simple or easy then it will bore you because it’s not enough of a challenge. However, while you shouldn’t give up on something completely just because you’re struggling, sometimes things are so far above your current skill level that it’s only going to cause you frustrations, and you should come back to it later when you have more experience.”

“But… but I don’t know what to do!” Mayhem protested. “I’ve never really done anything without my magic! I don’t even know where to start!”

“Like I said, if there’s something that catches your eye I can find a book to help you practice. You don’t have to go crazy right at the start. Sometimes mistakes can be really fun, or frustrate you in just the right way to make you try again.

“If you need more inspiration to help you start, I think picking up some hobbies will help get you back to your friends faster.”

His head shot up, and he spun around. “R-really?”

“What Cup and Carrot want out of you is to see that you’ve grown. They want proof that their children are going to be safe around you. The best way to convince them of that is to show you can practice restraint. 

“You got mad at her the day of the superhero adventure because she didn’t want you turning her house into chaos central again. Granted, you were already at your boredom limit then, so maybe it wouldn’t have bothered you on an ordinary day.

“You make them nervous, because you do things so far beyond what it looks like you should be capable of. You look like a child, but have Discord’s full capabilities. The only thing that can restrain your expenditure of magic is the fear of running out of it and being forced to return to Discord.

“Even before what you did she was still a little wary of you. She may have allowed you to go crazy during the party, but she doesn’t want that experience every time you come over. Creating indoor roller coasters and pools, turning kids into dragons… it’s all a little overwhelming for her.

“Now, looking at it from the other side of the superhero adventure, she’s even more anxious and reluctant. She could easily restrain an average child, as the twins and their friends aren’t that skilled. But she can’t do that with you. She has no way to contain you because your power is far greater than hers, and that’s her biggest fear: she knows that she can’t protect her children from you.

“That’s why I want you to try and limit your powers. When the time comes when she finally is ready to give you another chance, she’ll be watching you like a hawk. She is already going to be nervous enough. You don’t want to give her any excuses to cut the day short, so learn how to function without snapping every time you want something.”

He nodded. “I got it. Even if she gives me another chance, if I scare her she might just send me home.

“But… how does that help right now? You said it could get me to my friends faster, but it sounds like it’s only going to help in the future when I’m already seeing them.”

Twilight smiled. “Good question. Glad to see you noticed.

“Even if you can’t see your friends directly, you have two main lines to them. The first is the notebook. Your friends want to see you again, so when they hear about your progress they can add some weight to their argument about seeing you again by telling them about the ways you’ve been improving yourself.

“The second is me. I’m more focused on Cup and Carrot, as they’re the only ones I would usually see on an average basis, but I can speak to them about you as well. However, I can’t force them to accept you, nor will I push them to. As I’ve said to them several times already, I don’t like throwing my authority around. I want them to always be the first to decide what to do with their children.”

“That sounds good,” said Mayhem, “but I’m still scared!”

“And what are you scared of?”

“I’m scared of being a screw-up.”

Twilight walked over and rubbed his head. “Mayhem, have you been listening to me?” she said lightheartedly. “Making arts and crafts or painting or other casual hobbies isn’t going to destroy the world if you don’t get it down right away.

“You’re too used to perfection, but if you put the time and effort in you’ll see results. Fluttershy took the time and effort to work on you, and just look how far you’ve come. You’re learning new things all the time and are helping others. That’s a far cry from the creature you started as, the one that wanted to give every single person some chaos magic and watch the world tear itself apart through misuse of that power.”

“I remember… I used to think that way.” Mayhem bit his lip. “If… I do get better at not using my magic does that mean you’re going to cancel our weekly sessions?”

“No!” Twilight said firmly. “As I’ve said before your power can make children happy and fulfill their deepest desires. I’m not going to take that away.”

Mayhem didn’t look reassured. Tears shimmered in his eyes. “But… but…”

“What?” she said gently.

“Will my friends even like me anymore without my magic?”

Fluttershy turned him around so he was facing her. “How could you ask such a thing, Mayhem? Of course your friends will still love you.

“While you were drowning in your self-hatred they all ran over here to tell you they still wanted you to remain their friend.”

“Of course they did,” he replied, looking away. “If I was gone forever they’d lose access to my abilities.”

“Hmm.” Twilight scratched her chin, moving so she was standing next to Fluttershy. “Mayhem… do you really believe your friendships are that weak? When you came to your senses that day Flurry remembered you even though you hadn’t restored their memories yet. That’s proof that you made a big impression on her life, and aren't just a tool to use.

“By giving her another friend you helped her live out her own wish, even without actually using your magic. All she wanted was just to feel like an ordinary kid doing ordinary things. You assisted in accomplishing that, and the moment that made her forgive you was subconsciously remembering that hug of forgiveness you offered her.”

Mayhem began quietly sobbing. “I’m scared!”

Fluttershy rubbed his back. “What is it? This has to be about more than just doing things manually rather than through your magic.”

He rubbed his eyes. “I’m scared that no one really cares about me. They only want to use me for my magic.

“I already look like a freak to ordinary ponies, and usually my magic is the only thing that makes them look past that.

“Tree Leaf hated me when we first met, and Flurry called me horrible names. Peppermint was scared of me. Spring Meadow only wanted to know me because of her brother. All those ponies Twilight found for my new friends are all there for the wishes. 

“Without my magic there’s nothing special about me! I’m just some monster looking creature. I just wonder if I’m even necessary at all, and whether they’d even care about me or want to be my friend if I was ‘normal.’ ”

“Mayhem…” Fluttershy had a heavy expression on her face.

Twilight sighed. “Is that what you really think? You think everyone is just out to use you? And they only overlook your less moral actions so they can keep on taking advantage of you?”

Mayhem pointed at her. “You’re using me too!” he said in a hurt voice. “You only pick me up every week so I can use my powers to do your job.”

Twilight had a mental image of Pound, back when the colt had had his horrible first interaction with Tree Leaf. Pound had lashed out on her too, despite only doing what he wanted her to do. 

Mayhem’s insecurities were getting to him, and she knew it was time to dig into the root of his issues.

“Fluttershy, do you mind switching out?”

She shook her head, getting up with Mayhem so Twilight could take her seat, then set the draconequus down on her lap.

“What you’re saying isn’t wrong,” said Twilight. “Everyone, everywhere, uses other people. However, there’s a difference between using someone and abusing someone. The difference comes down to what each person is getting out of that interaction.”

Mayhem was staring intently at her, and he jerked his head a little to tell her to continue.

“Let’s look at something simple. Rarity is a dressmaker. If someone wants a dress made then they go to her to use her services. And she uses them in return to get money. In return for her efforts the client gives an agreed-upon payment, either in bits or a substitute. At the end of that interaction, both parties should walk away happy. That’s a well-meaning use. 

“However, what if a client came in that looked wealthy, and she decided to double her prices just for that pony? That would be an abuse of her clients. That’s a malicious use.

“The same could be said for the customer. What if a client deliberately made themselves look ratty and bad-off so she’d give them a discount on the dress out of sympathy? That is also a malicious use.

“I am making use of your powers to help with my job, but is that a malicious use, or a good use? Let’s go back to what I said at the start. What are the both of us getting out of that? I’m seeing new friendships grow, and you’re getting a chance to exercise your powers in a safe environment.

“You were overjoyed when I came up with this plan, and you’re here today because you like it so much it’s all you can think about during the week.

“If you make the choice to do something at the request of someone else, and you thoroughly enjoy it, then can you really claim I’m abusing your power?”

Mayhem let out thoughtful moans. “I… guess not.”

“Actually, let me take a step back. Just because you were perfectly fine with doing something that someone asked you to do it doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t taking advantage of you. It can sometimes be hard to distinguish between the two. If you were asked to create a scene of utter chaos in a controlled area, you might love the idea of it, but the one asking for that might have no care for you.

“Cup did bring this possibility up, that in showing you to others outside of our circle it might lead to you coming into contact with people that really are only interested in you for your powers and nothing else.

“However, that certainly doesn’t apply to the ones in your inner circle. Just like we did with Spring’s situation, let’s look at the data and see the results we come up with.”

“Okay,” he said quietly before Twilight turned him around. She summoned her blackboard, and wrote Fluttershy on it.

“Do we even need to discuss this?” asked Twilight. “Can you really tell me, after everything you said last week, that you believe Fluttershy is using you maliciously?”

Mayhem looked over at Fluttershy.

The mare saw his expression, and put a hoof on Twilight. “I think he wants us to switch again.”

Twilight wasn’t surprised. When Fluttershy sat down again Mayhem gave her a big hug, and she gave him one in kind.

She gave the pair a little while, and then called Mayhem to attention. He spun around, but stayed in Fluttershy’s lap.

“Next let’s talk about the other adult figure in your life: me. Last week you told me about how much you value what I’ve done for you, and that if Fluttershy wasn’t already your designated mother figure that you’d happily let me take that spot.”

“Is that right?” asked Fluttershy, giving him a nuzzle.

He nodded, most of his feelings already fading.

As she went to continue Mayhem put his paw up. “You don’t have to go on, Twilight. I get the difference.”

“But you still look scared.”

He put a claw to his mouth, biting it. “I feel… like I’m stuck between two opposites. It’s not… not the kind of chaos I enjoy.”

“And what are you stuck between?”

“I’m stuck between using my magic and not using it. If I never use it then I’m just some creepy-looking thing, but if I do use it then other ponies might want to take advantage of me.”

Fluttershy turned him around. “It sounds to me like kiddy thoughts are clouding your mind. Kids usually think in extremes. If it’s not one way then it has to be the other way, and there are no other possibilities beyond that. And, thus, you miss out on the middle.

“The middle, in this case, being moderation. Who ever said you have to choose between never using your powers or using them all the time? All Twilight asked of you was to experiment with trying some new activities without it and seeing whether you found it more enjoyable that way.

“You could also try to say that if life feels so much better without your magic then it’s useless, or that you’re useless, but that’s certainly not the case. You’ve made Spring’s life so much better, and you still have your wish-granting sessions. For some of those wishes you’re allowing them to experience things that would be impossible for a regular pony.”

Twilight walked around next to Fluttershy again. “She’s correct. What makes a friend is how they make you feel. Of course, to an extent, those children are coming there every week for the wishes, but did their concern for you feel forced or fake during your breakdown? Chocolate apologized for making a wish that set you off. They all chose to stay when you told them to leave because they could see you needed their support.

“Your old friends are no different. Flurry didn’t know about your powers when she apologized to you. She did it sincerely. Tree Leaf acknowledged that in the beginning he was just out for more exposure to your magic, but then he grew to see you for more than that.”

“Oh!” Mayhem got a thoughtful look on his face. “I just remembered something!”

“What’s that?”

He snapped, and a memory appeared of the seven children during Pound and Pumpkin’s birthday. 

All of them were lying on their backs and ready for bed.

Pound put his hooves behind his head. “Without a doubt this has been the best party we’ve ever had."

“You said it!” said Pumpkin, letting out a happy sigh. “And I don’t think Mayhem had anything to do with it.”

“Hey!” the draconequus complained. “That’s not a nice thing to say.”

“Oops. That came out wrong. Sorry. I meant that it wasn’t your magic that made this day great. It was being surrounded by all the friends we made. We like you for YOU, not the cool stuff you can do.”

Seeing the memory made tears come to his eyes, and he buried his head in Fluttershy’s chest as he quietly sobbed.

Fluttershy rubbed his back. “A true friend is someone who accepts you for all you are. If your friends stopped liking you just because you’re not breaking reality then they’re not truly your friends.”

“It’s no different than Flurry,” said Twilight. “If someone is judging you for just one quality, or lack thereof, then you need to show them that you’re more than just that.

“And that’s why it’s so important for you to develop new skills outside of just using your powers, so that you’re not just that one quality.”

Mayhem sat up, wiping his eyes. “But… but can I even do that?”

“Why not? If you can develop emotionally and change that part of yourself then why shouldn’t you be able to do the same physically?

“Just think about all the things you do that you don’t use magic on.”

“Like helping me feed the animals every day,” said Fluttershy.

“But anyone could-” Mayhem started, but Twilight cut him off.

“No! Don’t start that! You can’t say that you’re totally incompetent without your magic and then dismiss the things you do successfully without it.

“The things you do on your own don’t have to be monumental or have the world at stake. The little things can have as much value to you as the big things.”

Mayhem sucked on his cheek. “Well… I’m just nervous about doing it wrong.”

“Why? It’s just you, me, and Fluttershy. Do you think either of us is going to hate you because you made a tiny mistake? 

“Some of the greatest things have come from people using mistakes or accidents to their advantage. You used your great mistake to empathize with Spring and help bring her and her brother together, but it can also be applied to many other areas of a less serious nature.

“This sorta goes hoof-in-hoof with what I said before about wanting you to fail. If you make a mistake, then find a way to take advantage of it, or fix it.”

He nodded. “I get it, but…”

“Yes?”

“I’m… I’m feeling overwhelmed. Your library is so big, and there’s so many possible things to try that it’s hard to even imagine narrowing it down to just one to start with.

“Do you think… you could pick something out for me, and I’ll try whatever it is?”

Twilight considered him for a short time. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you come with me? I’ll join you in your first project.”

Mayhem smiled, looking relieved. 

Twilight put a hoof up. “However, this is the first and last time. I believe you’re perfectly capable of doing this on your own, but I’ll start you off to ease you into it.

“If you find you enjoy this project then you can practice it as much as you want on your own. And while you’re taking breaks in that you can take as much time as you want going through the library to find something else that catches your eye.

“Does that sound fair?”

He nodded hard several times. “Yes, Twilight.”

“Alright, then, let’s go.”

Mayhem got on her back. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay, Mayhem,” said Fluttershy.

“So… where are we going?”

“To visit one of my heroes,” said Twilight.

“Celestia?”

She shook her head. “No one so grand.

“We’re going to see my Fluttershy.”

It took him a few seconds to make the connection. “You mean your mother?”

She nodded. 

“Why go all the way to Canterlot just to practice a hobby? And why do we need your mom?”

“When we were settling down with Flurry after the superhero incident, Shining reminded me of how I always used to do craft projects with her when I was a little filly. 

“That day I had a bit of nostalgia and an urge to do it again, but I never did wind up going to revisit that part of my past. There was still so much to plan for in regards to your future and the safety of the other children. Now you’re coming along, and I don’t have so much to worry over, so if you want to explore a new hobby together then I want to do it with my favorite mare.”

He nuzzled her face. “Mothers are really amazing, aren’t they?”

“They sure are.”

“Is… she going to want to have me there?”

“Don’t you worry yourself. It’ll be alright. I promise.”

He took in a deep breath. “Alright, Twilight. I trust you.”

“Thank you.” With a flash they were gone.
> 10-2: Motherly love
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayhem and Twilight arrived outside of a relatively modest home. It did have an upper-crust air about it, but nothing too overt.

Twilight knocked on the door.

A short while later a mare opened the door with a downcast expression.

“Hello?” she said, then her expression brightened as she recognized her daughter. “Twilight!” She threw her hooves around her. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Same to you, Mom,” Twilight replied happily. As they broke apart Twilight’s expression grew grim. “What’s got you down?”

“Nothing now. I was just feeling a little empty nested today. You and your brother have both gone out into the world, and your royal duties make it hard for you to find time to visit.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m overjoyed that both my children have become so prominent in the world, but it can be lonely around here some days.”

Twilight let out a heavy breath. “Mom, you should let me know when you’re feeling this way. As long as the world isn’t in danger I can always make time for you.”

Velvet shook her hoof. “No, no, dear. This is a normal part of life. It’s just something that has to be accepted. As long as I get to see you sometimes it’s enough for me.

“So… any particular reason you came to visit today? Or was your princess sense going off?”

Twilight chuckled. “I’m here to relive some nostalgia with someone who is learning about the magic of friendship.”

Her horn lit up, and Mayhem floated off her back between the two of them.

“H-hello,” Mayhem said awkwardly, giving a little wave with his paw. “How are you?” To his surprise she didn’t seem to think twice about how he looked.

“You must be Mayhem,” said the mare. “Twilight’s told me a little about you.” She put out her hoof. “I’m Twilight Velvet. Nice to meet you.”

He eyed her hoof with caution before looking up at her disarming smile. “You… don’t think I’m weird?”

She scooted forward and lifted her other hoof, hugging the little draconequus to her. “Kid, I had a dragon living in my house until Twilight moved to Ponyville, and he was one of the sweetest little things I’ve ever seen.

“I don’t have a problem with weird. I think everyone deserves love, no matter what they look like.”

Mayhem got a little choked up as he returned her hug. It was almost like being hugged by Fluttershy. Mothers really were amazing.

When she set him down she rubbed his head. “Feeling better now?”

He nodded. “Twilight brought me here to do an arts and crafts project, just like she used to do with you.”

Her eyes lit up. “Ooo!”

“I’ve been feeling bored lately, and she told me that it’s because my magic is too powerful. She thinks I’ll have a lot of fun if I try just doing things manually instead of using my power to do everything for me.”

“That sounds lovely.”

He bowed his head politely. “Thank you for doing this with me, Twilight.” His eyebrow went up, and he looked between mother and daughter. “This is going to get confusing fast.

“Um… Mrs. Twilight? Twilight Velvet? What do you prefer?”

She patted his head. “Why don’t you just call me Velvet? Calling me by my full name or by a title all day is going to sound way too formal.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

She smirked. “Or maybe you can call me Twilight, and that one over there can be Twily. Aww!”

Mayhem snickered.

“Ahem!” said Twilight in a pretentious sounding voice. “That nickname is exclusive property of one Shining Armor. I will have to fine anyone else using that name.”

“Ah, well.

“Come on in.”

They followed her to the living room. “So is Dad home?” asked Twilight. 

“He went out for a little while. Hopefully he’ll be home before you leave, but that means I have you all to myself for a little bit.”

They sat down. “So when am I getting some grandchildren?” Velvet asked, amusement in her eyes.

That made Mayhem chuckle again.

“Mom!” Twilight called out. “Look, I just don’t have time right now.”

“Your brother made time. Twice! And he’s a prince ruling a much bigger place than Ponyville.”

Twilight sighed good-naturedly. She knew her mother wasn’t going to pressure her into a relationship, since she really did understand her busy schedule, but that didn’t stop her mother from teasing her every time they came in contact. 

They went through this routine every time she visited. It was almost a comedy act at this point. At least her mother treated it as such. 

“Oh, this poor old maid," said Velvet melodramatically. "Your brother has only had girls. Someone has to have a male and continue the family line."

She hugged Mayhem. “I guess you’ll have to be my grandchild, Mayhem, since it seems like this is going to be the only time Twilight is going to visit with a child.”

“O-Okay, Grandma,” Mayhem said, barely stifling his laughter. He liked her. She was funny and nice.

“Oh, boy,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “Do you think we can get to what we actually came here to do?”

Velvet sighed, setting Mayhem down. “I suppose so.”

She went over to a bookshelf, scanning the titles. “It’s been quite a while since you asked to make a craft project together. I’m glad I kept most of your old books so I could have something fun to do with my grandchildren. Flurry has quite a lot of fun with them when she visits. I'm sure Skyla will too, but she's still a little too young.”

She pulled out a book. “Well, how about popsicle stick creations?”

“Sure,” said Mayhem. “It doesn’t really matter what it is. I just need to learn some new skills.”

She set the book down, and went over to a closet, taking out a big bag of popsicle sticks and putting them on a table too. She grabbed a few more odds and ends, as well as glue, and sat down next to Mayhem.

“Well, I figure we’ll start out doing everything by the book, since that one over there will get cranky if she can’t make a list of things to check off.”

She summoned a notebook, as well as a quill and ink, gently tapping them against Twilight repeatedly. "Here, widdle Twiwight."

Twilight ignored her.

Mayhem buried his face in his paw as he snorted. He was having a blast already, and they hadn’t even started yet.

Twilight was usually always so composed and in control. He liked seeing this different side of her. She just seemed out of her element with her mother. It was clear who was in control here.

Eventually Twilight used her own magic to put the objects on the table. “I don’t need to make a list.”

“Uh-oh,” said Velvet. She looked at Mayhem. “Is she sick? Did you bring a Changeling to my home?”

Mayhem found he was laughing a lot today. That already made today worth it. If he was laughing it meant he wasn’t bored.

“Come on, Mom,” said Twilight with a touch of exasperation. “This is important for him.”

Velvet rubbed her head. “As you wish, your majesty.”

“Awww,” said Mayhem, “but I was having fun with that.”

“Well, we can’t stay here forever,” said Twilight. “I told you I was only helping you today to start you off, so if you want to spend the whole day joking around then you’re going to be on your own tomorrow.”

That made Mayhem get a little more serious. “Okay, Twilight. Let’s get to work.”

“That’s better.”

Velvet rubbed his head. “I don’t want to cause trouble for you, little guy, so I’ll behave too.”

Mayhem smiled up at her. “You remind me of Mommy. I like it.”

“Is that right?” She hugged him. “Well, a mother always has love to give.”

When she let him go he walked over to Twilight and hugged her. “I really like your mother, Twilight. She’s awesome.”

Twilight felt her impatience fading as she saw the warm smile on his face. The two seemed to have developed a good rapport already, and if things worked out then maybe she could arrange some more time together for the two of them to do more projects together.

Mayhem was a developing child who had fallen in love with love, and her mother had talked about feeling a little lonely without her children around. Maybe they would make a good pair. 

However, that was a thought for later. They started out well, but maybe they weren’t going to remain a good fit.

“I think she’s great too.” She rubbed Mayhem’s head. “Let’s get to work, okay?”

He nodded. “Okay, Twilight.”

She opened the book to something that looked simple enough for an introductory project. “I figure we’ll do a few creations by the book, and then after that we’ll freestyle a bit and just make whatever comes to mind. How does that sound?”

“Good.”

Things got quieter after that. Her mother stopped teasing her, and Mayhem had a serious look on his face, wanting to make her proud.

They started off with simple flat objects, like a house made out of six sticks, before moving on to slightly more complicated things.

Even though all he had to do was follow simple directions Mayhem felt a little anxiety from the projects despite how easy they were, simply because he wasn’t used to actually thinking about things. His power always gave him exactly what he wanted. 

He fussed over whether he was adding too much glue or not enough. He tried to make each stick perfectly centered on top of other sticks.

He nearly burst into tears when the glue he was using didn’t come out at first and so he gave it a hard squeeze, causing glue to come spurting out all over.

“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!” he said quickly, tears forming in his eyes.

“It’s okay, Mayhem,” Twilight said calmly.

He put a claw to his face. “We’ve barely started and I’m already screwing things up.”

“Twilight,” said Velvet. “What is rule number one of craft projects?”

Twilight chuckled. “How could I ever forget? ‘If you’re not making a mess then you’re doing something wrong.’ ”

Mayhem put his claw down, a curious look on his face.

“Look, Mayhem, the message there isn’t to intentionally make messes, but that messes are inevitable with these kinds of things. That’s why my mom put down construction paper on the table before we started. Just put that piece off to the side and use it as a dipping pad until it dries.”

“A dipping pad?”

She nodded, levitating a stick and scooping some off before putting it in place. “This is some of the things I was talking about. Take advantage of your mistakes and use them to your benefit, and stop expecting perfection.”

“Sorry, Twilight. I just… I want everything to go right today. I don’t want your mom to stop liking me because I made a mess of her home.”

Twilight had a grim look. He was still getting stuck on the thought that he couldn’t be liked without his powers unless he was perfect.

Velvet chuckled. “Oh, please. I don’t think anything you do will ever beat what Twilight and Spike did, and I still like them just fine.”

“What happened?” he asked.

She shook her head with an amused expression, then put her hoof to her mouth as she began laughing.

Now he was really curious. “What? What?”

“One day we ran out of red glitter in the middle of a project. The little perfectionist over there refused to use any other glitter to finish her arts and crafts project, and she refused to leave it unfinished.”

Twilight grimaced, putting her hoof to her face. “Oh, no! I know where this is going now.”

Mayhem’s eyes were twinkling now. “Come on! Come on! What happened next?”

Velvet chuckled again. “Well, I tried to convince her to use a different, similar color glitter, but she absolutely refused. Eventually I gave in. We went all the way to the store to buy some more glitter, then came all the way home.

“Twilight got overexcited at the thought of finishing her project, and went running levitating the container. She went and tripped, the bottle going flying and smashing against the hard floor, spraying glitter everywhere.”

Mayhem started laughing, but Velvet put up a hoof.

“Hold on! Don’t laugh yet. 

“The glitter got all over Spike as well, some of it going up his nose and sending him into a sneezing fit as he ran around trying to get it off, with the end result that he sent half our kitchen and living room furniture to Princess Celestia.”

Mayhem’s mouth hung open for a few moments, then he fell on his back holding his stomach and kicking his legs as he laughed uproariously. Now that was some exquisite chaos.

When he finally got himself under control he wiped tears from his eyes. “Oh, boy. That was a great story!”

Velvet got up and headed for another room. “I’ll be right back.”

She returned a minute later with a frame, setting it down in front of him.

He saw a picture of a rainbow torn in half and taped back together. The majority of it was all the same colors for each portion of the rainbow, but he noticed part of the red portion was a slightly different shade.

She put a hoof around him. “This is the drawing Twilight was making so long ago. She was in tears for like an hour afterward. She tore the paper in half out of shame for not just listening to me and all the trouble she indirectly caused.

“In the end, we got the furniture back when we explained what had happened. We spent time cleaning up the glitter. Finally, I taped the drawing back together and we finished it by going with my suggestion to just use a similar shade."

She gave him a little time to look then asked, “Do you get the meaning of that story?”

He looked up at her.

“Mistakes happen, but you can just clean them up afterwards. Don’t get so fussy over the little details that you stop having fun just because they’re not perfect.  

“Yeah, at the time it happened I was pretty furious, but now I can look back on that moment and laugh about it.”

She pulled him close, hugging him tightly. “The same goes for you. So you spilled a little glue. It didn’t go anywhere but on the paper that was specifically there to stop us from making a mess of the table. It’s nothing to cry over. 

“When you make a mess, say sorry, clean it up, and then move on. Give yourself permission to make some errors as you learn. After all, if you hadn’t spilled it then you might not have heard the story you found so funny. You see how mistakes can sometimes lead to good things?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Mayhem replied contentedly. There was no doubt about it. Velvet was a mom. He could almost imagine it was Fluttershy holding him and talking to him.

A minute passed by, and Velvet said, “Just tell me when you want me to let go.”

“I’d kinda like to say never, but there’s still stuff we have to do.” After a few seconds he said, “Just one more minute.”

She nuzzled his face. “As you wish.”

Velvet noticed the way Twilight was looking at her. She whispered to Mayhem, “Do you think we can include Twilight in this hug? I think she’s feeling a little left out.”

“Hmm?” He glanced at Twilight, and he thought he could see a touch of jealousy or possessiveness there. He nodded. “Mmm-hmm.”

They both gestured for her to come over, and after a few moments of hesitation she complied.

Velvet kissed Twilight’s forehead as she put a hoof around her. “There’s no need to be jealous, dear.”

“Yeah, you don’t have to be jealous, Twilight,” said Mayhem. “I’ll share your mom with you.”

“I’m not-” Twilight started, then paused. She nuzzled her mom and said, “Okay… fine. I was feeling just a tiny bit jealous seeing my mom being so affectionate with you.”

“There’s always room for one more in these hooves,” Velvet said lovingly. “After all, you’re never too old for a mommy hug.”

Twilight enjoyed the hug for a bit until she felt better.

When they all split apart Velvet was beaming. “Ah, this old gal’s still got it. Look how calm you both look now.”

“You’re not old, Velvet,” said Mayhem. “You’re beautiful, just like Twilight.”

That made both mares blush.

Velvet couldn’t help it. She scooped him up again. “Aww, thank you. You’re such a little flatterer. You make me feel young again.”

Twilight rubbed his head. “No kidding.”

“You’re welcome,” said Mayhem as she set him down.

Twilight said, “I want to clear something up, Mayhem. I don’t have any issues in you being friendly with my mom. I like that the two of you have become fast friends. However, that memory is one of my most embarrassing, and I felt I needed some comforting more than you.”

Her eyes faded out. “I felt like I just went back in time, to when I was awkwardly standing in front of my mother after Spike calmed down, feeling like she was going to tell me she hated me. That’s why I ripped it in half. I felt like I had ruined everything.”

That surprised him. “So you have some things you’re still holding onto too?”

She looked over at the rainbow portrait. “I didn’t think I was. I just remember that I felt so bad that day. Spike went nuts trying to get the glitter off. Most of the kitchen furniture was gone. The glitter was everywhere.” She sighed. “And all because I just had to have everything perfect.”

She levitated it over, a wistful look on her face. “I wish I could say that I learned my lesson the first time, but I’ve never quite gotten over my perfectionist side. Having Princess Celestia as a mentor didn’t help me in that regard. 

“I was given a chance many could only dream of, and I constantly feared disappointing her well into adulthood when I went to Ponyville. That was what led to me accidentally hypnotizing almost everyone in town to fight over my doll just so I would have a report to send to her about friendship.”

She shook her head, setting the portrait down. “I like to think I’ve loosened up a bit since then. Now that I’m a princess myself I’ve become the one who teaches rather than the one who is taught, and I do my best to be friendly so that others can feel safe coming to me, but there’s usually this gap between us. 

“Having experienced it for myself I understand how Celestia probably felt all this time. She probably sought a relationship like the one we have, or the one I have with the twins, and I was the one who fell short because I had trouble seeing past her title to the friendly, benevolent person she always was.”

She sighed. “Well, that’s neither here nor there right now. All in all, I’m not really bothered my mom told you that story. It’s a perfect example of what I’ve been trying to emphasize to you. Striving too hard for perfect led me to make a big mess.”

She put a hoof to the different red patch. “It’s those imperfections that can make you stand out and draw others to you. After all, when you’re perfect then what do you need others for? It can sometimes lead to being teased or bullied, but when we show humility and admit our shortcomings it will usually inspire others to try and fill in that gap.”

“Kinda like the bridges we build, right?” said Mayhem.

She nodded. “Something like that.”

He put his claw on top of her hoof. “I know I’m not perfect. That’s why I entrusted my heart to my friends if I ever went down the wrong path. And it’s why I rely on you to help teach me the things I need to know to become a better Mayhem.

“It’s just… well, it’s like you said. I’m used to my magic doing everything exactly right. It’s just… hard getting used to not having that. It is only my first day, after all.

“But… y’know, after listening to that story I don’t think I could possibly mess this up as badly as you did, so I think I’ll be okay now.”

Twilight snorted. “Oh, thanks.”

Mayhem giggled in return.

They got back to work, Mayhem not feeling nearly so focused on doing things exactly right. With Twilight’s story he felt like he understood what Fluttershy had been saying earlier about moderation. He wasn’t going to intentionally make things mediocre just because he didn’t need to be perfect, but if he made little mistakes along the way then that was okay.

He started to really get into it, finding it amazing how just simply putting together some popsicle sticks could make such interesting things.

Things got awkward again when they stopped using the book and he was expected to just make something on his own. Without any instructions or guides he wasn’t sure what to make.

The two mares already seemed to have something in mind, and it only made him feel more awkward that he was just sitting there doing nothing.

Velvet noticed after a minute. She patted his head. “Don’t think so hard about it, Mayhem. Just start putting some things together and see if inspiration hits.”

He looked up at Velvet, unsure. As he continued looking he suddenly got an idea, and a big smile came to his face. “I got it! I know what I want to make.”

“There you go.”

He hummed to himself as he began putting sticks down. He made a square. Under the bottom he put four sticks, making two  upside-down V shapes. To the right he put five more in a fan shape. Taking two more he put them at a diagonal going up and to the left in the middle of the left and top of the square, then put a few more sticks down that he cut in half to make them smaller.

After that he put down more sticks to fill the empty spots

When that was done he grabbed two googly eyes and put them on.

He stared at it as it dried, pleased with his work. It wasn’t perfect, but it was his own creation.

After a minute he tested it, picking it up to an upright position. It stayed together.

“Done!” said Mayhem joyfully.

Twilight and Velvet both looked at him curiously to see what he had made. 

“This is for you, Velvet.”

Velvet took it. It looked animal shaped, but she wasn’t sure exactly what animal.

“Why me specifically?” she asked.

“Well,” Mayhem said with a smirk, “it doesn’t look like Twilight is going to give you a grandchild any time soon, so I thought I’d make you one in her place.”

Velvet nearly crushed the popsicle pony she started laughing so hard.

Twilight let out a sigh, but she started laughing along too.

When Velvet got herself under control she wiped tears from her eyes. “That was great. Haven’t had a laugh that good in a while.”

She hugged Mayhem. “Oh, thank you for this gift. I’ll treasure it always. Or at least until Twilight finally stops being too busy to ‘get busy.’ "

“MOM!” Twilight said sharply, her face beet red. “Don’t say things like that in front of Mayhem.”

“Why not?” Mayhem asked. “She just wants you to put in the effort to get a coltfriend.”

Twilight sighed, glad the innuendo went over Mayhem’s head.

Velvet had a devilish grin on her face as she looked over Mayhem’s shoulder at her daughter. “Oh, yes. That’s definitely what I meant.”

Twilight gave her mother a dirty look. 

When she let him go she reined in her amusement and said seriously, “Is it really okay if I take this? After all, it’s the first creation you made all on your own.”

Mayhem nodded. “Yeah. I want you to keep it, because you’re super cool. I think I’d put you at number three of coolest adults, right beneath Mommy and Twilight.”

“Well, thank you, Mayhem. I’d be glad to take it.

“Hold on a minute.” 

She left the room, coming back with a similar frame as the one that held Twilight’s portrait. Taking off the back she lifted the stick pony and put it inside before closing it back up again.

“I know the value some creations can have personally to others, so if you’re trusting me with this then I want to keep your gift safe in here.”

She kissed his forehead. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome!” Mayhem replied, beaming.

Twilight felt her irritation fading. They really did seem to have a good chemistry with one another. Her mother was naturally loving to children, as she’d seen several times with Flurry Heart, and Mayhem just soaked it up. 

Now that she thought about it, her mother had said at the start that she had been having an empty nest feeling, so maybe that was why she was being so affectionate to Mayhem. Even if it wasn’t her own grandchild, she still had an urge to nurture.

Being that play and love were the only things keeping Mayhem from reverting to his old self, it was a great combination.

When they were wrapping up Mayhem said, “Can I ask you for a favor, Velvet?”

“What?” replied Velvet.

“Can I borrow that book? I want to practice at home and show you how I’ve improved.”

“That sounds fine.”

“Can we do this again soon?”

She nodded. “Sure. How about in three days?”

He nodded. “Okay. I won’t let you down.” He picked up the book and held it to him. “I’ll protect your book like you’re protecting my popsicle pony.”

“Fluttershy does seem lucky. You’re such a little sweetheart.”

He set the book down and gave her a hug. “Thanks for helping me today.”

“You’re welcome,” she said as she returned it.

Mayhem closed his eyes, reveling in the sensation. “There’s nothing quite like a mommy hug.”

“I’d agree with that,” said Twilight warmly.

When she let him go he waved. "Bye, bye, Velvet. See you in a couple days."

"Goodbye, Mayhem," she replied, waving back.

Mayhem jumped up onto Twilight's back, and with her own goodbye they teleported out.
> 10-3: Hobbies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they were outside of Fluttershy’s house Mayhem said, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she replied. She waited, but he didn’t speak. He just had an awkward look on his face. “What’s up?”

“Well, um… well, this isn’t the question, but does it bother you that your mom teases you about not having a baby yet?”

“She’s not being serious, so no. It’s just a routine we go through when I come over. She doesn’t want to pressure me into a relationship, but she’ll mess with me about it out of good humor.”

Mayhem blushed. “Do, um… is the reason you don’t have a baby yet because… um… you know…” He squirmed. “Are you, uh, into… other…” He couldn’t seem to finish.

She wasn’t certain what he was asking, but going by his red cheeks and awkwardness she felt she had a good idea. It was a rather personal question, but she felt she should just be blunt and not make a fuss over it. “I have nothing against stallions. It’s just not a good time. Even if I was into other mares I could always adopt.”

“O-okay.” He let out a moan. “I don’t know. I guess… I guess I was just wondering if you were… you know… and didn’t want to tell your mom.”

“Well, no worries. When the time is right I’ll follow through.

“My mom does bring up Shiny having two kids, but him and Cadance largely stay within the Crystal Empire. Over here we have the Cutie Map, which sends us all over Equestria. It’s never certain when exactly we’re going to be called, or which ponies are going to be picked for the job, but I don’t like the idea of traveling all over the continent while pregnant. Being active while pregnant is good for you, but excessive travel is not.”

She sat down. “I don’t want to belittle anyone, but I don’t feel like Ponyville is ready for me to be out of commission for a while. I certainly trust others to handle friendship problems, but when it comes to battles and war I’m the strongest around.

“The thought of going to battle someone like Tirek with a baby in my belly is pretty terrifying, as is the thought of doing nothing and hiding while others fight. Stress can do great harm to a developing baby. Worst case scenario, it can lead to a miscarriage.

“And, finally, there’s still much I have to do. I’ve said before that I’m like a parent already to all the children of Ponyville. For example, if I was focusing on a baby that means I’d have much less time to devote to you, and right now you need all the help you can get.”

He nodded. “Yeah… I do. I was feeling scared earlier, and if you had been busy today I still would have been scared.

“I really want to think I’ll never be like that again, but until that day happened I never thought I would be like that the first time either.”

“Well, we’ll keep working on helping you improve.” She ruffled his hair. “I want to help you achieve your goals, because I know you’re capable of being a great asset to Equestria like the rest of your friends. Your magic is too valuable to be locked away.”

“Both kinds, right?”

“Both?”

He nodded. “This kind.” He snapped. “And this kind.” He put the claw to his heart.

Twilight gave him a warm smile. “That’s right. Both kinds.”

He threw himself at her, hugging her. “I love you, Twilight. You’re so awesome. That’s why you’re right below Mommy. When you become a mom for real I know they’re gonna turn out amazing too.”

A few tears came down her eyes. “Well, if it’s anything like caring for you I know it’s gonna be quite a fulfilling experience.”
***
She returned the next day, and found him hard at work making a popsicle stick house that was three dimensional rather than the flat houses he had made yesterday.

Fluttershy was content. "He's been practicing almost non-stop since yesterday. He's really gotten into it."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"I don't usually do arts and crafts, so I did have to go out and buy some materials for him. He said he could just create materials, but he's sticking to your suggestion about not just snapping to get what he wants."

Twilight looked over at Fluttershy. "Can I make a suggestion?"

"Sure," Fluttershy replied.

"Mayhem is growing up, and now he's getting into hobbies. If he really wants to own that feeling of accomplishment then I think it will mean even more to him if he funds his desires himself.

"In the past it wasn't necessary, as he had no need of it with his powers, but I think he should start getting an allowance. Make him do some chores manually so he can earn the bits to buy the things he wants for his hobbies."

"I agree with that." 

She watched him for a little while, seeing the carefree expression on his face. He was so into it he hadn't seemed to hear their conversation. It was a very good sign. Now that he wasn't so nervous about being perfect he had fallen in nicely into practicing things without his powers. He was occasionally using levitation, but that didn't diminish his efforts. 

***

She came over two days later around midday, and they went back to her mother's house. In the end they brought her to Ponyville so she could see all the things Mayhem had made. He looked eager for her approval.

Velvet was a bit surprised at the quantity of objects he had made.  "My goodness," she said. "You've sure been a busy beaver, haven't you?"

He nodded. "This stuff is really, really fun."

He went to the table and grabbed a small chest, about three feet wide and long. He undid the latches and opened it, pulling out a sealed plastic bag that had her book in it. "I've been taking real good care of your book, just like I promised. When I'm using it I try to keep it away from the glue and the glitter and stuff so I don't ruin any of the pages. When I'm not using it I keep it in here and locked up."

Velvet felt oddly choked up to see how deeply he cared about protecting such an old book. "Thank you, Mayhem, but you don't have to go so far."

He shook his head, hugging the book to him. "Yes, I do! I know it wouldn't be difficult to get books about making arts and crafts out of popsicle sticks, but it's not about how rare or how common it is. You entrusted me with something special, and that means I have to take good care of it. I could just use my magic to fix anything that happens to it, but that's not an excuse to be careless with it. I'm also trying to avoid using my powers so it will really feel like I protected it.

"Besides, you said that this is one of the books you and Twilight used to work out of, so it probably has sentimental value since it created bonding experiences between both of you."

Twilight looked down at the book, starting to feel a little emotional herself. The whole reason she had chosen to start Mayhem's hobbies at her mother's house was to relive that bit of her past.

Almost at the same time she and her mother looked at one another, and she hugged her. "Those were some amazing times. Such simple things creating such happy memories."

"Yes," Velvet replied, hugging her back.

Twilight walked over to Mayhem and kissed his forehead. "Thank you, Mayhem. You've got a point, and I'm happy to see you putting in the effort not only to improve yourself, but to protect what we used to share with that book."

"Same here," said Velvet. "I really appreciate it."

Mayhem beamed. He set the book down and raised his arms expectantly, and she hugged him. "I know I said this a few days ago, but I think it bears repeating. You're such a little sweetheart." She nuzzled his cheek with her own. "Fluttershy is lucky to have you."

Across the room Fluttershy was grinning contentedly. Seeing Mayhem happy was one of the greatest joys, and from what she had heard from Mayhem the two of them were getting along well. Now she was hearing it for herself, the way Velvet treated him so lovingly.

"Well, I've been taking care of your creation too," said Velvet. "It's the least I can do.

"Since you've been working so hard why don't you take a break, and we'll all go out to lunch together?"

"That sounds great!" said Mayhem.

***

Mayhem came to visit a few days later, browsing the library. He knew exactly what he wanted, and he took out a wood carving book. 

When she arrived the next day he seemed surprised that it was already wish granting day. The week had just seemed to fly by.

It felt weird using his magic after a whole week of not using his powers for anything greater than levitation.

Twilight thought he seemed a bit distracted, even if he did participate fully in things.

When she went to check up on him a few days later she found out why. He seemed eager to see her. "Twilight! Come here! Come here!"

She followed him outside to a tree and followed his claw when he pointed up.

"Look what I did," he said excitedly. "Look what I did, Twilight!"

She flapped her wings as she flew up, chuckling to herself. Just as she had suggested he had actually made a birdhouse for Fluttershy's animals. Some of the wood was off-center, and some of the paint was uneven, but it was clear he had put his heart in it and was proud of himself for it.

She landed, seeing him moving up and down with a big smile. "So is that what had your attention on wish day? I know you took out a book on working with wood the day before that."

He nodded. "It was a lot of work, but I had so much fun doing it. Mommy liked it too, and she even hung it up outside for the birds to use."

His eyes twinkled. "I know it's not perfect, but it's perfect to me because I did the best I could, and the next one I make might turn out even better."

She put a hoof around him. "I'm proud of you, Mayhem. You're a quick learner. Once you get past your initial fears you throw yourself right into things."

He took off into the air, screaming in delight and zooming around for a bit.

When he finally came down he still looked full of energy. "You were so right, Twilight. I never thought it would be so much fun learning how to do stuff by myself. I feel like I'm becoming more like a pony everyday.

"Oh, yeah! You know what? I'm getting an allowance now. Isn't that cool?"

"Really?" she said, feigning ignorance.

He nodded hard. "Mommy said since I'm growing up and doing things myself I should earn my supplies."

"And you're okay with that?"

He nodded a few more times. "You told me if I want to feel like I earned my accomplishments that I should not use my magic and do it myself when I can. I don't mind getting some help from Mommy, but she shouldn't have to pay for all my stuff if I can do the work myself. It's another thing that takes up time during the day so I'm not bored. Chores can be fun too."

Twilight snickered. "I can't say I know many creatures, pony or otherwise, that would agree with that, but I'm happy seeing that you're so happy." She got a thoughtful look on her face. "Well, I'm sure Pinkie could find a way to spice things up. And a long, long time ago when we were cleaning up Rarity's new store I made a little song about sweeping."

He giggled. "You're such a nerd."

He floated up and kissed her on the cheek before hugging her. "I love you, Twilight. You're always there when I need you the most, just like Mommy. That's why you're the best princess."

A few warm tears came down her eyes. "You're welcome, Mayhem. I love you too."

*** 

She continued checking up on him twice a week, and every time she came to visit she'd see him hard at work and lost in his new hobbies. He'd check out new books from time to time, but he would still be refining his older skills. 

Fluttershy was happy, and told her that Mayhem hadn't said a word about feeling bored ever since he had started his new hobbies.

Time passed by quickly for the little draconequus, until one day Twilight came to visit.

“Hello,” Mayhem said politely. “It isn’t wish granting day, so I guess you’re here to see Mommy.”

Twilight shook her head. “Nope. I’m here for you.”

“Why?”

“Well… it’s good news and bad news.”

Fluttershy walked towards the door. “What kind of news?”

“I’ve been in frequent contact with the Cakes, keeping them up to date on your progress. I’m sure Pound and Pumpkin also share your journal entries with them, but naturally they’re going to be overly positive of you, so she takes my word a little more seriously than them.

“It’s probably been a long two months for you, but Cup told me she wants to speak with you.”

“Cup... wants to talk to me?” Mayhem asked uncertainly.

“She says that she’s ready to give you another chance.”

Mayhem gasped, his face lighting up. “Really?”

Fluttershy wanted to feel happy too, but there was just one thing…

“So… what’s the bad news?” she asked.

“Oh,” said Mayhem, frowning now. “Right.”

Twilight sat down. “She wants to talk to you while the twins are out, because she knows they’d want to speak up for you if they were there. You hurt her quite a bit, and she wants to speak her mind. Her warning is not to expect her to be polite about things or dance over the issues.

“In other words, she’s going to be blunt and not just talk in a way that spares your feelings from being hurt. She told me to make that clear before coming over. If you want to spend time with her children again she’s going to say things that are probably going to hurt. That’s her condition. In her own words, ‘if he can’t take being called to task for his behavior then tell him not to bother showing up.’ ”

Mayhem slowly exhaled, then just as slowly breathed in. “I did hurt her. I hurt all my friends and their parents. I mean, I saw with Spring Meadow how deep all those connections can go.

“I don’t want to be yelled at, but I owe her that much for what I did. If that’s the price I have to pay to have my friends back then I’ll pay it.”

Fluttershy bit her lip. “She’s… not going to be too harsh, is she?”

“I don’t know,” said Twilight. “I don’t know what she plans to say. I don’t know if she’s just going to scold him, or if she’s going to be yelling at the top of her lungs.

“A considerable amount of time has passed since the incident. The strongest emotions have long since gone away. However, I’m sure there’s lingering feelings that she hasn’t purged yet.

“I really hope she’s not going to go too far, but while she likely has the words she wants to say ready I doubt she knows how exactly she’s going to react when she sees him in person.”

“Well,” said Fluttershy, “even in the aftermath of the incident she still found it in herself to feel empathy for him, bringing up that others might only be in it to use him.”

“I don’t care,” said Mayhem. “If yelling at me is what she needs to forgive me then I’ll take it. Like I said to Spring I don’t care how much it hurts. I just want to be able to see my friends openly again.

“Besides, if things go well with Cup I might be able to use this to convince the other parents to give me a shot too.”

“Good point, but…” She sighed. “Even if you might deserve it, I still don’t like to see you getting hurt.”

“I have to take responsibility for this!” Mayhem said strongly. “It’s what I owe her.”

“I know that, but it doesn’t stop me from worrying.”

Mayhem smiled, floating up and rubbing her head. “Don’t worry. Be happy. If she’s ready to talk to me then it has to mean I’ve done good and she believes that I’ve changed. This is a good thing.”

She sighed again, hugging him. “I suppose it is. I know I can’t stop you or Cup, but when it’s over I’ll be here to provide comforting if you need it.”

He let her hold him for a while. It soon became obvious she had no intention of letting go.

“Mommy… please stop. You can’t protect me forever. If I’m really growing up then I need to face my bad behavior.”

A few seconds passed, and she released him. “Yes… you’re right. I shouldn’t delay things.”

She gave him an encouraging smile, though he could see the sadness in her eyes.

“I’ll be back soon,” said Mayhem. “There’s nothing to worry about. My heart has been growing stronger every week from my new friends. Whatever happens I can take it.”

He sat on Twilight’s back. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

Fluttershy waved goodbye, and he returned it. 

With a flash the pair disappeared, appearing outside Sugarcube Corner.
> 10-4: A chat with Cup
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight knocked on the door to Sugarcube Corner and opened it, walking in and closing it behind her.

Cup was waiting there, a solemn look on her face.

Mayhem hopped off Twilight’s back, his heart gently thumping. “Hi,” he said awkwardly, giving her a feeble wave.

She didn’t acknowledge his greeting. She jerked her head in the direction of the living room. “Come,” she said in a firm tone.

Mayhem followed her, Twilight right behind him. 

When they arrived Cup sat down in an armchair and patted her lap. “Up,” she said in the same authoritative tone.

Mayhem started to walk, but then paused and looked at Twilight. “This is between me and Cup, so promise me you won’t interfere.”

Twilight took in a slow breath. “I can’t do that.”

He sucked on his cheek. “You told me that you don’t solve problems directly. You just help mend broken connections. You getting in the middle of this won’t help things.”

“I’m not trying to interfere. I believe Cup deserves to speak her mind, even if what she says is unpleasant to hear. That’s what you desire too.”

“Exactly! So-“

“However,” she said, cutting over him, “as an outside party I don’t want things spiraling out of control. You saw with Spring Meadow how lingering feelings can fester and grow stronger over time. There comes a point where venting is no longer productive, but destructive.

“If it gets to the point where she is being needlessly cruel or seems like she’s out of control then I must step in to restore balance until she’s calm enough to proceed.

“I’ll do my best to stay out of it, but I’ll intervene if I have to. That’s all.”

Mayhem slowly shook his head. “Fine,” he said reluctantly. “Speaking honestly, I don’t really care if it does come to that. I still wouldn’t want you getting in the middle of this.”

“I understand your feelings, but you feeling bad doesn’t mean you should subject yourself to any negativity just because you feel you deserve it. That point of view didn’t do Spring any favors.

“Whatever happened in the past, you are a child while Cup is an adult. That’s a fact I cannot ignore. 

“Here’s another one. Powerful emotions sometimes lead to explosive expenditures of magic, and I can’t risk the safety of my subjects if I have the means to stop it.”

His resistance faded. “I understand, Twilight.”

He turned away from her and walked over to Cup, climbing onto her lap as she asked.

He met eyes with the mare, feeling a little scared. He had experienced Fluttershy’s Stare before on the day the event that started all this happened. Her gaze had been so intense it had terrified him.

Cup’s gaze wasn’t on quite that level, but he did feel intimidated. He felt like messing with mother’s was a real bad idea. 

“That was an interesting conversation you both had,” said Cup, “but the two of you are both ignorant. You think I brought you here ‘to vent?’ You think I want to yell and scream and talk about how bad a person I think you are or something? Not even close. You’re not that lucky.”

Mayhem’s eyes moved away from her for a moment before looking back up at her again. “What… what do you mean?”

“I’m not out for revenge. As Twilight said, I am an adult talking to a child. What I have to say is nothing more than the truth. If you don’t like what I have to say I’ll tell you right now that I don’t care. I am far past caring about your feelings. I told Twilight to make sure you understand that I’m not going to mince words and be gentle.”

Mayhem nodded. “She told me that.”

“Good. So I’ll start off by saying that I don’t like you. Two times now you almost caused my children to die. I don’t think you should expect that I would feel any differently.”

Mayhem shook his head. “No… I don’t.”

“That being said, I don’t hate you. In the end you are still a child new to the world and still learning about restraint and growth. If you were older this conversation wouldn’t be happening. I wouldn’t be giving another chance.

“Twilight has kept me up to date on your weekly adventures. My children have too. While I’d be happy not to have you in our lives anymore my children still care for you. They have respected me by not pushing me to give you another chance, so I feel enough time has passed that I can finally give it.

“I wanna make it clear that I’m doing this for them, not you. I’m still furious at you, and I am far from being willing to forgive you for what you did. I don’t know if I ever will fully get over your actions. You acted like a total lunatic, sadistic and cruel.”

A tear came down his eye. “Yes, I did. I know that.”

Her eyes narrowed to slits. “I am being extremely generous in giving you a third chance. I am NOT giving you a fourth. ABSOLUTELY NOT!”

Mayhem flinched as she yelled.

“I don’t have the authority to punish you, but I have a duty to do what’s right by my children, regardless of how they feel about it. Twilight might feel obligated to give you extra chances so long as you’re remorseful afterward, but I’m not. If you ever act like a maniac and put my children’s lives in danger like that again then this door is closing for good.

“I don’t care if Pound and Pumpkin tell me they hate me and throw a fit. I don’t care how you beg and plead. I’ll take that friendship notebook of theirs and burn it right in front of them without a shred of guilt to make sure you’re purged out of our lives completely.”

Mayhem gulped.

“And I’m not going to stop there. If, after Twilight has gone out of her way to give you time every week to go crazy with your magic, you can still be that destructive and cruel, then nothing will ever convince me that you’re truly safe to be around. 

“If it comes to that I’m not letting you just get off with this just being a secret between us. I’ll make sure the parents of the children know about the danger you pose. I know for sure I wouldn’t allow my children to play with someone who has repeatedly shown a lack of self-control that has nearly been deadly.

“I told Twilight I didn’t think it was right to keep it a secret to start with, but she countered that she was going to be there supervising the whole time. If she can’t keep you in line then it’s all the more reason to make the truth known.

“And you can complain that it means you’d lose contact with all your new friends, but as I said before, I don’t care what you think. If you could still act like you did in the past then clearly just having friends and guilt over what you did isn’t enough to change you.”

He didn’t like what she was saying, but he couldn’t argue with it. If he was a lingering danger to his friends then he couldn’t really be their friend.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as Cup lifted him and set him on the ground, getting up and turning her sights on Twilight.

“That goes for you too, Twilight!”

Twilight blinked in surprise. Cup was giving her the same expression she had just been giving Mayhem.

“You’re the one in charge, and I can’t order you around, but friendship doesn’t solve everything. If that creature goes on another rampage I’m holding you responsible. If you want to keep repeating a method that clearly isn’t working just because you can’t give up on believing in the goodness of others then who needs you?”

Mayhem’s mouth hung open. He couldn’t believe she was attacking Twilight now. 

Twilight was shocked too. Cup had definitely gotten much better about not being so formal around her ever since she had begun to play a significant role in Pound and Pumpkin’s lives, but there was always still a little bit of reservation.

Cup seemed to read her mind. “Something wrong? Surprised that I’m not treating you with reverence? 

“The safety of my children is always more important than anything else, and for you that should be the case on a grander scale as the princess of Ponyville. If Mayhem proves himself a dangerous element after this, and you’re willing to put all of Ponyville in danger just for the hope that one day he won’t be, then I’m definitely not going to respect you as a princess. 

“Why should I respect you when you could be putting my children, or other parents children, at risk by acting foolish and not giving up on what is clearly a hopeless case?”

Twilight took in a slow breath. “That was oddly refreshing. Now I understand how Flurry could be happy with Crystal yelling at her.

“I always told you not to put on airs around me and just treat me like anyone else. I’m glad you’re finally listening to me, even if it’s in a negative way.”

She sat down. “I can certainly understand what you’re saying. I don’t even disagree with most of it. 

“I can’t prioritize Mayhem at the cost of Ponyville. I really don’t want to give up on him entirely, but if he does grow out of control like that again I’ll have to be much harsher in his punishment this time around. I mainly went easy on him because I got to see how deep his regret ran and I wanted to focus on helping him improve rather than punish someone who was repentant, but just being sorry isn’t enough to mitigate things if one repeatedly falls back into the same patterns.”

Cup’s expression grew slightly more mellow. “Well, at least you get that.”

She looked over at Mayhem. “Tomorrow is Saturday, so I’ll expect you around nine. You can have breakfast with us and then do what you want afterward, but I want Twilight here to keep an eye on you.

“You shattered my trust in you. Just because I’m giving you another chance doesn’t mean at all that I trust you. I told you at the start that I’m only allowing this because for some crazy reason my kids still think fondly of you even though you went nuts and almost killed them. 

“I’ll be keeping a close eye on you as well to see how you behave. I can’t even begin to tell you how long it’s going to take to regain my trust, if you ever do.”

Mayhem gave a somber nod. “I understand, Mrs. Cake.”

“Well, I’ve said what I wanted to say. Remove yourself from my sight. I’ve had all I can take of you today. I have to prepare myself mentally to have you over most of the day tomorrow.”

Mayhem let out a little sigh. He wasn’t surprised by anything she said, but it did still hurt a little to see how mad she still was at him. 

He walked towards Twilight, ready to jump on her back and teleport back home, when his attention was suddenly directed back towards her as he heard a loud thump and the sound of breaking glass.

The coffee table by the fireplace had been flipped over, the stuff that was on it having broken.

“Cup!” called out Twilight.

The mare was panting, and she let out a frustrated cry as she bucked the armchair over. “WHAT’S THE POINT?” she yelled, seemingly to herself.

Twilight teleported over, putting a hoof on her. “Hey, hey! Relax!”

“Relax? RELAX? How am I supposed to relax?

“Oh, it felt so good for a moment, saying all the things I wanted to say, but it doesn’t amount to anything. I can’t do anything about him or make anything I said stick.

“So what if I burned their little friendship notebook? He can just make a new one, or reform it. He could even make it invisible to anyone but them.

“So what if I barred him from seeing my children permanently? He could perfectly disguise himself as one of their friends, or sneak into their school.

“So what if I went around and told whoever about his past misdeeds? He can just go in their minds and erase their memories.”

Cup was panting hard, tears coming down her eyes. “I can’t stand this sense of powerlessness I feel!” She turned her gaze to Mayhem. “All I ever wanted was to live a normal life, but because of FREAKS like you I almost lost my children twice! Counting the accident where Pumpkin dropped a bookcase on Pound, that makes five near-death experiences I’ve had to suffer through as a mother, and that’s five too many. Now I have to wonder if the next one is finally going to stick, and it would be my fault for being unable to protect them!”

She fell to the ground, her head buried in her hooves as she began sobbing.

Mayhem began to cry himself as he felt the pain of her heart. His mind automatically turned to Spring Meadow and his journey through her heart. Just a few months without her brother had almost destroyed her with guilt, and she hadn’t even actually killed him. He could only imagine that Cup and Carrot would suffer far worse.

He walked over as Twilight tried to comfort her. “You don’t have to worry,” he said. “I’m not going to come over tomorrow.”

Cup glanced up at him with tear-stained eyes.

“Through my experiences I’ve been learning how important the heart is and how deep bonds can go.

“I told Twilight that my dream, the thing I’ve been fighting so hard for, is to be able to see my friends openly again.” He glanced at the floor, putting a hoof to his heart. “But I’ve already hurt you deeply.” Some tears came down his eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you again just for my own selfish desires.

“I don’t want you to force yourself to tolerate me. You’re clearly not ready for me to be back in your life, and Pound and Pumpkin don’t know about this conversation, so let’s just leave it at that. 

“I do still have the notebook to talk to them, and I have my new friends to pass the time with.

“Maybe in another few months we can try again.”

Cup wiped her eyes, staring at him.

He looked up at Twilight. “Let’s go, Twilight.”

He felt surprised as Cup suddenly grabbed him in a hug. He didn’t know how to respond.

“You just don’t listen, do you?” said Cup, sniffing. “I told you already that you’re not getting off that easily. You’re not that lucky.

“You don’t get to just run away. You think simple time is going to change how I feel? Stories from others also aren’t going to affect me. The only thing that is going to convince me that you’ve truly changed is seeing your behavior with my own eyes, and putting it off isn’t going to do me any favors.”

She released him, getting up and sitting on the couch. “I’m sorry,” she said.

Mayhem just felt more and more confused. “About what?”

“I told myself that I wasn’t going to get overly emotional today. I was going to lay down my thoughts and feelings, being blunt, but I was just going to stick to the truth. I wasn’t going to resort to personal attacks, like when I called you a freak during my breakdown.”

“That didn’t really bother me. I was more focused on your pain.”

“That doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make it right. Calling you out is fine, but resorting to insults isn’t. I am still an adult dealing with a child. Not that it’s fine if it’s another adult, but I do need to be mature.”

She let out a sigh.

Mayhem tapped his hoof on the floor a few times, feeling uncomfortable.

“Go on, Mayhem,” said Twilight. “I can see a thought pulling at your mind.”

“Um…” He let out a little moan. “Well… I mean…” He let out a slow breath. “I’m nervous.”

“About what?”

“I’m working really hard to improve, but I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. I feel like if I cause so much as a scratch I’ll lose my friends for good.

“Cup already told me she doesn’t like me and would be glad if I wasn’t in her life, so-”

“Hey!” Cup said sharply, making him flinch. “Don’t sell me short, okay! I’m not taking back what I said, but I’m still going to give you the same opportunity I would give anyone else.

“You really didn’t listen before. I was a kid myself too. I know accidents happen while playing, or kids can get overexcited. That’s not what I’m concerned about. I never said if you cause my kids the slightest amount of pain then you’re done. I said that if you start acting like a homicidal maniac that would be it.

“Don’t twist my words.”

Mayhem nodded. “Right. Sorry.”

“Mayhem,” said Twilight. “There’s something I’d like to try. Go stand in the middle of the room.”

“Um, okay.” He moved to a clear area away from the furniture.

Twilight glanced around. "Well, maybe before that I should fix things up." Her horn began to glow, setting the furniture upright and fixing the broken plates. "That's better."

"Now on to you." A beam shot out of her horn towards him, hitting him in the chest.

Mayhem’s expression immediately went blank, then a few seconds later his arm quickly began to vanish.

Twilight let out a little growl, hitting Mayhem again.

His arm didn’t come back, but he was able to move again.

He blinked. “What just happened? I felt like I just took a mini-nap.” He looked down. “Hey! What happened to my arm?”

Twilight sighed. “Well, that was a bust.

“Back when we first concocted the plan for your reformation Carrot asked if I knew a spell to restrain magical power. I dismissed the idea of using such a spell at the time since you are magic rather than a true living being.

“I thought it would be worth it to give it a shot to see what happened, since I thought Cup would be more at ease if you couldn’t use your magic, but it went exactly as I theorized it would back then. You went unconscious and began to vanish.

“Now it’s confirmed that magic suppression doesn’t work on you. That’s unfortunate.”

“Maybe not so unfortunate,” said Cup. “At least we know that as long as you can get the spell off he can’t resist afterward.”

“I guess that’s also true.”

She glanced over at Mayhem, her expression not quite so rough. “I feel a little bit better now that I vented, but I’m still feeling a bit agitated, so let’s end things here for today. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

“Goodbye,” said Mayhem. He bowed. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” Cup replied. “Just prove yourself to me.”

Mayhem nodded. “I will.”

He headed out the front door, Twilight behind him. 

With a flash of her horn they were outside Fluttershy’s house.

Mayhem had a forlorn look on his face.

Twilight rubbed his head. “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be more excited. I know Cup didn’t exactly give you a warm welcome, but-”

“It’s not that. I’m just worried that you’re gonna get tired of me.”

Twilight’s eyebrow rose. “How’s that?”

“You’re a princess with lots of royal duties, and you have to waste time supervising me everywhere when I’m not at home. First at the weekly sessions, and now Cup wants you there every time I go visit my friends.

“It feels like I’m just becoming a bother to you.”

Twilight shook her head. “Mayhem, this is my job. My role as princess is to not only spread new friendships, but mend the old.

“As much as I try to downplay it, I do have to acknowledge the danger you pose. Ultimate power in the hooves of a child is an extremely dangerous combination. I don’t hold your past against you, as I didn’t against Starlight, but a part of reformation is guiding the repentant towards bettering themselves.

“I trust Fluttershy to do that when you’re with her, but when you’re out and about then it falls on me to observe and make sure you’re still taking the right path.

“It has nothing to do with if I’m getting tired of you. I don’t have that luxury, since it could be putting others in danger if I adopted that mindset.”

Mayhem bit his lip. “Well… I could give Mommy some power. That way it doesn’t have to be you all the time.”

“I’d rather do it myself. As Cup said, seeing things with your own eyes is preferable to hearing about things from others. 

“Besides, you’ve seen the way mothers are. They’re very protective of their children. Cup may not trust Fluttershy as the one keeping an additional eye on you since she may feel Fluttershy would be lenient on you.”

“Mmm.” Mayhem got a thoughtful look on his face. “But wouldn’t Mommy be even more likely to make sure I don’t get out of line since she wants to protect me?”

“Well, that does make sense, but you have to see it from her point of view. In the end, we don’t want two mom’s fighting about their children.”

Mayhem felt a bead of sweat come down his face. He had seen both Fluttershy and Cup in their protective modes. He could only imagine how heated things would get between them.

“I see you’re imagining it. It won’t end well. It’s just safest if I’m the one being your guardian.”

He nodded. “Okay, Twilight.”

They went inside. Fluttershy looked like a nervous wreck.

When she saw him she hopped up and immediately pulled him into a hug.

She didn’t say a word, but he could tell the hug was more for herself than him.

When she let him go she asked, “What happened to your arm?”

“I tried to see if magic suppression would work on him,” said Twilight. “As I thought it won’t work on him in the traditional sense. It only makes him vanish.”

Fluttershy went over to a cabinet, opening it and pulling something off the shelf. She put a whistle to her mouth and blew. The sound that came out was like a cacophony of many animal sounds.

Twilight blinked. “Uh, what was that?”

She seemed to get her answer a few seconds later when Discord poofed into the room. “You called?”

She pointed at Mayhem. “Fix his arm.”

Preempting him, Twilight explained what had happened.

Discord shot a stream of magic at Mayhem, and his arm returned. “Ah, well. It was worth a shot.”

“I’m not in the mood for ‘bonding through stories’ today,” Fluttershy said in a grim voice. “Just give me the memories.”

“Okay, Mommy,” Mayhem replied, snapping.

Fluttershy closed her eyes as she digested what she had seen. She let out a little sigh. “Well, that’s not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I think that’s the best you could have hoped for.”

Mayhem nodded. “Yeah, it could have gone a lot worse.”

“So I guess I’m just here to be used, huh?” said Discord. “Ask me for a favor and then exclude me from what’s going on. Didn’t even consider I might want to see those memories too, hmm?”

Mayhem blushed. “Sorry, Daddy.” He snapped again, giving Discord the memories of his chat with Cup too.

“Ah. Fascinating.”

“She’s still mad, but she wants me to prove myself to her.”

“Can you do it?”

“Yes! I’m not going to blow this.” He looked up at Twilight with a warm smile. “After all, I have the best teacher in the world.”

Twilight blushed a little. “Thank you, Mayhem.”

“You’re welcome.”

Mayhem began to shake in excitement. “It’s… it’s finally happening!” He let out a happy shout.

Seeing his brightening disposition caused Fluttershy to feel better too.

“Ah,” Discord said wistfully. “I want to make a joke about interfering with things, but even I’m not that heartless.”

Mayhem laughed. “Don’t kid yourself. You’re just not brave enough. You know better than to make Mommy mad.”

“Hmph!” Discord sucked on his cheek. “Whatever you have to tell yourself.”

Mayhem flew over to Fluttershy and gave her a big hug. “I’m gonna make you proud, Mommy. It’s time to put all my training to use.”

She returned it. “That’s right. You’ve done very well for yourself, so go prove to Cup your sincerity and growth.”

“I will!”
> 10-5: Reunited at last
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cup was sitting by the unlit fireplace, her mind feeling so full and yet at the same time completely blank. Was she doing the right thing? It was hard to tell.

The memories of what Mayhem had done had been transmitted right into her mind. She had seen every act of cruelty he had committed, starting with pretending to kill all the parents of the children just to get them to accept that he wasn’t messing around and ending with threatening to kill them. And, by his own admission, he had seriously intended to do it because he couldn’t stand that they wouldn’t submit to him.

Just those two moments alone would be enough for her to want to keep him away from her children, but then there was everything that happened in-between; removing their memories and turning them into strangers to each other; having them fight against the worst things Equestria had faced like Nightmare Moon and King Sombra…

When he had had some sense knocked into him he was extremely remorseful, even trying to lock himself away. She sighed loudly, wishing that could have just been the end of it, but of course it wasn’t. Fluttershy talked him into staying and working on self-improvement, and her kids fought her hard to be able to play with him again.

She had to wonder if she’d ever be able to do the same as her kids. If a friend of hers had gone evil and tried to kill her would she be able to forgive them? Would she fight to the end to bring them back to themselves, or distance herself? If they were remorseful would she be able to accept their apology after going down such a dark path?

She tried to put herself in their hooves, but no matter how she tried she just couldn’t see it happening. At the least, it wouldn’t be something she’d just overlook the second they showed regret. 

It had taken her a very long time to acknowledge Mayhem’s remorse. His bad actions took precedence over his attempts to make up for it. Her children’s words held little weight since they couldn’t be unbiased, and even Twilight’s words didn’t do much to sway her. 

In the end, she had to acknowledge that Mayhem was a child. A child with unlimited power. And even if Mayhem had been the one to talk them into it, her children had acted irresponsibly when they had the chance to get such power themselves. There definitely was a danger in a child having too much power.

His weekly wish-granting sessions had been going well. There had been no further incidents, but she had wondered if that would be enough for him. She got her answer just a few weeks later. It wasn’t. It only created a longing for the next chaos day when he could cut loose. 

At least this time Mayhem came forth himself and admitted the issue, and Twilight found something that stuck. She had talked him into trying things without his magic, and he had taken to it like a fish to water. Mayhem was getting so caught up in his hobbies he lost track of days.

That was the biggest relief to her. Magic was a part of him, just like it was with Pound and flight. She didn’t want to put a hard ban on using any magic at all, but if he was choosing not to use his magic since it made things more fun then it was one less worry for her. 

She wished that magic suppression had worked properly on him. Without his magic he was just an ordinary child, but what he had going on now was the next best thing. 

She let out a sigh, thinking of his response to her breaking down earlier. He showed consideration for her feelings and was willing to postpone seeing his friends if it meant he wouldn’t cause her distress. 

All signs pointed to him truly reforming, but she couldn’t help but feel anxious. She could only hope that her children and Twilight had been right in putting their faith in him.

***

Pound and Pumpkin were glancing at one another out of the corner of their eyes. “So… what do you think, Pound?” asked Pumpkin.

He moved his eyes away from her to their mom. “I don’t know, Pumpkin,” he responded. “but something has got her down. She’s been so quiet since we came back home.”

“Yeah. She barely said a word during dinner.”

“What do I think? I think our mom needs some loving kids.” He smiled.

She nodded. “I agree. There’s a frown that doesn’t belong here, and we need to turn it upside-down.”

They went to their room, making drawings of their mother and writing positive things about her.

They showered her with love, but while she clearly appreciated it she still seemed to have a weight on her they couldn’t get rid of.

After a time they decided to stop dancing around the issue and address it directly.

“Why are you sad, Mom?” asked Pumpkin.

“And what can we do to get rid of it?” asked Pound.

Cup sighed. “All will become clear tomorrow. You’ll certainly be happy, even if I’m not going to be.”

He sucked on his cheek. “Why… why would we be happy about something that’s upsetting you?”

“As a mother you sometimes have to make sacrifices for your children. Like I said, you’ll understand tomorrow. Don’t concern yourselves with my feelings. Just look forward to your surprise tomorrow.”

They couldn’t make heads or tails of that statement. Did their parents nearly go broke buying them some gift? What kind of sacrifice was she making? Why couldn’t they just have the surprise now?

In any case, it was hard to feel excited about whatever was coming when their mom was so down about it. Auntie Pinkie was still her same excitable self, but they noticed their dad was a little subdued too, though not nearly to the extent of their mother.

Something big was coming, and they mainly just felt nervous in a bad way.

The two woke up in the morning, wandering the house for any sign of the surprise, but everything looked the same as normal. 

They found their parents in the kitchen. “Good morning!” Pound said brightly, trying to keep the mood up.

“Good morning, Pound,” said Cup in a monotone.

“You know, we’ve been trying to figure out the surprise since yesterday, and why we’re supposed to be happy when you’re not. Whatever it is, just get it out of the way.”

Cup looked up at the clock. “Well, you woke up at a good time. It should be here within the next ten minutes. As soon as you see it you’ll understand everything.”

Pumpkin sat down at the table. “I can’t stand the suspense. Can’t you just tell us?”

The corner of Cup’s mouth rose slightly. “Ah, but what fun would that be?”

The next few minutes seemed to pass unbearably slow. It was a relief when the doorbell rang.

Carrot got up. “I sure hope that it’s here. This is hard enough without getting worked up for nothing.”

The twins looked at each other. “Should we… follow you?” asked Pound.

“We’ll bring it to you.” said Cup, the two of them leaving the room. 

Pound and Pumpkin felt their hearts beating in their chest. They heard the door opening in the distance, and some quiet talking. After that they heard hoofsteps returning.

“Hello!” Twilight said brightly.

“I don’t think Twilight’s the surprise,” said Pumpkin, not turning around.

“No, I’m sure not, but I brought it with me.

“Close your eyes you two. We have something special for the two of you.”

They complied, feeling their chairs magically lifted off the ground and turned around.

“Hello!” said a voice they hadn’t heard in so long, yet instantly recognizable.

They both opened their eyes, hardly daring to believe it. 

It really was true. There before them was Mayhem. Just as they were told, it clicked instantly why their parents had been so off.

They hopped out of their chairs, running to him and nearly knocking him over as they hugged him, happy tears coming down their eyes.

“Mayhem!” said Pumpkin.

“It’s been way too long,” said Pound.

Mayhem returned the hug, a sense of rightness in the world. “I’ve missed the both of you so much.” He broke down in tears as well. “I’ve been working my butt off trying to make myself a better person, all just so I could see my friends again.

“Your mom asked to talk to me yesterday, and we had a talk. She doesn’t trust me yet, but she’s willing to give me the chance to prove myself to her.”

The two of them released him. “I guess that’s to be expected,” said Pound. “She is our mom.”

“But we’re not worried,” said Pumpkin. “We know in time she’ll understand you like we do.”

“I sure hope so,” said Mayhem. “I don’t want Twilight to have to chaperone me forever.”

Twilight rubbed his head. “Are you still on that? Guiding you in the right direction and making sure you stay on that path are parts of my job. Just like Starlight, you have exceptional power that would only go to waste if you fell to darkness and had to be locked away.

“Besides, I’m no snob. I delight in spending time with children of the new generation and seeing them enjoy life. Royal duties can sometimes be a little overwhelming, so doing nothing more complicated than just keeping an eye on you is a great way to wind down and allow my brain to rest.

“So, for the last time, stop thinking you’re a burden on me. Okay?” 

He nodded. “Sorry, Twilight.”

“It’s okay. I know you’re trying to be considerate of my feelings, but I have no issues with you. Now, go  play with your friends.”

“Okay.”

Cup sighed. She really did want to trust in Mayhem. She just needed more time seeing him in person. “Well, now you know the surprise. Don’t disappoint me, Mayhem.

“As for you two, I said to him yesterday that I haven’t changed my stance on him. I’m only giving him the opportunity to prove himself to me. I’m still having difficulty just having him so close.”

Pound nodded. “I understand, Mom.”

“Me too,” said Pumpkin.

She put on as much a smile as she could manage. “Well… let’s not dwell on the past. I’m going to start breakfast.”

She left the room. 

Pumpkin let out a little sigh. “Well, just because I understand doesn’t mean I don’t wish she wasn’t so uncomfortable.”

“Does it annoy you?” asked Twilight.

“What? No! All day yesterday she was really down. We just don’t like seeing her upset.”

“Well,” said Mayhem, “she told me that only time will start to win back her trust. I can’t do anything about that besides never seeing you again or continuing to be on my best behavior.

“And even if I was willing to sever all ties between us it still wouldn’t quite make her feel safe, since if I went bad then who knows who could be caught in the crossfire. Even if she doesn’t want me to be around you I think she probably knows that you’re one of the things holding me back from becoming who I was in the past.

“Just think about how different things could have been if I had chosen anyone else besides all of you. I don’t think they would have been able to get through to me like you did. Defeat me through unity, maybe, but not redeem me.”

Twilight rubbed his head. “I think Fluttershy could have done it. No matter how bad you became I don’t think you’d ever lose yourself so much you’d harm a hair on her head.”

Mayhem bit his lip. “That’s wrong. I would never attack her, but I knew she would suffer with Pound and Pumpkin missing. When I was done with them I talked about getting comforting from her about my missing friends while knowing I was the reason they weren’t around.”

“Hey!” said Pound, hugging him. “This is a happy moment for us. Don’t start beating yourself up about the past. “

“That’s right!” said Pumpkin, hugging him also.

Mayhem sighed. “I know… it’s just hard. I love all of my friends and my mother, but we’ve mainly had good times. It wasn’t until I met Spring Meadow that I really came to understand the hurt that comes along with a severed bond.

“Even if we were apart we could still talk through the notebook.” His eyes grew wet. “She had no way of talking to her brother when she needed his support the most.

“And because I got to see her sadness with my own eyes, and everything she went through in the three months she didn’t have him, it only makes me understand just how terrible what I did was. I can understand why it was, and still is, hard for your mother to tolerate me now.”

He closed his eyes, thinking of Cup’s breakdown the day before.

“This is all a part of the growing up process,” said Twilight. “As children, we sometimes don’t act in the best interests of others and behave selfishly. And sometimes words just aren’t enough. Sometimes you have to see the results of your actions before you truly understand why what you did was wrong. That’s how you develop empathy and care for others.

“So, while you shouldn’t be happy about what you’ve done, you can take solace in the fact that you’ve learned from the experience. Don’t dwell on it. Just keep pushing forward.”

He nodded. “Okay, Twilight.”

About ten minutes later Cup called them in.

They all sat down at the table, seeing plates of pancakes and toast. They dug in hungrily.

Carrot was drinking a morning coffee. “So do you have any plans for today?” he asked. “You had a night to prepare, Mayhem.”

Mayhem shrugged. “Not really. I don’t care what we do, as long as it’s with my friends.”

Carrot let out a little sigh. “Cup told me about your conversation yesterday. I won’t harp on and say things she probably said already, but I do hope you don’t do anything to squash the little bit of faith we still have in you.”

His tone was a little stiff, but he didn’t seem nearly as tense or angry as Cup did.

Mayhem nodded. “I’ve been learning a lot since I saw you last.”

“I know that, but this is still hard for both of us. Just please be on your best behavior. That’s all I’m going to say on the matter.”

Mayhem nodded again, glad that Carrot wasn’t yelling at him. It had been uncomfortable enough the day before with Cup. 

When they finished up with breakfast the twins helped their mother wash the dishes before they all headed to the living room.

For a short while the three children just smiled at each other without saying a word. Mayhem could feel the hearts of his friends, so familiar.

The twins similarly felt his, the missing piece that had been away for too long.

“It finally happened,” Pound said happily. “It’s been too long a wait. I was starting to think we were never going to see you again after Flurry’s cu-” He grunted as Pumpkin shoved him.

“Let’s not dwell on the past, Pound!” Pumpkin said in a frosty tone, glaring at him. “Let’s just get to playing, alright?”

For a few moments he couldn’t understand why Pumpkin was giving him the stink eye, but then it sunk in that he had almost casually blurted out that Mayhem had disobeyed all the parents by sneaking into Flurry’s cutecenera.

If that got out then they could say goodbye to having him back.

Pound gulped, laughing awkwardly. “Right, right. Sorry.”

Thankfully, none of the adults seemed to think anything odd about it.

Pumpkin went upstairs to grab some toys and games for them to play with.

“So what have you been up to lately, Mayhem?” asked Pound. “You would tell us how you were doing and say that you were learning new things and getting along with those other kids with the wishes, but apart from the first wish session you haven’t gone into much detail the past two months.”

“Well,” Mayhem replied, “I didn’t want to tell you everything. There’s only so much paper in those notebooks, and I couldn’t exactly send you new ones.

“Besides, I had to save some stuff for when we finally met in person again.”

“Fair enough.

“I’d sure like to hear what you’ve been up to, but I don’t want to exclude Pumpkin.”

A minute later Pumpkin returned, levitating stuff that she set on the table.

“Okay, she’s back. So spill!”

“Spill what?” asked Pumpkin.

“Anything,” Pound replied. “I want to hear the details of our time apart.”

“Oh.”

Mayhem grabbed a puzzle from among the stuff Pumpkin brought down, opening the box and dumping it. “There you go!” Mayhem said with a smirk.

The twins gave him quizzical looks. “Huh?”

“You told me to spill it, so I spilled it.”

A few seconds passed before Pound rolled his eyes and Pumpkin slapped a hoof to her face. Immediately after that they all began laughing.

“Is that what we’ve been waiting for all this time?” said Pound, wiping away a tear. “Bad puns?”

“Could be,” Mayhem replied with a giggle.

He picked up one of the pieces, flipping it over so the picture was on top. “Well, I think the biggest thing of all is Spring Meadow.”

Pound started grabbing pieces and flipping them over too. “What about her?”

“She’s come so far. She suffered for three months with such heavy feelings, but every week when I see her again it feels like she’s a different pony. She doesn’t have to force her smiles anymore, and she’s able to be honest about her negative feelings.”

Pumpkin’s horn lit up as she began to separate the edge pieces from the middle pieces. “I’m so glad to hear that. Back when I first heard about her it reminded me of the past. Me and Pound got into a huge fight, and I knocked him into a bookshelf. The momentum brought it back right onto Pound’s head.

“He broke a leg and nearly died. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. So I know all about guilt for unintentionally sending your sibling to the hospital.”

“Wow!” said Mayhem. “You never told me about that.”

“Well… I just don’t like to think about it much. I’m sure you get that.”

Mayhem gave a somber nod. “Yeah.

“The first week I brought Spring into our sessions I found out that she had been feeling guilty for a different reason regarding her brother. Forest was spending all his available time with her, and she thought she was just being a burden on him.

“This time Twilight stepped up, and Spring learned her brother had been acting strong for her sake, but he felt just as guilty over what happened as she did.

“She had to learn that, just by being by her side, that was helping him to recover. It was letting him make up for the past.”

“But he saved her life,” Pound said, connecting edge pieces as he kept glancing at the box for reference. “What did he have to feel guilty about?”

“Yeah,” said Pumpkin, connecting a few more pieces. “How could he have predicted he’d crash?”

“He just hated he wasn’t around to sooth her hurting heart,” Mayhem replied, “so he pledged to be there for her as much as possible until the cracks in her heart healed.

“She, in turn, had to see how his heart was hurting, and realize that she had the power to glue his back together too. She had been thinking she couldn’t do anything in return for him, but she had the power all along.”

He set down the piece he was holding, a lump in his throat. “It really meant something special to me, solving my first friendship problem. Mainly because Twilight stayed out of it and left it all to me that first day.”

Pound nodded, his eyes growing misty. “We know that feeling. Masky, Flurry, you… it always feels so special to help someone through their issues.”

“I still remember,” said Pumpkin, blinking tears out of her eyes. “Peppermint had been so miserable before I met her. She was so jealous of her new baby brother, feeling like she was being replaced, or was only good as a babysitter.

“I talked her into talking to her dad, and seeing them breaking down hugging each other made me really feel like I had grown up a little. I had done it all myself, using everything I had learned about friendship.”

All of them reflected for a short time. 

“So what else?” asked Pound as he grabbed another piece and put it in its place. “We already knew about Spring Meadow before.”

“Well,” Mayhem replied, “I’ve been learning a lot about myself lately.”

He sat back. “Let me ask you two an important question.”

They followed suit, turning their attention away from the puzzle to give him their full attention.

“What would you think about getting a piece of my power permanently?”

“That would be awesome!” said Pound.

“Yeah,” said Pumpkin. “Totally cool!”

Twilight put a hoof on Cup as she started to react. “Keep calm and listen,” she said reassuringly. “This isn’t going the direction you think it is.”

Cup gave her a dirty look, but complied.

Mayhem shook his head. “I knew you would say that, but it’s the wrong way to look at it.”

“What do you mean?” asked Pumpkin.

“I know it sounds great to have my kind of power, but I had a long talk with Twilight where I found out that my boredom was coming from it.”

“Why?” asked Pound.

“I thought that just having some time every week to go completely chaotic with my powers was all I really needed, but in reality it just led to me looking forward to those weekly sessions all the more. You can’t just have one good day a week, with the rest being all bad days, and expect to live a happy life.

“Yeah, it sounds great to be able to make anything happen with your imagination, but there’s only so much you can do with it before you realize how much it stunts your growth.”

“Stunts your growth?”

Mayhem nodded. “Twilight made me realize I was far too dependent on my powers to do everything for me, and so she tasked me with learning how to operate without it.

“It may seem to you that the only difference between making something on my own and doing it with my magic is the amount of time it takes, but it’s so much different than that. It’s about learning and growing and developing skills that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t put in the effort to learn it myself.

“With my magic I can just create anything I want and have it come out perfect, but without it I actually have to learn how to do it properly and it takes up time during the day. That’s what makes it so much fun.”

The twins looked at each other for a short while before glancing back at him. “Well,” said Pound, “when you put it that way…”

“Yeah,” said Pumpkin. “I see what you’re saying.”

“I mean, flying took me months and months of practice, but when I finally hovered and then flew it just felt so fulfilling. When I had your power I could fly with ease, but it just wasn’t the same.”

“I guess when you have everything there’s nothing to fight for.”

“Exactly,” said Mayhem. “That’s the lesson Twilight taught me, and it’s changed my life for the better. There’s so much before me to try, and it makes me push myself in a way I never did in the past.”

Cup let out a long breath, releasing some pent up stress.

“Hey, Cup?” said Mayhem, turning in her direction.

She jerked a little at his call. “Um, yes?”

“Would it be alright if I used my magic to show them some pictures of the things I’ve been learning to do?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“Twilight said that if I want you to respect me then it starts with respecting you first. I know I make you anxious, so I want to do with you like I do with Twilight. When I’m out with her I put her in control of me and the magic I use. That way I know I’m not doing anything wrong.

“So I’m putting you in charge of me today. I’ll ask your permission before using my powers so that you always know my intentions when I snap. 

“This is hard enough on you. I don’t want to cause you any more anxiety.”

Twilight grinned, restraining herself from clapping.

Cup looked surprised by his thoughtfulness. “I do hope you’re not just trying to butter me up.”

He shook his head. “No. It’s like I said to Pound and Pumpkin: seeing Spring Meadow’s situation made me see how valuable the heart is and how far it reaches. It’s not worth it to do something that makes them happy but makes you miserable. 

“And I don’t want you to force yourself to go along because you think it’ll make them happy. You’re already doing that just by having me here. I don’t want to add any more burdens to you.”

Carrot blinked. It seemed those two months of growth really had shaped him into a better person.

Pinkie giggled. 

Cup inclined her head slightly. “Well, thank you for your consideration, but that alone isn’t going to sway me.”

Pound bit his lip. “Come on, Mom. He’s trying here. Do you have to keep emphasizing that you’re not a hundred percent with him yet?”

“I agree,” said Pumpkin. “Don’t be so discouraging when he’s taking your feelings into consideration.”

“It’s not my intention to be discouraging,” said Cup. “Going with his bridge building metaphor your bridge was made out of boulders, which is why it was so easy for you to repair yours. On my side that bridge is more like pebbles. He’s laying the foundation to recreate it, one step at a time, but it’s naturally going to take longer to recreate my bridge.

“If he continues to do things like this it may come a little faster, but because the material is so small it’s still going to take considerable time. That’s all I’m saying.”

“I get it,” said Mayhem. “I’m willing to be patient as long as you’re willing to give me a chance to prove myself.”

To his friends he said, “Don’t get upset, you guys. This is all a test for me. I have to show that I’m capable of handling it or else your parents will never be able to move on. It’s just like Spring Meadow. It’s been a few months now and she still occasionally has her Sombra rear its ugly head, but she’s getting better every week.

“Even if it takes years to find every last pebble, I’ll do it for the sake of my friends.”

That made the twins grin. “Sounds good to me,” said Pumpkin. “We know you can do it.”

“Sure can!” said Pound. “So long as we put our hearts together there’s nothing we can’t do.”

“As to your query,” said Cup, “I grant my permission.”

“Thank you,” said Mayhem, bowing his head to her.

He snapped, and a photo album appeared. He opened it to the first page, getting a nostalgic look on his face. 

“Well, don’t laugh, but I’ve been learning a lot of new hobbies lately.”

“Why would we laugh at that?” asked Pound.

“Well… it’s just a little embarrassing for me. You can ask Twilight. She’ll tell you how scared I felt when she tried to get me into some new hobbies.”

Pumpkin’s eyebrow went up. “What’s scary about that? Unless your hobby was going waterskiing on sharks I don’t see what’s so terrifying.”

“I’m… just not used to not being perfect. I mean, with my magic. Doing all sorts of wacky stuff with my magic is what made our days together fun. I wasn’t sure if you’d feel the same way about me if I never used my magic around you.”

“Come on, Mayhem!” said Pound. “Nothing will ever change the way we feel about you. A true friend loves you for who you are and nothing less than that.”

“I mean,” said Pumpkin, “if what happened during the superhero adventure wasn’t enough to break our friendship then nothing will.”

“I know, I know,” said Mayhem. “I remembered you saying something during the sleepover that it was me, and not my power, that made your birthday special. Like I said, it’s just hard for me because I’m not used to doing stuff the normal way. Anything I’ve ever wanted I could just get with my power, so I’ve never been open to criticism about the things I’ve made because they’ve always been perfect.

“I’m not so pathetic anymore. I’ve been learning to accept my imperfections and work with them rather than always needing to be perfect.”

“That’s great,” said Pumpkin.

“Doesn’t mean I’m not still a little nervous about letting you see the very first atrocity I created on my own.” He sighed, closing the book and setting it down.

“Twilight took me to see her mother so we could all do a craft project together. It was a lot of fun, even if it was scary at first.”

He got a happy blush on his face. “Twilight’s mom is so awesome. Seeing me for the first time she didn’t even react to how unusual I am. And when I brought it up she told me that she grew up with strange since they had Spike and then gave me a hug only a mother could give.

“She treated me almost like her own child.”

“Aww,” said Pound.

“And we’ve been doing stuff together every week. She’s super fun to be with.

“That’s when I learned about another connection. Sometimes nothing personal weakens the feelings one has for another, but they just drift apart because they have their own lives to lead. She was so happy we showed up because she doesn’t get to see her children and grandchildren that often. I mean, they’re royalty in charge of an empire and a town.”

“Hmm,” said Pumpkin, resting her head on her hoof. “I never thought about it like that. Eventually, me and Pound are gonna move out and start our own families.”

“Hey, guys!” Carrot said loudly to get their attention. “Maybe now isn’t the best time to be talking about you not being around anymore, huh? None of us in this room want to be thinking about that concept after what happened a few months ago.”

“Oh… right.” She blushed. “Sorry.”

“Thank you, Carrot,” said Cup with a slight shiver. “Couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s giving me anxiety.”

Pound pulled at his sister. “I think they’re in need of emergency hugs. STAT!”

“On the job!” Pumpkin replied. 

The pair trotted over and hopped on their parent’s laps to hug them tightly.

After a few minutes Cup and Carrot were settled enough to allow their children to resume playing.

“Let’s finish up this puzzle already,” said Mayhem as the two returned, “then I’ll show you what I’ve been learning.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Pound.

With the three of them focused it only took another few minutes to finish up.

Once they broke it up and put it back in the box Mayhem picked up the photo album, hugging it to himself. 

He let out a moan. “Oh, I’m nervous, but I have to be brave.”

He sighed and set it on the table as the other two kneeled on either side of him. 

He opened the book to the first page, showing the baby pony he had made out of popsicle sticks. “Working with popsicle sticks was kinda easy when we were just working out of a book where I just had to follow directions, but it got a little scary when I had to make something up on my own.

“I decided to make Twilight’s mom a baby out of sticks since she kept ribbing on Twilight to give her a grandchild.”

That made Pound and Pumpkin chuckle. 

“I know it looks terrible, but I was still inexperienced at the time.”

“I don’t think it looks that bad,” said Pound.

“It’s not great,” Pumpkin said honestly, “but for your first attempt it could have been a lot worse.”

Mayhem began flipping through the pages, showing them the myriad of things he had created from his hobbies. “I’ve been getting new books and new materials so I can keep learning new stuff and mastering the old stuff. The experience I’ve been getting has made everything so fun that now I don’t just spend all week waiting for one special thing. 

“Shoot, I took out the woodcarving book the day before wish day, and a part of me almost wanted to cancel it just because I had a specific project in mind.”

“Really?” asked Pound. “Now that’s impressive."

“When Twilight was talking about the difference between using a special power to do things and how a normal person does them she brought up how a woodworker would make a desk. She challenged me to do something like that, but then dialed it back to something simpler like a bird house for Mommy’s animals.

“That’s why it was so distracting. I wanted to do something special to make Mommy happy, but I didn’t want to disappoint my friends.”

Mayhem flipped a few pages until he got to the picture of the birdhouse he had made, giving it a gentle smile. “I told Twilight this, and I’ll say it again now. It may not be perfect, but it’s perfect to me. It has it’s imperfections, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be loved… just like all of us.”

The twins hugged him. “Got that right!” Pound said strongly.

“We love you for all your imperfections,” Pumpkin said warmly.

“And I love both of you,” Mayhem said, his eyes getting wet. He had missed them so much.

With Cup’s permission he created a bunch of popsicle sticks and assorted materials to do crafts with.

For the next hour they just did arts and crafts. Mayhem had gotten good enough he didn’t need the book. He felt a sense of odd satisfaction at the slightly jealous looks the twins gave him as they compared their creations to his. 

Just knowing that even without his magic he could create something that was superior to someone else’s creation made him feel empowered. He really didn’t need to rely on it to be successful.

“Okay,” said Pound. “I give up.”

“Yeah,” Pumpkin said right after. “You’re just too skilled for us.” 

“Come on,” said Mayhem. “It’s not about skill. It’s about having fun.”

“That so?” said Pound slyly. “Don’t think we didn’t see you smirking at us.”

“Who, me?” he responded innocently. 

“Don’t make us crush your fancy-pants pony model,” said Pumpkin. “You won’t be able to fix it. We just have to ask our mom not to give you permission.”

“That’s low,” said Mayhem.

They gave each other dirty looks for a few more seconds, then they all burst into laughter.

The day continued on, and Cup found it hard to keep her misgivings. One good day wasn’t going to erase all her negative feelings, but she was happy that it was such a low-key day. Mayhem’s self-inflicted stipulation to ask her before using his brand of magic made things less stressful for her.

After lunch they all went outside to enjoy some physical activities. The twins took their pets and they went to the park to play.

They were at the park about an hour before going home to play some board games.

About three o’clock Cup brought the day to an end.

The three children were disappointed, but they didn’t fight her.

The three hugged each other for as long as they could get away with.

Cup walked over and called out Mayhem’s name. He quickly let go, thinking she was going to scold him for stalling.

To his surprise she rubbed his head and even gave him a slight smile. “Today wasn’t nearly as bad as I imagined it was going to be. With Twilight confirming that magic suppression doesn’t work on you I thought today would be nerve wracking, never knowing what a snap may hold.

“Thank you for being considerate of my feelings. Perhaps my bridge isn’t quite made of pebbles after all.”

That made Mayhem smile wide. 

“That being said, don’t get ahead of yourself. Just because I said that doesn’t mean everything is fine between us. If you truly want me to forgive you then just keep doing what you did today and continue to prove to me you’re someone that I can trust.”

He saluted her. “I’ll keep doing my best, Mrs. Cake. 

“I’m really sorry that I got so out of control. I know you’re not ready to accept my apology yet, but it’s still something I want to say.”

She considered him for a short while and then with a little sigh gave him a hug. “You’re right that I’m not ready for that yet, but I can still appreciate the sentiment you’re trying to convey.

“I gave you six hours, and for today that’s all I’m willing to give. Next weekend we can try again.”

She released him, and Pound and Pumpkin both came over to give him one last hug.

“You’re so in!” Pound whispered in his ear.

Mayhem giggled. “You guys… thank you for everything. I wouldn’t be the draconequus I am today without you lending strength to my heart and giving me something to fight for.”

“That’s our job,” said Pound. “Friends for life.”

Mayhem floated up near Twilight, hugging her. “And of course I can’t forget about you. You’ve done so much for me to help me get to this point.”

“Just like she did for me,” said Pound. “She taught me that I shouldn’t use violence to solve my problems. That’s how I got Drill Bit to reform.”

“All of us are growing up together,” said Pumpkin.

“You sure are,” said Twilight. “I’m very pleased with all of you.

“Now, before we overstay our welcome, let’s get you home, Mayhem.”

“Okay, Twilight.” He waved to his friends. “Goodbye. See you next week.”

“Bye, Mayhem!” They both waved their hooves at him as they teleported out.

Twilight smiled as Mayhem began to share all the details of the day with Fluttershy. He was so happy. 

She was glad things had gone so well. She knew her brother and her sister-in-law didn’t bare a grudge against Mayhem, so maybe next time she could talk Cup into having Flurry there as well. 

As he got his social circle back it would only make him push that much harder to keep them around.
> 11-1: Externalized
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next three months were a time of great things for Mayhem. The next Saturday when he came over to play with Pound and Pumpkin he was pleasantly surprised to see Flurry was with them. As more weeks passed by without incident Twilight used that as leverage to open communication with Masky’s, Tree Leaf’s, and Peppermint’s parents.

Reluctantly, they relented. 

Mayhem was on top of the world. Through his persistence he had finally gotten his old circle back. The day he got to play with all six of his old friends was a highlight of his life, the greatest proof that he had grown up. He did still need supervision by Twilight as a condition, but that didn’t bother him a bit.

He was content with that, but his friends wanted something more. After another two months with no further incidents they began to pester their parents to be part of a wish granting session. It took a lot of persuasion and pleading, but eventually they gave in and agreed.

That made a total of eleven children not including Mayhem. The parents were anxious about that, but it gave them all a chance to meet Mayhem’s new friends and for their children to add them to their own circle. With no issues since the incident, and eleven friends by his side, they reluctantly agreed that Mayhem likely wouldn’t cause any issues even if Twilight couldn’t watch things as carefully with so many kids.

“So many ponies,” Sweet Pea said as she looked around at the others.

“You’ve come so far, Mayhem,” said Pound. 

“Thank you,” he replied.

Spring Meadow hugged him. “I’m so happy that things have been going so well for you now. I think this is the perfect time for a special wish.”

“What’s that?” he asked as she released him.

“Both of us have been fighting our Sombra for a long time. I think it’s time we finally defeat him for good!”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“Sombra has been losing strength every day, but it’s all been mental. I want to fight King Sombra for real.”

“In our superhero adventure I got to beat King Sombra,” said Flurry. “Even if he wasn’t the real thing, it felt so satisfying to destroy him after everything he did to the crystal ponies. I’m down for whipping him again.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Pound.

“Miss Twilight?” said Peppermint.

“Yes, Peppermint?” Twilight responded.

“I’m curious about something.

“When you were first making your plans for Mayhem’s reformation I thought you said you wanted Mayhem to make a whole bunch of new friends to strengthen his heart. I didn’t think you would actually get him to six hundred friends, but you’ve only kept with one group since you started.”

“That’s a fair question, and the answer is fairly simple. I needed to think about what was best for him. I know Mayhem has come pretty far, but he is still in the early stages of his reformation. In this crucial point in his life the last thing I wanted was for him to start regressing before he saw all of you again.

“That first day, even when Mayhem began to fall into despair over his past, all four of those children stayed by his side and encouraged him. In other words, they demonstrated that their care for him went beyond just wanting him for his powers. They cared about him as an individual.”

“Four?” said Pumpkin, glancing at Spring.

“Spring Meadow wasn’t part of this at the start,” said Flash. “She only came on after the first session.”

“Oh, right.”

“I thought it over,” Twilight continued, “and while I do want to eventually bring in other ponies to enjoy this I feel it should come after he’s developed a strong bond with his new friends.”

“Well,” said Chocolate, “I’m not going to complain about getting more wishes, but I’m not sure if I should feel hurt or not.

“You don’t think we’ve developed a strong friendship in the past six months?”

“I’m not trying to say that. I’m just saying that you can become fast friends with someone, but only time will truly determine whether it’s a friendship that will last. Time gives you the memories you need to truly connect your heart to another, and to weather the storms that will rock those connections.

“You four children were an ideal starting group. If I introduced another group and they turned out to be more selfish, caring more about his abilities than him as a person, it would harm his heart. So I just thought it was more prudent for Mayhem to be around others I know truly care about him rather than risk him getting hurt with an unknown group.”

“Okay. I get it.”

“So what are the rules?” asked Tree Leaf. “How we doing this?”

“Well,” said Flurry, “if we’re going to fight King Sombra then it makes the most sense to do it in my home of the Crystal Empire.”

“Um,” Pound started, “are you sure you’re okay with that? I mean, in order for Sombra to be a threat he’s going to have to be invading. Your possible future subjects and probably your parents are going to be under attack.

“Isn’t that, like, your greatest fear?”

Flurry took a deep breath. “Well, if Spring and Mayhem are both going to confront their darkness, then I should do the same, huh?

“This just gives me more reasons to do my best.”

“Well, as just regular kids I don’t think we’re going to be able to do much,” said Spring, “so I think we should all get some super powers.”

Chocolate and Plum flinched as Sweet Pea covered her friends mouth.

Flash put a hoof around Mayhem. “Stay calm, okay?”

The other children were confused by their reactions.

“What’s wrong?” asked Masky.

“I tried to ask for a superpower wish during our first session,” said Chocolate, “and he freaked out really bad because of what happened with you guys.”

Now they understood, all of them looking at Mayhem for his reaction.

Mayhem’s eyes were closed, and he was breathing heavier. “I’ve… I want to think I’ve come so far.” He let out a heavy breath. “I can’t… I can’t…” A tear came down his eye. “I can’t let the past control me forever.

“With all my friends by my side, and Twilight here to supervise, nothing is going to go wrong. I want to face this head-on.”

“WHOO!” Pound cried out, trotting in place. “That’s right, Mayhem. Let the past go.”

Mayhem took in a slow breath and looked up. “Twilight?”

She nodded. “I know, Mayhem. I’m going to be observing you. I won’t let you wander off onto a bad path.”

He floated up to her and hugged her, letting out a quiet sob. “Thank you!”

She hugged him back. “You’re very welcome. You just make sure to have the time of your life.” 

“I will.”

He got down on the floor. He began to blush. “Twilight, can I ask you for a favor?”

“Sure.”

He squirmed a bit. “Well, um…” He looked at his friends. “Please don’t make fun of me.”

“Make fun of you for what?” asked Flash.

He looked back up at Twilight. “W-would you… hold my paw while I give them their powers?”

His request took her a bit by surprise. It wasn’t the superpowers that had been what had caused all the problems. It was his disregard for their safety. Even so, it had been a big part of the day he descended into darkness.

He was clearly embarrassed to ask, but she knew he was in need of a little confidence boost before he faced the darkness.

With a flash of her horn she changed one of her hooves into a claw like Spikes so she could properly entwine it with his.

“I’m here,” she said. “Everything is going to be fine.”

“It will!” said Plum. “Just like the day we met.”

Mayhem squeezed, feeling her claw in his paw. It was comforting to him.

“Okay, everyone!” he said, sounding a little better. “So what do you want?”

“Well,” said Flash, “my request is the same as it was back then. I want super speed.”

Flurry whispered to her old friends, and they all nodded. “Mayhem, we don’t want any changes.”

“You don’t want powers?” asked Spring.

“Oh, no. I mean, we want the same powers we had back then. If Mayhem is confronting his past then it will help him if he sees that superpowers aren’t going to cause him to go bad.

“We’ll have the same powers, but the result will be different.”

“Makes sense.”

Chocolate looked up thoughtfully. “My initial wish was for a Power Ponies adventure. So now that there’s enough of us what do you guys think about taking each of their powers?”

“Well, I already called Fili-Second,” said Flash. 

“I’ll be Radiance,” said Sweet Pea. “I like the thought of making stuff with my mind.”

“I’ll be Zapp,” said Spring Meadow. “I’ll be able to control electricity.”

“Hmm,” said Mayhem, sucking his cheek. “Pound and Pumpkin already have an elemental ability, and they can use any one they can think of rather than just one. 

“Their power is weak if they’re not in physical contact with one another, but to make it more fair your electricity will be much more powerful than theirs even at their maximum. Is that okay with all of you?”

He got nods all around.

“I’ll be Saddle Rager,” said Chocolate. “Anyone messes with my friends and they’ll get the beat down!” He smacked his hooves together.

“I’ll be Masked Matter-horn,” said Plum. “Then I can shoot stuff out of my horn.”

Spring Meadow began to laugh. It started small, but it got bigger and bigger.

“What?” asked Sweet Pea. “What’s so funny?”

She got herself under control and said, “There’s no one left.”

“Huh?”

“Flurry and the rest already have their powers picked out. So does everyone else but Mayhem, and the only pony left for him to be is Mistress Marevelous.”

Now everyone else was cracking up. 

Pound gave him a mock bow. “Hello there, Miss. Might we be granted our abilities, my lady?”

Mayhem had a dark smile on his face. “Watch it. I can change your gender in a snap if I wanted, then we’ll see who’s the real ‘miss,’ Pound.”

“Oooo!” Pumpkin squealed. “I always wanted a sister. Do it!”

“Hey, hey!” said Twilight lightly. “Let’s not forget our purpose here.”

“Aww. Spoilsport.”

Mayhem snapped, giving everyone their abilities and costumes. 

He looked to Flurry, getting serious again. “Flurry, there’s one more thing I have to give you.”

“What’s that?” she responded.

“The last time we went through this I know I hurt you the most. Now we’re going to have an adventure in the Crystal Empire. I know it will motivate you more to win, but I don’t want to cause you unnecessary suffering after what I did to you last time.”

He snapped. “Try using your magic now. It doesn’t matter what spell.”

“Um, okay.” Her horn lit up, casting a soothing light upon the room.

“Wow,” Peppermint said. “I just feel... so calm in my heart.”

“Me too,” said Spring.

“But… I haven’t done anything,” said Flurry.

“You didn’t have to,” said Mayhem. “Since Sombra has dark magic, I’ve given you light magic to combat him. This will light up everyone’s hearts around you.”

He snapped again, and a necklace appeared floating in midair in front of her with a Crystal Heart symbol on the front. 

“This is ‘a gift from your mother.’”

She picked it up in her hoof. “A gift from my mom? What does it do?”

“It’s like a tiny fragment of the Crystal Heart. It renders you completely immune to Sombra’s dark magic and his ability to make you live your greatest fears in your mind.”

He moved his claw, and the necklace floated up and landed on her neck.

She looked down, and when she looked back up she saw he looked on the verge of tears. “Hey, Mayhem. Why are you crying?”

“I know it’s a little unfair to everyone else to give you these extra abilities and protection, but out of all my friends I made you suffer the most. Everyone else was scared, but I took away all your support and plunged you back into the darkness.”

His eyes faded out as tears dripped down. “That cold, dark, lonely place, where you spent every day scared out of your mind about being forced to take over the throne. I never want to make you have to relive that again.” 

Flurry pulled him into a hug. He squeezed her back, gently sobbing. “Aw, Mayhem. Don’t cry. I already forgave you for that a long time ago.”

Their other friends joined into the hug, putting their own hearts into it to help him feel better.

When they split apart she said, “Thank you for this. I won’t let it go to waste. Light magic certainly fits me, considering my cutie mark is a lighthouse shining the Fire of Friendship out into the world.”

“Well now,” said Peppermint, “all we need now is a Sombra for us to beat.”

“Wait,” said Masky.

“What’s up?” said Mayhem.

“I’m fine with getting superpowers for our fight, but I don’t think we should start out with them. This is to help Spring Meadow, but it’s also just another pretend adventure. If we fight Sombra right off the bat then what fun is that? We should have to work for it.”

Tree Leaf put a hoof to his chin. “Hmm… I guess you’re right. But if we don’t start off with the powers then where are we supposed to get them in the story?”

Flash sat and crossed his hooves, looking up thoughtfully. “Well… Flurry’s mom is the leader of an entire empire. Big places always have some kind of special treasure. Maybe when we’re forced to run from Sombra when he first invades we come upon the secret palace treasure room or something?”

“That makes sense,” said Plum.

Flurry chuckled. “Well, so far as I know there is no hidden treasure room, but there could be. So I’ll go along with it.”

“Hey, Twilight?” said Pound.

“Yeah?” she replied.

“Why don’t you play the role of Sombra?”

“Me?” she said incredulously, pointing to herself.

“Yeah. Don’t tell me you’ve never wanted to play the bad guy.”

“Do I seem that type of person to you?”

“It’s only pretend, Aunt Twilight,” said Flurry. “And if you’re in control then we’ll know that things won’t go too far.”

Twilight sucked her cheek, looking at the expectant faces of the children. “Alright, fine. I’ll do it.”

Pumpkin began to laugh. “This is gonna be great!”

“But you really have to get into the role,” said Masky. “Be as dramatic as possible.”

Twilight rolled her eyes before turning around. “I don’t think you’re ready for that,” she said quietly.

Spring shook her head. “Forgive me if I have my doubts. You’re as gentle as a kitten.”

Sweet Pea nodded. “I mean, come on. She’s the Princess of Friendship. How threatening can she really be?”

Pound and Pumpkin shared a look. They both knew that underestimating someone nice could be a big mistake.

Twilight’s horn began to glow. “You little worms displease me,” she said in a dark voice, the glow beginning to change color to the hue of dark magic.

She spun around, the purple aura coming off the side of her face and her eyes pure green. The room began to shake as a sphere of magic surrounded her. 

Chocolate gulped.

“Prepare to be destroyed for defying me you little brats.” She took an aggressive step forward, and Spring and Sweet Pea instinctively backed up.

“Don’t poke the beehive if you don’t want to be stung,” said Mayhem with a chuckle. “Twilight can be terrifying when she wants to be.”

The glow around Twilight faded as she returned to normal. “Good enough for you, children?”

Flash gulped and nodded. “Y-yeah. That’s satisfactory.”

“Well, let’s get everything set up,” said Mayhem, snapping.

The castle disappeared, and they were now in the middle of the Crystal Empire. 

With another snap crystal ponies appeared, unmoving.

The children looked around in wonder. “Wow,” said Plum. “The Crystal Empire is so beautiful. You’re so lucky to live here, Flurry.”

“I agree,” said Peppermint. “Pictures don’t do this place justice.”

Flurry blushed a little. “Thank you.”

“One last thing,” said Twilight. “I’m going to share with you my memories of Sombra and my adventure in the Crystal Empire. That knowledge will come in handy.”

Her horn flashed, and they all saw her frantic struggle to get the Crystal Heart before Cadance passed out from exhaustion from using her shield spell. 

Mayhem snapped again. “Flurry, you now have the power to do dark magic too. But unlike normal dark magic you can just use it like you would any other magic. You don’t have to put yourself into a negative mindset.”

“Thanks, Mayhem,” she said. “Negative emotions are something I’d rather do without.”

Spring put a hoof out to Mayhem. “Let’s do this! Let’s defeat our Sombra’s.”

He pounded her hoof. “You know it.”

“Well, I guess all that’s left is a Sombra for Twilight to control,” said Mayhem.

He visualized all his internal feelings, all his fears and pain that he wanted to conquer, and snapped.

He got a curious look on his face as nothing happened at first, then his body stiffened as a strange feeling went through him.

He fell to his knees as dark magic poured out of his claw. The tips of his claws felt like they were on fire, but he couldn’t seem to stop whatever was happening.

The stream of magic continued to flow upwards for a bit before severing suddenly.

Mayhem sucked his claws to try and cool them down, but his attention was quickly drawn upward. The magic that had come out of him was swirling around in a large sphere, slowly getting smaller and smaller until it solidified, changing shape.

Flash blinked. “Hey, that magic looks like another you.”

“Yeah,” said Peppermint, “but it’s… different.”

The color of the Mayhem lookalike was an inverse of Mayhem’s colors. The magic aura was hanging off the side of his face and his eyes pure green just like Twilight a short while ago.

Mayhem’s heart was beating hard. He had a very bad feeling. He was feeling fear like he had never known as he stared at it.

The other Mayhem moved as if testing its limbs. It watched as it clenched its claw and wiggled the toes of his paw. 

Twilight was also starting to get a bad feeling. Something about it just felt off.

Suddenly it began to laugh, an echo in its voice that made it’s laughter seem corrupted. Dark magic poured off of it in waves.

Mayhem gulped. Something had definitely gone wrong.
> 11-2: The other Mayhem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayhem panted, slowly backing up out of fear. The creature above them was different… different than any of his other creations. Just looking at it gave him the creeps.

“What’s wrong, Mayhem?” asked Spring.

He didn’t answer, too in his feelings to hear her.

“Mayhem!” Twilight said sharply, getting his attention. “What happened?”

He glanced over at her, not wanting to take his eyes off the thing above them. “I-I-I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like any of my creations.”

“Come on!” Flash said reassuringly. “Sombra’s thing was dark magic and making ponies experience their deepest fears, right? That’s why it’s affecting you like this.”

“No!” he said, shaking his head. “It’s not as simple as that. I can feel it. It feels like there’s a real consciousness in there, just like me. It’s not just one of my creations.”

“Then just use your magic again and make it disappear like any of the other things you create.”

He lifted his claw, but for some reason he couldn’t snap. There was nothing physically stopping him, but for some reason he didn’t want to get rid of this thing that looked like him.

“Mayhem,” said the creature above them, making all of them look up at it. It was no longer laughing.

“I’m very happy.” Even though it said that it looked furious. “I’m glad to have my own body at last. I’ve grown tired of you.”

Mayhem felt a vague memory stir at that. It was something similar to what he said to Discord when he had taken over the twins. 

“Wait!” said Chocolate. “So he really did create another Mayhem?”

“Another one already?” Tree Leaf said incredulously.

“I don’t believe this,” said Mayhem. He could feel danger coming off of it. His friends might be in danger. He didn’t want anything to go wrong, and of course it did.

As guilt assaulted him the creature twitched.

The other Mayhem lifted a claw, pointing it at Mayhem. With a dispassionate look it flicked its claw.

For a moment Mayhem saw a distortion in the air before he was in searing pain. He felt like he had been struck repeatedly in the gut. He fell to his knees holding his stomach, coughing and wheezing.

“Hey!” Pumpkin cried out.

“What did you do that for?” Pound said angrily.

Twilight bit her lip. Her bad feeling was confirmed. That the attack actually hurt Mayhem rather than going through him meant It wasn’t acting according to Mayhem’s safety rules. That had to mean it truly had its own independent will and thought processes.

It lifted its claw high up. “I want to draw your suffering out, but that might not get me what I want. I’m not going to give you the chance to run you despicable monster.” Energy built up in a giant ball above it. “You die now!”

Flurry remembered Mayhem making this sort of attack when she had first fought him after losing her memories. When Mayhem had done it he had revealed it was just for show and only caused her a mild static shock.

She didn’t get that same feeling here. She could feel the power emanating out of the attack. This was for real.

Mayhem was still holding his stomach. He had to do something quick or else his friends would get hurt again. 

He tried to rise, but he was still in too much pain.

“Don’t even think about it!” said Flash, getting in front of Mayhem protectively.

“Right on!” said Pound, getting into place too. “I just wish I had said it first.”

One by one the rest added their support.

“You guys…” Mayhem felt himself tearing up.

The other Mayhem just looked on impassively. “If you want to stand in my way then whatever. I’ll blow through you to get to him if I have to.”

Mayhem growled, trying to stand up again.

Twilight’s horn lit up as the creature threw the massive ball of energy.

“HUH?” Almost as soon as it fired its eyes widened in surprise. It teleported under the attack, kicking it up into the air where it exploded harmlessly.

All of them looked on in confusion at the display.

It landed on the ground, the aura coming out the sides of his face gone and his eyes now visible. Keeping with the opposite theme, the irises of his eyes were a dark blue while the actual eyes were a light blue.

It bowed on the ground, prostrate before them. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

This only made them all more confused. Its personality had just taken a huge shift. 

“I won’t hurt my friends. Never again!”

“Friends?” said Masky.

“I think,” said Pumpkin, “that it thinks it’s you, Mayhem.”

“Not too surprising,” said Flurry, “given that it looks exactly like you.”

“But if it thinks it’s Mayhem,” said Plum, “then why is it attacking him?”

“There can be only one?” Sweet Pea suggested.

“So it wants to be the one and only Mayhem?” asked Chocolate.

“Well,” said Flash, “it’s apologizing, so it’s a start. If it’s sorry then we should forgive it and start anew.”

Twilight felt uncertain. Was this actually a second Mayhem, or just a product of Mayhem’s magic? It had Mayhem’s memories at the very least. It also had dark magic like Sombra, so her best guess for now was that he had created a Sombra in his own image.

What was most curious was that even he didn’t seem to know what he had created. It had to have been unintentional. Given that the whole concept of the Sombra code word was to externalize their pain and make it more bearable she had to conclude he had imbued it with his negative feelings.

At the least she was happy that Mayhem’s strong bonds with his friends were shining through in this other  Mayhem. As soon as they were in danger it immediately stopped its attack.

The children surrounded the opposite Mayhem.

Pound helped it up. “As long as you’re sorry there is always a second chance to be had.”

“Thank you,” it said gratefully. “I’m sorry I got a little crazy there.”

The pain had finally receded enough that Mayhem was able to move again. “I’ve been there myself. I forgive you.”

As Mayhem put a claw on its shoulder it immediately went stiff and its eyes went pure green like before.

“Don’t touch me!” It gave Mayhem an uppercut, making all the children gasp. It lifted its claw, a block of ice shooting out of it and hitting him in the stomach. “I didn’t ask for your forgiveness, scum!”

It lifted its claw and paw, energy building up inside them.

“That’s enough!” Pound said angrily, socking it in the face hard enough to send it to the ground on its back. “That’s strike two! 

“Don’t ask for forgiveness and then go right back to what you were doing that hurt us in the first place!” He was breathing hard.

The opposite Mayhem’s eyes were visible again as the green faded. It was shivering on the ground. “I-I-I… I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop myself.”

It hugged itself. “I… I did a bad thing again. I made you resort to violence.”

Pound’s eyebrow rose, then his mind turned back to his lessons with Twilight. She had spent a lot of time training him to stop using violence to protect Pumpkin when he could use words instead.

He did feel a little guilty for letting his emotions get the better of him like that, but he had done it to protect a friend from a definite threat. 

Chocolate was holding Mayhem, who was clenching his stomach again. “Come on, Mayhem. You’re okay, right?”

“Y-yeah,” he said weakly.

“What’s going on with you?” asked Flurry. “When we fought against you back then you easily handled everything we threw at you. Why are you just letting yourself get hit by stuff like this?”

He looked at Flurry, but didn’t really see her. “I… I don’t know. There’s just something about it…” He looked over at the opposite Mayhem. “When it attacks… I just feel like I shouldn’t dodge.”

Masky gave him a questioning look. “What do you mean?”

He continued staring at the creature, feeling something stirring within him. An old guilt was coming to the surface. His voice came out strangely monotone as he said, “I’ve done some terrible things. I deserve to be punished.”

“Hmm?” Tree Leaf blinked, but his eyes weren’t deceiving him. “Hey, your eyes are turning green.”

Twilight looked over, seeing it was indeed the case. It was a long time ago now, but she still remembered Sombra’s enchanted door. When Spike snapped her out of the trance she got to see the effects of the door herself as he began to see his darkest fears. His irises had turned green just like Mayhem’s were doing now.

“More,” he said. “I deserve more pain.”

She put herself between Mayhem and his clone. “Come back to us, Mayhem!” she said sharply.

The green faded away as he shook his head. He looked disoriented. “Huh? Wha-”

The clone was definitely having a Sombra-like effect on Mayhem, though she was almost certain that it hadn’t done it intentionally. It was still minding its business for the moment.

She looked around at the other children. “Are any of you having similar effects from looking at it?”

The children stared at the other Mayhem, but nothing happened. After about thirty seconds they all told her no.

‘So,’ she thought, ‘Mayhem is the only one affected. Interesting.’

Twilight stepped forward to the other Mayhem. “You know who I am, right?”

It looked up at her, and gave a timid nod. “Of course I know you, Twilight. You’ve been an inspiration for me to follow for so long.”

She sat down right in front of it. “Can you tell me why you have it in for Mayhem? You haven’t attacked anyone else.”

“That’s right!” Spring said. “What’s your problem?”

It stopped shivering. The aura came out of its eyes as it glared at Mayhem. “I hate him!” it said with contempt. “I hate him so much!”

“Why?” said Twilight.

“Because he’s just a despicable monster.”

“And… what about the rest of us?” asked Peppermint. “Do you hate us too?”

It seemed surprised by the question. “Of course not! I could never hate my best friends.”

Twilight was glad Peppermint asked that question. It confirmed that it really did only have an urge to attack Mayhem.

“Well, if you know so much then you have to know why we’re all here today, right?”

It nodded. “Of course. We’re here to help Spring Meadow face her past by defeating Sombra for real.”

She nodded. “That’s correct. You told me before how important your friends are to you, didn’t you?”

It nodded again. “My friends mean the world to me.”

“I’m happy to hear that, because I have a request to make of you.”

“What’s that?”

“Can you put your grudge on hold for now and work together with Mayhem for Spring’s sake?”

Immediately its eyes turned green and the aura came out of the sides of his face. “I’m not working with HIM!” it said nastily. “I don’t want anything to do with him!”

Twilight kept her tone light, but added in a bit of sternness. “I thought you just told me your friends mean the world to you.”

“They do!”

“And you can’t bring yourself to make a small sacrifice, putting away your own selfish wants to benefit a friend in need?”

It stared at her for a while without answering. “I’m not making friends with him,” it finally said.

“I’m not asking you to be his friend. I’m asking you to prioritize helping a friend conquer her bad feelings over picking a fight and forcing her to remain in pain. 

“You don’t have to provide him assistance, but you would have to be on the same team.”

After a time it looked over at Spring Meadow, slowly returning to normal.

It crossed its arms. “Fine!” it finally said. “But keep that menace away from me. And I’ll say this right now that if he touches me again he’ll get the same as before.”

“I’d rather you didn’t use violence, but I understand that we all have personal space boundaries we don’t want others to cross. Even more so when its someone we don’t get along with.”

She rubbed its head a little. “I’m happy that you were able to give some ground. Thank you.”

It flashed her a smile that reminded her so much of Mayhem.

Mayhem gently tapped his hoof on the floor. This was going to get awkward real quick. 

The other children felt the same. They weren’t staunchly opposed to having this other Mayhem joining them for the journey, but they didn’t want to deal with its hair-trigger temper just because Mayhem got too close.

Mayhem looked around at his friends, seeing they didn’t look any more eager than him. Even though Twilight had gotten his clone under control he knew they were feeling miserable and unenthusiastic.

He began to feel guilt again for what he had created.

The other Mayhem hugged itself, its face clenching like it was in pain.

“What happened?” asked Twilight.

It shook its head.

“Well,” it said quietly, “if we’re going to play the game there has to be a Sombra to fight.” It let out a long sigh, a miserable look on its face. “I really don’t want to, but somebody has to be the villain.”

“I thought Twilight was going to play Sombra,” said Pumpkin.

“That’s no good,” it said as it shook its head. “She’s the one who keeps order and is the safe spot for when someone gets scared. She can’t be Sombra.

“I… I’m the only who can do it.”

It looked so pitiably sad now that they began to feel bad for it.

“Besides, being too close to him is going to set me off and disrupt what we’re really here for. That’s why it’s better if I get some distance and play the role. I guess that’s what I was created for in the first place, right?”

“Well… kinda,” said Twilight.

“Don’t worry. The rules will be the same as always. None of my friends will get hurt.”

Twilight’s eyebrow rose at that statement. “If you want to play the role that’s fine, but there is one thing of concern.”

“What’s that, Twilight?”

“Rather than saying ‘no one’ will get hurt you specifically said ‘none of my friends’ will get hurt. And while you clearly care for the rest of the children it’s obvious you certainly don’t think of Mayhem as a friend.

“If you’re going to play the role of the antagonist then you need to honor the rules and protect everyone, not just the ones you like.”

“No,” it said flatly. “He’s got his little magic. Let him protect himself.”

Flurry tensed as the air shifted around her aunt. Inner strength was radiating off of her now.

Twilight walked a step closer, an authoritative expression on her face now. “Perhaps I wasn’t clear. That wasn’t a request. You’re going to do it whether you like it or not.”

The aura and the green eyes were back. “Absolutely not! I refuse to do anything to protect that despicable thing. It shouldn’t even be around in the first place.”

Mayhem bit his lip, a heavy feeling in his chest as the clone dug into another of his old feelings.

Pound was about to comfort him, but all their attention was drawn as Twilight’s horn began to glow brightly.

“As a princess it is my duty to protect my subjects. If you’re going to put others in danger then you will be treated as an enemy. This is the only warning I’m going to give you.”

Pumpkin gulped, holding onto Pound.

Pound returned the favor. It had been a long time since he had seen Twilight truly mad, back when Pumpkin had attacked her to get to Masky. This felt even more intense. His legs were shaking as he once again thought of how foolish he had been to threaten her in the past.

The other Mayhem growled, the echo in his voice becoming more pronounced as dark magic swirled around him and the ground began shaking.

Twilight took another step forward, unintimidated. “Do you want to fight me?” she said coldly, magic swirling around her too. “I’m very forgiving, but if you make an aggressive move here I will not hesitate to take you down to protect myself and the others. 

“So you’d better think very carefully about your next move, because it might be your last.”

Flurry was panting. She had never heard her aunt threaten someone before. 

All the other children were shivering at the contest of wills going on. The very air around them felt thick with anticipation.

A minute passed with neither backing down or giving an inch.

“Well?” Twilight said. “What’s your choice?”

“He can take care of himself,” it said. “I don’t see why I need to hold back for him.”

“Tree Leaf!” Twilight said harshly without taking her eyes from the other Mayhem.

The poor colt jumped a foot in the air and scrunched down when he landed, shivering harder than ever. “Y-y-y-yes?” he stuttered out.

“What is your power?”

“T-t-transformation.”

“And how did you manage to defeat Tirek in the last superhero adventure?”

“I turned into Flurry Heart and let him absorb my magic so that Flurry could attack while his guard was down.”

“You remember that, don’t you?”

“What of it?” said the clone.

“Tree Leaf assumed the form of another in the group to be a decoy for an attack. Now, then… what if Tree Leaf finds a reason to assume the form of Mayhem? Are you willing to let your grudge possibly cause harm to one of your friends?”

“Of course not!”

“That’s a lie.”

“I’d make sure it’s the right one first.”

“Do you really believe that? You’ve repeatedly proven that you have no self-control when it comes to your feelings towards Mayhem. You really expect me to believe that you’re going to be able to take the time to ensure that the real Mayhem is the only one you’re attacking rather than one of your friends?”

“Yes!”

Twilight walked closer until she was right in front of it. “Can you one hundred percent guarantee it? Can you tell me with absolute, unquestionable certainty that you can do it? Are you really going to gamble the life and well-being of a friend just to attack someone that might not actually be him? Is that how weak your feelings for your friends are?”

Once more they stared at each other for a while before the clone broke eye contact to look over at Tree Leaf.

After about fifteen seconds the sphere of dark magic slowly condensed to a single small orb in its palm. “Fine!” it said irritably. “I’ll play along for now, but don’t get the wrong idea. I’m doing this for my friends, not because of him or because I’m scared of you, Twilight.”

With a growl it extended its claw and fired the orb. Mayhem let out a yelp as he saw the fast-moving energy coming directly at him. He didn’t even have time to lift his arms for protection before it hit and went right through him. 

He put his claw to his chest, not feeling any pain.

With that it stormed off to fume.

Twilight let out a breath, the magic surrounding her fading.

Peppermint fell to her knees, panting like crazy.

“Hey!” said Pumpkin. “Are you alright?”

She took a few moments to catch her breath. “I… I didn’t realize it… but I was holding my breath… through all of that.”

“I don’t blame you,” said Chocolate. “Even if Twilight was protecting us she was still as terrifying as that Mayhem clone.”

“I’m not surprised,” said Mayhem. “You don’t mess with mothers. They’re the scariest ponies.”

“Twilight’s not a mom,” said Pound.

“But she is like the mother of all of Ponyville’s kids.”

“I guess I can see that. She’s been like family to me and Pumpkin as she’s taught us how to be better ponies. I know better than anyone that you don’t mess with my family.”

“Everyone!” Twilight said meaningfully to catch their attention. “We have a little time, so I need all of you to pay attention.”

When they all looked at her she said, “I’m still trying to figure out exactly what that clone is. I don’t know if it’s truly another draconequus or whether it’s just a creation of Mayhem’s that he put too much of himself into. The only thing I can say for sure is that it’s suffering from identity confusion.”

“Identity confusion?” said Flurry. “What do you mean, Aunt Twilight?”

“It definitely seems to think it's Mayhem. The way it talks about all of you being its friends and not wanting any harm to come to you. Or telling me that I’ve been an inspiration for so long.

“When Mayhem was telling us about his origins he said that he took so long to separate from Discord because he wasn’t aware he was something separate until he entered a new host and saw memories he knew weren’t his.

“Something similar is going on here, except that this other Mayhem didn’t find a new host, and so it’s still not quite aware it's a separate person.  Thus, it's acting exactly as Mayhem because that’s all the memories he has.”

Masky got a heavy look on his face. “But… Twilight…”

“Yes?” 

He looked over at Mayhem. “But if it’s really true that it thinks that it’s you then…” Tears came to his eyes. “Mayhem, do you really hate yourself that much?”

The question took him by surprise. “No!”

“But it’s calling you all sorts of names and wants to destroy you, no one else.”

“Hmm,” said Twilight, getting a thoughtful look on her face. “Spring, do you remember how this whole Sombra thing started? Your brother began to use it as a tool to help you manage your feelings. Rather than you attacking yourself, you visualized your negative thoughts as an external intruder forcing its way into your mind.”

Spring nodded. “Yeah. I remember.”

“Oh!” said Sweet Pea. “Mayhem’s been doing that too, right?”

Spring looked at her, then back to Twilight. “So… when he tried to create Sombra he made it holding onto all his self-hatred and bad thoughts because that’s what he does when it was inside him.”

Twilight nodded. “I think that’s the most likely scenario.”

“So what do we do, Twilight?” asked Peppermint. “I mean, if it’s just another creation of Mayhem then can’t you or Mayhem just dispel it like everything else he makes?”

Twilight sighed. “The problem is that I don’t know for sure. Earlier Mayhem hesitated, unable to bring himself to dispel it. That could just be because of his connection to the other one, but it’s also possible that it is its own separate consciousness like Mayhem was to Discord.

“If it’s the latter then dispelling it would be killing it.”

“But you were threatening to do that anyway,” said Plum.

“That was mostly talk.”

“Excuse me?” said Flurry. “That scary display was just talk, Aunt Twilight?”

“If it had pursued its aggression and attacked then I would have taken steps to protect everyone, but I was fairly certain I could push it into backing down. After all, knowing Mayhem’s heart, it would never attack me. He has told me that the only reason he doesn’t see me as a mother figure is because he already has one in Fluttershy, so if this other Mayhem is acting as if it's truly Mayhem then it wouldn't be able to bring itself to attack me.”

“Even if that’s true, it doesn’t tell us what we should do with it.”

“Yeah,” Tree Leaf said awkwardly, “it’s going to be hard to play with it.”

“You saw how much darkness he holds,” said Chocolate. “It felt like I couldn’t breathe when his power was pouring out all around him.” 

Twilight’s head quickly spun towards Chocolate, making the colt jump. “W-what?”

Her eyes faded out. “What you just said…” She put a hoof to her forehead. “What am I doing?”

“Huh?” said Pound. “What’s wrong?”

She put her hoof down. “Chocolate just showed me something important.”

“I… I did?” he asked, confused.

“Most of us have been referring to that creature as an ‘it,' me included. Just now Chocolate used male nouns to describe him.

“ ‘It’ is such a derogatory title that makes him sound lesser. We don’t refer to Mayhem as ‘it,’ so we shouldn’t call him that either. Maybe he is just a creation and maybe he’s another piece of chaos magic that has decided to branch out on its own. Either way, until we know the answer we need to be respectful.”

She turned around towards the other Mayhem. “I did the wrong thing earlier. A long time ago, when Pound was trying to reform his bully, I told him that you could force a change of behavior out of someone by throwing power around, but that wouldn’t change their heart.

“He said it himself that he wasn’t backing down out of fear of my power, but because of his feelings for his friends. You can’t fight anger and hate with more hate.”

“Yeah,” said Flurry. “It’s just like with Aunt Starlight. She talked about how you showed her love and compassion and took away her hatred.”

She looked over at Mayhem. “Fluttershy did that for you too. You said that when you were first released into the real world that you had every intention of continuing your evil plans, but you abandoned them for Fluttershy’s sake because she showed you love.

“She saw that beneath your bad behavior was a creature just looking for acknowledgment and freedom.”

“So… is that your plan?” asked Masky.

Twilight nodded. “I’m going to try coming at him from a place of love and see if that affects his behavior at all. 

“We may have to acknowledge that he can’t put aside his grudge, but until we try all we can we can’t give up.”

Twilight unfurled her wings. “I’ll be back soon, hopefully with some good news.”

With that she slowly flew over towards the other Mayhem.
> 11-3: Nega
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight landed nearby the Mayhem clone, folding her wings. “Hello there,” she said brightly to catch his attention.

“What do you want?” he asked grumpily. “Here to lecture me some more?”

She shook her head. “Not at all. I wanted to apologize for being so aggressive before. I shouldn’t have handled myself in that way.” She sat down. “Let’s talk.”

“What’s there to talk about? I gave you what you wanted already, didn’t I?”

“I wanted to ask you who you are. Despite being a new creation you seem to believe that you’re Mayhem. You referred to his friends as your friends. The only real difference between you is that you have a lot of aggression towards him.

“You seem very confused, and in your confusion I think you’re acting in ways you shouldn’t.”

He stared at her for a short while before an odd look came to his face. “I… I am… I’m just…”

He couldn’t seem to finish. He looked distraught. 

She closed the distance between them, giving him a hug. “I understand. You don’t know yet. You don’t have an answer for me because you’re still trying to figure it out yourself. And that’s fine.

“Why don’t we start things off the same way we started with Mayhem? He talked about how Fluttershy helped him start to develop an identity with a hug and a name when he first came out into the world.”

She pulled back, looking into his eyes. “I’ve given you a loving hug. Would it be alright if I gave you your own name? We need something to call you if you can think on your own. This way you can start to distance yourself from Mayhem the same way he did with Discord.”

She could see something stirring inside him, most likely his memories of Fluttershy. He nodded.

She stared at him thoughtfully. Fluttershy said that she gave Mayhem his name because it complemented his nature and it symbolized his connection to Discord.

She didn’t know enough about his nature to define him by a name, though she could certainly think of a name that defined his connection to Mayhem.

“What do you think about the name Nega?”

“Nega?” he said.

She nodded. “Appearance-wise you’re identical to Mayhem, except your colors are inverted. It’s like looking at the negatives of a roll of film. However, naming you Negative sounds insulting, so we shorten it down to Nega.”

Unlike Mayhem, he didn’t jump up and proclaim his joy. She wasn’t sure what he was thinking.

“If you don’t like it then let me know. The only living thing I’ve ever named was my owl, so I don’t have a lot of experience with it.”

“Your mom knows that all too well,” he said with a little chuckle.

Twilight grimaced as another of Mayhem’s memories surfaced in the little draconequus. She sighed and chuckled.

“I like the name, Twilight. Sorry if I’m not celebrating like he did when he got a name.”

She rubbed his head. “That’s okay. In the end you’re not Mayhem, so I can understand you not having the same reactions as him.

“I’d like to ask you a question, and I want you to try to stay calm when you answer.”

“Okay,” Nega replied.

“What is it that you have against Mayhem?”

He immediately glared, the usual reactions happening whenever he thought of Mayhem.

“Please, Nega,” Twilight pleaded. “It’s fine to be mad, but stop letting yourself fall into using dark magic. I want to hear it from you why you’re angry at him.”

He hopped up. “You want to know why I hate him? It’s because he’s a despicable monster that should never have been brought into the world!

“He’s caused so much pain and misery for so many ponies. He nearly killed you and all your friends. He nearly killed his own friends. And before that he tortured them, treating them like toys.”

“I acknowledge all of that, but aren’t you out of date? He’s turned over a new leaf.”

He floated up to her height, pushing his head against hers. “So what! I don’t care! Okay, so he can now make things out of popsicle sticks and wood and the other stupid things he’s learned. It will never make up for the past. Attempted murder doesn’t just become okay because he learned some hobbies, and trying to ease boredom or feeling too superior to lose are never acceptable reasons to try to kill someone.”

Twilight took in a slow breath, gently pushing him to put some distance between them. “I won’t even try to argue against that. What he did was not okay, and he did cause a lot of pain for others. However, he’s done so much good since then, especially for Spring Meadow, Sweet Pea, and their families.” 

“That still doesn’t make it right.”

***

The other children were all looking at Twilight and Nega. “So,” said Pound, “what do you think they’re talking about?”

“I can’t really hear anything,” said Flash. “They’re too far away.”

“Hey, Mayhem?” said Chocolate.

“Yeah?” he responded.

“So… is that it?”

“Is what it?”

“The day we met Twilight said that your normal state is like a harmless kitten, but when you get too bored you turn into a tiger. 

“Obviously you haven’t been bored recently, but that thing sure seems like it thinks it’s you and it’s full of darkness. So is that the Tiger Mayhem she told us about?”

Mayhem turned from Chocolate to Twilight and Nega. “Is that what it really is? The bad me inside of me that hurt my friends?”

Masky put a hoof to his chin thoughtfully. “If that’s true… then if we defeat it in this game then you’ll never ‘turn into a tiger’ again.”

Mayhem felt distaste looking at Nega. “Sounds good to me. Let’s crush him!”

***

“Let me ask you something, Nega,” said Twilight. “If you refuse to forgive Mayhem for the past then what does that say about what you think about me? I’m the one who chose to pardon him.”

Nega stiffened, a cold feeling going through him.

Twilight grunted in pain as Nega suddenly gave her an uppercut, sending her to the ground.

Almost as soon as she landed Nega was pulling her up. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry, Twilight! I don’t know what happened.”

***

The other children gasped as Twilight went down. Most of them were about to get involved to protect Twilight, but Flurry used her magic to pull them back.

“No!” she said strongly. “Don’t get in the middle of things.”

“Why not?” Pound said angrily.

“Aunt Twilight can handle this. If you go in there and start making a fuss you’ll make it harder for her to settle things.”

“Come on!” said Tree Leaf. “He just attacked your family. Don’t you even care?”

He shrunk at the glare she gave him. “Of course I care! But I don’t want to let my temper get the better of me. She’s more than capable of dealing with this. Now just be quiet and wait.”

No one argued with her. Tree Leaf’s question had angered her, and she looked ready to blow if provoked again.

***

Twilight rubbed her chin before focusing on the child before her. He looked horrified.

She wasn’t angry, but the fact that he had actually attacked her meant she had to take things a little more seriously. “What do you mean you don’t know what happened? You hit me right after my question. So you’re willing to hurt others that associate with Mayhem or treat him favorably as long as it wouldn’t result in death?”

“NO!” he said, shaking his head hard. “No, no, no! I love you, Twilight! You’re like my mom. I would never hurt you intentionally!”

“So what happened? Am I supposed to accept it was just a coincidence?”

“I just… started feeling so angry and upset all of a sudden, and all I could do was lash out. Even if I don’t agree with you pardoning Mayhem I know that’s part of your job. I’m not mad at you for that.”

Twilight gently bit the end of her hoof. If Nega was telling the truth then what did it mean? He suddenly felt emotions that weren’t his?

She turned her head slightly to look at Mayhem. ‘Does this mean,’ she thought, ‘that this connection goes even further than I thought? If Nega has a Sombra-like power it’s not surprising that Mayhem is being affected and feeling his past mistakes. But this connection seems to be working in reverse too. Nega is experiencing and being affected by Mayhem’s feelings as well.”

She closed her eyes. ‘Something about this feels very familiar, but it’s escaping me at the moment.’

She opened them, turning back to Nega. She could see the clear regret on his face for harming her. ‘This could actually turn into a benefit for me if I work this right. There’s still much I don’t understand, but the time for study should come after the other children go home. Less chance for collateral damage that way if things go south.’

“I don’t know if I believe you,” she said out loud, putting some iciness in her voice. “Why should I forgive you?”

His mouth drooped, and he looked like he was about to cry. “B-b-but I really mean it. I love you, Twilight!”

“I don’t know. You’ve been very uncooperative, going against what I stand for. Unlike Mayhem, you don’t behave like someone I’d consider family.”

“J-just because I hit you once? Spring Meadow did that to you, and you still helped her.”

She shook her head, glaring at him. “No. Not for that. I can overlook that. I’m talking about carelessly getting innocents involved in your grudge.

“I don’t think anyone should resort to violence just because of a grudge, but if you must then you should direct it only at the one you’re angry at. You, Nega, were willing to kill everyone around Mayhem just because they were in the way and standing up for him.”

His eyes widened, shock crossing his face.

“And what if it hadn’t been your friends that stood up for him? Then you wouldn’t have stopped and others would have gotten hurt.

“In the end, you’re no better than the Mayhem you’re angry at. The both of you acted selfishly for your own interests, not caring about the harm you’d cause to others.”

He tried to respond, but he couldn’t.

She let him stew for a little while.

After a minute she said, “I’m willing to give you another chance like I gave to Mayhem, but you need to do something for me.”

“Anything!” he replied instantly.

“Your hatred is dangerous. You may have pulled yourself back at the last instant, but so long as you’re ruled by that hatred you’ll always be a danger to those you care about.

“What I want from you is to give Mayhem a chance to redeem himself to you.”

His temper flared up. “I refuse!”

“Then there’s nothing to talk about. I won’t offer forgiveness or relate myself to someone who submits to evil.

“I won’t deny that Mayhem committed heinous, wicked acts during the superhero adventure, but at the end he realized how much evil he was responsible for, and sought repentance for losing himself.

“I think the children said it best. You can’t ask for forgiveness for an action while still committing to do the same actions that hurt others in the first place.”

“Are you saying I’m not entitled to my feelings?” he said, glaring at her. “That, if I don’t feel the same way you do, that you’ll wipe them out?”

Despite his angry expression he still flinched when she raised her hoof.

She set it gently upon his shoulder. “Your feelings are your own,” she said kindly. “I certainly don’t expect you to follow everything I say blindly, but what benefit does your hatred have? Does it feel good to be consumed by such terrible feelings?”

She lifted her other hoof, pulling him into a hug. “I don’t want to force you to obey me or threaten you for disagreeing. I want to come at you with love and see you do better, just like all the other villains who redeemed themselves.

“You’re more than just a lump of hatred, aren’t you? You have feelings for all of Mayhem’s friends.”

When she pulled back she saw tears coming down his eyes. “T-T-Twilight… it hurts! It hurts so much inside! I just want the pain to go away. I don’t know why it’s just him, but I feel like it will finally stop hurting if I just get rid of him.”

‘He… he has all of Mayhem’s inner regrets and feelings inside of him,’ she thought sadly. ‘In a way, he’s cursed. Cursed to be the embodiment of all the pain Mayhem felt for attacking his friends. It’s no wonder he’s so aggressive.’

Once again she had a rush of déjà vu, sure that she had seen something similar to Nega before. 

“Ah!” she cried out, blinking as the memory revealed itself to her.

Nega was almost exactly like the Tantabus, Luna’s creation to give herself nightmares.

‘The Tantabus never spoke,’ she thought, ‘but Luna told us enough about it to understand its motivations. After she was brought back to normal by the Elements of Harmony Luna created something to remind her of the pain she caused by creating horrible alternate futures in her dreams where she wasn’t turned back to normal.

‘The purpose was that if she ever forgot about that pain it might lead to her acting in the same way as before. However, after months of feeding on all her guilt and pain it grew strong enough to start to rebel. It invaded other dreams to give them nightmares before it attempted to infiltrate the real world.

‘We managed to stop it before it came to that, but if Nega is functionally identical in purpose…’

She bit her hoof, her stomach burning. ‘If Nega is another Tantabus then if he continues feeding on Mayhem’s negative emotions he’ll-”

“Twilight?” came the concerned voice of Nega. “Are you okay? You’re scaring me.”

She looked down at him, seeing his innocent expression, so reminiscent of Mayhem.

She took a deep breath, regaining her composure. She couldn’t stop tears coming down her eyes as she pulled Nega into a hug. 

‘What am I thinking?’ she thought mournfully. ‘I can’t just give up on him. I have to work on him right now before the corruption takes hold like it did with the Tantabus.’

She wondered about the Tantabus. She had only seen it as a bad thing, but she couldn’t help but be curious about its true nature. How sad must it be, to be created for the sole purpose of harming others? Even if it was self-harm, absorbing so much self-hatred and loathing would corrupt anyone. 

She had seen it so many times, the way others lashed out and performed bad deeds simply because their inner pain was so great the only thing they could do was lash out.

If she followed that train of thought, maybe the reason the Tantabus slipped out of Luna’s control and began to act on its own was because its thought processes corroded with time. It constantly punished Luna on a nightly basis at her own request for the sake of keeping her in line, to keep her memory of her bad deeds of the past fresh in her mind. Perhaps it sought to do that with all ponies.

If it had actually escaped into the real world then it could have caused untold suffering. The only thing that deprived it of its power was Luna confronting her guilt and seeing her true value.

That’s what Mayhem and Spring were attempting to do in wanting to fight Sombra. They both wanted to finally conquer the darkness that had clouded their hearts for so long.

She pulled Nega back, still seeing worry on his face for her unexpected emotional breakdown. “Nega,” she said, her voice a little shaky, “I want you to answer one question for me.”

“W-what, Twilight?”

“What do you think you’re going to accomplish? Even if you’re successful in getting rid of Mayhem what would you do after that?”

Seeing Twilight looking so vulnerable stopped him from getting angry like he usually did when Mayhem was mentioned.

“I… I don’t know. I just… I just…” His expression grew pained, crying along with her now. “I just want it to stop hurting, Twilight! I can’t take this pain inside of me.”

She found herself thinking of the Tantabus again, wondering if it felt the same. Besides being created just to cause pain for another, having to suffer the burden of someone else’s worst pain was a horrible thought.

She hugged him to her again. “Nega… do you really think that’s going to accomplish anything? Revenge may feel good in the moment, but when the satisfaction of ‘winning’ fades… what do you have left?

“It would have been the same for him. After Mayhem got his victory and the feeling of winning faded, all he would have felt afterwards is misery and guilt for wiping out so many of the people he loved.

“If you got rid of Mayhem for good you may feel like justice was served, but you won’t get any true happiness out of it. I think Flurry said it best that the feelings you come at others with perpetuate more of those feelings.

“You can come at Mayhem with hatred, and possibly destroy him, but then what of everyone that surrounds him? What about Spring Meadow, who took this journey with him? What of Fluttershy, his mother figure? What of the rest of his friends? 

“Even if killing Mayhem got rid of all the current pain inside you it would just be replaced by new pain. Everyone who cared for Mayhem would despise you. In the end you’d be no better off.

“Please… let this love reach your heart.” She hugged him tighter. “Don’t be consumed by the darkness.”

He hugged her back, still crying. “I… I can’t, Twilight. I can’t forgive him.”

“Can’t you give him just one chance? For me? That pain inside you will never go away so long as you’re committed to harming others.

“I’m not asking you to overlook everything he did right away. Like Mrs. Cake, give him the opportunity to prove himself to you.”

She felt him start to shake in her hooves. “Will… will the pain finally stop if I do?”

“Not all at once. But if you and Mayhem work out your feelings towards one another you’ll start to feel much better.”

He started to sob, holding her tighter. “It hurts, Twilight. My heart feels so heavy. If… if you say that it will make it stop t-t-then I’ll… I’ll give him one chance.”

“That’s all I’m asking. Thank you.”

“If… if I lose here then maybe… maybe he really will be ready.”

“Maybe. However, there’s one more thing I have to ask of you.”

He pulled back, wiping his eyes. “W-what?”

“Don’t let him win. Whatever the results it will come to nothing if both of you don’t push each other to the limit and give it one hundred percent. After all, Mayhem pushing the others led to the strength of their friendship magnifying. It allowed them to create the Fire of Friendship and gave Flurry the strength she needed to accept her destiny and acquire her cutie mark.

“It’s the same thing here. Even if you’re hoping to lose you can’t compromise that by giving it any less than your all. If he can’t defeat you at your best then clearly he’s not ready to vanquish the darkness and both of you will continue to suffer.”

“Okay, Twilight.” He looked around awkwardly. “Can… can I have one last hug before we start? Even if it’s only pretend I’m going to have to play a part I hate and act like I’ve turned against my friends.”

She gave him a warm smile and nodded. “Of course.” She held him to her. “The two of us know all those ponies over there well. I truly believe in my heart that they’ll lead us all to victory. By the end of today I truly believe you’ll be freed of the burden you’re carrying.”

He let out a little sob. “I sure hope so, Twilight.”
> 11-4: Inner pain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Nega and Twilight split apart she said, “Okay, then. Let’s go.”

Nega looked at the ground for a moment before looking back up and saying, “Twilight?’

“Yes?”

“I’m putting my trust in you… and in him.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“I’m giving him one chance to change throughout this adventure, but… I meant what I said, Twilight. I’m only giving him one. 

"I’m not going to live with this pain forever. If Mayhem can’t make this pain stop then I’m going with my original plan.”

“Nega...”

His eyes faded out as he gazed into the distance. “I could never fight you after all you’ve done for me. I mean, Mayhem. But even if they’re not my memories I still love you like he does. 

“If your duties propel you to act then that’s an acceptable outcome too. So if you have to destroy me to defend him that’s fine. That’s…” A few tears came down his eyes, and his voice came out shaky as he finished. “That’s another way to make the pain stop.”

Sympathetic tears came down her own eyes. She could recognize this part of Mayhem from the day of the superhero adventure. After he was brought back to his senses and his friends forgave him he couldn’t live with himself for what he had done. Initially he intended to remain inside Discord as a self-imposed imprisonment until Fluttershy talked him into staying in the real world to repent.

Over half a year had passed since that moment. Mayhem had made great strides in progress. Enough so that even the parents of all the children he harmed acknowledged it and ended their ban.

Mayhem had been so happy, learning all sorts of new things and making new friends. But, if Nega was like a reflection of all his darkness, and was similar to the Tantabus, then Mayhem still held considerable guilt deep in his subconscious. Nega casually saying he didn’t care if she wiped him out as long as he didn’t have to hurt anymore showed that he was still taking his life lightly.

Beneath all his joy was a child still suffering, even if he didn’t realize it himself. They might not have said it directly, but the parents had basically forgiven him. He had won over everyone who was angry at him. Everyone… except himself.

Twilight glanced over at Mayhem, her heart aching. ‘Mayhem,’ she thought sadly, ‘you still haven’t forgiven yourself for the past, have you? Even after everything you’ve accomplished since then it still hasn’t been enough to soothe your guilty conscience.’

If she looked at Nega’s words from before the reason for his guilt was clear. Easing boredom or being a sore loser were not good reasons to take a life, and he knew he had acted downright evil to his best friends.

Right after the game ended Flurry forgave him, and the others threw in their own forgiveness. Maybe that was part of the problem.

She had seen with Spring Meadow that her parents trying to spare her feelings by not scolding her for being the main cause of her brothers accident had the opposite effect. Because she was never punished for breaking the rules it led to feeling like she had gotten away with something. Her sense of justice couldn’t accept that, and since no one else would punish her she took to punishing herself in their steed.

‘Mayhem is probably the same. After his friends forgave him he tried to immediately punish himself by locking himself up to suffer.

‘I don’t know if it’s possible for Mayhem to actually die so long as Discord is around. When he uses up all his magic his consciousness simply resurfaces inside Discord. He’s certainly capable of feeling physical pain, but he’s never actually been attacked to the point of death. It’s possible that it would have the same effect as just running out of magic, or maybe it would be true death.

“In any case, it becomes clearer why Mayhem is being affected by Nega the way he is. A part of him feels he was never properly punished for what he did, so when the embodiment of his guilt goes on the attack he can’t bear to defend himself because he feels there is no defense for his actions and he deserves the pain.’

She bit her lip. ‘There is clearly a lot to unpack here, but for now…’ She looked down at Nega. ‘I think, for the time being, that I should keep this conversation and my revelations to myself. Things may have gone off course a bit to what was originally intended, but the circumstances involved haven’t. Today is supposed to be about Mayhem and Spring defeating Sombra to give themselves the mental strength to conquer their inner darkness.

‘Mayhem needs to see the truth with his own eyes and come to his own conclusions. A part of growing up is being able to face yourself. This is a little more literal than normal, but if Mayhem can’t figure out the source of his pain then he’ll never be able to overcome it.

‘For now I’ll just let things play out. Nega explicitly said that he was giving Mayhem a chance to prove himself… putting his trust in Mayhem. In that case I don’t think he’ll focus so exclusively on Mayhem as a target. 

‘If Nega only responds negatively to Mayhem’s guilt and repressed feelings then I don’t think he’ll be set off too much. Mayhem is going to be focused on winning, and all his friends will lend him their hearts. If need be I’ll intervene, but as things now stand I don’t think I’ll need to.’

Her heart felt a bit heavy. It made her uneasy that Mayhem was still in the mindset that his life didn’t mean anything, even if it was buried deep down. She really hoped by the end of today that things worked out for the best for all of them.

For now, though, she had to address Nega. But… could she even do anything for the little draconequus? If he was truly linked to Mayhem’s negative feelings, like the Tantabus was to Luna’s, then the only way to truly make him feel better was to help Mayhem feel better. 

She got a curious look on her face. ‘Well, they’re not completely linked. Nega might be bearing Mayhem’s buried feelings, but he also has a lot of Mayhem’s positive feelings. He still cares for the other children and adores me. He even cracked a joke about me not having a child yet just like my mom does.

‘Clearly, things are on a scale here. What direction the scale tips is going to be fully reliant on Mayhem and how he responds to this adventure.’

An unsettling thought came to her. If it came down to it… would she really be able to attack Nega? He had shown he was suffering deeply, and that his emotions were tied to Mayhem’s. He couldn’t really be held responsible for his behavior in that regard.

In the end, that question heavily relied on whether Nega could be contained. Just locking him up would do nothing. Mayhem had shown he was still fully conscious inside Discord, so locking up Nega wouldn’t soothe his feelings. 

‘Maybe not,’ she thought, ‘but it would give us time for us to help Mayhem fight his guilt so that Nega wouldn’t hurt as much.'

After that, the only question was whether she could lock Nega up. Nega said that he could never fight her, but if he was in a blind rage he might not listen to her. Her alicorn powers combined with some of Discord’s chaos magic should make it possible to fight on par with him, but she really didn’t want it to come down to a battle when she thought things could be worked out peacefully. Combat was the last resort for when every other option was exhausted.

She picked Nega up, holding him close. He instinctively returned the gesture. “I know you’re in pain,” she said gently. “I’ve seen it so many times over the years, how our internal feelings can sometimes lead to us doing things we regret.

“But at the end of the day love remains. I don’t want to see you suffering, but I’m not the one who can take your pain away. That… I’m leaving to Mayhem and your friends.”

She gave him a minute, and then said, “I know you’re enjoying this hug. It may be helping you a little, but until you start the game and see the results of it you’ll never find the answer you seek.”

He squeezed tighter as she tried to pull him away. “N-not yet!” he cried out pitifully. 

“I can understand why you want to hold off. Back when I proposed the wish-granting games Mayhem said that he didn’t always want to play the villain, and since you have a lot of his feelings it’s why you don’t want to play Sombra.

“However, until you take that step forward, until you push Mayhem, he’ll never grow. His feelings will continue to infect you, and you’ll remain in pain.”

“B-but being hugged also makes it hurt less. Once the game begins it’s just going to hurt more and more.”

“Like I said, being shown love may make things feel a little less heavy, but until Mayhem resolves his feelings it’s only a temporary relief.

“You’re probably right that playing your role will hurt, since it will feel like when Mayhem turned against his friends, but learning to grow up involves pain. And, once the pain is over, you’ll feel so much relief that the pain you felt will seem minor in comparison.

“If you truly believe in Mayhem and the others then you need to gather your courage and willingly walk into the pain, believing that at the end of this dark tunnel will be a brilliant light.”

He looked up at her, tears forming in his eyes. “I…I…” He took a deep breath. “I’ll try, Twilight.”

He nuzzled her. “I wish I could just stay in your hooves forever, but I guess I just have to face this.”

“You remember what I said before, right? About losing?”

He nodded. “Yeah… you said to give it all I had and not let him win.”

“If Mayhem can overcome this then I feel he’ll be ready to overcome his inner Sombra, and that in turn will make your inner pain go away.”

He groaned, then pulled away from her. “Can… can I still visit you for hugs when things feel too intense?”

She gave him a warm smile. “Yes, you can.”

“Well… I guess I’ve put it off as long as I can. Time to face myself.”
> 11-5: Invasion of darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight and Nega walked towards the other children, Nega sticking right by her side. 

“Okay!” she said brightly. “We’ve mainly got everything worked out.” She pointed at Mayhem. “Even with regards to you.”

“Really?” Mayhem asked uncertainly. “He says that, but-”

“She’s right,” said Nega. His voice was a bit stern, but he wasn’t displaying the usual signs of his irritation. “I’m willing to give you a chance to earn my forgiveness.”

“That’s good,” said Flurry.

“Is it?” asked Flash, giving him a dirty look. “Why should Mayhem have to prove himself to you?”

Twilight spoke before Nega could respond. “In talking with Nega I’ve come to have a good understanding of him. I don’t want to go into all the details, because I want to see how much Mayhem can figure out on his own, but it is of vital importance that Mayhem gets forgiveness from Nega.”

“Why?” asked Plum.

“It all relates to the reason we’re here today. For now let’s just get the game started. I’m hoping by the end of this that Mayhem will come to understand like I do.”

She put a hoof on Mayhem. “Give it your all, Mayhem. I told Nega to do the same. Your purpose here hasn’t changed. The darkness is strong, but you have nothing to worry about. There’s plenty of ‘light’ surrounding your heart.”

He looked around at his friends and smiled. He nodded, saying, “You got it, Twilight!”

She did still have some concerns about Nega, but she didn’t want to worry Mayhem by talking about his ultimatum. The more Mayhem felt negative emotions the more they would be transferred into Nega, and the harder it would be for him to succeed.

Twilight clapped. “Okay, we’ve waited long enough. Let’s get this started.”

Nega put a claw to his chin thoughtfully. “In these games we usually let the puppets set up the story we decided on, but this time around it’s gonna start with Flurry doing some acting.”

“What kind of acting?” she asked.

Nega snapped, and they were now on a moving train, the Crystal Empire in the distance. “Every year you do a Crystalling to infuse the Crystal Heart with the love it needs to activate its protective magic, so let’s just say all your parents gave you permission to see such a special occasion.

“That’s enough of a set-up for you. I’ll get the puppets ready for your arrival and then things will move on from there.”

“Sounds good,” said Pound.

With that Nega vanished.

Mayhem sighed.

“What’s wrong?” said Pumpkin. 

“I’m just nervous. This feels just like a repeat of the past.”

“Nope!” said Masky. “Completely wrong.”

“Right!” said Tree Leaf. “There’s one super gigantic difference.”

“And what’s that?” Mayhem said dully.

Flurry put a hoof on his shoulder. “This time you’re on our side.”

“Exactly!” said Pound. 

Pumpkin wrapped her leg around his arm. “And because we have you we know we’ll win.”

“And don’t forget about me,” said Flash.

“Or me!” said Spring.

“All our hearts are with you,” said Sweet Pea, making Plum and Chocolate nod.

Mayhem’s vision went blurry with tears. “R-r-right,” he said weakly. “With all of you by my side I know we’re gonna win.”

Twilight smiled.

A voice came on over the loudspeaker. “Attention passengers. We will be arriving at the Crystal Empire in two minutes. Repeat, we will be arriving in two minutes.”

Flurry saw Peppermint giving her an expectant look. “What?” she said defensively.

“Didn’t you hear Nega? Get into character.”

“Huh?” An eyebrow went up, then her eyes widened. “Oh! Oh, right.”

She cleared her throat. “I’m so glad all your parents agreed to let you come visit the Crystal Empire. The Crystalling is always such a special occasion every year.” Her eyes glazed over. “I never get tired of it.

“It really does seem like it should eventually get boring, but so far every one has been special.”

“So what is a Crystalling anyway?” Plum asked genuinely. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“The Crystal Empire is home to an artifact called the Crystal Heart. It's kinda like the Elements of Harmony, except it's fueled by love rather than friendship.”

“Like… mommy-daddy love?” asked Chocolate.

Flurry shook her head. “Well, I guess romantic love works too, but it’s more like just the concept of love. Love for your friends. Love for your family.

“We have a special fair the whole day to fill everyone’s hearts with joy, and then we funnel all that love into the Heart. The Heart in turn creates a super powerful shield that covers the whole Empire.”

“That’s pretty cool,” said Flash.

“In the past the Crystal Heart was stolen by an evil King named Sombra. I never found out how he did it, considering the shield it generates is like the ones my mom make. They repel darkness, so he shouldn’t have been able to get close enough to the heart to take it from its pedestal.”

“Maybe,” said Pound, “he attacked when the heart was weak. Keeping a spell big enough to protect an entire empire up for a whole year would be draining on anything.”

“I guess so. 

“I think the spell stops anything bad from coming in, but if something bad was already inside then maybe it won’t work.”

“That makes sense too.”

“Maybe Sombra wasn’t originally evil,” said Plum. “So he wasn’t affected when the shield first went up.”

“Then I wonder what caused him to change,” said Mayhem.

“I don’t know,” said Flurry, “but let’s not dwell on some dead king. Aunt Twilight helped my mom to get the heart back and blast him out of here.

“We’re gonna be stopping in another minute or so, so I can show you around.”

“Cool,” said Sweet Pea.

A short while later the train pulled into the station and the doors opened, all the children leaving the car.

“Hey, Flurry!” came a voice to their right.

“Aunt Starlight!” Flurry said happily, trotting over and giving her a hug. Starlight returned it.

“Welcome home,” said Sunburst, patting her head.

“Thanks, Uncle Sunny.”

When she was set down she pointed to both of them in turn. “Everyone, this is Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst. They’re not biologically related to me, but they’ve been taking care of me since I was a baby so they’re family to me in everything but blood.”

Flurry pointed to the stroller Sunburst had next to him. "And in there is my baby sister Skyla."

"Wow!" said Flash. "She's an alicorn too?

"Shoot, if your parents keep having babies then alicorns could eventually become a common race."

Starlight chuckled. "I don't know if that would be a beneficial thing or not, but let's not worry about that right now. I met Pound, Pumpkin, and Peppermint the last time I was in Ponyville. Why don't the rest of you introduce yourselves?"

The rest of the children told them their names.

“Nice to meet all of you,” said Sunburst. “You’ve come at the perfect time.”

“Definitely,” said Starlight. “The Crystal Fair is a once a year celebration that ends with quite a sight to behold.”

“Yeah,” said Flurry. “I talked to them about empowering the Crystal Heart."

“Good, good. Fill yourselves up with all the love and joy you can. Even children can add their feelings to the Heart.”

“But,” Masky said hesitantly, “doesn’t that mean we’re going to have trouble feeling love afterward?”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“Well, think about it like money. If I have five bits and I gave them all to you then I no longer have any bits.”

The other children looked a little concerned now.

“Ah,” said Starlight, nodding. “I understand your way of thinking, but love isn’t like money, where giving it to another deprives you of it.”

“That’s right,” said Flurry. “The feelings you share with others usually make more of those feelings. When you see a sad friend and show them love they usually return that love to you, making even more love.”

“If the way the Heart worked was like you said then I can’t see anyone willingly agreeing to it.”

“Love is about sharing,” said Sunburst, “not taking.”

“So with that being said,” said Starlight, “let’s go to the opening ceremony. Your parents are waiting, Flurry.”

Flurry stuck her tongue out. “Then they should have come themselves instead of sending you.”

“Watch it, kid,” said Starlight, putting her in a headlock. “I’m not afraid to put you in time out.”

“Just try it,” Flurry said, summoning a feather and tickling her.

Starlight jumped away from the ticklish sensation. “You’re fortunate I have an obligation to get you to your parents. They don’t want to start without you, so I’ll let you off the hook for now.”

They walked along for a few minutes, the children taking in the sights of the Crystal Empire. 

After meeting Cadance and Shining Armor the fair began. They wandered around for the next hour, getting their faces painted, playing games, and playing with the animals in the petting zoo. As per usual the reality of the simulation was so great it was hard to imagine it wasn’t really happening. They even forgot about Sombra’s imminent invasion as they lost themselves in the festivities.

By the time the fair was ending they could all feel the joy and love in their hearts, and Cadance called them all to the podium where the Crystal Heart was suspended. 

Flurry knew that Nega had sped up the proceedings. Usually the Crystal Fair was from around ten to four, but she knew they couldn’t spend six hours playing.

It was fine. They had gotten to check out all the main attractions, even if she hadn’t gotten to spend as much time with them as she usually did.

Flurry, as Cadance’s daughter, was right next to her mom, so her friends got to be right next to her.

The children observed the Crystal Heart up close. They had seen it a few times as they had walked around, but until now hadn’t gotten close to it.

“It looks kinda… unimpressive,” said Pound.

“Mmm,” said Pumpkin. “Sorry, Flurry, but I have to agree.”

“I’m not offended,” said Flurry. “You only feel that way because its power is drained, so it just looks close to a plain old rock. Once its full of our love and you see it with its true beauty you’ll change your mind.”

“Everyone!” Cadance called out. “It’s time.”

Flurry turned to the others. “Close your eyes and bow, thinking about all the happy feelings within you.”

The others watched as Cadance and the rest of the adults did just that, the ground beneath them starting to glow.

“Ooo,” said Peppermint. “It’s so pretty.”

“Go on,” said Flurry.

They followed her instructions.

“You’re gonna love this.”

“Now!” said Cadance. “Fuel all your love into the Crystal Heart.”

“Rise now and open your eyes,” said Flurry.

As they all did so a collective gasp went throughout the square. The Crystal Heart was gone.

“Wha-” Cadance was at a loss for words. “The… the-wha-”

Shining Armor looked around the podium, thinking that the heart had just lost so much of its power it had fallen from where it usually floated, but it was nowhere to be seen.

A dark laugh echoed around them, making all the crystal ponies freeze in terror.

“That voice,” said Cadance, her heart racing.

“That’s impossible!” said Shining.

A dark shadow fell to the ground, making the crystal ponies yell in fright and scatter. The memories of Sombra were still too vivid.

“King Sombra!” Cadance said angrily.

Starlight teleported in front of the children, keeping them protectively behind her.

“Greetings,” Sombra said amicably, a smirk adorning his face.

“How are you alive?” Shining asked.

“A pitiful fool made the mistake of picking up the remains of my horn where most of my magic dwelled. I slowly took them over, gathering my strength until I could replenish my essence and break down their mental defenses.”

He chuckled. “Ah, it’s so good to be back.”

Cadance’s horn lit up brightly. “Well, I hope you enjoyed your stay, but it’s time for you to leave.”

“Go ahead and fire away.”

“Have you forgotten I’ve conquered your dark magic before?”

He clapped sarcastically. “Yes, yes. Well done. But I think you’ve forgotten what I did the last time I was defeated.”

“You mean exploding into a million pieces?” Shining said with a laugh.

Sombra’s eyes narrowed for a moment before the humor returned. “Oh, no, no, no. Not that time. I mean in the past.

“I’ll freely admit that I don’t have the strength to curse this place like I did the last time, but I’m not planning to go without some revenge first “

With a flash of his horn the Crystal Heart appeared in front of them. 

The rage all the adults were feeling was replaced with shock as they heard a cracking sound.

“What are you doing?” Cadance cried out in fear as small fissures appeared in the Heart.

“Hmm. What indeed?”

“Are you planning to destroy the Crystal Heart entirely?” Starlight asked.

“Exactly!”

“He can’t seriously be planning to destroy it,” Cadance said, a bead of sweat coming down her face. “That would potentially kill everyone in the entire Crystal Empire.”

“Mmm,” Sombra said cockily. “Quite a conundrum.”

“It’s a bluff!” Shining said, his horn glowing now. “You’ve always wanted to have the Crystal Empire returned to you. If you destroy the Heart the whole empire will be buried in snow and you’ll never rule this place.” He flinched as another crack echoed out.

“Oh, for sure I want the Crystal Empire, but my ambitions don’t rest solely with this place. I want to rule all of Equestria, and the view from Canterlot will be just as glorious as this.”

“You won’t prevail!” Cadance said strongly, the glow from her horn increasing.

Sombra looked unafraid. “Like I said: fire away. I’ve been taking it easy, but I could finish shattering this rock in an instant. I’ll take every one of your subjects with me.”

Cadance hesitated.

Starlight was biting her lip, unsure of what to do. They were in a very precarious position. One wrong move, and countless lives would be lost.

In an authoritative voice Sombra said, “Stand down, or you’ll be responsible for what happens next.”

There was another cracking sound. The Heart couldn’t take much more before it shattered.

Reluctantly Cadance relaxed, the glow fading. Shining did the same.

“Very good,” said Sombra. “Glad to see you understand your positions.”

His horn’s glow increased in intensity. “You two were quite bothersome the last time I tried to invade. I don’t want to deal with that frustration again, so I’m afraid you’ll have to go on a permanent vacation.

“Have no worries.” He laughed cruelly. “Your subjects lives will be spared despite their defiance, though I can’t say they won’t be wishing they got what I’m about to give you before long.”

“Mom!” Flurry called out. Fake or not she didn’t want to see her mom die.

Cadance got a pained expression on her face, then hardened her expression and said sternly, “Starlight! Do your job and get Flurry out of here.”

“Sure,” said Sombra, “but don’t expect to get very far.”

Starlight got a blank look on her face before she took a deep breath and teleported behind Cadance and Shining, shooting them both with a  blast from her horn.

The two fell to the ground hard.

“Starlight!” Flurry called out.

The mare had a hard look on her face now. “Shut your mouth, Flurry. There’s business to attend to.”

Sombra had a curious look on his face. “Who are you?”

“The name is Starlight Glimmer. In a way I’m a lot like you.”

“Is that right?”

“I’ve also had dreams of conquest in the past, but just like you I was defeated. I had to play the role of the apologetic one and take on the job of royal babysitter, but I earned their trust in the end. 

“The both of us wanted power and had to find the patience for the right moment to seize it. I’m sure you’ve wanted to invade for a while now, but you had to wait for the Crystal Heart to be at its weakest to attack.

“Same with me. I had to wait for that one key moment of vulnerability to strike. Your coming here today is quite the favorable event.” She chuckled darkly. “I’ve grown tired of playing the goody-goody role. Now I can break out and cause some real chaos.”

Sombra smirked in return. “Hmm… biting the hoof that feeds you, huh?”

Flurry was feeling sick to her stomach. It was too familiar to her last adventure. Was Nega really going the “Starlight was really secretly evil the whole time” route like Mayhem did? It had hurt enough when it had been done before. Even though this time around she knew it was just a fake it still brought uncomfortable images of Starlight freaking out and wondering if the fake was going to tarnish her relationship with the real one.

The rest of them that had been a part of the superhero adventure thought it was in bad taste. They knew that in order for them to play the hero and save the day the adults that would usually do the job had to be removed from the picture somehow, but this wasn’t the way to go about it.

Mayhem’s new friends didn’t know all the details of the last time, but they could see how depressed Flurry looked. Flurry had explained they weren’t related by blood but Starlight had taken care of her since she was a baby. None of them liked the idea of being betrayed by a family member.

Sombra chuckled. “Well, thanks for the help in knocking them out. I thought they might have made a last desperate play. Them still being alive doesn’t work for me, so I’m glad I get to finish them off.”

Starlight shook her head. “Don’t be foolish. Them being alive is beneficial for you.”

“Oh?” He took an aggressive step towards her, his horn lighting up. “Are you in charge now? Maybe you'd like to join the other two on the floor.”

Starlight was unfazed. “You planning to conquer Equestria on your own? Luna and Celestia are still around, the ones who defeated you the first time. The brat with the dragon who beat you the second time has ascended to alicornhood.”

His eyes widened. “What?” he said in shock, the glow fading.

“You think you can defeat three alicorns by yourself? Better to suppress their magic and keep them around as hostages.

“I’m quite adept at brainwashing spells. If you give me time I can break their wills to even the playing field.”

Sombra gave her a suspicious look, staring at her silently for a while. Starlight met his gaze. “What you say makes sense, but I don’t think I’m quite convinced. Perhaps you just want to keep them alive so you can betray me.”

“And how should I convince you of my bad intentions?”

Sombra looked around thoughtfully, then pointed to the children. “Two powerful hostages is good enough. We don’t need the rest.

“If you’re truly as evil as you say then take them out. Prove you truly want to ally yourself with me.”

Starlight shrugged. “Is that all? I thought you were going to ask for something difficult.”

Flurry slowly shrank, tears coming down her eyes. ‘It’s fake,’ she kept repeating to herself, trying to ignore the ache in her heart.

As Starlight’s horn lit up the children looked to Flurry to defend them since they didn’t have their powers yet, but she didn’t respond to their calls.

She could hear them, but she didn’t really care. If this was how the game was going to go then she didn’t want to play. She didn’t want to confront an evil Starlight again. In the last game Sombra had just been using some kind of illusion magic to disguise himself as her and exploit her fears. This time around it was the “real” Starlight, and she didn’t want to exist in a world where Starlight would betray her and her family for power.

The other children realized too late that Flurry wasn’t going to act, and were unable to do anything as the beam from Starlight’s horn struck them, causing them all to vanish.

Twilight tensed, not knowing what had happened to them. 

Sombra turned to her, and in Nega’s voice said, “Well, I guess we’re ready to move on.”

Twilight sighed. “Nega, as best as I can I try to stay out of these situations and see if things work themselves out. I want to just be the guide when they go the wrong direction.

“Repeating the ‘evil Starlight’ plotline from the last superhero adventure made Flurry miserable and rendered her unable to defend herself. Now they’re all ‘dead’ because of it.

“Even if they had won after that Flurry would get no satisfaction out of knowing that Starlight was still evil.”

He shook his head. “What makes you think I would torment Flurry like Mayhem did? The game has just begun.”

Twilight gave him a curious look.

“I said I would give it my all, but I’m here to test Mayhem, not Flurry.”

“So then… Starlight was faking?”

He nodded. “Let me help you, Twilight.” With a snap of his tail she found herself in a room in the castle, all the children unharmed and looking around except Flurry. She was still crying and unresponsive.

Twilight was relieved they were all unharmed. She guessed now that the setup was out of the way the game was about to properly begin.
> 11-6: Super Ponies!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Where are we?” said Pumpkin, walking around. 

“I don’t know,” said Pound, sticking close by her. “I thought that Starlight was going to wipe us out, but we’re all fine.”

There was a flash above them that caught their attention. A scroll fell on the ground.

Masky picked it up and unrolled it. “Dear Flurry,” he read, then looked down at her. “This is addressed to you, Flurry.”

Reluctantly Flurry wiped her eyes and took the scroll from him. Her eyes went side to side as she read the first few lines, her eyes filling with tears again as the spirit returned to her.

She wiped her eyes again, then read out, “Dear Flurry, please, please, please forgive me for what I just did to you and your parents. I had to act quickly in order to protect everyone.”

“Protect everyone?” said Plum. “She attacked your parents.”

Flurry shook her head. “Sombra wanted them dead. She managed to talk him into keeping them alive to use as hostages. That means they can be rescued.”

“So,” said Tree Leaf, “if we can get Sombra away from the Crystal Heart we can free your parents and use your mom’s super shield to beat him.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

“So did Starlight say anything else?” asked Sweet Pea.

“Let me see,” Flurry replied, looking at the note. "‘I know I scared you, but I had to convince Sombra I was willing to join him so I would be in a position to strike and protect the citizens of the Crystal Empire. 

“ ‘Flurry, your parents gave me a crucial role in case of invasion. I was to make your safety top priority and get you far away from the Crystal Empire while your parents and the rest of the Royal Guard did the fighting, but things didn’t work out that way. I always worried that a situation might crop up which wouldn’t allow me to stay by your side, so I did the only thing I could think of: I teleported you to the secret treasure room in the castle.

“ ‘You should be safe there for now, but you can’t stay there forever. He’ll find you eventually. You’re going to need to be brave and flee on your own.’ ”

“How is it brave to run away?” asked Spring Meadow. 

“Because she won’t have an adult by her side to ask for help,” said Sweet Pea.

“Oh… I get it.”

“But we can’t just run!” said Flash. “He’s got Flurry’s parents.”

“But Starlight is protecting them, right?” said Pumpkin.

Pound shook his head. “That doesn’t matter,” he said. “Starlight is only going to be able to stall for so long before he expects her to make good on her promise to brainwash them to his side.”

Peppermint bit her hoof. “Flurry is the only one with good magic. The rest of us would just be in the way if we tried to fight.”

“But we can’t let Flurry fight alone,” said Tree Leaf. “Didn’t it take Luna and Celestia fighting together to beat him the first time? She’s definitely going to need backup.”

“Do we need to fight Sombra?” asked Plum. “Couldn’t we just find the Crystal Heart and use that against him?”

“But we don’t know where it is,” said Masky. “If he has it right next to him then we’d have to fight him to get to the Heart.”

“What about other adults?” said Plum. “Twilight, Celestia, or Luna. Can’t we get one of them?”

Flurry shook her head. “That’s no good either. I don’t know the spell that Celestia used to send messages to Aunt Twilight through Spike, so I can’t just tell them from here.

“I also have a limit to how far I can teleport. I’m skilled with magic just because I’m an alicorn, but I’m nowhere near as skilled as any of my family or Aunt Starlight. I wouldn’t be able to get myself halfway to Canterlot or Ponyville without getting exhausted, let alone with all the rest of you."

Chocolate crossed his hooves, frowning. “We’re really stuck here.”

Masky tapped his hoof on the ground. “We can’t just sit around doing nothing. If Starlight can’t defeat him then we can’t leave this place without putting her in danger. If he finds out we’re all still alive he’ll know she was lying.”

“We’re fine for now,” said Flurry, “but eventually we’re gonna get hungry or thirsty or need the bathroom.” 

Spring walked around examining some of the treasures around them. Most of it just looked like pieces of history and money, but an odd rock caught her attention. 

“Hey, Mayhem,” she said. “This treasure looks kinda like you, but older.”

As Mayhem approached the stone lit up. He thought it looked like Discord more than an older version of him. 

He found an almost uncontrollable urge to touch it. As his claw got closer it lit up more and more.

“Maybe we shouldn’t touch it,” said Plum. “We don’t know what it is.”

Mayhem ignored her, taking it. As soon as his claw wrapped around it the stone flashed so bright they had to close their eyes for a few moments.

Mayhem set it down, the urge to hold it passing. The object remained brightly lit before jets of light shot out of it, moving around the room until it hit each of the children.

They all began to glow for a few moments.

“W-whoa!” said Pound. “What was that, Flurry?”

“Umm…” Flurry looked at the statue, and words came out of her mouth like someone else was using it. “It’s a draconequus stone. My parents kept it hidden away in here to keep it safe from thieves.”

“Draconequus stone?” said Tree Leaf. “What does it do?”

Again the words just came out of her mouth. “I don’t know. My mother only said that it might have great power inside it, but she could never figure out how to activate it.”

“Well, Mayhem is a draconequus,” said Pound. “Maybe its power can only be used when one touches it.”

“I don’t think a glowing stone is going to help us,” said Flash. “We need to get out of here and start our counter-attack.”

As he went to jog he found himself going hundreds of times faster than he expected. The wall of the room was approaching, and he let out a squeak as he stopped an inch from it.

“Whoa!” said Plum. “You’ve got super speed now.”

Flash was panting, very slowly moving his hooves to turn around and sit down. “Y-yeah. I guess I do.”

“Did we all get super speed from that light?” Peppermint asked, trying to do what Flash did and finding her limbs simply stretching out.

“Ah!” Pumpkin yelled out. “Peppermint’s turned into spaghetti!”

"Help!" said Masky. "I'm sinking into the floor!"

Pumpkin went to grab him, but when her hoof extended toward him a small burst of flame came out.

"What are you doing, Pumpkin?" said Pound, pulling her hoof back. The plume turned into a tiny inferno, going up to the ceiling. He quickly released her, and the flame died down again. 

The others each got to experience their powers. After getting Masky out of the shadows they all sat down in a circle to catch their breath. 

"Whew!" said Plum. "That was wild."

"No kidding," said Sweet Pea.

"How bizarre," said Flurry. "That stone gave all of you different superpowers."

"It is strange," said Pound, "but this works out for all of us."

"Yeah," said Pumpkin. "Now we're not just gonna be dead weight if we come along to help you fight Sombra."

"True enough," said Flurry, "but not right now."

"No?" said Flash.

"I think we all need to become more used to these powers first. They all just started happening. We have to be able to control them and use them when we choose to first."

"Good point," said Spring.

"We're inside this secret room. We have some time to practice and get used to them."

"Sounds awesome to me," said Flash.

***

Nega, still in Sombra’s body, approached Twilight. “Hi, Twilight,” he said.

“Hello, Nega,” she said pleasantly. “What’s up?”

“I’m just checking on the children.”

“Well, they’re all playing around with their powers right now, but soon enough they’ll get their minds back on the mission.”

Nega hung his head. “I see. Then that means soon I’ll have to fight my friends.”

“Hey, hey!” she said, putting a hoof on him. “Don’t think of it as fighting your friends. You’re providing a valuable service. Spring Meadow needs this final push to conquer her inner feelings, and someone had to play the part. You’re being heroic, taking the pain to help a friend live a better life.

“Now, isn’t that a better way of looking at things?”

“I… I guess so,” he said uncertainly.

She had to force herself not to laugh. Though it was some time ago she still remembered the struggle to help the crystal ponies before they were enslaved again. Her brother had had his magic blocked, and her sister-in-law was in a state of exhaustion from having to keep her shield up for so long. 

They might not have battled directly, but Sombra was still a being of fear. Seeing him with such an awkwardly childish expression was just amusing to her.

He let out a little groan. “Can… can I have a hug?”

Twilight hesitated. “Ummm…”

His head sank lower. “I get it. No one would ever want to hug me.”

“No no no!” Twilight said quickly. “It’s just that I don't want to hug King Sombra. Even though I know it's not really him it just makes me uncomfortable. Why don't you come out of there for now?"

“Hmm? Oh.” 

After a moment he phased out of Sombra’s body. He extended his arms to her. “Now can I have a hug?”

“Definitely. I’d love to hug you.”

That got a small smile out of him.

She picked him up, holding him to her. “Everything is going to be all right, Nega. Don’t you worry. It may hurt now, but soon that pain will go away. You just have to keep playing.”

"I sure hope so, Twilight."
> 11-7: Too easy!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once the children had a better grasp on their abilities Flurry called them to order.

“We have to get to the Crystal Heart," said Flurry. "Since we don’t know where he’s keeping it the best option is to try where he hid it the last time.”

“Do you think he’d hide it in the same place even though he lost last time?” asked Plum.

Flurry shrugged. “I don’t know, but he should feel confident hiding it there. He’s captured my parents, Aunt Starlight is pretending to be on his side, we’re supposedly dead, and the rest of the Crystal Ponies are terrified.”

“I guess you’re right,” said Flash. “It certainly can’t hurt to try.”

“It’s going to be dangerous. If he’s in the throne room we’re stuck. And even once we get through he’s got traps waiting.”

“So why deal with them?” asked Masky. “If we just need to get to the top of the tower then why not just go from the outside? You can fly or teleport, and Flash is so fast he could probably just run up the side.”

“I think it’s just safer to go the intended way. If Sombra had traps waiting for someone going the intended way, he probably has some for people that try to get past them by just getting in from the outside. Imagine if his dark crystals try and stab anyone who tries to fly in. And since he had an anti-teleport spell around the Heart itself he would definitely have something like that protecting us from getting in that way.”

“Fair point,” said Pound. “So let’s not waste any time.”

Cautiously they headed up a set of stairs, moving aside a fake wall and winding up in a relatively empty room.

Once they were all through they closed the entrance behind them and headed into a main hall, scanning the area. 

“It’s so quiet,” said Plum. “That kinda worries me.”

“King Sombra…” Flurry sighed. “He put a curse on the empire that lasted a thousand years. Even though he was defeated before, the memories of what he did to them while under his rule still haunt them all. I’m sure even the guards are hiding somewhere.”

“Not to be rude,” said Flash,” but what kinds of guards are they? They’re gonna hide and let Sombra just do whatever he wants to the regular ponies?”

“I think if it was anyone else they’d have the strength to fight, but they’ve never been able to escape his curse. Almost every one of the crystal ponies are earth ponies. I don’t know if that’s because Sombra did something to the other races that lived here or that’s just the way it always was. They didn’t have the power to do anything about him.” 

“Well, we’ve got powers now,” said Tree Leaf, transforming into a rhino. “We should just go confront him!”

“No!” Flurry said sharply. “We don’t have the power for that.”

“We outnumber him twelve to one,” said Flash.

“It’s not about how much power we have. Don’t forget that he has my parents hostage. Even  if we can fight him he’ll do something to them and Aunt Starlight. We need to be able to run in and take him out right away.”

Tree Leaf transformed back, his excitement faded. “Right. We can’t put your family in danger.

“It’s fine. If we need to be sneaky then I’m your pony.” He transformed into a mouse.

They followed after him at a distance, slowly getting closer and closer to the throne room. It was still eerily silent besides their steps. 

None of them spoke, not wanting to miss any sign of Sombra. A few minutes later Tree Leaf came to a stop, chittering at them. They couldn’t understand him, but they stopped.

He ran back to them, turning back into a pony. “I can hear voices. They’re close by.”

“In the throne room?” Peppermint asked with a groan.

Tree Leaf nodded.

“Well, now what do we do?” asked Chocolate. “There goes our only plan.”

“I think my power will be of use here,” said Masky, sinking partially into the ground. “Everyone but Flurry put a hoof on each other and I’ll sink us all into the shadows.”

“Then what?” asked Pumpkin. “I know we’re going to be shadows, but it’s not like shadows are invisible. He’ll see us moving around the throne room.”

“That’s what Flurry is for.”

“Hmm?” Flurry said.

“You fire at Sombra from the doorway without him seeing you. Naturally, he’ll give chase to see who attacked him. By that point I’ll have already pulled you into the shadows along with the rest of them. Even if he looks around he won’t be focusing on shadows so long as they’re not completely out of place.

“I don’t know how long we’ll have, but it should buy us a few minutes until he gives up and comes back.”

“That works out perfectly!” said Plum. “If he leaves Starlight alone then we can save Flurry’s parents, and together we can ambush him when he returns.”

“I don’t think it will be that simple,” said Flurry. “He’s not stupid.”

“Well, we’ll see what he does first,” said Pumpkin, “and then make our plans from there.”

“Right.”

“Umm,” Chocolate said quietly, hesitating on joining the others. “Is this shadow thing safe? If we move into the shadow of something else won’t we just disappear?”

Tree Leaf shook his head. “Not at all. It feels a little strange to become sorta like flat, but you can still move like you want, and see too. We all experienced it at the last adventure when we tried to use it to sneak attack Mayhem.”

“Well… okay. If you say so.”

Flurry watched as they all sank into the shadows, and used her magic to levitate herself to get outside the throne room without making noise.

The doors were opened wide, and Flurry glanced through the crack. She felt a flush of rage seeing Sombra sitting on her mother’s throne. Nearby she could see Starlight and her parents.

She used a spell to boost her hearing so she could eavesdrop on their conversation. 

“I’m getting bored,” he said. “How long is this going to take?”

“Brainwashing is a delicate process,” said Starlight. “I could turn them into brainless drones easily, but-”

“And you haven’t done that because…”

Talking louder she said, “BECAUSE it’s not that simple. If you’d be so kind as to actually listen to me.”

Flurry saw Sombra give her a dirty look, and for a moment he made a move as though he was going to attack, but then he leaned back into the throne. “Forgive me, your highness, but you’re contradicting yourself. First you say it’s easy, and then you say it’s not.”

“As I was trying to say, it’s an easy matter to create mindless drones, but it’s also easy for them to overcome the magic through willpower, usually because you’re doing, or trying to make them do, something that conflicts with their core values.

“It wouldn’t be good for your plans if, in the middle of an important battle, they suddenly came back to themselves. That’s why you have to slowly erode their willpower and crush their spirits.”

Sombra smirked. “Well, if my arrival today was any indication, then you know I’m talented at that sort of thing.”

His horn lit up. “A few hours of torture will surely shatter their spirits enough that your magic will truly corrupt them.”

Flurry saw red, lighting up her horn and firing through the crack. She missed him by an inch. She was about to fire again when she felt a hoof pulling her, and she sank into the shadow of the wall.

Sombra growled, his eyes turning pure green as he charged towards the entrance. His head rapidly whipped back and forth, seeing no one. 

“WHO DARES?” he yelled out in pure fury. “SHOW YOURSELF! NOW!”

He closed the throne doors and looked around the immediate area, spotting no one.

“STARLIGHT!” he snapped, a shadowy aura coming off him.

She teleported over. “Who in the world would have the guts to attack you?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out. I’ll search this entire castle if I have to. No one defies me!”

“And what should I do with the hostages?”

He pulled Cadance and Shining towards him, shooting a blast of magic at them. 

Flurry felt a jolt of panic, but the only result seemed to be that their horns become infested with crystals. “They’re worthless to me right now. Even if they wake up they can’t do anything without their magic. Once we have the culprit and present their battered body to anyone else who believes they can defy me we can work on ‘converting’ them to my cause.

“Now let’s go.”

“Right.”

The pair took off in opposite directions, inspecting every conceivable hiding spot on the way until they were out of sight.

Masky waited another minute before moving their shadows into the throne room and pulling all of them out.

“That worked out great,” said Spring. “Good plan, Masky.”

“Thanks,” he replied.

Flurry focused on her parents. She tried shooting a few beams at them with seemingly no effect. She tapped her hoof on the ground a few times in frustration. “Ugh! It’s no good. I can’t get that stuff off their horns.”

She tensed up and let out a deep breath. “I can’t do anything for them, so we have to leave them behind for now and just keep moving.”

“What?” said Pound. “Why?”

“Yeah,” said Pumpkin. “We should at least hide them somewhere.”

Flurry let out another slow breath. “Sombra is already mad enough about being attacked. If he comes back and my parents are missing he’s going to blow his stack, and then it could put the regular ponies of the Crystal Empire in danger.

“At least in the castle he’ll be focused on converting my parents to his side, and Aunt Starlight is stalling him any way she can. If he finds that they’re gone he might think she had something to do with it and go after her.

"And if he believes that one of the common ponies have hidden my parents away he’d probably torture everyone for information.”

A tear came down her eyes. “I can’t allow that to happen to them. And my parents wouldn’t want that either.”

Peppermint bit her lip. “Yeah… I see what you mean. But if we’re not going to take them with us then we have to hurry and get the Crystal Heart back before he can spread all his hatred and evil around. “

Tree Leaf nodded. “Right. So let’s do what we came here to do.”

Flurry had to struggle to take her eyes from her unconscious parents. Simulation or not she felt horrible about abandoning her parents to Sombra, even if she knew Starlight was going to do all she could to protect them.

She reminded herself that the faster they moved the less chance anything would happen to her family.

She got her spirit back, teleporting close to the throne. As Nega had said, using dark magic felt just the same as other magic. She shot it at her mother’s throne, and just as in the memories Twilight had shown her the brightness of the throne turned black and a hole opened up in the floor, revealing a large spiraling staircase. 

She extended her wings out, wrapping them up in them and using her magic to float them down to the bottom. She constantly scanned the area, but nothing bad happened. 

She spotted the cursed door Sombra had created to block the path to the heart.

“You remember how this next part goes, right?” said Flurry. “When I hit it with my magic it’s going to show me my worst fear.”

“And that’s when we snap you out of it,” said Flash.

Flurry nodded, taking a deep breath. She didn’t know if she was ready for this.

She reminded herself that she was doing this for her parents. Fake or not they were still her parents, and hesitating wasn’t going to save them from being tortured.

She fired up her horn with dark magic, shooting it at the crystal above the door.

After a few moments she glanced around. Nothing had changed. They seemed to still be in the exact same spot. 

The door opened, revealing another room.

The children looked at each other in confusion. “That… wasn’t what was supposed to happen,” said Pound.

“Maybe,” Pumpkin said uncertainly, “he didn’t reset the trap from the last time?”

“I… guess,” Flurry said slowly.

“Or he set up some new ones,” said Plum.

“Or the Crystal Heart isn’t even up there,” said Mayhem, “so he didn’t bother to put up his traps.”

“Well,” said Flurry, “we’re not going to find out if it’s a waste of time until we proceed.”

“Right,” said Sweet Pea.

They went into the next room, seeing the staircase that now went up a few stories. 

There was a flash of light, and then Flash was skidding to a stop in front of them. “It’s up there!” he said in delight. He let out a squeal of excitement. He loved how fast he was. He was truly living up to his namesake now.

“Awesome!” said Spring.

“Sombra really wasn’t too smart, after all,” said Chocolate. “It seems like his traps are super easy to get past simply by having another person with you.”

“I think Flash is fast enough to get past the trap alone, but just in case he should take Flurry with him up top.”

“Got it,” she said.

There was another flash and the pair were gone. After another ten seconds Flash and Flurry appeared in front of them again, Flurry laughing victoriously. “Got it!” she said.

They all cheered, clapping hooves together.

“Now let’s go show that jerk who's boss!” said Spring.

Flurry grabbed them all in her wings like before, this time levitating them upwards towards the ceiling of the room they had come in originally. As they neared the top Flurry shot a blast of dark magic at it to open it back up.

They landed in front of the throne to Sombra’s shock.

“W-wha-” he cried out. “Y-you kids got the Heart?”

“Got that right,” said Flurry, levitating it in front of her. “Your evil reign comes to an end right here!”

“N-no! This is impossible!”

“Whether you want to believe it or not this is the end!”

The Heart lit up with a brilliant light, shooting at Sombra as he let out a howl. The light engulfed him as he continued screaming, dissolving into pieces.

Starlight was speechless, blinking repeatedly.

Cadance and Shining Armor stirred, the pieces of crystal falling off their horns.

“What happened?” said Shining, rubbing his head.

“Mommy, Daddy!” Flurry said joyfully, running over to them. “We got the Crystal Heart back and defeated King Sombra.”

Cadance’s eyes went wide. “You did? That’s incredible.”

“We won!” said Pound, jumping up and down.

“It’s too bad it was so short,” said Chocolate, flexing. “I didn’t even get to show off what I could do.”

“Oh, well,” said Sweet Pea. “There’s always another adventure with a worthy enemy.”

Starlight hugged her niece. “I’m very proud of you. This calls for a celebration!”

“Definitely!” said Cadance. “We have to let everyone know that Sombra was defeated.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Flurry, grinning from ear to ear.

They left the throne room to head outside and place the Crystal Heart in its usual place.

***

Twilight stared at her niece, curious. All of them had been staring at the magical doorway for the longest time. 

What had her so intrigued was that none of them had the green eyes Spike had had when he had experienced Sombra’s door. Quite the opposite. All of them were smiling wide.

She glanced down, seeing a faint light coming from Flurry’s neck, and things clicked. The ‘charm from her mother’ Mayhem had given her shielded her from all dark magic, as well as anyone close to her.

Her horn lit up, and she saw things from Flurry’s eyes. They were all celebrating Sombra’s defeat.

She slowly shook her head. “Hmmm... very interesting.”

They were all stuck in an illusion. Good one or bad one, it didn’t change what it meant: they were immobile, and thus couldn’t progress in the game.

‘How are you planning to get out of this, Flurry?’ she thought, then shook her head again. ‘That’s right. You don’t even know there’s something you need to get out of.”

She wondered what was going to come next. It wasn’t her place to interfere in this contest, so she’d have to just let this play out.
> 11-8: Break the illusion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry and the rest were walking through the Crystal Empire. After a few minutes they reached the spot for the Crystal Heart and set it in place.

It lit up beautifully, pouring out over the Crystal Empire. As the light reached them ponies began leaving their houses to join in on the happiness.

It all felt so special.

The children beamed as Cadance and Shining gave them credit for Sombra’s defeat.

“Well, my daughter is quite something,” Cadance said proudly. “She saved all our lives. Shoot, I think it’s time to retire and put her in charge.”

That got a lot of laughs out of the crystal ponies, but Flurry’s gaze grew hard.

“Well, after that train wreck of an interruption I think we should restart the Crystal Fair. Goodness knows we all need to come down from that horrible experience.”

That statement was met with cheering.

As some of her friends went to follow Cadance they found themselves being dragged backwards by her magic, and now they could see Flurry’s expression.

“What’s up?” asked Flash. “What’s with that face?”

“Exactly,” said Plum. “You opposed to fun and celebrating now?”

Flurry was glaring hard at the departing Cadance. “That’s NOT my mom!” she said angrily.

“What do you mean?” asked Masky.

“You remember Pound and Pumpkin’s birthday where you first met me?”

“Yeah.”

“Aunt Twilight had me brought out to their place from the Crystal Empire because they all knew I had a problem I was keeping secret.”

“Sure,” said Tree Leaf. “I remember it was tough getting you to open up.”

“Because I was born an alicorn I had a crazy fear of being forced onto the throne if something happened to my mother, and my parents both heard me when I was ranting about those fears.

“She knew how much I was suffering from holding onto that fear, and because of that I know my real mother would never say something about being put on the throne at my age to everyone, even as a joke.

“I should have known something was up. We defeated Sombra almost effortlessly. It’s never that simple.”

“So,” said Mayhem, “you think this is like what happened during the superhero adventure, and that Sombra is using magic to disguise himself as your mom?”

Flurry shook her head. “No. It wouldn’t make sense that way. We destroyed Sombra. There can’t be two of them.

“I think we’re all trapped in the illusion of Sombra’s door.”

“So then what happened?” asked Sweet Pea. “I thought that door was supposed to show you your greatest fears, but we just got to humiliate Sombra by beating him so easily. That hardly seems worthy of a ‘greatest fear.’ “

“Maybe,” said Spring, “he’s setting you up. He wants you to think you won, just so it will hurt more when you find out it was just a trick.”

Flurry got a curious look on her face.

“That seems wrong too,” said Pound. “Sombra did curse the door to show someone illusions, but I don’t think he’s controlling it.”

“And if that’s the case,” said Pumpkin, “then we only should have seen bad, scary things here once we were put under its spell.”

“Oh!” said Peppermint. “I got it!”

“Got what?” asked Chocolate.

She pointed at Flurry’s neck. “Flurry has a piece of the Crystal Heart around her neck. She can’t be hurt by the effects of dark magic.”

Flurry used her hoof to lift up the little gem. “That… would explain things. So without the influence of dark magic the illusion tried to show us the opposite of our biggest fears? It gave us what we wanted the most.”

“Okay, so what do we do?” asked Mayhem. “The plan was to call out to you to break you from the illusion once it got to you, but we were all caught by it.”

“Probably because we were too close to you,” said Pound. “Spike was far away from Twilight when she was caught.”

Flurry sat down, putting a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. “Aunt Starlight taught me about illusion spells. The better the illusion the harder it becomes for your mind to see it as anything but reality.”

“So how do we get out of this?” asked Spring.

“Well… that’s the tricky part. There’s usually only two ways out. One way is like what happened with Spike, where having someone on the outside pulls you out. Obviously that isn’t happening since we all got caught in the illusion.”

“So what’s the other way?” asked Peppermint.

Flurry sighed. “And that’s the even trickier part. You have to convince your mind that you’re inside of an illusion.”

Plum’s eyebrow rose. “But didn’t that already happen with you? You said that your mother said something she would never say.”

Flurry shook her head. “Not good enough.

“Think of it like… a war inside your brain. Even if something seems suspicious to you your brain will think of excuses to justify it. What happened after I hit the door has all seemed perfectly normal. We didn’t get mysteriously teleported to Canterlot like Aunt Twilight.

“Getting the Crystal Heart and beating Sombra may have seemed easy, but it could just be because he didn’t reset his traps, or he didn’t account for someone with super speed. And everyone is capable of making careless statements, even if we personally don’t think they should say something like that.

“So even though things seem off to one part of my brain, another part of it says that nothing is wrong. In order to get your brain to break out of the illusion you have to convince it that it’s nothing but an illusion.”

“And how do we do that?” asked Chocolate.

Flurry closed her eyes. “You’d have to see or hear something that seems utterly impossible. It’s not enough for it to simply seem odd. It has to be something your brain cannot make an excuse for.”

She let out a sigh. “As things now stand it’s impossible to get out of this illusion without it hurting.”

“What do you mean?” asked Spring.

“Every minute we’re stuck in this illusion is another minute that Sombra can torture my parents. We don’t have the time to waste observing this illusion world to find something so out of place we can snap ourselves out.

“That being the case, the only other option we have is to create that impossibility ourselves.”

“How does that work?” asked Masky. “I thought you said that to get out we’d have to see something so suspicious our brains couldn’t make an excuse for it.”

“You’ll see,” Flurry said, shivering a little. 

With a flash of her horn they were all teleported towards the middle of the Crystal Fair. 

“Okay, we’re here,” said Sweet Pea. “Now what?”

Flurry sighed. “Now you sit here and watch. It's not going to work for me but it should wake some of you up. All we need is one to wake up so they can get the others out.”

Her horn light up, and her magic changed into dark magic. She flew up into the sky, and the other children gasped as she shot down, blowing up one of the stands as screams rang out through the crowd.

Flurry continued firing at all the other stands. The happy atmosphere completely vanished as ponies expressed their terror of her and fled.

Cadance and Shining ran up. “Flurry, what are you doing?” Cadance asked fearfully. "Why do you have dark magic?"

Flurry landed, closing her eyes tight as her horn’s glow increased in intensity. "Forgive me," she said quietly. Even though she couldn’t see them she certainly heard their screams of pain as her spell landed.

The other children were speechless. Flurry had attacked her own family.

Now Flurry had set her sights on them. Once more her horn lit up with a bright, dark light. “You’re next!” she said coldly. “Goodbye, friends!” 

As the beam was released and heading towards them all of Mayhem’s old friends suddenly found themselves back in front of Sombra’s door, blinking as they looked around.

Pound fell to the ground, panting. “T-that… was scary.”

“No kidding,” said Pumpkin. “But Flurry would NEVER EVER attack her family like that, and she loves us too much to attack us. That was completely impossible.”

“Got that right,” said Tree Leaf.

Peppermint looked around, seeing Mayhem’s new friends and Flurry were still immobile. “I guess it doesn’t work on Flurry herself, and the other children don’t know Flurry as well as we do.”

“That’s fine,” said Masky. “Now that we’re free we just have to break them out."

They each took a child, calling out their name and shaking them. It only took about ten seconds before they all stirred and began shaking their heads as they broke free of the trance. 

Flash closed his eyes for a few moments to let his mind catch up. When he opened them again he looked around. “Shoot. We really were in an illusion.”

“That was kinda scary,” said Sweet Pea. “I mean, Flurry was right, and her plan worked, but that was still scary.”

“No kidding,” said Spring. “She seemed like she was possessed, just attacking everything in sight.

Mayhem put an arm around Flurry. “Hey, Flurry. Are you okay?”

Flurry didn’t answer at first. She looked distraught.

“Oh, right,” said Masky. “Even if it wasn’t real you still had to attack someone that looked like family.”

“Just… just give me a minute,” said Flurry. “I’ll be okay.”

“I think we could all use a minute to relax,” said Pound. “So let’s just sit down and rest a bit before we continue on.”

Off to the side Twilight felt a desire to hold her niece, but held herself back. She wasn’t a part of the game world, after all. 

She was pleased that they had managed to escape the illusion. Starlight had been teaching her well. Now they just had to obtain the Heart and defeat Sombra for real.
> 11-9: Obtaining the Heart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they had all composed themselves Flurry shot another blast of magic at the gem above the door, and as before it opened, revealing the long staircase again.

“So is this actually the real thing this time?” asked Pumpkin, “Or are we in another illusion?”

“I guess we’ll have to just go forward and find out,” said Pound.

They all moved into the next room.

Flurry glanced up. “Well, that’s more like it.”

They followed her gaze, seeing the bottom of the next level of the staircase covered in spiky crystals. “Aunt Twilight used a spell to flip her gravity. Instead of having to climb the whole way she got to slide ‘down’ to the ‘bottom.’ Sombra isn’t letting that sort of thing happen again.”

“Well, the stairs look clear enough,” said Masky.

Peppermint stretched her neck far out, looking upwards, before pulling it back. “It’s gonna take forever to run up. We don’t have that kind of time to waste."

“Hey, Flurry,” said Pound.

“Yes?” she replied.

“You said that you can teleport to any place you’ve seen, right? So can’t you just teleport us up?”

“I can try, but like I said before I doubt it will be that easy.” 

As her horn lit up the crystals on the ceiling immediately reacted, growing extremely fast.

Spring let out a squeak. They were heading right for Flurry. "Look out!"

Flurry stopped her magic, and the crystals stopped growing an inch from her face. After a few seconds they slowly receded.

She panted a bit. “Okay,” she said with a huff. “So no magic.”

“That’s odd,” said Peppermint. “Nothing happened when I used my power.”

“Maybe it only responds to glowing horns,” said Plum.

“Well, we still have options to get up quick, then,” said Sweet Pea. “We can still fly.”

“It’s not going to work like before,” said Flurry. “I can’t carry you all and get us up without magic."

“That’s okay,” said Flash. “We can do this the same way as in the illusion. Flurry can fly up, and I can use my super speed to get up there easily.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” said Mayhem. “Sombra obviously has some new traps. I don’t think we should split up.”

“But we don’t have time to waste climbing hundreds of stairs!” said Spring. “He was already planning to torture her parents to make them easier to brainwash. What do you think he’s gonna do when he can’t find the pony that attacked him? He’ll take it out on them.”

Flurry squirmed, acknowledging the point. “I’ll take Flash and try to fly to the top. I think I can carry one pony and be okay without my magic.”

“Got it,” he said, hopping up.

She unfurled her wings and jumped off the side, flapping them until she was hovering on their level. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, hopefully with the heart.”

After ascending just twenty feet she felt like something had changed. She found out what it was a few moments later as her entire body grew exceptionally heavy. She tried flapping her wings, but she couldn’t raise them.

She quickly went spiraling down, unable to remain afloat.

Peppermint instinctively went to use her levitation to pull them up.

“No magic, Peppermint!” Pumpkin cried out in a panic as the crystals above rapidly headed for her.

Peppermint stretched her body into strange proportions to avoid being skewered as she stopped her magic. She quickly stretched out her legs, sending them down and wrapping them around the pair. 

She grunted, straining not to lose her grip on them. “Help me!” she said, and all of them quickly surrounded her and pulled.

Tree Leaf released her, going in front of Peppermint and turning into a rhino. He pushed against her head as the rest continued pulling with all they had, slowly going around the platform as Peppermint shrunk her legs bit by bit.

With their combined efforts they slowly got them up until they were on the platform again.

Flurry and Flash both lay on their backs, panting hard.

“Are you okay?” Chocolate asked. “What happened?”

Flurry pulled herself up to a sitting position when she caught her breath, her heart starting to slow down. “Sombra is smarter than I thought,” she said. “Not only was he prepared for magic, but for flight as well. As soon as I rose up a little bit the entire area around us grew super heavy. I couldn’t stop myself at all.”

She smiled at them. “Thanks for the save.”

That made them smile in return. “Of course, Flurry,” said Peppermint. “Anytime.”

Flurry’s grin faded. “Well, now what do we do? No magic and no flying. It really seems like our only option is to just climb.”

“Do… do you think we could use my power to help? Sombra’s traps don’t seem to react to our abilities. If I hang off the edge I could slingshot us up as many times as we need to.”

“I don’t know if we should,” said Pumpkin. "I don't like the idea of being out in the open air around this dangerous staircase. It would be too easy to miss."

Pound went to the edge and stuck his hoof out. As soon as it crossed the edge he felt an extreme pressure, and his hoof fell down. “No good. Now that the trap has been set off it’s not going away.”

Tree Leaf glanced up as he turned back into a pony. “Is there no way to destroy these crystals? It might not be the prettiest way but we could have Flurry just shoot a large blast straight upwards to give us a clear path, then go with Peppermint’s plan. I don’t think the gravity effect is going to hit us inside this area.”

“That’s a no-go,” said Flurry. “Those things came at me so fast I didn’t even trust myself to teleport, even if the spell would have gotten me out of the way. Even if we could destroy the crystals it’s still not a safe plan. If I don’t hit everything just right I could cause portions of it to fall on us. In the worst case scenario I could cause the entire tower to collapse, taking us and the Crystal Heart with it.”

“Hmm,” said Flash. “With the two traps we’ve already seen I don’t trust myself to go up alone, no matter how fast I am. This is turning out to be much more dangerous than we expected.”

“So… we’re stuck?” asked Spring. “We’re really going to have to just climb this thing?”

Sweet Pea groaned. “We don’t have time!”

“There has to be some other way!” said Chocolate.

Masky took a step forward. “We could try my power again. Shadows don’t weigh anything or have to deal with gravity. It won’t be super-fast, but it’s still better than climbing.”

“Let’s give it a shot,” said Tree Leaf.

The others nodded in agreement, putting their hooves on him. They sank into the shadow of the wall, the crystals up above remaining unmoving. 

Holding onto him they moved upwards, the crystals not bothering them as they zoomed along. They couldn't go straight up, considering the stairs were jutting out against the wall, but each bit of stairs only added a few seconds to the journey.

It took a few minutes, but they reached the top with no further issues. When they reached the top Masky pulled them all out.

Flurry smiled, seeing that their efforts weren’t for naught. The Crystal Heart was where it was when Sombra had stolen it the first time, except this time it was on the ground instead of floating. 

Her grin faded a little as she saw all the cracks running across it. “I can’t believe how much damage he did to the Crystal Heart. It makes me angry.”

“So what’s our next move?” asked Spring. 

It took Flurry a while to answer. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “With all the new protections he put around the tower I’m sure the Heart itself has a new trap waiting if we try to grab it, but there’s no way to know what it is without setting it off. And setting it off is too dangerous.”

Pumpkin closed her eyes. “When Twilight went through this the trap activated as soon as she stepped in the circle around it. If we don’t step on the circle then maybe we can avoid setting it off at all.”

“It’s worth a try,” said Peppermint. “It’s not like we can just stand here staring at it all day. With my stretchy limbs I can easily avoid touching the ground.”

“Hold on,” said Flurry as Peppermint extended her two front legs towards it. “I want to test my magic. Since we’re above all the crystals now maybe we don’t have to worry about them anymore.”

She took a deep breath, then fired up her horn. She glanced around rapidly, but even after a minute had passed no crystals came her way. “Seems safe enough. Let’s proceed.” She kept her horn charged up, wanting to be ready for whatever was about to happen. She could have tried lifting the Heart up in her magic and pulling it to them, but if there was a new protection around the Heart she didn't want any distractions keeping her from noticing it.

Peppermint continued reaching for the Heart, but even though she didn’t touch the ground the moment her hooves crossed the threshold of the circle it turned a different color, just like in Twilight’s memories.

Flurry jerked her head, quickly pulling Peppermint’s legs backwards as magical energy rose out of the ground to the ceiling.

“Hmph!” said Masky. “Well, it’s not like we didn’t see this coming.

“So now we set off the trap, but we don’t know what it actually does.”

“It’s not safe for us to actually touch it,” said Flurry. She lit up her horn, shooting a small beam towards the barrier. It seemed to pass right through. 

Spring looked with confusion. “So it’s not immune to magic? Interesting. Can you lift up the Heart with your magic?”

She tried, and the Heart actually lifted up off the floor.

“Ooo!” Sweet Pea said happily.

Flurry pulled it towards her, and they all got bewildered looks on their faces. As soon as the Heart hit the barrier it reappeared on the opposite side, still within the barrier. She tried this from several directions, and the result was always the same.

“I think I get it,” said Flurry. “Is one of you brave enough to touch the barrier? From what I’ve seen it should be safe, even if confirming what it does doesn’t actually get us closer to obtaining the Crystal Heart.”

“I’ll do it,” said Pound. 

He walked up the barrier, and with a touch of hesitance put his hoof to it. He didn’t meet any resistance. His eyebrow went up. Even as he pushed his hoof further and further in it didn’t appear inside the barrier. He could still feel his hoof moving around, so nothing bad had happened to it. It just seemed to be invisible.

“Are you okay, Pound?” Pumpkin asked with concern.

“Of course. Do I not look okay?”

“Ummm… you might want to look forward.”

When he looked up he let out a gasp. His hoof was sticking out of the other side of the barrier. He quickly pulled it back, staring at it.

After a few moments he gathered his courage and jumped into the barrier, his entire body coming out the other side across from his friends.

“So that’s it,” said Pound, jumping back through. “Whatever touches the barrier from the inside still comes out on the inside, and whatever touches it on the outside still comes out on the outside.”

“So it’s impossible for us to grab anything inside it,” said Pumpkin.

“This seems easy enough,” said Masky, sinking into the ground. His shadow slid across the ground, but just like with Pound he wound up on the other side.

“Well, that didn’t work,” he said as he joined them again.

“Teleportation?” Plum said, though she didn’t sound confident.

Flurry knew it was probably pointless, but she had to at least give it a try. With a flash of her horn she appeared inside the barrier for just a moment before instantly being pushed back out to where she started.

“Well, we all saw that coming,” said Flash.

“So what now?” asked Spring. “We can’t touch it with our bodies or magic. With that barrier it’s like the spot where the Heart is doesn’t even exist.”

“How about if Flurry blows up the top of the tower?” said Chocolate. “The barrier stops at the ceiling, so she could just get in from the top by flying.”

Flurry shook her head. “Won’t work. The barrier starts from the floor and goes upward. If I destroy the ceiling then it will just continue up to the sky.”

“So what if you go right in the middle of the ceiling and shoot down into it? That will put you inside the barrier so you can grab the heart.”

“That won’t work, either,” said Masky. “It will allow her to grab the Heart, sure, but then she’ll be trapped inside the barrier with it. We’ll be no better off.”

"And," said Flurry, "we run into the same problem of why I didn't want to just make a path by shooting upwards earlier. If I'm not extremely careful I could blow up the Heart or get it crushed with debris. Way too risky with the damage its taken."

“Then what do we do?” Sweet Pea asked with a touch of despair.

Peppermint stared at the barrier for a bit before glancing up and putting a hoof to her horn. “We use Flash,” she said.

“Me?” he replied. “What’s so special about me?”

“One of the things I’ve learned about magic is that it’s not much different than using your hooves. It takes energy, and when you try to lift something heavy enough with your magic you can feel as drained as picking it up with your body.”

“Okay…”

“This barrier is made of energy. And every time you pass through it, it transports you to the other side.”

“Oh!” Flurry said, her eyes lighting up. “I get what she’s going for.

“Most ponies would either avoid the barrier or only go through it once or twice before giving up, but there’s only so much energy that can go into this barrier.”

“Ummm… I still don’t get it,” said Flash. "What are you getting at?"

“Think of this barrier like a pony using magic. Every time something touches it they have to use a spell to get you away from the treasure hidden within. And with every spell they use they get a little more tired until they can’t use a spell anymore. 

"The reason she said to use you is because it's the quickest way to exhaust this 'pony.' With your super-speed you can run through this barrier a whole bunch of times extremely quickly until you drain its magic source dry from constantly teleporting you. Rather than find a way to get past the barrier we can just get rid of it so we can grab the Heart.”

Now he understood. “If you need speed I’m your pony. They don’t call me Flash Step for nothing.”

“Let’s all give him some space,” said Pound. They all complied, backing up by the stairs.

Flash was a blur as he zoomed around in circles around the perimeter. It was impossible to even try to count the amount of rotations he made.

It took about two minutes, but they finally began to see results. The bright, vibrant color of the barrier grew dimmer and dimmer. 

“Stop, Flash!” Flurry yelled out.

It took him a few seconds to come to a complete stop. He was feeling a bit winded, so he didn’t mind the reprieve. “W-what’s… wrong? It looked like… it was about… to work.”

“And that’s exactly the problem.”

“Problem?” said Mayhem. “We want it gone.”

“AND we want it gone so we can get to the Crystal Heart. Once the barrier vanishes we don’t want all the effort we went through to go to waste because he stomped it to pieces  or kicked it clear off the tower.”

Pumpkin blinked. “Whoa! Fair point.”

“The barrier is almost down,” said Pound. “We don’t have to do anything clever now.” 

Walking forward he stood in front of it and put his hoof through it. “All of us can just do this until it loses the rest of its energy.”

All of them spaced themselves out so they wouldn’t hit each other when they went through the barrier, and stuck their hooves through.

It took another minute, but finally the energy going to the ceiling began to fade towards the floor.

“Everyone pull back!” said Flurry, unsure of what would happen if they were in the middle of it when the barrier vanished.

They all complied.

Pumpkin gave Peppermint a big hug. “That was an awesome plan, Peppermint!” she said joyfully. “You rock!”

Peppermint blushed brightly as the others added in their agreement. “C-come on. Flash did all the work.”

Flash patted her head. “But you came up with the idea we needed to prevail.”

“Go ahead, Flurry!” said Mayhem. “Do the honors.”

Flurry walked over the circle to the now unprotected Heart, and picked it up. She hugged it close to her. “We’re almost there. All that’s left is to save my parents."

Twilight was getting really invested in the adventure now. Flurry's plan to escape the illusion had been brilliant, as had their methods to get past the stairs and the barrier protecting the Heart. What would the battle with Sombra be like? Would it be as simple as the illusion, or was something going to go horribly wrong?

She didn't think she'd been so interested in the results of one of their games since the Daring Do adventure at their first session. And of course she couldn't forget Nega. How was he going to react? She couldn't wait to see what the next part of the adventure would bring.
> 11-10: The true trap
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Alright!” Flurry said commandingly. “Let’s move out and save my home!”

“Right!” everyone replied in unison.

She moved to the edge of the tower, extending one of her wings out for a bit. “This high up the high gravity effect doesn’t work. Or it could be that all of Sombra’s traps in this area have stopped working because of using up all the energy from the barrier. Either way this makes things a lot easier."

She grabbed all her friends in her wings and used her levitation, jumping off the tower and zooming downward until they were in front of the castle. “This is the end, Sombra!” Flurry said angrily as she set them all down. “We’re coming for you!”

“Got that right!” said Pound, hitting his hooves together. “He’s going down!”

They ran inside the main entrance, running straight for the throne room.

As they got close they could hear a commotion coming from it. They kept hearing the sounds of explosions and things falling. 

Flurry pulled to a stop, the other children following suit. The throne room was open like before, and peeking in they saw him shooting parts of the room at random. 

“Please calm yourself!” Starlight begged.

“ARE YOU GIVING ME ORDERS?” Sombra asked angrily. “You want to be my next target?"

“My apologies.”

“We searched all around, and there was no sign of the coward that attacked me. Someone is going to pay for this waste of time by the end of the day!”

He looked at the still unconscious bodies of Cadance and Shining, and his anger turned to a smirk. “I think I’ve found a target. Before that little distraction I was about to torture these two to make it easier for you to brainwash them, wasn’t I?”

Flurry tensed, rage flowing through her. She teleported into the room with the others. “Don’t you dare touch my parents!” she said furiously.

Starlight blinked. “Flurry, what are you doing here?" she asked in a panicked voice. "Why didn't you run away?”

Sombra got an ugly look on his face. “My, my. I thought I asked you to get rid of the children. It seems I was right to have reservations about you.” 

He stood up from his throne, dark magic pouring off him. “This displeases me. I guess it’s true that when you want something done right you should do it yourself.”

“Ha!” Flurry said victoriously. “You’re too late.” She levitated the Crystal Heart in front of him.

Sombra blinked in surprise. “The Crystal Heart?” he said in confusion. “How did a group of brats get past my traps?”

“Through teamwork, of course. Now it’s time for you to go back to where you came from.”

Sombra began to laugh uproariously, unsettling them.

When he stopped laughing he suddenly fired at Starlight. Thinking he was going after Flurry the mare threw a shield around her, not realizing she was his actual target. The spell hit her, knocking her to the ground unconscious.

Flurry gasped, then her eyes narrowed as she growled.

“Don’t worry,” said Sombra. “I only knocked her out. I’ll make her pay later for lying to me.”

“There IS no later, you creep!

“Begone!”

She pushed the Heart in his direction, but nothing happened.

Sweet Pea gulped. “What’s wrong? Why isn’t it working?”

Sombra was smirking wide at them. "Because you fell into the biggest trap of all."

"W-wha-" said Tree Leaf.

Sombra shook his head. "You see, kids, I expected someone to get through all the protections I put around the Heart. They were only decoys to the true trap."

"T-t-the... the true trap?" said Spring.

"The true art of deception is no different than a magic show. You make someone believe one thing when it's actually something else. That's what it was all about.

"Did you see the illusion when you passed through the door? Earlier it was programmed to show you your deepest fears. This time around it was designed to show my defeat."

Sweet Pea blinked. "W-why? Why would...."

Sombra chuckled. "Because I'd never see it. What I would see when I went to check on the Heart is an immobile fool caught in a happy illusion ready for punishment. That cheerful world would suddenly grow very dim as I 'turned the dial' back to it's original state.

"And you may ask what the point was of changing the illusion if I was only going to terrorize them once I found them, but the answer is very simple: because my illusion was bypassed before by the unicorn brat. Ah, that's right. She's an alicorn now, right? Supposedly.

"Well,  whether that was another lie by Starlight or not matters little. The point is that she was woken up and proceeded along her path, eventually leading to my previous defeat.

"Whoever it was, whether it was Twilight or Shining or Cadance or Starlight or someone else entirely, I wanted them to believe in their victory, fooled by what they had seen in the illusion."

Dark magic formed in his horn, pouring off of him. "It's all about getting into someone's head. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing someone so certain of victory realize how wrong they are. THAT'S what that illusion was all about."

"W-what?" said Flurry. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't get it? You got to see an illusion of you obtaining and defeating me with the Crystal Heart before being freed of that illusion.

"And now you've come running in here intending to repeat what you saw in your  mind, what you saw still so strong within you that you completely overlooked the obvious. 

"Tell me, kiddies. When exactly did I invade?"

The question hung in the air for a few moments, the dawning realization sinking in.

"AH!" Flurry cried out, her insides going cold. 

Pumpkin's mouth felt dry. "Sombra... Sombra invaded right as we were about to complete the recharging ceremony for the Crystal Heart!"

"That's right!" said Flash. "The Heart is completely out of power."

Once again Sombra started to laugh before clapping his hooves sarcastically. “Bravo, bravo. You children are something else. Juuuuust smart enough to get past the protective spells I put around the Heart, but not smart enough to realize you can’t DO anything with it. What you went through all that trouble for was to bring a useless rock here.

"I mean, you'd think the gigantic cracks going through the Heart would have been a good indicator that something was wrong, but nope! Nothing was wrong in your eyes."

He clapped again. "Congratulations! Give yourself a pat on the back for being the most oblivious children in the Crystal Empire. "

Flurry put a hoof to her forehead. She should have realized it. How could she have been so stupid? The illusion they had gone through earlier completely fooled her into thinking it would be successful. Even if they had gone through some struggles it had still seemed fairly easy. And because of that they had all ran headlong right into his real trap.

Sombra took a step forward, making all of them take a step back. “Ah, kids. So confident that they don’t even take a moment to think that they could ever fail.”

As he took another step forward Pound grabbed his sister, shooting a lightning bolt directly at him in desperation, hoping a sneak attack would take him down like it had Starlight.

Sombra didn’t move an inch. His body had turned insubstantial and smoke-like, and the lightning went right through him. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was going to talk a little more and enjoy your fear, but if you want to get right to the part where I destroy you then I don’t mind.”

“H-how are we supposed to fight smoke?” asked Spring.

“You’re not,” said Sombra, getting closer and closer to them as they continued to retreat.

He suddenly came to a halt, smirking. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll reward you for at least getting the Heart at all. I’ll give you… hmmm… let’s say ten minutes. Ten minutes to go out there and see if you can find some ponies to do your little charging ritual.”

They all looked suspiciously at him. “You know that you’ll be defeated if we succeed,” said Sweet Pea.

“Sure, but I’m not concerned. I’d be surprised if you could even find more than one. I take that back. I'd be surprised if you found a single one to join you. The fear I've instilled in my subjects has prevailed for a long time."

Chocolate was shivering. "W-why... why are you doing this?"

"So I can watch you fail, or course," Sombra said with a chuckle. "I enjoy watching hope die and seeing ponies reduced to a lump of terror. You'll try so hard, only to accomplish nothing for it, just as you did when you brought the Heart here."

Flash let out a little growl. "W-we're... we're not your puppets to manipulate."

"Of course you don’t have to do it. We could battle it out right here and now if you want.”

Flurry groaned. She didn’t trust him, but it wasn’t like they really had any other option but to try. They couldn’t beat him without special magic.

With a flash of her horn she teleported all of them to one of the streets of the Crystal Empire. “Split up and take as many houses as you can.”

With that they all took off.
> 11-11: The darkness prevails
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While the children were running around from house to house Nega went to see Twilight again. Learning from before he approached her in his own body rather than Sombra’s. 

He looked to be pretty down.

“What’s wrong, Nega?” she asked.

“I… I don’t think they can win,” he said. “Things are already hard enough on them now, but if I go through with the idea I had for when they can’t get anyone to join them then they’ll all lose hope.”

“Everyone loses hope at times. What really shows who you are is if you can get past that to try again.”

Nega put a claw to his heart. “I don’t think it matters whether they’ll eventually win or not.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“I already hurt Flurry by attacking Starlight. I scared them all just now. I don’t think I can take the darkness that will blossom in their hearts when things get to the next stage.” Tears came down his eyes. “I know you said that this is going to help Spring in the end, b-but I don’t want to hurt my friends anymore.”

Twilight put a hoof on him. “I don’t know what you’re planning to do, but whatever you try they’ll triumph in the end.”

“Why?”

“Flurry and the rest defeated a Mayhem that was seriously endangering their lives. And if they could beat a crazed reality warper with only six ponies, then defeating someone of considerably less power with twice the amount of people shouldn’t be too difficult, right?”

Nega bit his lip. “But like I said it’s not about winning or losing. I don’t want to play anymore. Putting on the role of the villain is just making me ache.”

“I understand your reservations, but this adventure is also to save you too, you know. The pain and suffering you feel isn’t going to just vanish. It’ll only go away once Mayhem confronts his own feelings, and for that his victory needs to feel earned.”

Nega’s eyes clenched shut as he gently sobbed. “T-that’s easy for you to say. You’re not being the bad guy and fighting alone! I don’t feel strong enough for this!”

“It’s only been about three minutes out of the ten you gave them. What if I held you tight and showered you with love for the remaining seven minutes? Do you think you could handle it then?”

He wiped his eyes as he opened them, looking into her outstretched hooves. He quickly threw himself into them, holding her tight. “I… I don’t know if I’ll be ready, but right now I definitely need some love.”

“And I’ll be happy to give it to you,” she said affectionately, rubbing his back.

She heard some quiet sobs coming from him.

“Everything is going to turn out fine. You just need to believe in your friends. No matter what you throw at them their teamwork and love for one another will see them through.

“Darkness and light are polar opposites. When you shine a light down a hallway everywhere the light touches the darkness vanishes. Even if the light fades, so long as they have each other there’s no way they won’t be able to reignite the fire of their hearts.

“It’s just like what happened with Flurry. When Mayhem erased her memories she reverted back to the scared child she had been before, and almost fell into complete despair when she failed to defeat Mayhem. But even though she couldn’t remember her friends her heart still remembered their love, and that was all it took to get her moving again. One by one she rescued the other children.

“When her heart faltered because of the fake Starlight her friends gathered up their own hearts to protect her. She kept their fire, and even when things seemed hopeless she still fought for them, remaining defiant until the very end.

“Of course, because you have Mayhem’s memories you already know this. I’m sure it’s something he’s thought about quite a bit. But do you know why I’m bringing that up now?’

“N-no,” he replied.

She nuzzled his cheek with her own. “Because it’s not so different than what is going on here.

“Whatever it is you’re planning to do it will make things much harder on them, and that’s fine. It’s a good thing.”

“Good?” he asked, confused.

“Yes. There’s no surer way of making someone stronger than to make them feel needed. Pound never had the guts to confront Drill Bit when it only came to himself, but as soon as he threatened Pumpkin he lost all his fear. 

“When someone is backed into a corner with no way out they can either surrender or push through the obstacles in their path. That’s how Flurry was able to defeat Mayhem. Her desire to protect them was so strong she felt no fear in confronting him. A far cry from when she first confronted him alone.

“The end result was that she did the impossible, and even wound up with her cutie mark because of it.

“Just think of how today will change all those children for the better. The point isn’t to just win. There has to be a challenge in it. It needs to feel earned. That’s why I told you that you needed to push them to the limit, because when they’re fighting for each other they’ll find out that they’re actually far stronger than they think they are.”

“It… it keeps coming back to the same thing, though,” he said with a sniff. “Even if it will be better for them in the end I don’t like hurting my friends.”

She stopped rubbing his back and gave him a squeeze. “You little sillyhead. You’re not hurting your friends. This is nothing like what happened with Mayhem, where their memories were erased and they thought they were going to be trapped forever or killed. It’s just a game, and you’re just playing a role.

“These adventures are mainly just improv stories. They set up a scenario and then play through it.” She released him and turned him around. “Without the hyper realistic magic it would just look like this.”

With a flash of her horn she created a small stage version of what they were going through, with the same low quality backgrounds and props from back when Pound and Pumpkin had pretended they were the children of Daring Do.

“I am the evil King Sombra,” said Nega, dressed in Sombra’s crown and cape. “Take this.” 

He pulled out a black ribbon twirler, launching the green piece of material at Starlight.

“Ahh,” Starlight said overdramatically. “I have been slain.” With that she fell to the floor.

“Noo,” Flurry said melodramatically. “Curse you, King Sombra. I will have my revenge.”

She hugged him around his stomach as the scene vanished. “See how silly this all seems?"

That did get a small chuckle out of him. 

“Don’t forget that you’re only playing a role in a game of pretend. While I personally believe that they’ll be able to overcome whatever you throw at them through their teamwork, there are no consequences for failure. It just means you won the game, and that’s it.

“You’re not actually hurting Starlight or torturing her parents. Everyone is just playing their part and hamming it up a bit for the game.”

He took in a slow breath. “But what about Spring Meadow? It’s fine for the rest of them, but she’s different.”

“I’ll have a talk with her. Not beating a pretend game shouldn’t shake her belief that she can overcome her inner feelings. There are twelve of them, after all, each with a different ability. She should have nothing to personally judge herself for if they don’t win.

“And you shouldn’t judge yourself either for just playing your part. I mean, do you think I’m a bad person?”

“Of course not, Twilight!” he said strongly.

“But before Mayhem created you I was going to be playing the part of Sombra. Would that make me cold or cruel or heartless?”

“Well, umm… no…”

“You have to separate your character from who you are as a person. Again, this is only a pretend game that you’re playing through. You’re not actually threatening them or doing harm to them. You’re just playing the part of an obstacle in their path they have to overcome.” 

She turned him around again, holding him close. “So just believe in your friends and keep moving forward, okay?”

He didn’t answer, but he hugged her back. She thought he didn’t feel as tense, so she left him be to continue comforting him.

A few minutes passed by with neither of them saying a word.

Finally, he said, “I’m… going to believe, Twilight. I know it’s going to hurt a bit, but I know my friends can take whatever I throw at them. And, just like you said, I’m not actually King Sombra. I’m just playing a part.”

“Glad to hear that you understand.”

He let out a little groan. “This is probably going to be the last time I can get hugs, since only the battle is left in the game.”

“That’s true, but that also means your suffering will be coming to an end as well. If they emerge victorious in this battle I think Mayhem and Spring will be ready to forgive themselves, and that will help you heal too.”

“I’d like that. I can fight for that.”

He let out a sigh. “Well, time is about up. I have to go back now."

“Okay, Nega. Give it your all.”

She released him, and he reluctantly let go of her as well before getting back into the body of King Sombra. He let out another sigh. “Well… here we go.”

The children met up at the altar where the Crystal Heart was usually kept, feeling downtrodden. It was as fruitless as Sombra expected. The majority of the ponies didn’t respond at all to the knocking. They occasionally saw them hiding  through a window, shivering in fear, but not a single pony agreed to join them. None of them were brave enough to defy Sombra, even when they heard that Flurry had the Heart. Its cracked state didn’t give anyone confidence that it would actually be successful.

Their ten minutes passed by far too quickly, with nothing to show for their efforts. Not a single pony agreed to fight against Sombra. They were too scared and hopeless.

“We couldn’t get anyone on our side,” said Tree Leaf. “What should we do now?”

“Well,” Pound said hesitantly, “the Crystal Heart gets its power from love, right? I know we’re not as good as the entire empire, but couldn’t we as least give it some power?”

Before they could answer a stream of darkness appeared in the middle of them, solidifying into the form of Sombra. 

They all backed up. “Oh, my. I’m afraid your time is up.” He glanced around. “Just as I expected you couldn’t get anyone to join you. How absurd is it that mere children are showing more guts than adults?”

He shook his head slowly, chuckling. “Well, I guess it’s not surprising. You haven’t experienced my aura of fear for years like they have. Your spirits will dwindle quick enough.”

His horn lit up. “Prepare to experience fear like you have never known.”

He shot his shadows toward them, but to no avail. The gem around Flurry’s neck lit up, making a protective barrier around them. 

“Hmm? That wasn’t your magic. I didn’t see your horn light up. So you have a trinket that protects you from my fear magic. Interesting.

“Ah, well. There are other ways of shattering your spirits.”

Flurry gasped as the Crystal Heart was pulled away from her. “What are you doing? You can’t destroy the Heart or everyone will freeze!”

“Destroy it?” he said as he set it in its pedestal where it floated. “Now why would I do that? I just wanted to power it up.”

They all looked at him with confusion. “Won’t that just destroy you?”

“Maybe, maybe not. But a powerless Heart is useless to both of us if the spell that keeps the blizzard away fades.”

He chuckled darkly as the light from his horn grew, but it seemed to suck the light away as it grew rather than illuminate a greater area. “This is just the start of the world of darkness.”

He shot the darkness at the Heart.

All of them gasped, thinking he had lied about not destroying it. It actually seemed to be far worse.

The bright blue color of the Crystal Heart grew monochrome, jagged spikes coming out around it.

But it didn’t stop there. The darkness of the Heart expanded, and little by little the darkness corrupted everything around them. The entire empire had grown devoid of light.

The children were speechless, most of them losing the ability to stand upright as they fell to their knees in horror.
> 11-12: Fighting for Flurry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The entire Crystal Empire was shrouded in darkness. All the buildings had gown colorless and dreary.

Flurry felt a stabbing pain in her heart. She had let down her family. And all because she had been too stupid to remember the Crystal Heart was out of power. Of course it wasn’t going to defeat him without love magic. Their trip to obtain the Crystal Heart was all for nothing, and it was all her fault!

Sombra chuckled ominously. “This is fantastic! The Crystal Empire is mine again at last! Her Royal Highness and her husband are out of the picture, as well as that liar.

“My kingdom will expand, taking over all of Equestria. There may be another alicorn in the world, but I’ll have some important hostages to keep them all in check.”

He took a step forward. “The only thing left to do is to get rid of this last bit of resistance to my ascension. A brat you may be, but you’re still an alicorn, and three hostages is enough. I'm afraid it's time for you to go."

Pound growled. Hearing him threaten Flurry was all it took to restore his fighting spirit. For most of them it was the same.

Sombra’s horn lit up. “As for the rest of you… you brats are of no significance, so let’s clean up the trash.”

He shot beams of darkness into the ground, and out of it came dark crystals in the shape of ponies.

“A literal crystal pony,” he said with a chuckle. “Go get rid of all of them except for the alicorn brat. I'll take care of her personally.”

“No way!” said Flash. “You’re not taking me or any of my friends without a fight!”

“Same here!” said Masky.

Peppermint didn’t feel nearly as courageous, but she had to protect her friends. She looked to Flurry for hope, and saw her downtrodden expression.  Though she tried calling out to her Flurry didn’t respond, too lost in her feelings. 

She looked forward again, ready to fight. Flurry had protected her and the rest of her friends throughout their battle with Mayhem. She had to protect her friend in return.

They charged forward and the battle began. With magic and their various abilities they made short work of the crystal ponies.

“My, my!” said Sombra, sitting down and clapping sincerely. “I’m genuinely impressed. You’re not just any brats. You got through my crystal soldiers rather quickly.

“I take back my earlier dismissal of you.” An evil grin came to his face. “It seems now I should take you very seriously.”

With some flashes of his horn dozens of crystal ponies formed out of the ground.

Their faces fell. “There’s so many!” said Plum forlornly.

Pound squirmed. “Hey, Flash!”

“Y-yeah?” he said nervously.

“Can you and the rest of the Power Ponies crew hold down the fort for a little while?”

His head turned to Pound. “What are you planning to do?”

“We need to get Flurry to help us. It’s the only way we’ll have any chance at all.

“You and the others only met her today. We’ve known her far longer and should be able to get through to her.”

Flash glanced towards Flurry, then back to Pound. He saluted. “I’ll give it my all. I’ll protect you until you’re done.”

The two smiled at each other. “Thanks.”

Pumpkin kneeled next to Flurry as the others began to battle the crystal ponies again. “What’s wrong, Flurry?” she asked gently. “Why are you just sitting there?”

“This is all my fault!” she said, tears forming in her eyes. “I couldn’t protect my parents. I couldn’t protect Aunt Starlight. I couldn’t protect the Crystal Empire.

“Everything has gone wrong! If I hadn’t been so STUPID and forgotten the Crystal Heart was out of power we could have ended this already.”

“We all forgot that,” said Peppermint. “What makes you so responsible?”

“Because you don’t live here! You only just heard about the Crystal Heart ritual today. I should have known better.” Her eyes closed as she gently sobbed. 

“So what?” said Masky. “So you messed up. Welcome to the club. All of us have done that. Does that mean that you give up?”

“It’s too late!” Flurry said, letting out another sob. “We lost from the moment Sombra corrupted the Crystal Heart. 

“We have no other weapon to use. I can’t do my mother’s spell, and anything else we use will just go through him. It’s hopeless! We’re only delaying the inevitable!”

“So you think it’s impossible?” asked Mayhem.

“YES!”

“That’s fine, because you’ve done the impossible before when you defeated me.”

Flurry let out a groan, glancing up at him for a few moments before looking back down at the ground. “Today… today isn’t like back then. I’m not just going to be summoning the Fire of Friendship again.”

Pound smiled. “It seems like your heart has lost the light, but that’s fine. None of us have forgotten what you said.”

He closed his eyes, putting a hoof to his heart.  The others mimicked him.  “Back then, when we were stuck in Mayhem’s world, you were our pillar of strength. Without our memories we felt like we were fighting on our own.”

“I was terrified,” said Peppermint, “but you saved me from the Timberwolves.”

“You saved us from the Changelings,” said Pumpkin.

“And me from Nightmare Moon,” said Masky.

“And me from Sombra,” said Tree Leaf.

“And me from myself,” said Mayhem.

“Even though we were scared you made it all better,” said Pound. 

“Even if it seems impossible there has to be a way through if you keep trying,” said Peppermint. 

“After all, we’ve done it before,” said Masky. “And if we did it once then we can do it again.”

“At the very end it was your light that ignited our hearts,” said Pumpkin. “And now that you’ve lost your light it falls on us to share ours with you.”

Flurry glanced between her friends, and slowly got up on her hooves as they all opened their eyes and gave her an encouraging smile. “Do you really want to depend on me? It’s my fault we’re in this mess to begin with.”

“Why are we here today, Flurry?” asked Pound. “We’re here because of screw-ups. Mayhem screwed up when he let his boredom get to him, and Spring screwed up when she went off on her own and her brother got hurt.”

“Today is about second chances,” said Tree Leaf. “The people who love them have already given them second chances, but today is about them getting the strength to give themselves another chance.”

“You need to forgive yourself and try again too,” said Masky.

“We need you, Flurry,” said Peppermint. “Without you there’s no way we can win.”

She looked around uncertainly.

“What’s wrong?” asked Pound. “Why are you hesitating? Don’t you remember what you said? ‘My friends, you showed me the magic of friendship.’ ”

Pumpkin knew exactly what he was referencing. “ ‘And now I want to return it you in kind.’ “

“ ‘I will become stronger than anyone,’ “ said Peppermint.

“ ‘So I can always be your light, ‘ “ said Tree Leaf.

“ ‘Even in the darkest of times,’ “ said Masky.

“And these are some very dark times,” said Mayhem. “All of us could really use your light.”

Flurry looked at her cutie mark, feeling a sense of disquiet. “I… I remember those words, but even if I chose to fight it doesn’t change what I said before. I can’t use my mother’s spell, and the Crystal Heart has been corrupted. We have nothing to use. The light is gone. The darkness is too strong to overcome.”

“The light never goes out!” said Tree Leaf. “Even if it seems that way.”

“Flurry, do you even know why you have light magic?” asked Pound.

She looked at him curiously. “Hmm?”

“The answer lies around your neck.” He reached out his hoof, lifting up the jewel. “This is something your mother gave you to protect you. The Crystal Heart is fueled with love, and your mother’s love is clear. It protected you from Sombra’s door, and protected us all when he tried to fill us with fear.

“Your mother’s heart and love is stored inside, always keeping you safe from dark magic. She gave you something to always protect you from someone like Sombra."

“Even if it’s just a tiny piece,” said Pumpkin, “that light kept you from darkness.”

“That’s how it was for all of us,” said Masky. “Mayhem tried to talk us into betraying each other to save ourselves. Even in the middle of the terror and the thought that we were about to die you stood tall. Even that little bit of light gave us the courage to fight on.”

“And it sparked a brilliant light,” said Peppermint, “allowing us to create the Fire of Friendship.”

“You even shared that light with me,” said Mayhem. “You could have easily decided to hate me, but you chose to show me forgiveness. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”

“So like we said before,” said Tree Leaf, “if you’ve forgotten the light then just look at us and remember. We’ll all share it with you, the same way you did for us back then."

“We’re all still willing to fight,” said Masky, “but we know we can’t actually win without you.”

Flurry looked between each of her friends, seeing their encouraging expressions. She acknowledged what they were saying, but she still couldn’t think of a way out.

Pound chuckled, seeing her hesitance. “Well, if that’s not enough of a motivation to fight then take a moment to consider this: in an Equestria ruled by King Sombra, what’s going to happen to your sister?”

Flurry glanced toward him.

Pumpkin smirked. “That’s right. Your baby sister is an alicorn too. Since he wants you dead he’ll probably want to kill her too so she won’t become a threat.”

Flurry twitched, going stone still. They could see the emotions boiling up in her.

Masky also had a smirk now. Her fighting spirit was starting to build up. They had found her driving force. “Oh, I don’t think he’d go that far. Babies are too dumb to know right from wrong. He’ll probably turn her into his heir, making her a princess of darkness. She’ll probably think of him as her real daddy, learning that torturing others makes him so happy.”

Flurry’s head whipped toward him so fast, with such a ferocious expression, he actually backed up a step. Her horn was sparking.

“No!” Flurry said darkly. “NO! I won’t allow it! No one threatens my sister and gets away with it!”

Magical energy swirled around her. “Sombra is going down!”

They were all grinning. “Now that’s more like it,” said Masky.

Twilight let out a little huff. “Scary,” she said to herself. “Child or not, it’s not a wise idea to anger an alicorn.

“This is so exciting! I can’t wait to see how this ends.”
> 11-13: Princess of Light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Plum was panting. “T-they’re endless,” she said as she took down another crystal pony.

The rest of them were tiring too. Even Flash with his super speed was starting to feel it.

“We can’t keep this up much longer,” said Chocolate. “They better hurry-”

He broke off as the ground began shaking. Even without turning around he could feel an enormous power behind him. 

The five children were teleported back by the others, and now they could see Flurry was burning red hot. Whatever they had said had definitely gotten to her.

Flurry teleported into the sky, firing a large blast that incinerated all the crystal ponies. 

With that she hit the ground. “You’re next!” she said furiously to Sombra.

A bead of sweat came down his face. She was fuming. His horn lit up as they both fired at one another.

The beams collided with one another, and they seemed even for a few seconds, but then with a yell Flurry increased her power, and the spell rapidly headed towards Sombra.

He tried to gain ground, but he only managed to slow the pace of her spell. It was still heading right for him.

“Awesome!” said Spring, hopping. “We’re gonna win!”

“Oh yeah!” said Peppermint. “Get rid of him!”

“Just like the superhero story!” said Pumpkin.

“Ridiculous!” said Sombra. “I won’t be defeated by a child, alicorn or not.

“Your light is impressive, but the darkness is still stronger.”

Another beam shot out of Sombra’s horn towards the corrupted Crystal Heart, and power funneled back through it.

The turnaround was immediate. Flurry lost ground so quickly it was like her beam wasn’t even there. They barely had three seconds to even process what happened before Sombra’s beam engulfed her.

Sombra began to laugh cruelly. “That’s one useless brat down.”

Everyone looked on with horror, eyes wide and speechless.

Even Twilight thought that Nega had lost himself in the high of combat like Mayhem did and went too far. She was having trouble breathing, scared she had just lost her niece.

As the smoke cleared they all were shocked to see Flurry unharmed, the jewel around her neck lit up as bright as it had ever been.

Flurry was panting hard. She had really thought that she was about to die.

Everyone except Sombra let out sighs of relief.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Sombra said angrily. “How can you still be alive? How could that dinky, pathetic little fragment of a stone have stopped me from destroying you? This is ridiculous!”

Flurry’s heart was still racing, but as she lifted up the jewel in her hoof she found herself calming down. The light coming off of it didn’t hurt her eyes. Looking at it made her think of her mother, and that gave her peace. 

She could feel love emanating off of it, the love that had always helped them pull through in a crisis.

Tears came down her eyes as she thought of her mother presenting her with this jewel, even if she hadn’t done it in the real world. To be able to always carry her parents love around with her, to always have them protecting her no matter how far apart they were… she knew her mother would do it if it was possible.

Sombra had corrupted the Crystal Heart, turning it into a symbol of darkness. But even the entire power of its corrupted form, with his hatred and darkness at its maximum, couldn’t begin to compete with just the smallest bit of love and the desire to protect each other.

She understood the meaning of it, just as Starlight had told her: you can’t fight hate with more hate. Hate can only be conquered by love. 

“I’m glad Flurry is okay,” said Pound, “but where do we go from here? We can’t defeat him, and he can’t defeat us. We’re at a stalemate.”

“A stalemate?” said Sombra, regaining his condescending attitude. “Don’t kid yourself, kid. Maybe I can’t use dark magic directly on you little brats, but I can certainly affect you indirectly.”

Sombra took power from the Crystal Heart again, darkness enveloping the area. 

The ground began shaking, and out of the ground came another two crystal ponies.

All of them except Flurry stared open mouthed as they grew taller and taller and taller until they were the size of the palace.

Sombra laughed. “Something wrong, brats? Where’d all your confidence go? The power of darkness is stronger than anything you kids could ever muster.”

Flurry looked around, seeing the fear that had taken all her friends. It felt so familiar. Sombra wasn’t playing around anymore.

Just like when she had fought Mayhem she thought she wasn’t nearly as scared as she should have been. The love of her family was kept inside the jewel, giving her light. And, just as before, seeing her friends faltering made her want to step up.

Flurry stepped forward, unusually calm. 

Sombra chuckled. “Oh, and here comes another useless brat. You want to try and tussle with these crystal ponies? Fire away. I can always make more.” 

He smirked. “Hmph! I doubt you could even take out one of them. You put most of your energy into that last skirmish, while I am fully energized by the corrupted Heart. Isn’t it obvious how this is going to end?”

“Just be quiet," she said gently.

His eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

“You’re right. It is obvious how this is going to end. You’re going to lose.”

That got the attention of the children, finally looking away from the massive crystal ponies to look at Flurry, a calm, determined look on her face.

For the ones that had been a part of the battle against Mayhem it was all too familiar. In a seemingly hopeless situation she was a light in the darkness.

“No matter how strong the darkness and shadows are, all it takes is one small light to dispel them, because when those little specks come together they can turn into a brilliant light.

“I let anger and hatred guide me before, but that’s never been where true strength lies.” Lifting up the jewel she said, “I have the heart of my mother in here. I have my daddy. I have Uncle Sunny and Aunt Starlight. I have all my friends. Compared to all that you’re nothing but another soon to be forgotten jerk.”

Spring blinked. Mayhem had shown her the end of the battle with him. She had wondered about how they had summoned up the courage to keep fighting long enough for her to activate the Fire of Friendship. Fighting alongside her, seeing her casually trash-talking Sombra when things seemed at their most hopeless… she understood it now. She believed now. 

Sombra growled, his eyes turning fiery. “Enough with your stupid talk! Let’s see you talk smack from the bottom of their hooves.”

Flurry focused on all her love, saying quietly, “Mom, please lend me some of your power.” Just as Sombra had taken power from the corrupted Heart she focused her magic on the little piece of it around her neck.

The light from her horn grew, but it wasn’t an explosive buildup of energy as before. It was gentle and peacful, giving off a pleasant aura that expanded around her.

Flurry’s body grew crystalized. Combined with her already white coat and the glow surrounding her she looked almost ethereal. 

She shot two small bits of energy at the enormous crystal ponies, and they all watched open-mouthed as their colors changed from dark to resembling the colors of the Crystal Heart before vanishing.

Flash kept blinking, sure he hadn’t just seen what he had. With just one tiny blast each Flurry had demolished such huge creatures.

“T-this… this can’t be happening,” Sombra said in disbelief. 

Sweet Pea laughed. “Wow! Flurry is the coolest!”

“Definitely!” said Chocolate.

“I don’t even feel afraid anymore,” said Peppermint. “The light she’s giving off just makes me feel so calm.”

Twilight was moving up and down in excitement. This was turning out far more fascinating than she ever could have expected. Flurry had practically transformed.

Flurry took to the sky, levitating in the air as she arranged her wings in the shape of a heart and released more light magic. Even as they watched houses were also turning back to their uncorrupted state.

Looking up, it really did seem like a heart made of light was up in the sky. 

Seeing things returning to normal, and feeling the comforting light Flurry was giving off, the crystal ponies left their homes, sure that they had been saved. 

Noticing the crowd forming Flurry descended. 

“Princess Cadance has saved us,” said one of the ponies, but their joy turned to surprise when she landed. “L-Lady Flurry? You’re the one that saved us?”

“It’s not over yet!” Flurry said commandingly. “Sombra is still around and he still is controlling the Crystal Heart.”

Even as they watched the areas Flurry’s light were no longer illuminating turned black again. They also noticed Sombra standing by the podium with the corrupted Heart, fear going through them.

“I can’t do this all by myself. I need your help!”

“What are we supposed to do?” asked one of the ponies. “We’re powerless!”

“Wrong!” Flurry said, her inner strength pouring off of her. “I know you’re scared of Sombra, but the truth is that Sombra is also scared of you. He always has been.”

Everyone looked at her strangely. 

“Why do you think Sombra worked so hard to break your spirits? It’s because he knows that when you gather your courage and come together that you can easily overcome him. His power is nothing compared to ours.

“You didn’t need my mom to save the day. You don’t even need me. You have the power to save yourselves. You always have. He just made you forget that.

“If you put your hearts together we can banish Sombra from our home just as Aunt Twilight did back then.”

There was a rumble in the air. “Enough of your prattling!”  Sombra said angrily, darkness surrounding the area as he stole power from the heart again. Walking forward he said, “Anyone who wants to trust in this brat and help her may do so, but when this little rebellion fails anyone who foolishly assisted her will be eliminated.”

Flurry also borrowed some power from her piece of the Heart as she saw the terror taking them. “It’s your choice,” she said significantly. “You have the power to choose whether you live the rest of your lives as slaves or as heroes. 

“Join me, and let’s get rid of this pest once and for all.”

“Don’t you dare!” said Sombra. “Do you all want to die? Stand down and ignore the little princess. Are you really going to follow the words of a child? She’s just a fool thinking she’s a big pony, endangering all your lives. Be smart if you don’t want to suffer fatal consequences.”

“That’s right!” said Pound. “Flurry is a child, and yet she’s fighting. Are you gonna let a little girl fight on her own? We need your help.”

Both sides continued to talk, but after a few more rounds of threats and encouragement they both decided to back off and just let them make their decision.

Both Sombra’s darkness and Flurry’s light were massive. Things were tense, but after a minute a crystal pony said, “I’m siding with Lady Flurry! I don’t want to live the rest of my life under Sombra’s rule.” With that he started walking towards her.

“WHAT?” Sombra said in a crazed voice. 

The lone voice calling out seemed to be all that they needed to sway them, because they all began to walk towards Flurry. 

“No! Stop it! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!” 

Despite his threats they all ignored him. It was just as Flurry had said. They could hear the fear in his voice. The fear of their power.

“Everyone!” said Flurry as they all surrounded her. “Lend me your hearts and let’s purge the Crystal Empire of King Sombra once and for all!”

All of them kneeled before her, closing their eyes and focusing on their love for one another. The glow from Flurry grew and grew, everyone turning crystalized.

Even Twilight joined in, despite not actually being a part of the game world. She was just so swept up in the spirit of unity on display she couldn’t help but want to lend her power to Flurry. 

A huge wave of energy swirled around them before shooting towards Sombra. It was no contest. Sombra’s darkness didn’t stand a chance. It swallowed him up, the Crystal Heart on the podium returning to normal, and the rest of the Crystal Empire quickly followed.

As the light faded they all felt super energized. 

“That was so awesome!” said Tree Leaf.

“We saved the Crystal Empire!” said Masky. 

“This was one of the best adventures yet!” said Plum.

“My heart’s still racing with excitement,” said Flash.

“Gotta be honest,” said Sweet Pea. “I had my doubts, but everything turned out fine in the end."

"It sure did!" said Spring, hugging her friend.

Twilight was hopping up and down in circles in her excitement. "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! They did it! Woohoo!"

Flurry lifted up the piece of the Crystal Heart around her neck. She had needed some help, but once again they had accomplished the seemingly impossible.

She didn't think she was nearly ready to do it for real, but when it came down to it she had faced her fear. She had guided her subjects to a better life. And hopefully seeing her do it would help motivate Mayhem and Spring to do the same.

Nega was off to the side. "I... actually lost. Twilight told me that no matter how difficult I made it I would lose this game in the end. I shouldn't have doubted her."

He put a hoof to his heart. "They won. Now... now the pain will finally go away."
> 11-14 :Unvictory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the midst of their celebration Mayhem noticed Nega floating off in the distance, and all his joy faded away. 

He had won. With his friends by his side they had done the impossible and conquered the darkness. But if he had succeeded then why was Nega still around? Didn’t that mean he hadn’t really overcome the past?

As Mayhem’s emotional state deteriorated and doubt assaulted him all those feelings transferred over to Nega, making him grimace.

He put his hands to his head, panting as the pain escalated.

All their attention was directed to Nega as the ground began shaking and an explosive aura of darkness shot up into the sky.

The crystal ponies ran off in terror once again, thinking that Sombra had survived even the power of the Crystal Heart.

“W-wha-” Spring said. “I… he’s…”

“I thought we beat him,” said Sweet Pea.

Peppermint was trembling. “T-this is nuts! So much power.”

Nega slammed into the ground in front of the group, his body twitching. “I warned you, Twilight!” he said angrily. “I told you I wasn’t going to live with this pain forever.

“I gave him a chance just like you asked, and it came to nothing! I’m hurting even more now!” He growled. “It’s just like I said at the start: the only way to make the pain stop is to take out the source of it. He has to die! DIE! DIE! DIE!”

Twilight was shaking slightly. She could see Nega was dead serious. In this state he might very well cause collateral damage, and pumped up with all of Mayhem’s negative feelings she wasn’t entirely sure she had the strength to defeat him.

“Please, Nega. Just give me a little more time.”

The whole area shook hard, knocking them to the ground as volcanoes erupted in the distance. “I’ve given you more than enough time. Now either move aside or kill me. Either way there’s going to be one less draconequus in the world. One of us is going to die here.”

She teleported as he raised his claw to fire, appearing right in front of him as she grabbed him in a hug. He tried to pull away, but she kept her grip tight. “I know you’re in pain, and I also know I can’t stop the two of you from settling things. You have to fight it out.

“But please… just give me a few minutes. Please just hold yourself back for five more minutes so I can talk to Mayhem. I still believe today can end without any deaths and be resolved peacefully, but you have to have just a little more faith in me. 

“Please.” She sniffed. “I don’t want things to end this way, and I know you don’t either.”

The dark aura surrounding him got a little smaller as he hugged her back so hard it hurt. She winced hard as his claws dug into her and he bit her, growling loudly. Her eyes closed from the pain, but she didn’t push him away. She didn’t believe he was intentionally trying to hurt her. He was just so immersed in his pain that he couldn’t control himself.

Muffled sobs came out of him, the darkness getting smaller and smaller. Twilight quietly bore the pain until his tense body finally relaxed enough to release her.

“Did you calm down a little? Are you giving me some more time?” Twilight asked.

He panted for a bit, before looking up into her eyes and pulling away from her. “NO! I told you I’m not waiting anymore.”

“You owe her!” Flurry said sharply, making him look over at her. “Do you even realize what you did to her? Just look at your claws.”

“Look at my-AHHH!” He looked in horror at the blood on them, then quickly up at Twilight, seeing the blood staining her coat and the pained grimace still on her face.

He quickly snapped, healing her injuries. His hands clenched, then he snapped again, a clock appearing above him. “Three minutes. I’ll give you that, and not a second more.”

“Thank you,” she said as he flew off into the distance.

Mayhem hung his head. “What do we do, Twilight?” 

He glanced at Spring. He had wanted to inspire her with victory, but if he couldn’t overcome Nega she might start to doubt she could overcome her own darkness.

While everyone else was starting to feel their own doubts Flurry kept her head up. “Pay attention!” she said to the group. “We don’t have much time and Aunt Twilight seems to have a plan, so trust her.”

After a moment they all turned to her. “Why didn’t we succeed?” asked Sweet Pea. 

Twilight let out a sigh. “I thought just beating the game might be enough, but it’s clear you need something more. 

“Mayhem, I believe that you created a Tantabus.”

“What’s that?” asked Plum. Most of them looked confused as well.

She didn’t have time to explain the story. They had already used thirty seconds of their limited time, so she just used a memory spell to implant her memories of it into their minds. She included Mayhem in it so the memories would be fresh to him.

Spring had a heavy look on her face as she processed the memories. “It hurt enough just living with the guilt of what I did. I couldn’t imagine making something specifically to make myself feel worse.”

She got nods and agreements from the others.

“Except you didn’t need to create something to do that,” Twilight said meaningfully. “When you were alone you relentlessly attacked and belittled yourself. You had the strength to influence your inner darkness. You fed it self-hatred, which in turn made it stronger and stronger until it got to the point you couldn’t see anything good about yourself anymore. 

“As you saw, the Tantabus is basically just an outer manifestation of one’s inner darkness. It feeds on all your negative emotions to grow more powerful, and then it uses that strength to attack back. the two going back and forth.” 

“So,” said Flurry, “it’s just like a cycle?”

“He feels bad,” said Pound, “and that makes Nega more dangerous, which makes him feel worse and only makes Nega even more dangerous."

A bead of sweat came down Twilight’s cheek. They had already used up half their time. She had to make sure Mayhem was prepared or else things would turn out disastrous. “That’s correct. The only way to overcome that darkness is to do like Luna did and forgive yourself. That will reduce both his power and his pain. If he isn’t in pain he won’t be aggressive and his temper will come under control.

“You went through this whole adventure, seeking the light. You spent all your time ‘studying,’ and today was meant to be the big test to see if you were truly ready to move on with your life.”

Mayhem bit his lip. “I was feeling really happy when we triumphed, but when I saw Nega still there afterwards I thought it meant that I failed.”

“It’s not that you failed,” said Twilight. “You just didn’t have the time to use your victory feelings to change your inner thoughts before descending into despair. 

“You’re still in control here, Mayhem. It all comes down to making peace with yourself. You have to embrace your inner feelings.”

Chocolate’s eyebrow rose. “You want him to be pals with his misery?”

Twilight shook her head, painfully aware of their dwindling time. She was straining to keep a neutral look on her face so as not to panic the children. “It’s closer to accepting yourself for your flaws.

“If Mayhem can conquer his inner thoughts using all the positive experiences he’s had since the superhero adventure then the inner peace he feels will neutralize his inner darkness, and thus Nega will no longer be a threat.

“No matter how much you push around a mess because you don’t want to deal with it, it doesn’t make that mess go away. It will still always be there, whether in the corner of your mind or the corner of your room. 

“Nega is like a reflection of you, and whatever affects one of you affects the other. As I’ve said before you can’t defeat hate with hate. You can only conquer it with love.

“When you went bad did your friends give up on you and dismiss you as just an enemy? Of course not. Up until the point you messed with their memories they were determined to save you. And, even without their memories, once they found out you were friends they forgave you. So just act as they did back then.”

“I… I don’t know if I can!” Mayhem said despondently.

“You can!” said Flurry, her eyes blazing. “When I first met all of you I was just a weakling, losing myself in all my bad feelings and living each day in fear. Because of the connections I formed with all of you I grew strong.” She turned to the side, showing off her cutie mark. “You can do it too, Mayhem.”

“It’s like we told you at the start,” said Pumpkin. “Today isn’t like back then. You’re on our side this time, and all of us are behind you.”

Mayhem felt a lump in his throat, tears coming down his eyes. 

Twilight could feel Nega’s impatience. They now only had thirty seconds left. “Time is almost up. When you’re struggling just remember that the hearts of all who love you are always there supporting you. Okay?”

The other children made noises of affirmation.

“You’ve spent the last few months reforming yourself into a new person. You’ve done so much good for all your new friends. You’ve done all the studying you need to. Now-” she pointed her hoof towards Nega “-go pass this last test.”

Mayhem took in a shaky breath. He glanced around at all the encouraging faces of his friends, and took in a more steady breath, composing himself. “Okay, Twilight. I’ll do my best.”

“That’s what I want to hear.”

“Ten seconds,” said Twilight. “You’d better get in the air or get some distance from us. I'm sure Nega isn’t going to wait to go on the attack.”

Mayhem nodded. He didn’t want them to get caught in the crossfire. He teleported thirty feet in the air. He still felt uncertain, but he had a determined look on his face. If he failed here then he might never see his friends again. 

If being destroyed by Nega just sent him back to Discord and didn’t change any of Nega’s feelings then he might go on a rampage. If it came down to that Nega might just decide he wanted to cause him as much suffering as possible by going after his friends. 

He might be the only thing standing between his friends and their destruction. He had to win this.
> 11-15: Helpless
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the time ran out Nega teleported up to him. Mayhem put his arms up defensively but Nega didn’t strike.

Nega had a fierce expression at first, but then it changed to a smirk. He began to laugh again just as he had when he had first appeared.

It disrupted Mayhem’s determination. He had prepared for an assault, not this creepy laughter.

“Oh, this is fantastic,” Nega said, the pure green of his eyes fading to only his sclera. “I’ve been waiting for this. You have no idea.”

“What do you mean?” Mayhem said, keeping his defensive pose.

“I tried doing it Twilight’s way, but as expected you were too incompetent to succeed. Now Twilight isn’t here to save you from me. She finally acknowledged this is the way it has to be.”

He began to twitch creepily. “I’ve finally got permission to annihilate you.”

At that statement Mayhem found his courage again, his eyes narrowing. “And you think I’m just going to stand by and let it happen?”

“Of course.” He lifted a claw. “I’m going to make you suffer. I’ll make you beg for death as I finally administer the judgment that was never brought upon you for your crimes.”

The edge of his claw lit up, and he flicked it.

Mayhem quickly dodged out of the way. 

“Hmm,” Nega said with mild interest.

“I know what you are now,” said Mayhem. “I’m not just a puppet for you to manipulate.”

He began to twitch again before laughing hysterically. 

Peppermint grabbed onto Pumpkin. “Ugh. That thing gives me the creeps.”

“I don’t blame you,” Pumpkin replied with a shudder. “I hope Mayhem beats him soon.”

“I can’t stand him,” said Pound. “He keeps on trying to hurt one of our friends.”

“Good riddance if he goes,” said Flash. “We’ve been patient and given him several chances, but he just keeps on being evil.”

Twilight felt a sense of disquiet as she listened to the children talking about Nega. They still didn’t understand. She could still see Nega’s pained expression and hear his troubled words.

Now wasn’t the time to get into it. She had to keep her attention on the battle so she could intervene if things got too crazy. 

“Well,” Nega said, “let’s get to it. Take your best shot.”

Mayhem shook his head. “No. I’m not going to fight, but I’ll still defeat you.”

Nega shook his head. “So ignorant.” He shrugged. “Well, if you’re not going to make a move then I will.”

He pointed downwards, and Mayhem’s heart skipped a beat as Nega’s claw lit up. He moved it in a square, and the air beneath them began to glow. The light descended to the ground, surrounding all the children and Twilight. “This will keep the others safe. You don’t have objections to that, do you?”

“Of course not.”

Nega smirked at him again. “Or maybe you do. Maybe you’re going to ignore me to destroy the shield and everyone inside.”

Mayhem grunted angrily. “Of course I’m not!”

“Well… your track record doesn’t exactly inspire me with confidence.”

“I lost control once, and that was only because I let my feelings build up too much. I know better now.”

“Once is all it takes, though.” He flew forward, swinging a fist.

Mayhem caught it.

“Well, well. Good work, murderer.”

Mayhem went stiff for a moment. “I’m not a murderer! I haven’t killed anyone.”

“So what? The intent was there, wasn’t it? You said yourself that you wouldn’t stand for losing to some pathetic ponies who were so inferior to you.”

Mayhem got a pained expression on his face.

“Oh, the arrogance. Bad enough that you attacked your friends, but you felt you were so much more superior than all of them you couldn’t even fathom the idea of losing.”

Nega kneed him in the stomach. “Jerk!”

Mayhem winced a bit, rubbing his belly. “I know I was high on myself back then, but I’m not like that anymore.”

Nega snorted. “For now.

“And even if you never do it again… so what? As I said before, once is enough.” He swung again, hitting Mayhem in the cheek.

Mayhem was slow to respond to Nega’s attack, and was knocked backwards a few feet. He was rubbing his face now. “So that’s it, then? You think a person’s whole life should be judged just by one mistake, even if they never do it again?”

Nega’s smirk finally turned back into a frown. “Mistake? MISTAKE? THAT’S what you want to call almost MURDERING YOUR FRIENDS? HUH?”

Mayhem couldn’t respond.

Nega extended a claw and flicked it, shooting out the air current that had incapacitated Mayhem earlier.

Mayhem was distracted by his feelings, and once again was slow to respond. He was about to let the attack phase through him just as it struck.

He began to wheeze as he fell to his knees in midair.

“You disgusting creature!” Nega said darkly. “What right do you have to seek forgiveness?

“The only thing that stood between you and six murders is the hearts of your friends. It wasn’t you that stopped yourself from doing the unthinkable. It was them who saved themselves from your murderous intent.”

Nega closed the distance and gave Mayhem a hard kick on his other cheek.

Plum winced. “Mayhem isn’t doing so good up there.”

Pound sighed. “Well, changing yourself is never easy. It took a lot of pain for me to grow up and learn to fly.”

Sweet Pea put a hoof around Spring. Her friend was looking quite distressed at Mayhem’s beating. “It’s going to be okay,” she said comfortingly.

“If you say so,” Spring said despondently. “We’ve both walked so far, and just when I thought we’d cleared the final hurdle this happens.

“If Mayhem can’t win then… then maybe I can’t either. Maybe Sombra can never really be beaten.”

Chocolate bit his lip, looking up at Mayhem. ‘Come on, Mayhem!’ he thought urgently. ‘Win this already.’

Flash grabbed Spring around the shoulders. “You can’t give up hope! I mean, think about how hopeless things seemed when Sombra turned the Crystal Empire into its twisted, dark form. Didn’t we still win despite all odds? This is no different.

“No matter how hard it gets, there’s always a chance for victory if you just believe.”

“That’s right,” said Flurry. “The reason we were able to come this far is because we kept on going despite all the hardships.”

Mayhem ignored the pain, standing up. “I’ve been working hard for months to make up for that mista-” He drifted off. “No… you’re right. It wasn’t just a mistake. I knew what I was doing. I did it deliberately.”

Nega began to chuckle again. “Oh, but it’s fine, isn’t it?” Nega snapped, and it began to rain popsicle sticks and bits of wood. “I mean, as long as you can make popsicle stick art and birdhouses then attempted murder just pales in comparison, right?”

“I… um…” Again Mayhem felt lost for words. A tear came down his cheek.

Nega glared at him again. “Face it, Mayhem. What you’ve learned with your little hobbies doesn’t mean squat. All you’ve been doing it putting off the inevitable.”

“T-there… there’s always something new to learn,” Mayhem said weakly. “I-I… I only went bad because I let my feelings of boredom build up."

“Whoop-de-doo! You think boredom is the only thing that makes you a danger to your friends?” He lifted his claw, summoning water and cracking it like a whip, striking Mayhem's face.

“Let’s look at dear old Pound Cake.”

Mayhem held his head, gently panting. “W-what about him?”

“Pound’s most defining characteristic is his overprotectiveness of Pumpkin. Doesn’t stop him from being the one bullying her from time to time, does it? Doesn’t stop him from giving her a smack every now and then.

“And if he can do it then so can you. After all, everyone loses their temper from time to time.”

He closed the distance, his sadistic grin back. “I wonder… next time you get upset, what you’ll destroy then. With your abilities a slap from you would probably send someone into the sun.

“Sure would love to hear that conversation. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Mrs. Cake, for killing your kid. But here’s a popsicle stick house. That makes everything better, right?”

Mayhem’s breathing went up. He felt a stinging sensation on his face, sending him to his knees as one of his eyes closed. Out of one eye came the purple aura.

Nega began chuckling. “You know it, don’t you?” He punched Mayhem in the stomach. “You know what you are!” He struck again in the face. “You’re trash! Utter garbage who betrayed your friends for a good time!” He extended his paw, shooting a boulder out of it. As Mayhem bent over in pain Nega brought both arms up and swung down, knocking Mayhem into the top of the shield. “And on top of it all you completely got away with it just because you felt a little sorry. Disgusting!”

Mayhem gently sobbed, all his past feelings coming to the surface as his other eye also got the purple aura coming off his face.

Nega landed on top of the shield, picking him up by the neck. “Just surrender,” he said emotionlessly, a cold expression on his face. 

“N-n-no,” Mayhem coughed out.

“Are you going to continue this façade forever?” He punched Mayhem in the stomach again. “You’re unbelievably selfish. After nearly killing your friends once you’re going to cling to them and your life despite the danger of you going rogue again?”

Mayhem let out a sob. “It’s… not… selfish. My friends mean everything to me.”

That set Nega off, the pure green eyes and the purple aura returning as he put a paw to Mayhem’s chest and blasted him into the air. 

Spring winced. Mayhem was completely helpless against Nega, his inner Sombra brought out into the open. Even after all the time they spent together growing up he was utterly powerless to fight back. She only felt more and more doubt that she would ever prevail against her own Sombra.

“Mayhem’s not going to die, is he?” Plum asked fearfully.

“I… don’t think so,” said Masky. “Nega just seems to want to torture him.”

Twilight was tapping her hoof on the ground. She didn’t doubt that Mayhem was going to have some difficulties prevailing, but he couldn’t seem to muster any willpower at all. It was very worrisome. If things continued on in this manner she would have to intervene. She was well aware that this would deprive Mayhem of a needed change in his life if he didn’t do it himself, but she couldn’t just watch him be eliminated in front of all his friends. It would devastate them.

Mayhem landed hard on the top of the shield, panting. Everything hurt.

Nega walked over and pulled Mayhem up to a sitting position. “Well? Are you ready to surrender yet?”

“N-n-never,” he said weakly.

Nega shook his head, his expression unreadable. “Why not?”

“B-because I… I love… my friends.”

“You say that, but you don’t really mean it.”

“Of course I do.”

“It’s that stubbornness of yours that led to you almost killing everyone, you know. The refusal to give up, the inability to accept losing… and you want to claim you changed?”

Mayhem pushed him away, and got up on shaky legs. “That’s nothing like what happened in the past. Surrendering to you would mean losing all my friends.”

Nega chuckled. “And if you hadn’t been stopped then that’s exactly what would have happened anyway, isn’t it?”

Mayhem winced. “T-that’s not what I meant!”

“It might not, but it doesn’t change it from being the truth. 

“The past you is still the same as the present you, putting yourself before others.”

“I’m doing this FOR my friends!”

“So what? That doesn’t invalidate what I said. You refuse to acknowledge the threat you pose to your friends. No matter what you’re determined to stick around, because you consider yourself too important.”

“B-but I don’t.”

“You spent months learning about friendship, and no one, not even you, ever thought you’d return to the Mayhem you were when you were first given the ability to act. And yet you did.

“Like I said before, boredom isn’t the only thing that can make someone act in nasty ways. You’ve experienced that yourself with Ms. ‘Mix-and-match freak’ Flurry over there, as well as Masky. 

“Things are good now, and they may be good for years or even decades, but all it takes is one bad day, one little shove that pushes you over the edge, and horrible things can happen.”

Nega poked him hard in the chest. “If you really cared about your friends you’d distance yourself from them, rather than sticking around them and constantly being dangerous. But I suppose just hoping nothing ever goes wrong again is just so much more mature than the old Mayhem.” He clapped sarcastically. “You sure showed me.”

Mayhem fell to his knees, crying. “M-Mommy said… said… that if I truly cared about my friends then, instead of running away, I’d work hard to make it up to them so it never happened again.”

“And what better way is there to keep them safe than by cutting yourself out of their lives, hmm? Stop with the pride and stubbornness. Just give in. It’ll be better for your friends that way. 

“Ask yourself: what is best for them? What’s the best way to keep them safe from you going bad again? The best sacrifice you can make is by putting the health and welfare of your friends above your own happiness.”

“I…I…” The outer part of Mayhem’s eyes slowly turned green.

Spring looked at the ground. “I can’t watch anymore!”

“Mayhem needs our help,” said Flash.

“Right behind you,” said Pound. 

“No!” Flurry said sternly, her horn lighting up and holding them in place.

Chocolate turned on her. “He’s getting creamed out there, and you want us to just keep standing here watching? Some friend you are.”

“Don’t you even care what happens to him?” Plum asked angrily, then shuddered as Flurry glared at her.

“That’s the second time I’ve been asked that question,” said Flurry. “Which just goes to show that you don’t understand what’s going on.”

“I understand enough,” said Flash. “It seems like you’re the one who doesn’t get it.”

“This is a personal battle for Mayhem. No matter how much of a disadvantage he seems to be at he needs to find the answer on his own.”

“And what if he loses, huh?” said Sweet Pea. “If you’ve been paying attention he’s barely been able to defend himself.”

“He’s only going to get one shot at this!” Masky said urgently. “Nega’s made it clear he wants to wipe Mayhem out. If he isn’t able to beat Nega then we’re going to lose our friend forever. Is that what you want?”

“Of course not,” said Flurry

“Then we need to go help!” said Peppermint. “Mayhem can’t win. Based on what we’ve seen it’s impossible.”

“Do you remember how you all felt when Sombra corrupted the Crystal Heart and turned the entire Crystal Empire into a twisted version of itself? Didn’t it feel impossible to win then? But despite the massive difference in power between us we managed to come out on top.”

“It’s not the same!” Pound said strongly. “It wasn’t like any of us were fighting alone in that final battle. We had to encourage everyone in the Crystal Empire to prevail.”

“The battle against Sombra was something that would affect the entire Crystal Empire,” said Flurry. “You can’t compare that to a personal battle.”

Pumpkin sniffed, tears coming down her eyes. “And you think all of us won’t be affected if we lose our friend? This isn’t just about him, Flurry.”

Flurry’s horn lit up a little brighter, pulling all the children to her. “We can’t put ourselves in the middle of his battle, but he does need to know he has our support.”

Flurry arranged the children a certain way, keeping Mayhem’s old friends next to all his new ones, before putting her hooves out to the ones next to her.

“You want to make a friendship circle?” asked Plum. “I mean, it’s not quite a circle.”

“Nope,” Flurry replied. “It’s a heart. If he looks down on us from above he’ll know our hearts are with him. Once he remembers that he’ll regain the strength he needs to get rid of Nega for good.”

Flash met her hoof. “I’d rather go up there and fight directly, but I suppose this is a good backup.”

Everyone else met hooves with each other.

After a few moments Pound pulled away from Flash.

“What’s up?” he said.  

“I don’t think Flurry’s plan is good enough.”

“So what do you have in mind, Pound?” asked Flurry.

“Just mimic what I do,” he said to Flash, backing up a bit and then extending his hoof into the open air.

Flash complied, though he was clearly confused.

“Okay… so what did that do?” asked Tree Leaf. “Without the bottom being connected now it just looks like a big curvy letter M. How is that supposed to inspire him?”

He looked towards his friends. “Do all of you remember when our parents were telling us they didn’t want us to hang around with Mayhem anymore? We said to them that if they took that bond away there would always be a hole in our hearts.”

“I remember,” said Peppermint.

“Our group has been through so much together. Despite all the pain our bond has remained strong. Strong enough that Flurry remembered him like the rest of us even without her memories. He’s an important part of all our lives, and I know my heart would never be complete without him in it.

“It’s fitting to leave a gap at the base, as a representation that we love him from the bottom of our hearts.”

That statement was met with nods and affirmations.

Even Spring finally got a little smile on her face. “Tree Leaf said that it just looks like we’re in a curvy M shape now, but by keeping your hooves out I think it sends a more powerful message than just being a heart. It says that we’re all waiting for his victory so he can be the one to finish the shape.”

Flurry bowed her head, closing her eyes. “Now… we just need to believe. When we put our hearts together there’s nothing we can’t achieve.

“We’ll all be with him in spirit. All our hearts will call out to him, and when he answers that call he’ll win.”

Twilight looked at the children in their incomplete heart shape, silently praying that they were right. 

Both sides had a good point. This was a personal battle that they couldn’t fight for him, but it was the strength of their bond that was the only thing that would allow Mayhem to triumph. 

She thought this was a fine compromise. It was a way to tell Mayhem they believed in him without directly interfering.

Up above Mayhem was torn. Seeing his friends again had been his main driving factor in improving. They were a necessary part of his life. Without their light to drive off the darkness he didn’t know if he could maintain his good behavior.

As it had before Twilight’s words came back to him, telling him that he could destroy everything, but it would feel empty without someone to share those experiences with. 

The thought of permanently disconnecting from his friends was unbearable, but the idea that he might hurt them like he did before was even more unbearable still. 

Maybe he was just being selfish and stubborn by staying by their side.

Twilight bit her lip as Mayhem’s colors began to change, starting to match Nega’s. This was something completely different than the Tantabus, and that lack of knowledge scared her. As Luna's feelings grew heavier her Tantabus grew in size and power, and that was it. What, exactly, was going to happen once Mayhem's colors completely changed to match Nega's? It wouldn't be anything good.

Would Mayhem be lost forever to his feelings, or was it only going to be a sign that he was completely under Nega's sway? Would they swap places? She had no answers. Just as when she had heard about his origins it was completely beyond her scope of understanding.

Was he not a Tantabus, after all, but something complete different?

As Mayhem’s emotional state deteriorated those feelings were transferred to Nega, making him wince.

“Hurts,” Nega said, an eye closing. “It hurts!” He grabbed Mayhem and began punching him repeatedly. Mayhem didn’t even try to defend himself.

“Curse you! Curse you! I hate you so much! Just die already!”

Sweet Pea could feel Spring’s hoof shaking. “Don’t focus on him. Focus on your heart. He’ll win. Count on it.”

“Definitely,” said Masky.

Nega dropped Mayhem, sinking to the ground and panting. “Why? Why won’t it stop? I… I have to do more. More and more until my anger is sated.”

Mayhem’s whole body was aching, but he didn’t care. He deserved to suffer for being such a terrible, selfish person.

A bead of sweat came down Nega’s face as he started chuckling. “I guess it’s just never going to stop so long as we’re alive. Our very existence is a plague on this world." He lifted a claw, a ball of energy forming in his palm. “But take heart. I’ll take us both out to end the threat.”

He glanced down at the children, feeling another sting. “Look, Mayhem. Even your friends have given up on you. None of them can even bear to watch this disgusting spectacle.

“Oh, but they’ve arranged themselves into an M shape. I guess they’re your little cheering squad. M for Mayhem.”

Mayhem was torn between wanting to look and not wanting to look. He felt so ashamed, and part of him was glad they weren’t looking.

He strained himself, flipping over onto his stomach on top of the shield. As Nega said they were in an M shape, but it looked weird. Maybe it was just easier for them to make the shape if they were more spaced out.

‘I’m sorry,’ he thought, tears coming down his eyes. ‘I can’t win. And even if I could… I don’t know that I’d want to.

‘I caused so much suffering. Twice now I’ve come close to ruining the lives of so many others. I nearly wiped out the heroes of Equestria, and then I almost took the lives of the people who mean the most to me in the world.

‘No matter how sorry I am about it… I can’t take it back. I can never undo it.

‘Please… just forget about me.’

“But we don’t WANT to forget about you!”

Tree Leaf’s voice echoed in his mind from the last time he said that to his friends.

‘Why not?’ he thought miserably. ‘Why do you want to stay attached to me? After what I did to you… you still want to be friends?’

As he continued staring he finally noticed Pound and Flash with their hooves out. It didn’t make much sense. If they just wanted to make an M then there was no need for the two of them to have their hooves up. It would have been more logical for them to either have their hooves down or to just close the gap.

In his mind’s eye he pictured what it would look like if they were closer together, and realized it would become a heart.

Was it really an M they were making, or was it meant to be a heart? But if was really meant to be a heart then they should have just moved closer together. With their hooves up and the gap between them it was almost like…

A sob escaped him. They were waiting for him. Waiting for him to come down and complete the heart. That’s why Pound and Flash had their hooves up. When he triumphed he would come down and take his spot amongst them. He would complete their heart.

As that realization sank in he suddenly felt strength returning to him. He couldn’t lose here. There was still too much he had to do to surrender.

His head rose as he heard the sound of magic. He saw a ball of concentrated dark magic directed at him.

As Nega went to throw it at him he kicked his arm, sending the ball flying upwards where it exploded harmlessly.

“Hmm?” Nega said in confusion. Even as he watched Mayhem’s colors returned to normal and the purple aura faded. “How?”

“Enough of this!” Mayhem said strongly. “Enough! I’m through with being your puppet. No matter what it takes I’m going to beat you once and for all. Then I’ll join my friends.”

He put a claw to his heart. “I can feel them. I can feel their hearts calling out to me. Even if they’re not right next to me, so long as our hearts are united you’ll never prevail.”

Down below all the children smiled, opening their eyes for a few moments to glance at each other and see that they were feeling the same thing.

‘Mayhem has found his second wind,’ thought Twilight. ‘Let’s see where things go from here.’
> 11-16:Rant
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nega was staring at Mayhem. Inner strength was pouring off of him. “How… how are you doing this? You were at the brink of surrendering. Where is all this coming from?”

“I told you already I was never going to surrender!” said Mayhem, taking a step forward. “Just as Sombra did you’re underestimating the power of friendship. Just as Flurry discovered at the end all it takes is one light to dispel the darkness. And the more lights that come together the stronger that light becomes.

“I have every one of my friends on my side, giving strength to my heart. That’s all I need to know.” Mayhem smirked. “And you, Nega? Who do you have on your side? You’re just some useless thing that’s overstayed its welcome, and it’s time for you to go, loser!”

Mayhem saw tears coming down his eyes, but the hurt on Nega’s face didn’t bring sympathy to him.

“Now you want to cry?” Mayhem said angrily. “After everything you did? You keep acting like you’re so superior, but you’re no better than me.

“You hate me, huh? Well, that’s fine, because I hate you too.” He gave Nega a kick, sending him flying.

Twilight winced. This wasn’t going to end well.

Almost as soon as she thought that she could feel a change in Nega. 

He grabbed his head with both hands, gritting his teeth and moaning. “Hurts! Hurts! It hurts!”

Dark magic began pouring off of him.

Almost faster than Mayhem could see Nega charged, punching him in the stomach and then teleporting above him and slamming him towards the ground.

Mayhem crashed into the shield hard enough to shatter it before slamming into the ground hard, making a small crater.

The impact stirred the other children, making them look up and break apart. Mayhem was unmoving.

In a panic they all ran over.

“Hey!” Masky said. “Are you okay, Mayhem?”

Pumpkin pulled him to a sitting position, giving him a few gentle slaps. “I think he’s unconscious.”

“Oh, no!” said Peppermint.

“Twilight!” Spring said urgently. “You have some of Mayhem’s magic, right? Can’t you heal him?”

Twilight didn’t answer, staring up fearfully at the display above.

Nega’s claw was up in the air, and it was almost an exact replication of his initial actions. There was dark energy and electricity swirling around him, his eyes crazed and a large ball of energy formed.

“The shield!” Flurry said, looking around. “It’s gone.”

“And it looks like Nega is about to attack,” said Plum, gulping.

Nega was shaking with rage. “Kill! Kill him! Have to kill him. Kill, but friends… friends there too. Won’t kill friends. Just him. Can’t… can’t control. No! I can. Just him. But can’t. They’ll get caught up in it.”

Nega kept going back and forth, but he finally reached his limit. He couldn’t hold himself back any more. He swung down, the ball of energy flying towards them at first.

Nega forced himself to swing his claw, changing the trajectory of the attack so his friends didn’t get caught up in the explosion. 

Twilight put up a shield regardless, and it was a good thing she did. The explosion itself was far from them, but shrapnel and rubble crashed into the shield.

Flurry let out a horrified yell as her parent's castle was destroyed. “Mom! Dad! Starlight! Everyone!”

Nega let out a scream of frustration, the darkness growing in intensity. "IT HURTS!" he yelled, and then began continually shooting down  blasts of energy all around, reducing large parts of the empire to dust. None of the blasts came around the area where Mayhem and the rest were.

Flurry felt like her mind was breaking apart. Everything was going wrong.

Pound gave her a gentle slap to get her attention. “Hey, Flurry! This is just an illusion, remember?”

She was gasping for breath as she turned to him, and as her mind caught up with her emotions she calmed down a little. 

Even though she remembered now it wasn’t the real thing she couldn’t stop crying. It might have been just a model of the real thing, but it was close enough of a replica that it still pained her heart seeing her home destroyed.

“He’s destroying everything,” she said sadly.

“He’s too much,” said Plum. “How… how are we supposed to beat him?”

“I guess a fake Crystal Heart wasn’t enough to wipe out the real darkness,” said Sweet Pea.

Mayhem groaned, stirring.

“Oh, good,” Chocolate said with relief. “You’re alive.”

Mayhem put his paw to the back of his head, rubbing it. “Owww,” he moaned. “Everything hurts.”

After a moment he took notice of the rumbling shaking the ground, and jerked as he noticed what Nega was doing. “Darn it. It feels like he just keeps getting stronger and stronger.”

Pound glared at Flurry. “Come on, now. You can see that Nega is completely out of control and destroying everything at random. He even knocked Mayhem out cold. Even you have to agree that it’s too dangerous now to send Mayhem in alone.”

Flurry bit her lip. “Well… yeah. But what are we supposed to do here? This is just like when we fought Mayhem. We made it through mainly because he was only playing very roughly. Even when Masky decked him off his throne he was only pretending to be mad and about to lose control. 

“It seems too dangerous for any of us to go out there. We’ll die for sure.”

Pumpkin tapped her hoof on the ground. “Well, emergency situations call for emergency actions. If Mayhem gives each of us some of his magic like with Twilight then we’ll have the strength to protect ourselves.”

“If all of us team up with chaos magic then we’ll win for sure,” said Masky.

Mayhem snapped, healing his injuries. “I’m down.”

A loud growl nearby caught their attention. “For crying out loud!” Twilight said angrily. “Every one of you is clueless! I can’t stand it!”

All of them looked at her, confused by her reaction. 

“W-what do you mean?”

Her horn flashed, and the sounds of destruction faded into the background. She rounded on them, her glare terrifying all of them. It was the same look she had given to Nega earlier when he refused to protect Mayhem and they had their stare-off.

“What it all comes down to is all of you wanting to get rid of Mayhem.”

Flurry was the only one brave enough to speak. “B-but we don’t. We were… trying t-t-to-”

“Silence!” Twilight said viciously, making them all flinch. “You don’t understand anything! Why do you think the two of them are affecting each other’s emotions? It’s because they’re connected at the core.

“Nega is the embodiment of all of Mayhem’s negative feelings made into a living being. You seem to be trying to separate them, but the truth is that they’re only one being. That’s why I called him Mayhem’s reflection, and the only reason a reflection stops appearing in the mirror is because of the disappearance of the one looking inside it.

“The more you despise Nega the more you’re showing that your feelings for Mayhem are conditional. Even assuming you could defeat Nega how is Mayhem going to feel about that? It might feel like a victory at first, but then he might get to thinking about how you were so adamant about getting rid of something that looked so much like him and acted like he had in the past. This time, though, there was no forgiveness. And maybe he’ll be next. Maybe next time there won’t be any extra chances.

“Far from reassuring him of your sincerity as friends you’ll only cause him to feel more anxiety over his future actions.”

Now that Twilight had said it Mayhem was thinking about it, and he was getting uncomfortable.

“All of you obliviously went along, trying to fight, because I guess you’ll only accept a perfect friend who doesn’t make mistakes.”

“No!” said Pound, trembling as Twilight glared at him.

“If Nega is just a piece of Mayhem, then anything you do to him is reflected in how you feel about Mayhem.”

“B-but,” Pumpkin started, but then drifted off.

“You kids just chose to ignore everything I said because it was too bothersome to try to win him over, even though I’ve always advocated converting others to good with love and friendship. 

“When Nega first came out he was angry and destructive, but when I talked to him and showed him kindness I even convinced him to give Mayhem a chance to prove himself, holding himself back from his murderous impulses. And he kept that calm attitude throughout the entire adventure, never once singling Mayhem out.

"And WHY did he do that? Because I showed him affection and told him he could come to me if he got overwhelmed, just as it always has been for you. The affection I showed him kept him tame. Sound familiar, Mayhem?

“What have you done for him, hmm? What have you done to try and help him? What have you done at all besides wishing he’d just go away? Instead, Pound socked him in the face and the rest of you all shared the sentiment that you disliked him and wanted him gone.”

The question stung, all of them looking away awkwardly.

She pointed hard at Mayhem, and he jerked, backing up a step. “You wanted to create a Sombra and let all your inner feelings come out to the surface to fight against, and you got that.

“Do you remember how you told me you didn’t always want to play the villain when I came up with the plan for granting wishes? Didn’t Nega say the same, about how he really didn’t want to do it, but he did it anyways? He did it for you and Spring, knowing it would be painful and lonely, and yet you were ungrateful. 

“The moment you saw he still existed after beating the adventure you immediately assaulted him with new horrible feelings, and for what? From the very beginning Nega has done nothing except what you wanted him to do. He didn’t ask to be ‘born,’ but unintentional or not you created him to treat you horribly and attempt to get rid of you. You forced him to bear all of your inner trauma, forced him to suffer horribly, and you have the nerve to want to destroy him for lashing out because of it?”

Mayhem bit his lip, his stomach hurting.

“And the rest of you aren’t getting off the hook either for how much you’ve gone off track.

“Pound and Pumpkin, I guess you don’t remember when you ran away from home because you felt unwanted. 

“Or you, Peppermint. How you felt your parents didn’t care about you anymore with your new brother, and you got so jealous you slapped him.

“Or how about you, Flurry? How you were teased about your oversized wings and couldn’t make friends because it seemed like they only wanted to use you for your status or were afraid of you.

“And let’s not forget about Masky, who felt like he came second to his parents jobs and compensated by putting on an invincible, confident act.

“I guess all of you have just forgotten how much it hurts to be treated like something lesser, huh? Forgot the cold sting of loneliness and being shunned.”

As the memories came back to them all of them started crying a little, guilt flowing through them.

“I kept my conversations with him secret because I thought you could figure things out on your own, but clearly that’s not happening. Take a look.”

Her horn flashed, letting them see her memories.

“You see it now?” Twilight said angrily. “You see how much he’s suffering? You see how much he wanted to let things end peacefully if it was possible? 

“In the end, all he ever wanted was for his pain to stop. Yet you just  piled more pain on him, and now we’re seeing the results. And seeing how angry and upset he was your brilliant plan was to attack him? Are you nuts? For goodness sake, Pound, I thought you of all ponies would remember how attacking others instead of seeking peace only leads to bad things.

“Flurry, I’m especially surprised by you.” The filly squeaked. “Wasn’t that cutie mark of yours supposed to represent wanting to give others a light in the darkness? To show them that no matter hopeless things seemed that there was still light to be found? I guess that thing on your flank is only for your friends, and anyone else doesn't matter.”

Flurry’s eyes clenched shut.

“Arrogance!” she said contemptuously. “Adamantly convinced you’re on the side of right when it couldn’t be any further from the truth. I told you just what to do in order to win Nega over, but not a one of you paid attention to me. 

"You may have been the heroes in a pretend game of no consequence, but when it comes to the real world you’re the villains, hating on someone when all they really needed was some comforting and love.

“I expected so much more after your past performances in friendship. I’m very disappointed in all of you!”

With that she turned her back on them.

The weight of guilt and shame drove most of them to their knees. All of them broke down crying.

It brought Twilight no joy to go after the children so savagely, but Nega was rapidly becoming a genuine threat. It was only a tiny thread of light that was stopping the draconequus from fully submitting to the darkness. 

The time was quickly approaching where she would have to step in herself. If it came to that…

She began crying too, a miserable expression on her face. As a princess she couldn’t put any one individual above the safety of Equestria. If they couldn’t settle Nega’s feelings then she would be left with no choice but to destroy Mayhem to break the link between them. Just locking him away wouldn't do it, since Mayhem could still feel emotions inside of Discord which Nega would feed off of. 

She glanced behind her, hating all the pain she had caused, but it had to be done. She had to call them out before they ruined their only chance of still having Mayhem around by the end of the day. 

‘What are you going to do from here?’ she thought, wiping her face. ‘Are you going to let my words break you, or will you come together and do the right thing this time?

‘If you can start trying to walk down the right path then I can be a guide to make sure you stay there this time.’

She looked up at Nega, still causing mindless destruction. ‘One way or another your pain will come to an end soon. I only pray that it doesn’t have to come at the cost of Mayhem.’
> 11-17: Unbreakable promise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The children had been quietly sobbing for the past few minutes. They couldn’t even defend themselves from anything Twilight had said. They had really screwed up and been doing things so wrong.

Most of them were on their knees, but Peppermint and Plum were both on their bellies, their heads buried in their hooves.

Pound’s heart was aching. It felt just like when he and Pumpkin got kicked out of school, except this time he really felt he deserved everything that was said.

He tried to get up, but he just couldn’t find the strength. He felt too heavy.

Next to him Pumpkin was still crying. Everyone was crying. Everyone was in pain. He forced his head upwards, seeing Nega in a new light. He was suffering too; suffering because none of them could see him as anything more than a pest that needed to be squashed out of existence.

How would he feel if he thought that someone thought that way about him? He didn’t have to wonder. He had gone through it himself a few times.

The only way to help Nega through his pain was to help Mayhem through his. As long as there was a friend in need he couldn’t just lay down and wallow in his own pain. That wasn’t him. He never wanted it to be him.

He struggled hard, but he got to his hooves. The first few steps took everything he had, and he nearly tripped, but as purpose filled him walking came easier. 

He stopped in front of Flurry, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “All of us are sinking into the darkness, and we could all use a little of your light.”

Flurry barely gave him a glance before looking back at the ground. “What’s the point? I only cared about my friends, not thinking about whether someone I didn’t really know needed that light too. 

“Aunt Twilight is right. My cutie mark is just for show.”

“Flurry, your cutie mark isn’t just for show. It got us through this.”

“So what?” said Masky. “We were only heroes in a fantasy. What does it matter that we won a fake game?”

“We screwed up… that’s absolutely true. But… does that mean we’re just going to roll over and die? Every time it’s seemed hopeless that’s when love and friendship has given us the power to prevail.

“It’s not too late for us to come back from this.”

“Are you paying any attention at all to Nega?” asked Tree Leaf. “He’s destroying the world.”

“Mayhem did that at the end of the superhero adventure. It didn’t stop us from winning, did it?”

Pound gulped, letting out a little sob. “We… all of us… we forgot what we were really here for. We came here to fight for our friends and help them better their lives.

“Isn’t that….” He sniffed a few times as tears rolled down his face. “Isn’t that something still worth fighting for?”

The question hung in the air for a little while, before everyone slowly looked up at him. 

Flash rubbed his face hard, forcing himself up on shaky hooves. “I… I said it before and I’ll say it again. I don’t turn my back on my friends.

“It doesn’t matter the danger. I won’t abandon those I love.”

Pumpkin looked at Peppermint, still prostrate on the ground, and she also found strength returning to her. She fought past the despair threatening to engulf her and helped her friend up. Sweet Pea did the same for Spring Meadow.

One by one they all got up.

Flurry lit up her horn, light magic enveloping the area around them. They all welcomed its warmth.

Without needing to say a word they all moved into a circle shape, holding each other and welcoming the closeness as their hearts joined with each other.

It did make them feel a little better, but they were still very subdued.

“We can’t give up,” said Chocolate.

“No way,” said Sweet Pea. “We have to take responsibility for our mistakes.”

“If we can’t calm Nega down,” said Spring, “then all of Equestria will be in danger.”

“That’s important too,” said Flurry, “but we might also lose Mayhem.”

“That’s unacceptable,” said Peppermint.

“Got that right,” said Flash. “We’re not losing any friends.”

It suddenly got quieter. Nega was panting heavily, seemingly having worked out some of his feelings. He curled up into a ball and began sobbing.

This brought tears to all the children. They really had been too focused on beating Nega without thinking about his feelings. They worked so hard with the intention of making him vanish, not caring about how he might feel about that.

Flurry sniffed. “This feels… just like when I was about to forgive Mayhem. I went through that whole superhero story only seeing Mayhem as an irredeemable villain. I hated him for scaring me and threatening my friends.

“After we won and his evil attitude vanished I began to see who he was beneath that, my heart recognizing him as a friend and just wanting to make him hurt less.”

“Twilight was the only one willing to give him a chance,” said Plum. “She never forgot the magic of friendship.”

Sweet Pea sighed. “While we… we never gave him a chance. We thought he was just some evil thing to eliminate.”

“Even if we thought it was to help Mayhem it doesn’t make it right,” said Pumpkin.

“We really were acting like the villains to him,” said Spring Meadow, gulping. “After going through so much pain I really should have known better about how bad it feels to be treated that way.”

“I… I’ve been making him suffer,” said Mayhem. “I couldn’t find love for him… because I couldn’t find love for myself. All he had to feel from me is anger and unhappiness. It’s no surprise he’s getting so destructive. A build-up of negative feelings is what caused me to go bad the first time.”

Flash got a little smile on his face. “Well… it’s not too late to make amends, Mayhem. Nega has stopped blowing up everything in sight. So maybe now we can talk to him and help free him of his feelings.”

Pound pulled away, walking in front of Mayhem. “Our feelings for you are not conditional. You’re always going to be a friend to us. I mean, after what you pulled isn’t that clear enough?

“The six of us… we’ve had plenty of time to change our minds, haven’t we?” He bit his lip, then sighed. “Being a good friend is about being honest. And, being perfectly honest, I did feel some resentment for you in the days after the superhero adventure, even if I did forgive you.

“You hurt Pumpkin and did horrible things to all of us. It was really scary. After Twilight dropped us home me and Pumpkin just cried our eyes out when we saw our parents, thinking of how close we had come to never seeing them again.

“But at the end of it all I never stopped thinking about you as a friend, because I knew you regretted what you did.”

Pumpkin stood next to Pound. “We know the pain that Nega is feeling. We ran away from home on the night of our first day of school because everyone was mad at us for getting in a big fight.

“Our principal, our teacher, our parents, our aunt, and especially Twilight were all mad. We kept getting it from every direction.”

Her eyes clenched shut. “It hurt so much. We felt like unlovable monsters.”

Pound put a hoof around her. “That night, it felt like the two of us were the only things in the world that still cared about each other.”

Pumpkin wiped her eyes. “Maybe it’s not nearly as serious as what you did, but those feelings were terrible.

“We ran into Fluttershy shortly after that, and she showed us the light again. She didn’t know why we were upset, but she took us back to her house and gave us comforting until we were able to tell her what we did.”

Pound was looking at the ground, that moment still coming in loud and clear. “We were both so afraid. I mean, Fluttershy is the Element of Kindness. If…” He let out a little sob. “If even she felt we were disgusting after what we did then it would have been unbearable.”

“But she didn’t get mad. She told us she still loved us, even though we had screwed up. She even took us back home and helped us make up with our parents and Twilight.”

“It was such a relief.”

Pound sighed. “I guess… we just… forgot…” He sighed again. “Forgot how terrible that night felt. It’s been so long since then, and who wants to keep remembering terrible feelings like those?”

He put a hoof on Mayhem’s shoulder. “Our Auntie Pinkie was devastated by us running away. Anything could have happened to us when we were out there. It wasn’t the first time we had run away and scared her like that.”

“Even if the first time was just because we accidentally wrecked something she had worked hard on,” said Pumpkin. “She thought this might start becoming a pattern, like we’d start running away every time things got bad.”

“And she told us something very, very important. She made sure to drill it into our heads that she could never hate us. She only hated our bad behavior.”

“No matter how bad we got she told us that would always be true. She even said that if we turned evil she’d still believe that we were the children she loved deep down inside. It was a reminder of that promise that gave us the strength to overpower you when you first came out.”

Pound sat down and said, “It gave us strength to know that, no matter how far we fell, the adults in our lives would never abandon us or give up on us, and we want to give strength to you too.

“And so…” He moved his hoof in the usual pattern. “I Pinkie Promise to you that my love and friendship to you isn’t just conditional. I’ll always love you, now and forever. Even if you fall deep into the darkness I’ll fight to pull you out again. That’s a Pinkie Promise for life.”

Pumpkin moved her own hoof. “Same here.”

Mayhem’s eyes grew wet.

“What’s a Pinkie Promise?” asked Chocolate.

Pound turned to him. “You shouldn’t break promises in the first place, but a Pinkie Promise is special. Once made, you can never break it.”

“That sounds like a curse,” said Plum.

“Is it magic?” asked Sweet Pea.

Pumpkin shook her head. “It’s not a curse or magic. It’s just named after our Auntie Pinkie, because she takes her promises very, very seriously.

“Nothing forces you to keep it, but among her circle of friends we all take it just as seriously.”

Pound put a hoof to his heart. “A Pinkie Promise is something that you make with your whole heart and soul. It’s the ultimate act of trust, because you know once you make it you can never take it back.”

“But what happens if you try your best to keep it and you can’t?” asked Spring. 

“Or something happens that makes it impossible to keep it?” asked Sweet Pea.

Pound scratched his head. “I… don’t know. We’ve never had a situation like that come up.”

“Hey!” said Flash. “Who cares about the ‘what if’s?’ I don’t. The most important thing is what that promise means. It’s a promise from the heart.

“I’m not afraid to make that commitment, so teach me the motions.”

Pumpkin nodded, moving her hoof in time with the words. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Tree Leaf’s eyebrow rose. “Stick a cupcake in your eye?”

“Well, it’s not a literal cupcake.”

“Although,” Pound said with an awkward grin, “I have seen her do it literally.”

“Doesn’t that hurt though?” asked Peppermint, her eyes widening.

“I think she closes her eye first.”

Flash moved his hoof. “My Pinkie Promise is the same as theirs. I don’t back out on friends, and you’re a friend I don’t ever want to lose.”

“You’ve done so much for our family,” said Spring, doing the same motion.

“Ours too,” said Sweet Pea, doing the same.

One by one they each made their own promises, and with every one Mayhem felt more and more overwhelmed by their support.

“We’re not going anywhere,” said Flurry, the last one. “Our hearts will always be with you, no matter how far apart we are.

“Now go beat…” She coughed. “Go defeat… um…” She scratched her head. “What should I say here?”

Pound snickered. “How about just ‘go make friends?’ That’s enough.”

Mayhem nodded. “I can feel all your hearts with me. This time… this time I’ll win him over.”

“Mayhem,” said the calm voice of Twilight.

Mayhem’s confidence immediately took a dip. 

He looked around at his friends and found it again. “I… I know we let you down, Twilight, but we’re trying to make up for it.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“We know we messed up,” said Flurry. “We understand that now.”

“But we see where we went wrong,” said Tree Leaf. “Now we’re ready to try again and make things right.”

“No, you’re not,” Twilight said simply.

“Hey,” said Pumpkin. 

“If Mayhem goes and confronts Nega again now he’ll still lose, one hundred percent.”

Mayhem’s face fell as he lost confidence again.

"That's why-"

“Shut up, Twilight!” Pound said angrily. 

“Hmm,” Twilight muttered, her stoic expression not changing.

“So what we screwed up before? That doesn’t mean we’re giving up. No matter what it takes we’re going to emerge victorious, so we don't need these negative comments from you. You're acting like an uncaring jerk!”

The other children swarmed around Mayhem, throwing in their support as well. They had been scared of Twilight before, but now that they had sworn their support to him they wouldn’t let that fear hold them back.

Twilight shook her head, closing her eyes. "The fact that you don’t grasp my thoughts only goes to show how far you still are from victory.”

“We understand enough, Aunt Twilight,” Flurry said angrily. “Just because you’ve given up on Mayhem doesn’t mean we have. I expected more from you  too instead of being so heartless.”

"Is that what you think?" Twilight’s horn began to glow, and while they felt a momentary fear they stood resolute.

All that happened was a bunch of arrows going in the eight compass directions appeared between them.

Twilight opened her eyes. “Let me ask you a simple question: what happens when you want to go somewhere and head in the wrong direction?”

“You… get lost?” Sweet Pea said hesitantly. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Not quite. When you go in the wrong direction you don't wind up at your intended destination.”

The arrow pointing north began to glow blue, while the one pointing south turned red. “Your objective was to help guide Mayhem up out of the darkness, so ideally you want to take the northern path. That’s the fastest route. 

“However, you were going to the sides and slowly heading down. At the point where you declared your intentions to try to get rid of Nega through fighting you were cementing yourself into a path of no return. If you had taken the southern path then Nega’s power would have grown out of control. That’s why I had to step in. 

“I’ll make this extremely clear. Whatever your feelings, or even my own feelings, I cannot let a threat to Ponyville or Equestria endanger others. If Nega’s power grew too great for me to overcome then I’d have to cut off the source of his power, and the only way to do that would be to eliminate Mayhem for good.”

A shiver went through the crowd.

“Do you get it? If I had really given up on Mayhem we wouldn’t be having a discussion. I’d be acting to stop the threat. I only moved to stop you from going onto the worst possible path.

“Your mindsets are better now. You’re finally starting to head upwards more than downwards, but you’re still at a steep angle. You’re not yet on the northern path.”

She sat down and shrugged. “I told myself that if you fought past the despair I created to focus on your bonds then you’d be ready to hear what you need to know to take the northern path rather than heading off in the wrong direction, but I guess I don't need to do that now.”

Sweet Pea’s eyebrow rose. “Why not?”

“Because you children clearly know better than me with all my years of experience, right? I’ve spent the past few months dedicated to helping Mayhem to improve himself, and chose to pardon him for the past rather than lock him up.”

She let out a humorless laugh. “Oh, Flurry, the hypocrisy you came at me with is just funny, considering how angry you got at the others for accusing you of not caring.”

She shook her head. “So, as you and Pound said, this heartless, uncaring jerk should just shut up and let you do what you want, right?"

Pound winced. He had gone a bit overboard. Flurry felt guilty for being so harsh. They could both see how hurt she looked.

He bowed to her, tears brimming in his eyes. “I’m really sorry, Twilight. I just get overprotective sometimes.

“Please don’t let my words stop you from helping Mayhem.”

Pumpkin pulled at him. “Don’t bow, dummy. You know what she really needs.”

Pound got up, walking to her and hugging her leg. “I’m sorry,” he said again.

Flurry joined him on the other side. “Sorry, Aunt Twilight.”

Even though they hadn’t been nasty like the other two the rest of the children apologized too.

Twilight looked mollified. “I forgive you."

Flash tapped his hoof on the ground a few times, feeling annoyed even though he just apologized. "I think we deserve an apology too, Twilight."

"Why's that?" asked Chocolate.

"I admit we were dumb in deciding to get rid of Nega by force, but the whole reason things came to that is Twilight's fault in the first place."

Twilight sat down, and said calmly, "Why do you say that?"

"You yelled at us for not understanding what Nega is and how he was hurting so much inside and stuff, but how is that our fault? All we got to see of Nega is him trying to get rid of our friend. We never got to see him feeling sad and looking for support and asking for hugs. You chose to hide all that stuff from us and never tell us about it, and then yelled at us for not knowing stuff only you knew and kept to yourself."

He pointed a hoof at her. "So I think you're just as responsible as we are."

Now that Flash has said it and they had the chance to think about it they agreed, feeling anger creeping up in them.

Twilight let out a sigh and closed her eyes. "I kept it to myself because I had faith in you that you would come to understand things on your own. Given your history and all the struggles you went through in making friends I believed you would recognize someone only lashing out because of inner pain, especially when the end of your journey through the Crystal Empire was all about showing others the light.

"But... even so, I did have useful information that could have made you more sympathetic to Nega if I had let you know in the first place, and I have to take responsibility for my own choices."

She bowed to them. "I went a little too far earlier, and for that I'm sorry. I humbly ask for your forgiveness, so that together we can bring things to a close peacefully."

The children now swarmed around her, accepting her apology.

"So what's next, Twilight?" asked Plum.

"I asked you a simple question before," she replied. "I have one more for you: what do you want to ask me?”

They all looked confused. “What do we want to ask?” said Spring. 

Twilight nodded. “Come on. It’s not that hard.”

None of them knew what she was talking about. 

After about a minute Mayhem raised his claw. “Twilight?”

“Yes, Mayhem?”

“You contradicted yourself before, but you’re not dumb enough to not do it on purpose.”

“And where did I contradict myself?”

“You said if I went to confront Nega now I’d definitely, one hundred percent lose, but you also said you can’t let a threat to Ponyville remain. If it came down to it you said we wouldn’t be talking. You’d be acting to stop the threat.”

A hint of a smile crossed Twilight’s face. “Mmm-hmm. Go on.”

“Sooo… the fact that you’re still talking rather than taking me out means you do still think I can win, but I’m missing something. Something crucial. You even said that if we could come back after you yelled at all of us that you’d tell us what we needed to know to move on.”

Now Twilight had a genuine smile on her face. “Keep going. You’re almost there.”

Her change in attitude made him feel calmer too. “Right now Nega is between me and the north path, so at best I’ll veer off in the wrong direction. What do I need to know so I can take the north path?”

Twilight clapped. “That is the right question. You certainly are lacking something vital to subdue Nega. After all, if just getting encouragement from your friends was enough to defeat him then this would already be over.”

“But then… what should I do? What am I missing?”

“The thing you need, the thing that you’re missing, is the will to live.”
> 11-18:The will to live
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

All the children were looking at her with confusion. 

“The will… to live?” asked Plum. “What’s that?”

Twilight’s horn light up, separating Mayhem’s new friends from his old ones but still keeping them all close together. Gesturing to Pound and the rest she said, “Think back to when you fought Mayhem. What would you say was the key factor in your victory? The thing you absolutely could not have won without.”

Pumpkin smiled. “That’s easy, Twilight. It was our friendship and unity.”

“Sorry, but that’s incorrect.”

Masky’s eyebrow went up. “How can you say that?”

“That’s right,” said Peppermint. “If it wasn’t our friendship that let us win then what was it?”

“Your victory came down to Flurry, and no one else,” Twilight replied.

“Me?” Flurry said, her head tilting. “But I couldn’t do anything on my own. It was only through cooperation and teamwork that we prevailed.”

“The thing is, while your friendship was something that played a part in your victory, the true thing that led you through was Flurry. Why? Because she had something that the rest of you lacked. And it was because of this certain something that the rest of you were inspired.

“So long as Mayhem lacks that certain something he’ll never be able to overcome Nega.”

“What about me was so special? What did I have that the others didn’t?”

“Exactly what I said before,” said Twilight. “You had the will to live.”

“But what is the will to live?” asked Tree Leaf.

“It’s unshakable courage and determination and a drive to succeed.

“Mayhem’s powers were far beyond anything you had ever faced. You, Flurry, started out a weak crybaby when you first began your venture. As you reunited with your friends and saw the sacrifices they were willing to make for you, even getting badly hurt to protect you from the fake Starlight, it caused a change inside you.

“You saw that you couldn’t remain as you were. Even as the battle grew crazier and crazier, even when he stripped you of your wings and horn and left you a magicless earth pony, you still wouldn’t surrender to him. Even when he destroyed his castle and was allowing his world to be sucked up by tornadoes and trying to convince you to betray each other, you still wouldn’t give up.

“In the face of impossible odds, even when you, yourself, had no idea how to win, you fully believed that so long as you continued putting in the effort you would prevail. When everyone else was feeling doubt you were the shining beacon of light radiating that same feeling to them, taking away their own fear. 

“Your victory was no coincidence. It came down to you having the will to live. You knew that if you gave up that was it, but so long as you kept putting in the effort, no matter how many times it took, eventually you would succeed.”

Flurry thought back to that time. Seeing the others try to sacrifice themselves for her did indeed change her mindset. Seeing the depths they were willing to go to in order to protect her made her want to protect them in return, and that feeling carried her throughout the fight with Mayhem.

Twilight looked back at Mayhem. “Look into my eyes. What do you see there?”

As Mayhem complied he could feel a great power coming off of her. It wasn’t intimidating like her earlier standoff with Nega, but it was a tremendous force of will. 

“You can feel it, can’t you, Mayhem?”

“Y-yes.”

“Back then, when you kept on battering Flurry, it infuriated you that she wouldn’t surrender despite the gap in power between you. But do you remember what you felt after that? Confusion. Past your rage you just felt baffled that she wouldn’t give up.” 

She lowered her head a bit so they were almost eye to eye. “The will to live is a crucial mindset if you want to conquer the hardest challenges. It says that, no matter what, no matter how tough things get, no matter how unlikely it is to succeed, that you will not surrender under any circumstances. You will live on, no matter the mistakes or errors you make along the way.”

“So what are you saying, Twilight?” he asked, an edge in his voice. “That I should just dismiss everything bad that I do because I think I’m so important I shouldn’t ever vanish?”

Twilight scowled. “That you’re even asking that question just shows you don’t understand at all what I’ve been saying. That’s exactly why I told you that you wouldn’t win if you went up against Nega.

“That’s the exact opposite of what I mean. The will to live is being able to face yourself. It’s being able to acknowledge the wrong you’ve done and not be consumed by it. Yes, you should feel guilty when you do bad things, but just like in everything there needs to be a balance. If you feel too little you become like you did in the superhero adventure. But feeling too much just paralyzes you.

“Spring Meadow suffered from that. Her world grew smaller and smaller, enduring a daily cycle of self-hatred that made her believe her parents hated her. 

“Rather than face up to your mistakes and seek to make up for them you just punished yourselves and sought to run away from your actions.”

Both Mayhem and Spring looked at the ground for a bit.

Spring was the first to look up. “But… what else was I supposed to do, Twilight? There was no way to make up for my brother’s accident.”

“Mayhem knows the answer. He just hasn’t internalized it yet, and that’s where the problem lies. After admitting your faults you apologize with a sincere heart, and don’t do the same thing again to the best of your ability. 

“Even if you’re never forgiven, you can’t live your life burdened with guilt. After all, what value does your guilt have for other people? Does feeling guilty on its own make everything better? Did it make Cup and Carrot and the rest of the parents ignore Mayhem’s actions? Of course not. You had to work to earn their forgiveness.

“And you, Spring, learned that your parents never held any anger towards you. Because you couldn’t be honest and chose to play the role of punishing yourself you just made yourself suffer unnecessarily. You came to be convinced no one could ever love you and everyone was against you.

“The point isn’t to ignore your guilty feelings and actions. The point is to use your feelings to motivate you to be a better person.”

Spring looked towards Mayhem. “You… you said that at the hospital. That your past is for learning from, not to hurt yourself.”

“Exactly!” said Twilight. “But neither of you have quite accepted that.

“Sure, it may be true that if you die or lock yourself up or isolate yourself then you can no longer commit new bad actions, but that’s not true repentance. Why? Because just as you can’t do bad things to others it also stops you from doing good things. You can’t erase the past, but so long as you’re still alive it opens up the possibility of making positive changes in the life of someone else. It opens the possibility that you may be forgiven by the ones you hurt.

“If Mayhem had taken that route just think of all the lives that would have been impacted. Think of your six friends who forgave you and still wanted you in their lives. Think of Fluttershy, your mother figure. Think of Discord. Think of me, like your second mother. Think of all the new friends you made.

“Most importantly, think about Spring Meadow and her family, as well as Sweet Pea’s family. One accident led to all eight of them suffering horribly.

“Without you around to heal Forest Meadow all seven of them would still be suffering deeply as Forest remained in his coma.

“Because you remained in the world you saved eight lives, and with your power you have the ability to save many more. That is why you can’t die, because your life has great value in the hearts of others.”

Tears welled up in Mayhem’s eyes.

“Even if Forest woke up on his own it still wouldn’t have made things as good as they are now. That moment could have come months or even years in the future, and the darkness in Spring’s heart would have only continued to grow. She had a lot of buried feelings that you revealed to her family, giving them the means to learn how to help her heart heal. 

“And because you were with me next week it allowed me to bridge the gap between them, helping Spring to see that she was helping him to heal too.”

She put a hoof to his chest. “All of this is because of you. Because you were in the world. So you need to live on, because there’s so much more good you can do.”

He put his claw to his face, gently sobbing.

Spring hugged him close, crying as well. “She’s right! You did so much for our family, bringing all of us so much happiness. So don’t ever think you’re worthless.” 

Twilight gave them a minute to get their emotions under control before gently tapping the ground to get their attention. “This next thing applies to both of you, Spring and Mayhem, but it can also be applicable to all of you. 

“ ‘Your past is for learning from, not to be used to hurt yourself.’ That statement perfectly sums up what your emotions should be used for. They’re teaching tools.”

“Teaching tools?” said Peppermint.

Twilight nodded. “Your emotions teach you lessons. It’s just like hunger. When you’re hungry it's a signal to eat. If you have too little it can lead to headaches and getting irritable. However, if you stuff yourself and eat too much you can wind up with a stomachache. At worst, you’ll puke. 

“It’s the same thing with emotions. When you’re sad it tells you that something is wrong. When you’re happy it tells you that all is right with the world.  Of course we all want to strive to be happy and not feel sadness, but those negative emotions are just as valuable as the positive ones.” 

“I don’t think so,” said Masky.

“Oh?”

His mind turned back to the past. “I felt so lonely and miserable back then. If I couldn’t feel sad then my act wouldn’t have been an act. I wouldn’t have had to pretend to be happy. I would be happy.”

Twilight nodded in understanding. “Maybe so, but that attitude is precisely why I said it applies to everyone and not just these two.”

She looked around at the others. “Can you not think of the value of sadness?”

She mainly got shrugs and head shakes.

“I think we’d all be better off if we couldn’t feel sad,” said Pound. “Then my bullies would never have bothered me.”

“I wouldn’t have gotten jealous about my parents paying too much attention to my baby brother,” said Peppermint.

Some of the other children listed examples of the benefits of not feeling sadness.

Twilight listened to them all, then said, “I have some of Mayhem’s power in me, so if I gave you the offer to change it so you’d never feel sadness again would you take it?”

She got nods and verbal confirmations all around.

She gently shook her head. “It seems so simple, doesn’t it? We’d all like to live a life where we don’t suffer, but the truth is that without a feeling of sadness it’s impossible to care about others.”

“Why not?” asked Flurry. 

“Well, let’s do a quick experiment, shall we? Pound, I want you pretend that you can’t feel sad.”

“Um… okay,” he said.

Twilight walked up to Pumpkin and gave her a shove, gently knocking her to the ground.

“Hey!” Pound said angrily. “What did you do that for?”

“What do you care?" Twilight said as she pulled Pumpkin up. "You can’t feel sad, remember?”

Pound immediately felt chills go down his spine. “B-but,” he said weakly, “I wasn’t sad. I was mad.”

“Incorrect. Where do you think that anger came from? It came from a place of sadness. Because you love Pumpkin seeing her sad makes you feel sad, and that in turn makes you angry at the one who took her happiness away."

He blinked.

“Without sadness there can’t be guilt. If I stopped Spring Meadow from feeling sad she’d be indifferent to her brother’s accident. Mayhem wouldn’t care about his actions during the superhero adventure.

“If you can’t feel sad you can’t grieve. I could kill each of your parents or siblings right in front of you and none of that would take the smile off your face.”

That gave all the children chills.

“Wow,” said Masky. “I never thought about it like that before.”

“Me neither,” said Sweet Pea. “That’s horrible to think about.”

"So now," said Twilight, "let me ask the question again." Her horn lit up. "Do you want me to take away your ability to feel sadness?"

Now she got emphatic head shakes from everyone.

“I can’t imagine a life without caring for Pumpkin,” said Pound. “I’d turn into a terrible brother if I couldn’t care that she got hurt.”

“Glad to see you all understand the value of sadness now,” said Twilight.

“Guilt is another valuable emotion. It’s a warning light telling you that you’ve done, or are about to do, something wrong. It tells you that you shouldn’t do something or shouldn’t have done it.

“When you’ve learned the lesson that guilt has to teach you then that’s the time to let it go. If you’ve made amends to the ones you’ve hurt and have improved yourself, then you no longer have a need to feel guilt.

“Guilt is one of those tricky emotions that only intensifies with time if it’s not dealt with. If you don’t take care of it guilt turns into shame. It turns ‘I did something bad’ to ‘I am something bad,’ and thus you stop separating your behavior from who you are as a person.

“You learn to dismiss yourself. After all, if you consider yourself bad then nothing good you do matters. No matter how many good, benevolent actions you do, even if you save the whole world, you’ll always be worthless in your own eyes.”

Again Spring and Mayhem made awkward motions, fidgeting and unable to meet her eyes.

“This is why letting guilt rule you does nothing for anyone. What it ends up with is that you start running in place like you’re on a treadmill. You can run, run, run all day and all night, but you’re not actually going anywhere. You’re not making progress. You’re not growing. You’re standing still. And as you continue on you’ll grow tired, and then you’ll start going backwards.”

She took a few steps forward and sat down in front of the pair, putting a hoof on each of their shoulders. “The two of you have suffered enough. What causes other people to forgive is genuine remorse and a desire to change, both of which the two of you have accomplished. 

“Mayhem, you’ve been learning to speak up about your feelings, even to Fluttershy, so that they don’t build up. You’ve helped a family hurting, using your past experiences to reach her heart. You’ve constantly strived to improve and be worthy of forgiveness.

“Spring, you learned that your parents set up rules for a reason, even if you don’t always agree with them. The brother you hurt now shines with your love. When you learned how he was hurting you saw that he needed you as much as you needed him. 

“You’ve learned the lessons your guilt has tried to teach you. Now… it’s time to release it.”

The pair quietly cried.

“T-T-Twilight?” said Mayhem.

“Yes?”

“Can I… is it even possible for me to ever feel that way? That ‘will to live’ thing?”

“Of course it is. You’ve done it before.”

“I have?”

She nodded. “It was at the hospital when you helped Forest.”

His eyebrow went up. “B-but my life wasn’t in danger at the hospital.”

“My wording may have made it seem different, but the will to live isn’t about life or death situations. It’s a mindset about perseverance and inner strength. That will naturally help you in a battle with your life on the line, allowing you to overcome what seems like impossible odds, but it also applies to your everyday life. Without the will to live it makes it hard to find joy in your self-improvement or to even feel you’re worthy of good things.”

“But when did I show the will to live?”

“Try to think back to your conversation. You asked me not to interfere because helping Spring was a personal matter to you.”

“I remember, but how was that the will to live?”

“Because the will to live is most easily found when protecting another. You were willing to risk everything to help her. At that time you likely felt the same feelings that Flurry did when she was protecting the others from you.

“No matter what happened to you, even if her parents hated you after hearing your past, even if you got in trouble for telling me you snuck into Flurry’s cutecenera, even if it made it harder for you to continue your weekly wish sessions, you put your whole heart and soul into protecting someone who was deeply in need of being saved.”

“T-that was… the will to live? What I felt then?”

She nodded. “Rather than letting your past consume you and fill you with guilt, you used it as a tool to inspire someone else to find a new path just like you did. You were blazing with inner strength because you knew the pain you felt inside and didn’t want to see someone else suffering like you. 

"No matter what came to you as a result, you were willing to sacrifice anything you needed to in order to help Spring. You were doing exactly what you were trying to teach Spring, using the past as a learning tool to improve, rather than as a weapon to attack yourself.”

Mayhem looked over at Spring, really focusing on the way he felt back then. 

Tree Leaf raised a hoof. “I have a question.”

“Sure,” said Twilight.

“You said that the will to live is about living a good life and stuff, but it seems like the ones who benefit the most from it aren’t the ponies who have it.”

Twilight chuckled. “That’s an interesting observation, but it’s not quite accurate.

“Flurry said that even if the six of you really didn’t know each other before going to Mayhem’s world he still would have lost because he put you into a situation ideal for forming bonds. You had to grow and team up in order to protect one another from an overwhelmingly powerful enemy.

“The will to live can always be found when you feel needed. Think of what happened after I yelled at you. All of you were suffering under an emotional weight so big it felt physical, unable to even stand because of the weight of your guilt.

“And yet, what happened after that? Pound said that there was a friend in need, and asked if that was something still worth fighting for. That’s all that needed to be said. All it took was knowing a friend was in need to motivate all of you to rise again.

“You didn’t blaze red hot after that, but all of you fought off the despair and gathered your strength because you cared enough for another that you wouldn’t let your own feelings get in the way of helping them.

“Helping others gives one a positive boost in their feelings, motivating them to do more good actions. Seeing others in need motivates me to act, giving me strength I wouldn’t have if I acted solely for myself. If you need an example of that, we can just look at all of you. The five of you risked your lives to save Flurry from the fake Starlight, and she in turn risked her own life to protect all of you."

“Twilight, can I say something?” said Pound.

“Sure, Pound.”

“It’s not quite the same thing, but I want to go back to when you were talking about guilt. What you were talking about is a lot like what Scootaloo told me when I was struggling to fly.”

“And what did she say?” asked Mayhem. 

“Every day I was being bullied by a colt in my class. You remember Drill Bit?”

Mayhem nodded.

“What you saw was the result of months of effort, both in me and to him. I’ve learned to fly, and he’s become a better pony. 

“But it didn’t start out that way. Neither of us were the ponies we were before I talked to Scootaloo. Like me, she was a late bloomer. She really struggled learning to fly too, so I knew she would understand my feelings.”

Pounds eyes faded out as he went back in time to his conversation with her. “I told her about being bullied and how hard things were for me. She sympathized with my problems, and told me things I’ve treasured to this day.”

He put a hoof to his heart. “She showed me that I was weak. It wasn’t the bullies that were really hurting me. It was my own fears and doubts. Because I was weak I believed the bad things they said about me, and so I believed I would never improve.

“What it came down to was that I didn’t believe in myself. Unlike my family she didn’t try to tell me that I would definitely fly. Instead, she told me that it was up to me to choose the way I wanted to live my life. ‘You can either work harder than you’ve ever worked before, or be a whining loser proving that everything they said about you is right.’ ”

“That… that helped you?” said Plum.

He nodded. “I know it sounds mean, but she was right. I could either listen to the bullies telling me I couldn’t do it, or become strong enough to prove them wrong.

“In the end I was always an ugly duckling. I might have seemed ratty, but as I’ve grown up my ‘duck’ feathers came off and I turned into a beautiful swan. I haven’t surpassed Drill Bit and his friends yet in flight skills, but I’m constantly improving.”

He put a hoof on Mayhem’s shoulder. “You have that potential too. You’ve been bullying yourself, and Nega is the result of that. You can win over your bully too, and together the two of you can become better than you are.”

“That’s correct, Pound,” said Twilight. “You have to face forward, and look at yourself honestly. Along with the will to live you have to learn to forgive yourself for not being perfect. Until you ease up on yourself you and Nega will continue to suffer.

“The reason I pardoned you and began your weekly sessions is so that you would make new friends that would strengthen your heart. I did it all for a time like this.

“Your eleven friends all pledged their lives to you, making an unbreakable vow to always be your friend. Can you abandon that trust by not giving them the same?

“The will to live cannot be gained from a place of guilt. It can’t be out of a sense of obligation. It has to come from your own heart… because you genuinely want it. Focus on how you felt at the hospital, and find that strength again.”

“We’re rooting for you, Mayhem!” said Pound.

“Got that right!” said Pumpkin.

“Guys!” Twilight called out. “Please be quiet.”

“Why?” Flash said with annoyance. He had been about to chime in too. “You’ve been talking way longer than us! I don’t see why you’re trying to shut us up.”

“Don’t get upset with me,” she said calmly. “If you speak up right now your words will have the opposite effect of what you’re intending.”

“How’s that? We want to give Mayhem the strength to win.”

Pound bit his lip, then said with a sigh, “Twilight is right. We screwed up.”

“How?” said Chocolate.

“Twilight has been trying to help Mayhem understand what he needs to know to win. That’s why she was talking so much.

“The reason she’s stopping us from talking is another thing that Scootaloo explained to me.”

“What?” said Sweet Pea.

“She talked about the difference between a genuine belief in yourself and only believing when somebody is nearby to encourage you. As she said earlier, If just encouraging him was enough to help then this would have been over a long time ago.”

“Exactly,” said Twilight. “Mayhem needs to gather his own strength and learn to conquer his feelings on his own. Otherwise, he’s only going to be consumed by them any time his friends aren’t around.”

“I thought the whole point of friendship was to rely on each other,” said Chocolate. “You just said yourself that fighting for others gives you the most strength.”

“That’s not the problem,” said Pound. “I asked Scootaloo the same thing when she was talking to me. She’s not saying it’s bad to rely on others or fight for others, but we can’t keep doing everything for him. There’s a big difference between a genuine belief in yourself and only believing in yourself when someone else is there to encourage you.

“We’re not always going to be right by his side when he’s having a hard time. That’s why he has to learn how to fight on his own. That way, when nobody else is there to tell him he can do it, he can tell himself that.”

“Right again,” said Twilight. “No matter how much encouragement we throw his way it comes to nothing if he doesn’t believe it himself.

“Think of why we’re all in this situation right now. Spring rebelled against her parents because she didn’t like the feeling of being babied. While she ultimately overestimated her abilities it doesn’t change that she felt her parents thought less of her than she was capable of.

“If you keep on doing the same things as before you’re effectively babying him, giving the implication you don’t think he can succeed unless he’s reliant on you.”

“But that’s not how we feel at all, Aunt Twilight!” said Flurry.

“Then just be quiet and watch.”

Flurry considered her for a few moments then stepped away, her horn glowing as she lifted up the other children and set them down in a circle shape with a large gap. “I’m only going to say one more thing: we’ll be waiting, Mayhem. For both of you.”

Mayhem looked up thoughtfully at Nega. He was still holding himself and crying. Now he could truly see Nega's pain. But he knew in actuality it was his own inner pain. All the nasty things Nega had said to him were all things he had thought about himself when he was feeling low. 

"The will to live," he said to himself, then turned to Twilight. "Hey, Twilight?"

"Yes, Mayhem?" she responded.

"Do you remember the day we met Spring Meadow, and how I thought I didn't really help her because she didn't get over it right away?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"When we were getting to the end of your explanation you talked about something that I feel is very relevant here."

"And that is?"

"You talked about the end of the journey using a black lake as a symbol of her darkness, with the people she loved being the light protecting her from that darkness.

"You said that after she received enough light and love from others she would start being able to fight back on her own. She'd be able to talk back to the nasty voices inside of her."

"Yes, I did. It does seem like we're starting to reach that point with you."

He looked around at all his friends, thinking of the vow they had all made to him. He thought of the value he had to others, and tried to imagine a world in which they didn't have him anymore. 

Tears, tears, tears. He could see a lot of tears, especially coming from Fluttershy. She thought of him as a son. He could only imagine how much she would cry if he was gone. Even if it became necessary he didn't know if she would ever be able to forgive Twilight if she was forced to eliminate him.

Was he really ready to go off on his own to challenge Nega? Could he find the will to live?

He didn't know for sure, but he had to find out. There was too much at stake for him to fail.

He looked at Spring Meadow, thinking back to that time in the hospital where Twilight had said he displayed it. Her feelings had been so similar to his. She was someone reeling with guilt like him, suffering horribly.

He had only wanted one thing that day. Just one thing. And that was to see her find relief from the pain. To that end no price was too high. No sacrifice was too great. 

Today was meant to be a special day... the day they both conquered their Sombra's for good. The whole reason Spring asked to do this today was so she'd finally have the courage to defeat her inner Sombra. 

Spring was close, so close, to the finish line. She was almost ready to beat her inner darkness. She just needed that last little bit of encouragement to motivate her to take those final steps forward.

When Flurry had found the will to live she had been just like her future cutie mark, shining a light into the darkness to make others feel safe and continue fighting. She had brought out the best in them, allowing them to feel confident even in such a hopeless situation.

Just like with Pound and Drill Bit, he and Spring had taken off on a long journey together to better themselves. More than anyone else in the world Spring needed him right now. She needed to see him triumph so she could confront her own hurting heart and finally attain true happiness. 

A short while ago what got all of them moving after Twilight yelled at them was Pound's question. They had come here today to help a friend. Wasn't that something still worth fighting for? 

'Yes!' he thought. It was worth fighting for. He wanted to make that happen. He wanted to see her excel and cast off the shackles of her past. 

He could feel purpose giving him strength. It was as Twilight said. He didn't want to help her out of some obligation. He wanted it for her, just as he always had. He had gone off in the wrong direction a few times along the way in dealing with his inner issues, but now he could see the right path.  

He gave Spring an encouraging smile, which she returned. When he finally pulled himself out of the darkness the first thing he wanted to do was pull her out too.

He gave them all a salute. “I’ll be back soon. I have to go confront myself.”
> 11-19: Forgiveness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayhem floated upward until he was on Nega’s level.

Nega was still curled into a ball, crying.

Tears came to his eyes. He had been making Nega suffer so much just for coming into the world and doing bad things. Was it any different for him? 

When he had first come into the world the first thing he did was attempt to make others suffer and live in a world of chaos. He had tried to wipe out the heroes of Equestria and came within a hair of succeeding. If Pound and Pumpkin hadn’t wrested back control from him at the last second…

When he was defeated that could have easily been the end of him. He could have just been dismissed as an evil monster that never should have existed, but one mare saw him for something more. 

She asked to bring him out again in his own body. He felt so furious and weak and upset, but those feelings quickly started to change when she showed him sympathy. She understood his feelings, and rather than condemn him she came at him with love.

He could feel the tears pouring down his face as he closed his eyes, almost feeling her hooves around him as she gave him his first ever hug. 

Even with all the pain and fear he had just put her through she still showed him compassion. She even let him live in her home to teach him more about love.

He felt like such a fool for despising Nega. It was a slap in the face to everything Fluttershy had done for him. If she had felt about him what he felt about Nega he never would have had the great life he had. He never would have been able to earn redemption or make friends or improve the lives of others. There was so much he would have missed out on.

He put a claw to his heart. “I’m sorry, Mommy,” he said quietly, his eyes closing as he let out a little sob. “I’ve been so stupid.”

He looked down at his friends in their incomplete circle, Pound and Flash with their hooves extended like before. He could feel their hearts surrounding him. 

Each of them had made an eternal promise to always be his friend. None of them had hesitated in making that commitment. They all wanted to see him do better and succeed.

He knew that every single one of them truly cared for him as a person, whether or not he did things for them with his powers. Pumpkin had stated it during the sleepover, and he had seen it from his new friends when they offered him comforting during the first wish granting session.

More tears came down his eyes as he thought he truly had the best friends in the world. 

They had never abandoned him despite the horrible things he had done, and so he wanted to be there for them in return. 

He didn’t want to see them cry. He didn’t want to disappear from this world that he had come to enjoy. He didn’t want all the heartache and despair.

In the end he had no choice but to fight for his survival. He had to win Nega over. He had to win himself over.

Just in case he created another shield around the rest of the group, then floated over to Nega.

He stopped about three feet away. “I’m sorry, Nega,” he said sadly.

Nega’s turnaround was instant, charging at him with furious tears coming down his eyes.

Mayhem teleported behind him. “I was wrong to treat you that way.”

Nega spun around, balls of dark energy forming in his hands and shooting them at him.

Mayhem rose up, dodging them. “I know apologies aren’t going to instantly fix everything.”

Nega shouted. “SHUT… UP!” Just like when he destroyed the Crystal Empire countless blasts began to shoot out of his hands.

Mayhem easily dodged them. They were numerous in number, but Nega was in such a blind rage that he wasn’t employing any strategy.

After a minute of this Nega stopped, panting. “Why…  why won’t you die? Why… why can’t I kill you?”

The rage slowly left his expression, and he began to cry again. “So that’s it, huh? I’m the expendable one. Created just to be used and then thrown away when I’m no longer useful.”

His arms fell to his sides. “Go ahead and do it then. It’s just as I said to Twilight: it’s you or me. I don’t care which one of us it is, so long as I can just stop feeling this never ending hurt inside.”

“Sure,” said Mayhem. “I’ll do it.”

Nega closed his eyes. “At last. Sweet relief.”

After a few moments he opened his eyes as he felt something wrapping around him, seeing Mayhem hugging him. “What… are you doing?”

“I’ve done wrong by you, Nega,” said Mayhem, starting to tear up as well. “I’ve treated you horribly and thought of you dismissively. 

“And that’s because… it’s the way I feel about myself. I know that there’s never been an excuse for my actions. There have been a few close calls in which I came so close to taking lives. I’ll always have to live with that knowledge.”

He tightened his grip as he thought of his purpose. “However, no matter how bad I feel I won’t surrender. My friends all pledged their lives to me. They forgave me for the past. They’ve stood by my side through it all.

“I can’t ever undo the past. I know that. But I can affect the future. I can continue to make up for what I did. Like Twilight said, disappearing or locking myself up won’t just make everything better. It takes away my ability to do good for others.” Tears came to his eyes. “Ponies just like Spring Meadow. 

“There is always going to be pain and suffering. We can’t get rid of it entirely, but I can help sooth their pain. That’s reason enough to fight on. Too many ponies care for me.”

Nega gently pulled out of his grip, a forlorn expression on his face. “In other words I’m just in your way.” Tears came down his eyes. “You said as much before. No one cares about me. You’ll all be happier if I die.”

“NO!” Mayhem said strongly, recognizing another of his inner thoughts. “You’re not worthless, Nega. I didn’t intend to create you, but you were a great help to me.

“Over the past few months, as I’ve gotten my friends back and continued learning new hobbies, I thought I was always happy and I had put the past behind me, but the truth is that I hadn’t. Seeing you made that clear.

“You showed me the parts of me I didn’t want to acknowledge. You pushed me to the limit and made me question what I really thought about myself. 

“I kept pushing it to the side with distractions, but the truth is that beneath all my happiness I still felt…” He let out a sob, holding himself. “I still just felt so guilty. I guess it was kinda like what Spring Meadow went through. Of course everyone was angry or upset with me because of what I did, but the ones I hurt the most were the first ones to forgive me.”

He curled up into a ball, sobbing harder. “I didn’t feel I deserved it. I wanted to hurt. I wanted to suffer. I wanted everyone to tell me that they hated me. I wanted them to tell me they felt the same way about me that I felt about myself.”

After a little time he uncurled himself and wiped his eyes. “I had forgotten the magic of friendship, but just like when Daddy betrayed Twilight and the rest to Tirek I found out that there was nothing more valuable than friends.

“Hating myself… hurting myself… attacking myself… none of that is helpful. All my friends share a piece of my heart, and watching Spring with her family I saw how one heart suffering causes all of them to suffer too. 

“My friends love me and support me. They had no hesitation in making a lifelong Pinkie Promise to always be my friend, and I can’t let them down again by giving up.

“I can’t just say that my life has no value. Thinking about all the ponies that have stood by me, all the ponies that would be sad if I was gone, and all the ponies that I’d never help… that’s enough to make me continue fighting on.

“Maybe I don’t deserve forgiveness for coming so close to killing others. It’s as you said. I looked down on my friends and got so caught up in my ego I didn’t want to lose. And just because I learned some hobbies doesn’t suddenly make it okay,

“But whether I deserve that forgiveness and love or not I’m going to keep walking my path. I was given a second chance, and I’m going to take full advantage of it.”

He could feel willpower flowing through him. “I’m going to help as many people as I can, fighting for the sake of my friends.

“I don’t think I’ll ever slip as hard as I did during the superhero story, but if I ever fall into the darkness again I’m not afraid. Just as I knew they would the first time they’ll come and save me.” 

He smiled warmly as he looked at his friends. “Check it out.” He gestured with his claw. Nega glanced down. 

“They learn quickly. Twilight royally called us out for the way we thought of you. The truth is that you have value too. Our friends understand that now like I do.

“They left a gap for both of us. Flurry said she’d be waiting for the two of us. There’s room for me at my best, but there’s also room for the parts of me that aren’t perfect.”

He took Nega’s paw in his claw. “Losing yourself in your negative feelings isn’t a good way to live. Neither is giving up on life and surrendering to them. No matter how difficult it gets you need to get back up and keep going.”

He looked to his other half with a smile. “Join me, Nega. Let’s work together and continue to improve. We’re both still young, and there’s so much left to experience.”

Nega looked down at their entwined hands for a little while. “It… it’s finally starting to hurt less.”

“That’s because I finally understand you… or me. I’m… finally ready to let go. The two of us have always been the same but different.” 

He chuckled. “We caused some exquisite chaos today.”

Nega cracked a small smile. “Yeah… we kinda did.”

“It didn’t turn out at all like I expected it to, but that’s fine. I just want to be friends with you. Me.” He scratched his head. “This is a bit confusing.

“It was scary at times, but I think this has been a fun adventure. The traps you put down as Sombra, fooling us into coming with a powerless Heart, and then corrupting the Heart and the entire Crystal Empire… it really kept us on our hooves. You were an incredible opponent.”

Nega glanced over at Twilight. “Well… she told me to give it my all and push you to the limit. She believed you could handle it. I had my doubts you’d be able to win once I corrupted the Heart, but as usual Twilight was right. No matter the villain they won’t ever prevail in the face of love and friendship.”

“So did you know how she was going to win?”

He shook his head. “I had no idea. That’s why I was so nervous and went to talk to Twilight. The main reason I gave you those ten minutes was just because I was hurting and wanted to take a break from the evil dictator act.”

Mayhem nodded. “Understandable.” He let out a short breath. “Having briefly played that role I completely understand.” 

He looked over at Twilight. “It was wrong of me to say that no one cared about you. Twilight really blew her stack about how nasty we thought of you. And she was right. I only wound up hurting myself by hating you.

“I have to fight for you too. I don’t want to harm you anymore, so I have to step up and believe. It’s the only way to protect you. Even if creating you was an accident I still have to take responsibility for it.

“I can’t keep harping on around the past.” He lifted up his paw, clenching it and smiling. “I’m still alive! And I’m going to make the most of it!”

He spun around, hugging Nega. “Thank you for everything, Nega. Thank you for helping me to understand myself better.

“You may have caused a little drama today, but it’s fine. I forgive you. And…” He drifted off for a while, before focusing on his motivation. “I… I forgive myself too.

“It’s okay… it’s okay for me to be alive. I’m not perfect by any means, but so long as I have my friends by my side, my two mothers, and Daddy, I’m not scared. Friendship will always prevail in the end.”

He squeezed tighter. “You’ve always been me. Always been my darker side. But it’s okay now. I want to bring you into the light. I want to bring myself into the light, because finding that light is the only way to share it with others. It’s the only way to pull others out of the darkness, and there’s someone that needs me.”

He focused on Spring, gathering his willpower. “I… I love you, Nega. I love me, even with all my flaws.” Those words felt so freeing, and tears poured down his eyes.

Nega cried, finally hugging him back. “The pain finally stopped. Thank you, Mayhem.”

Mayhem smiled, feeling warm.

Nega’s colors slowly changed to match Mayhem’s, then he dissolved into magic particles and entered Mayhem’s chest.

Mayhem was now hugging open air. He put a claw to his heart. “You’re welcome, Nega.”
> 11-20: Ready
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayhem gently floated down to his friends in their circle. “I’m back.”

Tree Leaf opened his eyes and looked around. “Where’s Nega?”

“He’s gone now. I finally confronted my guilt head on, and now I’m ready to move on from it.”

All his friends were looking at him with big smiles, closing the gap so he could join in the circle.

“I feel light as a feather,” Mayhem said contentedly. “I haven’t felt like this in a long time.”

He felt a hoof on his shoulder, and looked behind him to see Twilight there with a warm smile. “You got room for one more in there?”

Mayhem nodded hard, releasing Spring and giving Twilight space so she could complete the circle.

“I’m very proud of all of you,” Twilight said joyfully. “I always knew you could do it.”

“Thanks, Aunt Twilight,” said Flurry.

“We really did it!” said Pound. “We helped Mayhem conquer the darkness.”

Mayhem nodded. “That’s right. I finally beat my Sombra.”

“I want to talk to all of you,” said Twilight, and the group split up to listen to her.

“I watched Mayhem through all his growth. Having seen everything, I believe that Spring’s brother had it a bit off.”

“Hmm?” said Spring. “What do you mean?”

“As we saw with Mayhem and Nega, there never was a ‘Sombra’ inside you. What you both called Sombra was just your own feelings.”

“So you think… my brother did a bad thing? But then why did you let it go on all this time?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think your brother did anything wrong. His reasoning made sense to me, and it did allow you to keep your feelings in check, but seeing what went on here today I don’t believe it was an ideal method. Or, at least, that it’s only good as a temporary measure.”

“Why?” asked Flurry.

“Do you remember earlier when I talked about the value of sadness?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“Well, things like guilt are valuable too, when not in excess. Feelings that are kept inside don’t just go away. They need to be expressed. 

“However, before Spring and Mayhem could start to confront all their negative feelings they first needed to be pumped full of love. The two of you needed to get your emotional strength back.

“There’s nothing wrong with putting something aside when you’re not ready for it, but it can become all too easy to never address it because it feels easier. The problem then steadily grows again, feeding on your fear.”

Chocolate raised his hoof. “But Spring didn’t do that, right? She was the one who suggested this Sombra fight in the first place.”

Twilight gave a small nod. “I suppose you’re right. She waited until she gathered her strength to try and confront her problems, but she did make one mistake.”

“What was that?” asked Spring.

She looked directly at the filly. “You took someone else’s actions and equated them with your own.”

“Huh?”

“In watching Mayhem’s fight with Nega you saw him struggling. Eventually it got to the point you didn’t even want to watch anymore. You started to believe that if Mayhem couldn’t cross the finish line then it was hopeless for you too.

“Possibilities are different for each person, so even if someone in a similar position as you fails that doesn’t naturally follow that you will fail as well.

“Coming back to my earlier point, my assertion was about you and Mayhem looking at your inner feelings as an enemy to be vanquished. It worked for a bit when you were pushing your emotions to the side since you knew you weren’t strong enough to confront them yet, but when Mayhem did confront them that same principal didn’t work anymore because he was effectively raging at himself for experiencing negative feelings.

“What happened on the outside with Nega is effectively what happens on the inside. I know it can be hard to visualize your emotions as actual people, but the effect is basically the same. Going to war with yourself never has a good outcome. 

“You might be able to distract your inner feelings for a time, by pushing them to the side or doing something else. But when the distraction ends and you’re still not doing well it can just make you feel worse, the feelings intensifying and only attacking you more.

“Until you finally stop putting it to the side and actually look at it directly and acknowledge it then it will never stop haunting you.”

Mayhem nodded. "I get it. That's why I had so much trouble in dealing with Nega."

He turned to Spring. “So how about you? Are you ready to beat your Sombra?” He sucked his cheek. “Sorry. Let me rephrase that. Are you ready to make friends with yourself?”

Spring let out a slow breath. “I… I don’t know yet.”

Mayhem’s face fell. “Why not? Isn’t that why we came here? Isn’t that what all of this was leading up to? You saw me do it, so-”

“Mayhem!” Twilight said sharply, getting his attention. “Enough.”

He opened his mouth to complain, then closed it again.

She walked over and rubbed his head. “In a way you’re like Pound,” she said gently, “back when he was first trying to win over Drill Bit. He was taking personal responsibility for the feelings of another when it’s something you can’t control.

“You, all of you, have provided her with support, but you can’t rush self-forgiveness. It’s something she has to do when she’s ready, and not when she’s being pressured to do it. Same as you, Mayhem.

“Just like the day you met her don’t take it as a failure to succeed. Think of it as helping her walk a few more steps towards the finish line.”

He hung his head. “But I wanted her to cross with me.”

“And who says she won’t? When everything is high intensity there’s no time to think and feel, and fighting with Nega certainly fits that bill. Once her emotions have settled down and she has some time to reflect on what happened today it may very well give her the final push she needs to confront her own Nega.

“But you remember what I said earlier about the will to live?”

Mayhem let out a little sigh, looking back up at her. “It can’t come from a place of guilt or a sense of obligation.”

She nodded. “Correct. You finally found the north path, but you can’t drag someone to that path. They have to choose to walk it on their own. Trying to force them onto it will only cause them to go off in another direction.”

She patted his shoulder. “If you really want to see her succeed then just continue being a good friend to her and show her what you’ve gained from this.”

He smiled at her. “I will!”

Flurry looked around and let out a gentle sigh. “Dang, Mayhem. Your other self really did a number on the Crystal Empire. I know it was just an illusion, but I’m ready to get out of this world.”

“Sure.” He snapped once, and before their eyes time went backwards, the Crystal Empire forming itself again until it looked untouched. He gave Flurry a wink. “Thought you’d like that before we go.”

Flurry smiled at him as he snapped again, and now they were back in the castle.

Mayhem let out a slow breath. “I went in there one person, but coming out I almost feel like someone else.”

He clenched his claw. “I feel ready to take on anything!”

Flash put a hoof around his shoulder. “That’s what I want to hear.”

Plum giggled. “We kicked some serious butt today!”

“Yeah we did!” said Masky, grinning from ear to ear. 

Mayhem watched his friends celebrating, then looked up at Twilight. “Twilight, it’s not over yet.”

That got everyone’s attention.

“Not over yet?” Twilight asked. “You solved your issue and acknowledged you can’t force Spring to solve hers before she’s ready. What’s left?”

“I need to account for myself. All this time we’ve been keeping my past a secret from the parents of my new friends. I’m finally ready to talk.”

“What’s the point of that?” asked Pumpkin. “It’s only going to make things complicated again.”

“I agree with Pumpkin,” said Flurry. “What are you expecting to get out of doing that?”

Mayhem turned to her. “Do you remember why Starlight told you about her past?”

Flurry let out a groan, her head going down. “Yes…I do.”

“What happened with Starlight?” asked Plum. “She said something about being like Sombra in the past.”

Flurry turned to her. “In a way she was. She did control other ponies, but she was nothing like Sombra. She did the wrong things, but she wasn’t power hungry like he was. She just had the wrong ideas about how to deal with her past.”

“Starlight lost her best friend as a child,” said Twilight, making everyone look at her. “After he got his cutie mark he was admitted to Celestia’s school.”

Flurry moved to stand next to Twilight so the others wouldn’t have to keep looking back and forth as they talked. “She got it in her head that cutie marks are bad things that brainwash other ponies. In the end she was the one brainwashing others with her spell, but she wasn’t doing it to hurt them. She was afraid of losing another friend, and thought everyone would be happier without cutie marks.

“Every bad thing she did happened when I was just a baby, but after Aunt Twilight stopped her and offered her friendship she turned over a new leaf. She thought that I might eventually find out about her past somehow, and so she told me directly about what she did. She thought it would be better to hear it from her than for me to overhear it from someone else.

“It did shake me up for the next week, but I eventually forgave her and forgot about it.”

“You understand my reasoning, don’t you?” said Mayhem, looking up at Twilight.

She could see strength in his eyes. “I do. However, if you’re going to take this on then I can’t come to your rescue. Just as it was for Cup and the rest of the parents, they won’t take kindly to this news. I have to respect their decisions.”

Plum’s face fell. “But… b-but…” 

Mayhem turned to her. “What’s up?”

Chocolate also looked put out. “The day we met Twilight told us we were there as replacement friends until you could see your old ones again, and it took a few months before we got to this point.”

“Exactly!” said Plum, tears welling up in her eyes. “I don’t want to not see you for three months.”

“Now, now,” Twilight said gently. “There’s no need for tears. I can’t promise anything, but I doubt they’ll kick up too big a fuss.”

“Why not?” asked Flash, frowning.

“The parents got so mad because their children were injured as Mayhem coldly went after them. He just did it all for kicks and to offset his boredom. However, Mayhem has never hurt any of you, his new friends, so there’s already less of a reason to take things personally. 

“It took a few months for the parents to give him a chance again, but that’s also been three months without any new incidents. That’s another reason for them to not get too crazy. 

“And now that Mayhem has confronted his past and solidified his resolve he’s far less likely to ever act like he did in the past.

“So there you have three good reasons I don’t believe they’re going to give him much trouble.”

Sweet Pea was pouting. “But you don’t know that. You’re just guessing. 

“I don’t care about not getting wishes for a while. I just don’t want to see him alone.”

“But he won’t be alone. The parents of all the children of his old friends have already heard about his past and forgiven him for it. Spring’s parents also know. They had their doubts about him, but Spring chewed them out for it, reminding them that their child would still be in a coma if he hadn’t been around.

“So, even if worse comes to worst, he’ll still have Spring and all his old friends.”

Flash gently kicked a chair. “But we might not.”

Twilight let out a little sigh, but before she could say anything Mayhem spoke up.

“Chin up, Flash!” he said brightly. “Whatever comes next I’m not afraid. No matter how far apart we are our hearts will still be connected, giving me strength.”

Mayhem snapped, and notebooks appeared, floating in front of his new friends. “These are for you.”

Plum took her notebook, flipping through it. “It’s blank.”

“This is something special for all of us. All my old friends have one too.”

“What’s special about a notebook?” asked Sweet Pea.

“They’re all connected,” said Pound. “Whatever you write in one notebook gets transferred to every notebook connected to it.”

“It allows a group to talk to one another no matter the distance between them,” said Pumpkin. 

Masky got a wistful look on his face. “During the long months we had to wait to play with Mayhem again this was the only thing we had to remain in contact and chat with him.”

“That’s cool!” said Spring, taking her notebook. “Now we can talk no matter where we are.”

The rest of them took their notebooks.

Chocolate hugged his notebook to him, a bit of melancholy on his face. “I’m glad we have these, but I guess I’m still worried.”

“I understand,” said Mayhem, “but this is something I have to do. It will be better to be honest than to keep it a secret that might come out in the future.”

Sweet Pea sighed. “I get it. I do. But… but I still can’t help but be worried. We’ve gotten so close over the past couple of months, especially since you helped my best friend and our families. What if my parents aren’t as forgiving as Springs or the others? What if they tell me I can never see you again?”

Tears brimmed in her eyes. “If that happened I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise to you.”

Mayhem hugged her. “Don’t cry, Sweet Pea. I don’t know how your parents are going to respond to this, but no matter what they say it won’t change how we feel about each other. And with the notebook we can still share our hearts with each other. As long as you support me and don’t abandon our friendship then your promise won’t ever be broken.” 

He backed up, smiling at her. “Don’t get so down. Just support me, and I’ll be fine.”

She wiped her eyes. “O-okay.”

Mayhem turned to the rest. “That goes for the rest of you too. I know you care about me, but no matter what happens I want you to stay out of it. This is something personal for me, just like when I fought Nega. Don’t start fighting with your parents.”

He looked up at Twilight, sucking on his cheek. “I want to say the same to you, but I know you. You’ll try to stay out of it as best you can, but you’ll intervene if you think things are going off in the wrong direction.”

Twilight nodded. “Exactly right. I don’t seek to stick myself in the middle of things for no reason. My goal is to always try and promote harmony. 

“I fully acknowledge that a lot of times restoring harmony comes from a place of baring hurt feelings. Usually it's only after releasing the pain they have inside that that connection can be reformed, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about that.”

She gave him an encouraging smile. “I have to say I’m quite eager to see the new Mayhem in action. I saw how Flurry’s personality has changed since making friends and getting her cutie mark. Now it’s your turn.”

Mayhem grinned back at her. “I’ll make you proud, Twilight. I finally feel like I can hold my head up high.”

She rubbed his head. “Glad to hear it.

“You think I should bring Fluttershy too? I think she’d love to see what today has done for you.”

Mayhem looked uncertain. “I don’t know. I do want her to see how I’ve changed, but I also don’t want her to feel like she has to protect me.”

“Well, I can explain that to her.”

He tapped his hoof on the floor a few times. “Umm… alright.”

“Well, I’ll be back as soon as I can. With my teleportation it shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes to get everyone.”

“Okay, Twilight.”
> 11-21: Confession part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soon enough they were all gathered together, all of Mayhem's new friends sitting with their parents. Forest had come along too. Discord was sitting on Fluttershy’s lap, disguised as a cat. He wanted to be there for this without distracting the others. Being an animal also allowed him to provide comforting to Fluttershy if he needed to. 

“So what’s this all about, Mayhem?” asked Flash’s dad. “Princess Twilight said you had something to tell everyone.”

Mayhem took in a deep breath before saying, “There’s something I need to confess, because I don’t want this to cause trouble later on if you find out somehow.”

“What kind of confession?” asked Sweet Pea’s mom.

“As should be obvious I have great powers. It basically amounts to whatever my imagination can come up with. I can make new worlds, change a pony into other things, give others superpowers, and so on. But, just like anyone else, my powers can also be used for bad purposes.”

Mayhem snapped his claw, and a transparent image of Discord appeared next to him. “I’m not real like my daddy is. I’m like a little piece of his magic that broke off and became my own person. When I use up all the magic that created me then I vanish and return to him until he gives me more magic to come out again.

“I was a troublemaker when I first came out, bored of the peace and harmony Discord had been taking part in. I wanted to bring back the chaotic way things used to be, but I was stopped.

“Fluttershy, the yellow mare over there, could see I just needed some freedom and attention. When she first showed me love and gave me a name I quickly found that I didn’t really care about my destructive plans as much as I did about her. 

“For a while everything went well. She took me in and continued to shower me with love and attention and took on a motherly role to me.

“However… along the way something went wrong, and we all found out that a being made of chaos magic needs to have chaos in his life. Things become too samey at Mommy’s, and I thought I would hurt her feelings if I told her I felt bored of only hanging around her, so I kept my mouth shut.

“She did figure out on her own what I needed, and set up a day to play with my friends, but by then it was too late. I was so backed up on chaos that it all exploded out at once. The dam had burst, and there was no plugging such a massive leak.”

“What happened?” asked Flash’s mom, looking a bit afraid.

Mayhem closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. “I had decided that I wasn’t going to live with my boredom any longer, and I was going to go with my original plans of conquest and turning the world into endless chaos. I wasn’t going to let the rules hold me back any more.

“But before I went after Ponyville and the ones most likely to stop me, like Twilight, I was going to play a ‘game’ with my friends for being unable to alleviate my feelings.

“I created what I guess I’d call a prototype to the wish granting sessions. I made a corrupted version of Ponyville that was dead and decaying.” He snapped, and the castle scenery vanished to be replaced with the Ponyville from the superhero adventure.

“I gave them all superhero costumes and superpowers, then told them if they couldn’t get through all the challenges they wouldn’t be able to go back home. They didn’t take me seriously at first, so I created illusions of their parents about to be hurt. Once I was convinced they believed I was being serious I sent the illusions away and the game began.

“The first villain I had them fight against was Tirek.”

He could see the looks of surprise on their faces. 

“Tirek?” said Chocolate’s mother. “You broke him out of Tartarus for your game?”

Mayhem shook his head. “Of course not. He was only an illusion.”

“But still,” said his dad, “it took Princess Twilight using everything she had just to confront him. Even with a little alicorn on the team that’s too much for a group of children.”

“It wasn’t full power Tirek. It was the one who was just starting out, so he was much weaker than the one Twilight fought.

“With teamwork and a little trickery they prevailed. Tree Leaf’s power was transformation, so he took the form of Flurry to let Tirek think he’d absorbed an alicorn’s power while the real Flurry went on the attack.

“It was a real blast to watch, and I finally felt some of my irritation fading. It was exactly what I needed, but I wasn’t satisfied yet. Not nearly.

“Like I said before everything came out all at once, and I could no longer stop myself. That little bit of enjoyment only pushed me to make things even more difficult for them for maximum entertainment.

“When Daddy had fought Twilight he had messed with their personalities, making them act the opposite of themselves, and yet he still lost when Twilight reminded them of their past selves and turned them back to normal.

“If I was serious about my conquest then I had to make sure I couldn’t fall the same way. I wasn’t going to be defeated by unity and friendship like he was, so I went a step further and stole all their memories of each other and me from them, turning all of them into strangers to one another like they had been at the start.”

It wasn’t surprising that the parents felt a little uncomfortable about that revelation, but his new friends were also shocked. Mayhem had told them he had terrorized his friends, but neither he nor Twilight mentioned him mind-wiping them. Twilight had alluded to it, but not the exact nature of what memories he had messed with.

Considering they had only prevailed through their friendship it was pretty scary to think of losing all those connections.

Mayhem noticed their expressions, and guessed what they were thinking. “Now that I think about it, this is for your benefit as well. You only heard bits and pieces of my past the day we met.”

He kept his head held high and said, “Things aren’t getting any easier from here. I don’t know what Pinkie Pie would think about this, but I’m not her. 

“The four of you made your promises without knowing everything, so if what you hear is too much for you to bear then I won’t hold your Pinkie Promise against you. A fake friendship is no friendship at all, and I haven’t been completely open with you because I was too afraid of how you would react.

“I know you might want to say that nothing will change how you feel about me, but you should hold off on that assertion until after you’ve heard the whole story.”

It was if he had read their minds.

“Having you on our side through all our wishes was so much fun,” said Plum. “The thought of being against you as an enemy is pretty terrifying on its own.”

“Especially if I had to forget Spring,” said Sweet Pea with a shiver.

“But wait,” said Flash. “How in the world did you lose? I certainly can’t think of a way to beat you, especially if it was with a bunch of ‘strangers.’ ”

“If they couldn’t remember you,” said Chocolate, “then they wouldn’t even know you needed to be saved.”

“Well,” said Mayhem, “we’re jumping ahead a bit, but I will say that I learned the hard way that friendship goes beyond just memories.”

He gave an abridged version of their adventure, from his battle with Flurry, Timberwolves, Changelings, and Nightmare Moon.

The children were impressed. They knew he had done a superhero adventure with his old friends, but because it was such a sore spot for him they had never asked him for details. Having to go through a gauntlet of some of the worst enemies Equestria had to offer sounded like it would have been an awesome wish without the danger element.

While the children were more focused on how fun it could have been, rather than holding Mayhem’s past against him, the parents just felt more and more uncomfortable. Especially when he got to Starlight and how Sombra disguised himself as her to torture her, and then her friends were badly hurt protecting her. 

“I was always watching the battles from a distance, so I restricted their powers when I thought they seemed like they’d be too fatal. Even with superpowers I didn’t think they’d have any chance of winning if I gave them a similar level of power as their real life counterparts. As I told them I can heal wounds with a snap, but I can’t bring back anyone from the dead.”

He told them about Flurry’s recovery and newfound resolve, and how she unmasked Sombra for who he was before destroying him.

“With the gang all together I healed their wounds and restored their energy for the final fight with me.”

“Wait,” said Chocolate. “I thought the whole point of taking their memories was that you didn’t want them to be able to team up against you, but you only let them in the castle once they were all together.”

Mayhem nodded. “At the time I didn’t think it mattered. They had teamed up out of necessity.”

Plum looked confused. “But… but all of them tried to sacrifice themselves for Flurry, and then she risked herself to save all of them. It sure sounds like they were still friends.”

“After everything ended Flurry told me that, even if they were total strangers before this, I still would have lost, because I had put them in a situation that was going to foster friendships and bonds with one another.”

“I still don’t understand how you could possibly lose,” said Flash.

“I always knew I was going to, deep down.  Over the course of the final battle I learned that friendships aren’t just memories. Despite their rocky start, as we went on they all felt a sense of familiarity with each other, sure they had to have met before even if they couldn’t remember it.”

“So they remembered you too?” asked Sweet Pea. “And they talked you down?”

Mayhem let out a little sigh. “Not at all. At the time I was too far gone. I was being so downright evil to my friends that they didn’t recognize me at all, not even the tiniest bit.

“I was having such a blast breaking the rules and running the show that I didn’t care what I was doing, as long as I got my entertainment out of it. There was only thing Flurry said that got to me.”

“What was that?”

“Well, at one point I thought that I had reached my chaos limit and was ready to back down. I explained to them that their lives were never really in danger and that I had been acting behind the scenes so that things didn’t get to a fatal point. I offered them to stay in my world and just play games forever.”

“Forever?” said Flash. “I mean… I love getting wishes, but I wouldn’t want to be there forever.”

“What about their families?” asked Plum.

“They brought that up,” said Mayhem. “I intended for it to be a world of just us, playing games with no responsibilities. As you’ve seen from our weekly sessions my power can be used for great fun and positive things as much as for bad things.

“Flurry turned me down and called me out, saying I couldn’t be trusted.”

“Of course she did!” said Plum’s mom. “Who in the world would agree with that when you were acting that way?”

That got some awkward grins from Mayhem’s old friends. Pound let out a little laugh. “Well… Flurry was the only one that turned him down.”

She blinked. “Really?” she said in a scolding tone. “Whatever for? According to him you didn’t remember him at all, so what possible reason could you have for accepting his offer?”

Peppermint took in a slow breath. “Well… even if we didn’t remember him we still felt something for him. His game had been scary, but at the same time he seemed very lonely.”

Masky nodded. “That was basically it. We felt like he wasn’t the sort to have friends because of how different he was, so he just didn’t know he was being too hard on us since he’d never really had a chance to play with someone before.”

“He even apologized for letting things get so crazy,” said Pumpkin. “Once he stopped talking down to us it all just seemed like an act he had put on that just went a little too far.”

“What they said,” said Tree Leaf. “It felt like he just wanted to play with someone and even tried to bribe us to remain. He seemed so desperate and afraid we wouldn’t come back if we left.”

“Yeah,” said Pound. “Seeing him practically begging us not to go made me feel bad.”

“Okay,” said Plum’s mom. “I guess I can get that. But that still doesn’t explain why you agreed. Didn’t you care that meant you wouldn’t be able to see your families anymore if you remained?”

“Of course we did,” said Pound. “He wanted a world with only a few people in it, but he eventually agreed he’d bring our families to his world too if it meant we would stay.”

Plum’s parents glanced at each other before her dad said, “And… um… you just thought your families would go along with that? Even Flash said it. His worlds are good for adventures, but not something I’d want to remain in forever.”

“Well,” said Chocolate’s mom, “they are all kids. I can’t say I wouldn’t be that short-sighted at that age. Endless playtime would certainly sound enticing.”

“So, Flurry,” said Chocolate, “what made you different? If he convinced everyone else to agree then why didn’t you?”

“That’s simple,” she replied. “After everyone threw themselves in front of me to protect me from the fake Starlight I realized I couldn’t just be weak anymore. I had to fight to protect my friends from bad things. And, at the time, Mayhem was definitely a bad thing.

“Everyone was so focused on the idea of his power they weren’t thinking about him. He had thrown us in his world, made us fight against horrible monsters, threw my worst fears against me…” She thought back to that moment. “I thought he was way too dangerous and cruel, and I told him to his face.

“The others didn’t agree with me, siding with him. Of course they quickly changed their minds when I kept pushing him. When I absolutely refused to stay and then insulted him he showed he hadn’t really changed.

“He threatened to destroy me for being so ungrateful to his offer, proving exactly how right I was that he couldn’t be trusted. Everyone turned against him for that, not wanting to try friendship with someone threatening a friend.”

Plum felt her stomach tightening. “B-but… but that was just more talk, right?”

“Chaos needs an audience or else it’s not entertaining for him.

“While he obviously didn’t kill me, he was determined to make me hurt the most for making everyone turn against him.”

“So what did he do?” asked Flash.

“In the final part of the battle he got into the thick of things, restraining himself to only using the powers he had given to us, mainly so he could show that even with the same abilities his were still better.

“He never tried to attack me at the end. He targeted everyone except me, pushing me to use myself as a shield to protect them. And I did get quite a few injuries out of that, but I was determined to outlast him.

“It got to the point where he even stopped talking down to me, not understanding where my willpower was coming from.”

“I was determined to break her spirit,” said Mayhem. “I wanted to see her give up on her friends to save herself, once again showing how much I underestimated friendship. As she told me, far from making her want to give up, I only made her that much more determined to keep them safe.

“And that’s where she said the harshest thing I heard during that adventure.”

Mayhem snapped, and an image of Flurry appeared in the middle of the room, looking upwards at an invisible Mayhem. “This feeling… if only you could experience what it’s like. Too bad you don’t have any friends to protect.”

Flurry vanished, and for the first time since he had conquered his inner feelings his willpower faded and he looked depressed. “That statement really hurt. I was standing against all the ones I should have been on the side of. And worse, it still didn’t stop me, even though it reminded me of how badly I was treating my closest friends.”

Fluttershy wanted to get up and give him a hug, but she forced herself to remain sitting. Twilight had urged her not to interfere.

Discord noticed her sadness and gave her a nuzzle. She looked down at him and began to pet him, seemingly glad to be able to do something besides just sit there.

Mayhem closed his eyes and took a few slow breaths. By the time he opened them his spirit had returned and he continued on. “She claimed that I had given her too much time to grow in her role as the main character, and that she had grown stronger than me. She claimed she wasn’t afraid of me.

“Despite the overwhelming gap in strength and ability Flurry wouldn’t back down. Even with all the pain I put her through she said I had only made her feel stronger than ever. Flurry’s behavior intrigued me. Infuriated me. Confused me. In short, it was very exciting, and I did get very excited at it even though I was also furious at how she was now the one talking down to me and acting so superior.  

“I always could have just wiped out Flurry and the rest, but it was too simple. We all knew from the start I could end the game anytime just with a few snaps, but it would have been terribly unsatisfying. I didn’t want to just win. I wanted them to suffer a humiliating defeat and put them in their place. I wanted to see them bow before me and acknowledge how powerless they were.”

Sweet Pea bit her lip. “But… but these were still your friends,” she said quietly. “I can get that you set up a crazy adventure because of your boredom, but it really sounds like you just completely stopped looking at them like friends.”

Mayhem let out a little sigh. “That’s not too far from the truth.

“At the very end I wanted to prove something, and that was whether friendship or solitude was stronger. Flurry and the rest hadn’t been able to defeat me, so their friendship seemed to pale in comparison to my abilities alone.

“I destroyed the roof of my castle and created tornadoes everywhere in the distance that began to suck up everything, slowly increasing in size and getting closer to the group all the time.

“This was the grand finale. No more games or playing around, but even still I tried one last time. I put a protective shield on them that protected them from the tornadoes, and told them that if one of them broke the shield and sacrificed the others they alone would be protected. That would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that friendship wasn’t really all that and that I was right.”

“So,” said Flash, “you were trying to get them to be selfish like you were doing?”

Mayhem nodded. “As I had hoped panic set in among them, everyone looking around to see if someone else was really going to betray the group after everything they had gone through together. Of course, the one person I wanted to see break under the pressure was the one person that didn’t falter.

“While everyone else looked terrified Flurry alone was still calm.”

Chocolate let out a quick breath, trying to imagine the scenario. “B-but how could she be?”

Flurry said, “That’s easy: because my friends needed me to be. My weakness in being unable to confront the fake Starlight had caused all of them to get badly hurt. They had saved me from being injured, and I couldn’t forget that sacrifice.”

A quiet strength emanated out of her as she found herself back in that moment. “Even without my memories I still had a thought flash through my mind of the six of us playing together. The little fear I felt left me, my heart starting to blaze with love, and I reassured them, making their fear go away too.

“For me I was resolute to defy him until the end. I refused to give him what he wanted.” Flurry’s aura grew as her eyes narrowed. “I would never betray a friend to save myself. Absolutely not! I also wasn’t going to cower in fear and beg him for mercy. 

“I finally understood what Aunt Twilight told me about the strength of friendship and coming together with one heart. And so, even if I couldn’t think of how, I felt certain that as long as my friends were with me there was no way we could lose. Even if I was wrong, we would die without giving him what he wanted. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. He wasn’t going to get the victory he desired.”

“Wow!” said Flash, impressed.

“I can believe that,” said Plum, a hoof over her heart. “My heart was hammering before thinking about being in that situation, but seeing your determination has made me feel calm again.”

“Flurry’s confidence infected all of them,” said Mayhem, “and now suddenly I had six fearless faces staring at me. 

“Those feelings from before came back, but now they were even stronger. I was the one with the most power. I was the superior one. But they all looked at me like they were better than me, and I couldn’t stand it. 

“I had said earlier that if one of them betrayed the others that pony would be the only survivor, but I didn’t mean it. As Flurry said earlier chaos needs an audience or it’s meaningless.

“If I could get one of them to betray the others, regardless of who it was, it would make me the winner. It would show that you should only care about yourself. And that’s all I really cared about, not actually taking their lives.

“The betrayer would have to live with abandoning their friends to save themselves, and the others, not dead, would have to live knowing that someone they thought of as a friend threw away all their lives for their own benefit. It would crush their spirits and tear their friendship apart. A perfect victory for me.”

Mayhem put a claw to his face, trying not to lose himself in his feelings of how stupid he felt. He had to finish the story.

He put his claw down and gathered his willpower again. “And just as I thought I was getting close to victory Flurry took it away again. Just as she had talked the others into not trusting me she talked the others out of their fear.

“My fury turned to amusement, and I lost myself in the heat of battle. This was the most excited and angry I had ever felt. As Sweet Pea said, in those final moments I completely stopped seeing them like friends and just as opponents, to the point where I was dead serious. 

"I dropped the shield surrounding them. If they were going to continue being openly defiant and not give me what I wanted then I was going to get my victory the only way I had left.”

Chocolate was gently panting. Even just thinking of the scenario was making things feel so heavy.

Plum was shaking slightly. “Y-you… you were really going to… to…”

Sweet Pea was also shivering, hugging herself.

Flash's stomach was doing somersaults.

Mayhem nodded. “If Flurry wanted to claim that she was stronger than me then she’d have to back up her words or deal with the consequences of not just surrendering. It was the final contest of ideals between me and Flurry.”

With a snap the scene appeared in the middle of the room, Flurry and the rest surrounded by tornadoes.

“It was life or death. Either Flurry would step up, or she would fail. Neither of us was willing to back down or give up, and so only one of was still going to be there when it was over.”

The air in the room grew tense.

The scene had become so real it was a little scary for the children. It only grew easier for Flash and the rest to put themselves in the role of one of the other children.

Flash was in awe. “But… but… like I asked before how in the world did you lose? If you were really, truly being serious about not holding back then you should have won. I don’t understand it.”

“Because there is no force in Equestria stronger than friendship.” 

“That makes no sense!” said Plum. “We were able to help you with friendship because you just needed encouragement. Friendship itself isn’t a weapon.”

“That’s incorrect, but don’t just take my word for it. Watch my defeat for yourself.”

Sweet Pea and Chocolate were similarly curious. They couldn’t imagine what was about to happen.

“My friends!” Flurry called out, yelling over the sound of the wind. “I may be an alicorn, but that doesn’t matter. I’m not fighting here because of my title. I’m fighting for YOU!”

“And we’re not protecting you because you’re a princess,” said Pumpkin, “but a fellow pony and a friend like us.” 

Flurry smiled. “I know I don’t have the power to beat him alone, so please… everyone, lend me your hearts.”

The six children held hooves with one another, calm expressions on their faces. Happy tears came down Flurry’s eyes before an enormous glow came out of her horn, shooting out a beam of light that formed into the gigantic fiery heart, sucking up the tornadoes and blasting Mayhem away.

As anxious as they felt about Mayhem’s actions the parents were speechless at first as they saw the results of their unity.

The children were no different.

“Hold on!” said Flash’s mom when she was finally able to speak. “Isn’t that the Fire of Friendship?”

“I’ve seen that play every year since I was a child,” said his dad. “I’d recognize it anywhere.”

“That… that can’t possibly be real, right? I mean, I know Flurry is an alicorn, but still…”

“That wasn’t my power,” said Flurry. “It was the result of our unity. Aunt Twilight told me that it was only because I was there that we won. We needed that unity and friendship, but it was only because I inspired them with the fire of my heart that they felt it too.

“Just like Mayhem said, the final confrontation came down to a clash of our ideals, with neither of us willing to back down or give up. I was absolutely determined to stay with my friends until the end. I believed in what Aunt Twilight had always told me about friendship, and even if I was about to die I would never think about betraying them to save myself.”

“We could all feel it,” said Pound. “Flurry’s heart shined so bright that all the fear I had left, and I became just as determined as her.”

“And when all our hearts joined together it made an incredible fire that Mayhem couldn’t overcome,” said Pumpkin.

“But,” said Plum’s mom, “I mean… I can get that you felt close to one another, but hasn’t the Fire of Friendship not been seen since the founding of Equestria? How did a bunch of children manage to make something that hasn’t been seen in hundreds of years?”

“We did it because we had to,” said Flurry. “It’s as simple as that. 

“It’s no different than the play. Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy were all backed into a corner with no way out. They decided that if they were going to be frozen they were going to go out as friends. They had no idea what was about to happen. It just did.

“Me and all my friends were backed into a corner. Mayhem was coming at us with a swarm of tornadoes, sucking up his entire world. There was nowhere to run or teleport to. Mayhem’s final question of trying to get one of us to betray the others backfired, only making our connection even stronger.

“Even with all my spells and all their powers I couldn’t think of a single way to get out of that situation besides surrendering to him. But, even though I had no idea how it might happen, I didn’t give up because I truly believed in my heart that so long as I had my friends by my side that we’d find a way through together. 

“In the darkest time of our lives we stood firm and kept our friendship strong, and our friendship rewarded us in turn with a great power, just like the Elements of Harmony did for Aunt Twilight and her friends.”

“Wooow,” said Plum. “So does that mean you can make that whenever you want now? If you could create something with a power like the Elements of Harmony anytime then your magic would be even stronger than Twilight’s.”

Flurry shook her head. “I don’t think so. Unless a situation like that happens again I don’t think it’ll ever show up again. I could make something that looks like it, but it wouldn’t have the same power.

“Of course, it is a part of my cutie mark. My mother has the Crystal Heart as her cutie mark, and she can make a shield that has the same effect as the Crystal Heart. Sooo… it might be possible that I could have an easier time making it again now that I’ve already done it once, but I have no way of knowing for sure. It certainly seems more like an emergency magic than anything I could just make casually.”

“Well, just making it once is super impressive,” said Chocolate, getting lots of nods.

“Sooo… what happened next?” asked Sweet Pea.

“I wasn’t destroyed like the Windigoes,” said Mayhem, “but it did knock me out cold, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground with Flurry tapping me to get me up. I was scared of her now. I just couldn’t understand how I had lost. 

“She demanded that I do what I had promised if I lost and send them home, which I did. Then all the rest of them left it to Flurry to decide my fate.

“With my defeat I felt like a different person. Maybe the Fire of Friendship had a similar effect to the Elements of Harmony, or maybe it was just the shock of defeat, but without all the darkness clouding my mind Flurry finally recognized me. She didn’t understand it at first, but then she came to realize that I didn’t just erase the memories of a group of six. I was also one of the ones forgotten.

“When I confirmed that I was one of their friends too there were mixed reactions. They understood why I had chosen the specific ponies I did for the adventure. Peppermint called me out, asking why I had betrayed them.”

Mayhem’s eyes faded out. “And then… then came the very worst thing that happened.”

“I thought the fight was over?” said Chocolate.

He gave a little nod. “The fight was over, but not our conflict.”

“But… with everything you had just been doing, what could possibly be worse?”

A pained look came to his face as his eyes clenched shut and tears dripped onto the floor. “Flurry… Flurry forgave me.”

It was quiet for a few seconds. “Um,” said Flash, “how is that the worst thing that happened?”

Mayhem wiped his face, but more tears replaced them. “I had betrayed everything I stood for, lost myself in my boredom, gave up on love and friendship for my own selfish desires, put my friends through such terrible experiences… I even nearly took their lives… and yet…”

Mayhem put a claw to his face, quietly sobbing. “And yet despite everything I did Flurry offered me compassion and love. She talked about how Starlight had been doing terrible things but she changed, and wanted to give me the same chance.

“I had lost myself in the darkness. The longer the game went on the worse I became and the deeper I sank into it, but at the end of it all her light was stronger, and despite how impossible it seemed she pulled me out of the darkness, just wanting to start over and become friends again.”

“It was… an absolute defeat. I lost in every possible way.” He quietly sobbed. “It made me feel how pathetic and small I really was. Everything I had done was for nothing, and I had to face how horrible I had been.”

He lifted his paw, also putting it to his face as he broke down.

A sympathetic tear came down Flurry’s face. “Let’s… let’s give Mayhem a minute to compose himself before moving on.”

“I agree,” said Twilight.
> 11-22:Confession part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once he had calmed down Mayhem dropped his hands, his eyes still teary. “I fought my best friends, but I always knew from the beginning that I was going to lose.”

Plum’s eyebrow rose. “But how?”

“Because we’re his friends,” said Peppermint.

“He didn’t realize it at the time,” said Pumpkin, “but he made a real life version of our ceiling.”

That got questioning looks from everyone that didn’t know about it.

“Um… what?” said Chocolate. “Your ceiling?”

“Mayhem,” said Pumpkin, and he nodded.

He snapped, creating the image from her ceiling. “As a birthday gift Pound and Pumpkin’s parents allowed me to redecorate their rooms. Pumpkin requested a ceiling mural of all of us in superhero costumes. I made myself as the villain they were fighting as a symbol of my belief in my friends.

“I first realized I was my own person when Discord gave some of his power to Pound and Pumpkin to do some pranks. After a while they got greedy and took more of his magic. So much so that I was able to take over their bodies. I thought that I wanted things to go back to the chaotic ways of the past, and I didn’t want to lose my freedom, so I stripped Twilight and the rest of their magic and tried to attack them so they couldn’t get in my way.

“Even back then I lost to love and friendship. Even with so much of me inside them, when I tried to go after the people they loved the most they took back control until Twilight could summon Rainbow Power to force me out. 

“Chaos magic isn’t for everyone. If it’s only little doses it’s fine, but while Discord and I can hold all this magic in our tiny bodies the twins had to grow to the size of a house just to stop the magic from being too much for them to handle. Realizing how much danger they put their loved ones in by stealing Discord’s magic, they even tried to sacrifice themselves so that I couldn’t use them to hurt others by shrinking themselves back to regular size.”

Chocolate squirmed. “So that’s what… Twilight said that taking in too much chaos magic almost destroyed them.” 

“Just like Flurry after the superhero adventure, there was someone there to lead me in a better direction. Mommy heard me talking about feeling left out and she felt bad for me. That’s when I got my own body. She showed me affection and gave me a name, asking me to give friendship a try. I got to run around playing with Pound and Pumpkin, and I realized I didn’t need things to be crazy chaotic. I just wanted the freedom to make my own choices and have friends.

“And for months after that everything was good. I had a mother figure in Fluttershy and best friends to play with. The boredom incident really set me back though. I thought friendship and love had done all it could for me, so I had thought of going back to my original plans of creating a chaotic world. However, having already faced a big defeat by love once, I already knew I was going to fail.”

“You said that before,” said Flash, “but if you knew it was impossible to win then why do any of this in the first place?”

“I showed you the ceiling mural. I made myself their enemy because I had been defeated and tamed by love once. If I ever forgot who I was and turned against my loved ones I knew they would come after me to save me. I trusted my friends to be able to do that.”

Plum got a curious look on her face. “So you were trying to lose? But you said earlier you were trying your hardest to prove that love and friendship doesn’t matter.”

“I wasn’t trying to lose. I really did have bad plans. I couldn’t control myself. That’s why I needed my friends to bring me around.”

Sweet Pea sucked on her cheek. “But that doesn’t make sense. If you had decided to go back to being the bad you, and even erased their memories so that they forgot you, then it really doesn’t sound like you wanted to be saved.”

Twilight walked forward. “Let me explain it,” she said, “since I think Mayhem won’t quite have the words to get his point across.

“At times we can have conflicting beliefs inside ourselves. Let’s use Spring as an example. After her brother was woken up she then had to deal with her ‘Sombra.’ While on the surface she wanted to improve to see her brother feel better, under the surface were all her dark thoughts. While on the outside she wanted to be positive, her inside was full of darkness that was trying to pull her back and trying to reject her new mindset.

“Mayhem was doing the same thing, but in reverse: on the outside he was trying to abandon everything and be evil, but on the inside his light and conscience were trying to pull him back. It was no mere coincidence that he decorated them in the costumes and gave them the superpowers they had in the ceiling mural. That was his inner light begging his friends to help.”

“Mayhem said it best,” said Tree Leaf. “Before he gave our memories back he explained about the mural, telling us that no matter how bad he got, so long as he was facing the six of us, he knew we’d be able to win.”

“After all,” said Pumpkin, “we were useless in his plans. I asked him what he was trying to accomplish by kidnapping six kindergartners when it wouldn’t help his plans of world domination. As much as it became buried he really didn’t want to do what he did. That’s why he took us to another world to play. He could have easily just started attacking and going after the real Ponyville, but he chose to start with us so that we’d stop him.”

“As hard as he tried to deny it,” said Peppermint, “you can’t just get rid of friendships like that. And losing made him see that friendship is the most powerful magic of all.”

“After he brought us home there was nothing stopping him from continuing on with his plans,” said Masky, ‘but he lost his pride and accepted his defeat.”

“I forgave Mayhem because I didn’t believe he was really evil,” said Flurry. “He just let his power go to his head. Aunt Starlight did some really bad things when she was younger. Having been defeated by Aunt Twilight once she tried to get revenge. When Aunt Twilight learned about her past she understood why she was acting so bad, and she put Aunt Starlight back on the right track.

“The reason we’re all here now is basically because of her. She told me about her past because she was afraid that it might someday get out. Of course all the adults in my life knew about her, but I didn’t. She wanted to tell me directly so that it didn’t take me by surprise. 

“It did bother me quite a bit for a while, but I knew my family wouldn’t put her in charge of me if they didn’t believe that she had truly changed.

“I look up to Aunt Twilight, and she had proven that showing someone love could turn a villain into a good person, and I wanted to give Mayhem the same chance. He hasn’t gone back to that part of him once since then, and he finally felt like he was ready to tell you about his past so it didn’t take you by surprise if you heard it from someone else.”

Plum’s mother tapped her hoof on the floor. “Well… that’s…” She broke off, sucking on her cheek. “I don’t even know where to begin, because there’s so much going through my mind.”

“And that’s why we’re all here,” said Mayhem. “So you can ask questions and get answers.”

“Well, I guess I can appreciate your being willing to be honest, but what exactly are you expecting us to say? For us all to just shrug and say, ‘Whatever? It’s fine?’ ” 

“I’m not expecting anything from you. This meeting was simply to make you informed. That’s it. You’re free to react as you will.”

“It’s a little late for that,” said Chocolate’s mother with an edge in her voice. “For the past few months this has just seemed like a chance to make new friends and experience new things. Sure, our kids told us that you looked different, but just looking different shouldn’t be a reason to look down on someone or be afraid of them.

“This is something else entirely. There’s a dangerous element to you that I don’t like.

“It’s obvious you think and act like a child, so I can’t expect that your temper tantrums are going to be any less risky with your kind of power. However, that’s just it. You’re a child. So it’s not you I’m truly angry at.”

She turned to Twilight with a glare. “You knew about this the whole time, and chose to conceal this from us.”

Mayhem’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t even go there!” he said angrily, making her turn back to him. 

They could feel Mayhem’s willpower as he stared into her eyes. “It’s fine if you want to get mad at me. I know I went a little crazy and lost myself. So if you have any issues you should be directing them at me, not her.”

“I find I can’t quite agree with that,” said Flash’s dad. “You went ballistic and turned against your friends to relieve your boredom. That, I can certainly blame on you and you alone. You made bad choices, and we must be held accountable for those choices.”

“Exactly what I wanted to say,” said Chocolate’s mother. “Everyone should be held accountable for the choices they make, and our princess is no different. She was the one who chose to hide this from us, so I certainly feel justified in questioning the danger she put all our children in.

“I certainly wouldn’t have so readily allowed my child to play with you if I had known your history.”

“Twilight’s not an idiot," Mayhem said strongly. "She never once took the lives of your children lightly. She wanted to reform me, but she never made me more important than your children. She’s been there to observe for every session, ready to intervene if I started to go off course like before.”

“Forgive me,” said Sweet Pea’s mom. “I mean no disrespect to Princess Twilight, but what exactly would she be able to do if it came to that? She told us that your power isn’t just mere illusions, but everything you create is actually real. And if you can create entire worlds and summon the worst villains in the world whenever you want then I don’t see how she could overcome you if it came down to it.” 

“Chaos magic is sharable with others. Before every wish-granting session Daddy would give her some of his power, giving her the same abilities as him and me. If it came down to a battle she could easily match pace with me.

“So, as I said before, don’t direct any anger at Twilight. She always had the safety of your children in mind.”

Fluttershy was impressed. Twilight had told her that Mayhem had changed, but seeing him looking so strong made her feel joy in her heart. 

Discord felt much the same. His little chaos spawn was standing tall.

“Okay,” said Plum’s dad, “but even if she was prepared for you to go rogue again, she still chose to put you in the same situation that caused you to go rogue in the first place.”

Mayhem shook his head. “Not at all. She was planning for my future. When Discord first came back he was defeated and turned to stone, but Celestia eventually asked her to unseal him to see if he could be reformed and use his powers for good. I think it goes without saying that having our kind of power on the side of good is a huge advantage.”

Chocolate’s dad shook his head. “If you ignore the possibility of returning back to the bad side,” he said snidely. 

He crossed his front legs. “But go on.”

“Thank you.

“Twilight isn’t a fan of locking people up. She’d rather help them turn their lives around. He’s not perfect, and at times he has become selfish and self-serving, but he’s also proved helpful in overcoming things she couldn’t have without him. He was the one who figured out the keys to activating the Rainbow Power chest, and while he was a part of the problem, he was the one who ultimately gave them the final key to unlock it and defeat Tirek.”

A tear came down Mayhem’s eye as he put his claw to his heart. “Twilight puts her trust in others, and while at times we don’t always live up to her expectations, everyone that Twilight has redeemed has done great things for Equestria.

“Because she agreed with Flurry’s decision to forgive me it gave me the opportunity to help Spring’s brother. He had been in a coma for three months, getting hurt saving her life from a fall. 

“If it hadn’t been for Twilight giving me another chance their whole family would still be suffering. Not just Spring’s, but Sweet Pea’s as well. Their families had grown up next to each other, and they’re family in everything but blood.”

He took in a slow breath. “I understand that you’re upset that Twilight didn’t tell you about this earlier, but again I’m asking you not to take this out on her. She got to see all our memories of that incident, and she knew I was genuinely remorseful.

“As I said earlier she had to plan for my future if she wasn’t going to have me locked up. Considering I had physically and emotionally hurt my friends she was forced to inform all of their parents of what I did, and for three months they weren’t willing to give me a chance.

“So then what was there to do with me? If I couldn’t see my friends I’d constantly be stuck at home with Fluttershy, the exact situation that caused me to go crazy in the first place. She needed a way to keep me under control, and she saw three major benefits to having these weekly sessions.

“The first was that it gave me an opportunity to cause chaos in a safe way. Having guaranteed chaos every week was intended to stop my boredom from building up to the point I lost control.

“The second was that it gave me some new friends to play with. She wanted me to forge new connections with others and make new bonds to strengthen my heart.

“And the final benefit was for them. By gathering some random strangers together to play games it would give them an opportunity to make new friends too.”

Mayhem took a few steps forward. “I understand that you don’t like not being in the loop, but Twilight acted in what she felt was the safest way for everyone and to spread joy. If she told the truth then, and couldn’t get anyone to agree, then it wouldn’t have been safer for anyone. It would only have caused my boredom to build up again, and who knows what I would have done this time.

“That’s why I’m asking you not to take things out on her. As I said before she never put my growth and reformation above the safety of your children. She was always right there watching us, ready to intervene if she needed to.”

It grew quiet for a little bit. 

Plum’s mother was the first to speak up. “And… we’re just supposed to accept this?”

“As I’ve been saying,” said Mayhem, “I’m not expecting anything of you. They’re your children, and you should do what you feel you have to for their safety.”

“Mmm…” She stared at him for a bit. “That wasn’t quite what I meant. I’m asking if once a week is really enough to keep you tame.”

“Not at all.”

Her eyebrow went up. “So…”

“Don’t be concerned. I’ve been learning a lot since the last time. I was able to be honest with my feelings, and tell Twilight that having one chaos filled day wasn’t enough for me.

“And, as she always does, she came up with a plan for that too. Basically, she told me that my magic was boring and it made me spoiled.”

“Boring?” said Flash. “Fighting pirates and sailing the seas, going on a ‘real-life’ adventure with Daring Do… that’s what you consider boring?”

Mayhem shook his head. “Oh, no. That’s tons of fun. What she meant is that I never had to work for this power. I was created with it.”

He snapped, creating an intricately engraved dresser. “See that? With no effort at all I can instantly make whatever I desire. A normal pony might have to spend hours making something as fine as this.”

He floated up, sitting on top of the dresser. “Twilight tasked me to try living life without snapping whenever I want something. It may sound silly, but I felt really self-conscious when I was first trying to learn new hobbies. 

“After spending a day with Twilight and her mom I started to get into it. Having something new to do during the week made the days pass by quickly, to the point that I was surprised when it was back to wish-granting day.

“Of course, I do still love the thrill of granting wishes and seeing what they’re going to come up with from week to week, but when it comes to my home life I don’t really care about my magic. I’m happier not using it and just trying it out on my own.

“Since the day she got me into hobbies I haven’t felt even an inkling of boredom, and I’ve been happier than I’ve ever been. There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of hobbies and talents to learn and perfect, and I can feel proud of myself for doing it all on my own and not using my magic as a shortcut.

“I’ve come so far from where I started, to the point that I eventually won over the parents. It started with Pound and Pumpkin, then Flurry, quickly followed by the other three. I finally earned the right to see my friends again, because they saw I was putting in the effort to change myself.” 

Fluttershy grinned at the warm smile on his face.

Sweet Pea’s mother looked around awkwardly before focusing on Mayhem. “Spring Meadow has been a part of our lives since she was born. Princess Twilight’s decision to focus on your reformation has led to so much good. Forest woke up, and Spring has slowly been healing over the past couple of months.

“I can’t say I regret the opportunity she gave you, considering the results, but whatever your opinion on it I still feel that Princess Twilight should account for herself.

“There’s no denying that the results of her decision have been favorable, and her plan was successful. But regardless of how successful it turned out it doesn’t change the fact that you were basically rewarded for losing control of yourself and causing so much pain by being told to do it again in a safer environment. So it seems like you received no actual consequences for your behavior aside from just not being able to see your friends for a while.”

That was met with nods and voiced agreements.

“I don’t have a problem with explaining myself,” said Twilight. “After all, I’m no snob that tells my subjects not to question my decisions.

“I’ve always felt that being an alicorn or a ruler doesn’t make me any less accountable for my behaviors and actions than before my ascension. I’m aware that many people feel differently, but personally I feel that all that’s changed about who I am is that I have more responsibility and leadership now.

“I want all of you to be honest about your feelings in regards to me. You can even yell at me without repercussion if you so choose, though I would prefer to keep things civil, not the least of which because we have all the children here.”

“I guess the obvious place to start is your handling of Mayhem,” said Flash’s dad. “From Mayhem’s own story he nearly caused the deaths of a large group of ponies in two separate situations. Did it not bother you that he almost took your life, let alone the lives of your friends?”

“I think Cup, Pound and Pumpkin’s mother, described it best. She said the only reason she was giving him another chance with her kids was because of his mental age. From a technical standpoint Mayhem is as old as Discord, meaning thousands of years old. However, he, himself, has only separated from him and become his own individual within the past year.

“Mayhem is technically a baby. The only reason he seems older is because he has Discord’s memories. However, even with those memories he still considers himself a separate individual, and thus he doesn’t quite identify with them.

“To expand on what Mayhem said about his first time getting his own body, he was initially furious with Fluttershy, telling her she ruined everything by making Discord good since he didn’t have the chaos he needed.

“He didn’t consider friendship and its lessons important. In his own words, ‘They’re boring. I want fun, and I want it all the time.’

“He didn’t understand what caused Discord to change until he got to experience it for himself. Receiving his first gesture of affection, being graced with a name, and being talked to with a sympathetic heart all had a major effect on his views.

“Being able to just run around and play with the twins and have control over himself was all he needed.”

She looked over at Mayhem, then back to the parents. “There’s a difference between being evil and being misguided. You have to be able to separate an evil act from who they are as a person.

“Mayhem certainly came close to wiping me out, but as Fluttershy talked to him it quickly became apparent he wasn’t evil. His bad actions were just a result of feeling cooped up and finally having an opportunity to change his circumstances. He tried to attack us mainly because he just didn't want to be stuck inside anymore.

“Once he wasn’t constantly stuck inside Discord and was able to have freedom he quickly found himself uninterested in turning Equestria into a land of endless chaos, and showed himself willing to give friendship a try. As the Element of Kindness I trusted my friend to help him in his reformation, and it has been a largely successful venture outside of his one time of losing control. 

“As the Element of Magic, I strive to do things that will spread our greatest magic and increase its power. If I see an opportunity to create new friendships and relationships then I will take that opportunity. Mayhem agreed to try out friendship and change, so I gave him that chance.”

“That’s great and all,” said Chocolate’s mom, “but it doesn’t address the question you were asked. Quite the opposite.

“Mayhem learned to embrace love and it kept him calm until the boredom incident, but it’s exactly the same scenario as before. He may have made improvements afterward, but he was still willing to kill for the sake of having a good time. His successful growth doesn’t negate the fact that he got away with everything even back then.”

“I concur,” said Chocolate’s dad. “The first time he nearly killed a group of ponies he was shown love, and got to play with the very ponies he almost wound up killing. And the second time he got to start granting wishes.

“Whether you want to consider him thousands of years old or as a newborn, his literal age isn’t indicative of his mental age. Development-wise he’s roughly around the age of our son. He said you told him that his magic made him spoiled, but a lack of accountability is no less harmful to a child’s growth and well-being. 

“I’d hold Chocolate accountable for stealing or hitting another child, so when I hear that Mayhem nearly killed the heroes who keep Equestria safe it feels like he’s never received comeuppance for his bad behavior.”

“A fair assessment,” said Twilight, “but it’s not that simple. Mayhem was an unknown element. No one, not even Discord, was aware of his existence. Even Mayhem himself didn’t know he existed until Discord gave a bit of his power to the twins and he suddenly experienced new memories.

“At the time I couldn’t really hold Mayhem accountable because he didn’t truly have an understanding of right and wrong. When Fluttershy spoke of morality to him he seemed genuinely confused, unable to put the pieces together. As he started living with Fluttershy, and learning about love and friendship, he developed a protectiveness of her, and learned about empathy.

“In regards to after the whole boredom incident, at times the weight of one’s crimes is more devastating than any punishment. When Mayhem had some sense knocked into him by the Fire of Friendship he was left with the knowledge of how badly he lost control of himself and the way he treated his friends.

“He didn’t try to justify or defend his behavior in any way. Quite the opposite. He was so horrified at his own actions that, even though his friends forgave him, he was ready to punish himself by returning to Discord and never coming out again. He wanted to give up his free will so that he could never hurt his friends like that again.

“He was clearly remorseful and he sat with that guilt for quite a while. When it came to his wish-granting he showed that he learned from that incident by implementing a whole bunch of safety rules. Physically, his creations were unable to cause any harm. And from an emotional standpoint he gave them all a phrase which would instantly teleport them to me if things were getting too intense and they needed a break from how real things seemed.

“I don’t want to say that I always make perfect decisions, but as my years of experience grow I find my insights and intuition usually steer me in the right direction. If someone shows themselves remorseful and are willing to turn away from their evil acts then I want to give them a second chance. I want to give them the chance to make that change and see them do better rather than locking them up where they can’t make any progress towards becoming a better individual.

“You may say that I should have gone along with what he wanted and let him be stuck inside Discord for a while, but locking someone up, in itself, doesn’t guarantee reformation. If someone is only holding themselves back from doing bad things out of the fear of punishment then it makes it easier to commit those actions if they believe they can get away with it. 

"Rather than a fear of retribution I’d rather see someone improve their conduct for the joy of being praised. Positive reinforcement that makes them want to behave better rather than negative reinforcement that only makes one behave reluctantly.”

Chocolate raised a hoof. “I have a question.”

“Yes, Chocolate?”

“Even if you locked Mayhem up it wouldn’t do anything, right?”

“What do you mean?” asked Flash.

“Well, I know Mayhem felt bad, but being stuck inside Discord without having any freedom is what caused him to go so crazy when he first came out, right? If he was stuck inside for a few months then wouldn’t he have gone crazy again as soon as he was released?”

Mayhem bit his lip. 

Twilight got a thoughtful look on her face. “Well, it’s certainly a possibility.”

“I don’t know about that,” said Spring, a downcast look on her face. “If all he can do is think things when he’s inside Discord then I think he would have turned out like me, just spending all his time beating himself up for what he caused.”

Twilight’s expression turned grim. “I… think that is an even more likely possibility.”

Flash’s dad took in a slow breath. “Your explanation makes sense to me, Princess Twilight, but at the same time I’m uncomfortable because of the all or nothing aspect.”

“All or nothing?” said Twilight.

“If Chocolate is right, then unless you’re actually willing to lock him up forever then Mayhem can never be punished because there’s always going to be a possibility that having privileges taken away will render him unstable.

“Mayhem accepted his wrongdoing this time, but what happens when he gets stubborn and doesn’t take responsibility? Not every situation is going to be as big as what happened with his friends, but things have a chance of snowballing into something larger. A disagreement over something turns into a full blown argument, both sides yelling. Then, in the heat of the moment, he snaps his claw in anger, and who knows what the result of that snap will be.”

“I understand where you’re coming from, but after the incident Mayhem is always being watched over by me and Fluttershy. Never in all of eternity would Mayhem be able to bring himself to attack Fluttershy.”

That made Mayhem smile.

“He views her as his mother and his greatest source of love. She watches over him when he’s at home or when they’re out around Ponyville.

“I keep watch over him the rest of the time, like the wish-granting sessions or when he’s visiting his friends. While his feelings aren’t quite as strong for me as they are for her, he’s told me that if he didn’t already have Fluttershy as a mother he’d easily let me take that spot.

“I can understand the idea of escalation leading to him acting out in anger, but I’m there at all times to keep things from reaching the boiling point. That was even the condition that Pound and Pumpkin’s mother had before agreeing to test the waters and let him back into her children’s lives.

“As I’ve already stated, I’m no snob who is convinced I’m always right. I don’t mind you questioning my decisions, but I think the results speak for themselves. Mayhem has certainly come far from the individual he was during the superhero incident. And since we found and took care of the root cause that sparked his boredom in the first place he’s been a perfect angel even since then.

“Although I don’t have any kids myself I consider all the children of Ponyville like my children, and thus I care about their safety. To the best of my ability I would never allow harm to come to them. So in the end it comes down to whether you trust in me to continue doing my job, and that’s a question all of you will have to consider going forward.”

It was quiet for the next minute, the parents thinking about her statements.

Sweet Pea’s mom was the first to speak. “Princess, I do trust you, and it certainly does seem like everything has worked out as you intended, but… well… what if it does come down to that?

“Even if you could bring yourself to fight Mayhem I just can’t help but think of how much devastation can be caused with a single snap.”

“It’s a valid concern,” said Twilight, “and that’s why I’m going to such lengths to keep him on the right path. It’s true that both times he was out of control it nearly had deadly consequences, but it’s not really in the nature of a draconequus to kill.”

“It doesn’t seem that way,” said Flash’s mom.

“He went after me and my friends precisely because we were a threat to his enjoyment with our Rainbow Power. When it came to his friends it was about pure stubbornness of repeatedly not getting what he wanted out of them. 

“But those are exceptions rather than the norm. The draconequus is naturally mischievous and enjoys causing chaos. And, as Flurry said, the thing about chaos is that it can only be experienced by someone who’s conscious. A dead pony can’t react to the chaos brought about. It runs contrary to their nature to take out their audience when it’s the thing that gives them that burst of excitement.

“It’s certainly true that a lot can happen after a draconequus snap, but outside of death it can be fixed just as easily.”

Once more things lapsed into silence.

This time Plum’s mom was the one to break it. “So why all this now? It feels like there’s something more to all this.

“Mayhem claims that he wanted it out in the open in case we were to learn this in the future, but it doesn’t seem like anyone who knew the whole story was ever going to make us aware.”

Mayhem nodded. “There certainly is more to the story. It’s about what happened during the wish adventure today. And it’s because of what happened there that I felt confident enough to face my actions.”

“And what happened?” asked Plum’s dad.

“I’ll be glad to tell you the good news, but for that we’re going to need the rest of the parents. I want all of them to share in my triumph.”

Twilight's horn lit up, lifting Mayhem onto her back. "Ordinarily I would have just told you to wait for me, but with your confession I think it's best for you to stay with me right now."

"No complaints there," said Mayhem. "Even if Mommy is there I think they'll be more relaxed if I'm with you."

"We'll be back soon," said Twilight, and with a flash they disappeared.
> 11-23: Confession part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A short while later Twilight and Mayhem returned back to the castle with the last of the parents, except for Cadance and Shining. They each sat down, their children hopping up on their laps. 

“So,” said Cup. “What’s this all about? Surely this isn’t normal to summon the parents of the children when you could just drop them off.”

Mayhem hopped off Twilight’s back. “Well, I have some good news and some not as good news.”

Cup’s eyebrow went up as she crossed her front legs. “Well, this should be good. I finally gave in to my children pestering me to be able to join you for a wish adventure, and already something has happened.”

“Well, something did indeed happen, but your children weren't put in danger.”

Carrot tapped his hoof on the floor. “Well, get on with it then. The parents of the other children certainly don’t look too thrilled over there.”

“That’s because after what happened I finally had the courage to fill them in on my past.”

Cup blinked. “Really?” she said with a hint of suspicion.

“I can guess what you’re thinking, but I didn’t skew the truth to paint myself in a better light. I fully explained to them about what happened when I took over your children, and what went down during the superhero adventure.”

It was quiet for a short time as the parents digested this information, then Peppermint’s mom said, “Well, what is it? What happened?”

“Today, the day I had all eleven of my friends, Spring Meadow suggested that we fight Sombra for real in this adventure. Considering all this time we’ve been using Sombra as our code word for our inner feelings intruding into our happiness I went a little too far when I created him.

“I never intended to do it, but I made another me bearing all my self-hatred and regrets.” 

“Excuse me?” Tree Leaf’s mom said. “There’s another one of you now?”

Mayhem shook his head. “Not anymore, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.

“This other half, which Twilight named Nega, hated me. He desired nothing more than to punish me for the mistakes I had made in the past.

“He also had all of my memories, and so he held himself back from being overly destructive simply because he didn’t want to risk the others getting caught in the crossfire.

“It was a tough, scary battle, but in the end I was able to fight back against that inner darkness to find my willpower. I did find happiness in granting wishes and getting my old friends back, but I never did actually settle my issues. I feel like I’m in a better place now.”

He lifted up a claw. “With your permission I’d like to share my memories with you.”

The parents looked around uncertainly, unsure of whether they wanted to see what he wanted to show them. 

“It’s okay,” said Spring. “Yeah, it was a little scary, but all of us truly showed the magic of friendship, and no one besides Mayhem got hurt by Nega.”

'Well, if you don't count him decking me,' thought Twilight.

Cup shrugged, then said, “Fine. Words are cheap, and I want to see how this all went down for myself so I can make my decision on how I feel about this. After all, this could affect my children, and that’s reason enough to face it.”

The other parents couldn’t argue with that logic, and they all agreed as well. 

Now that he had their agreement he snapped, letting them see the whole adventure from Nega’s accidental creation to  his dispersal.

They all needed a little time to process those memories for themselves.

“Words really don’t do it justice,” said Sweet Pea’s mom. “Disregarding Nega, are all of your adventures as crazy as this?”

“Not all of them,” said Sweet Pea. “But we all make some wacky wishes. That’s what makes it fun.”

Plum’s mom gently shook her head. “I guess… I can understand a little more about why the kids would agree to stay in Mayhem’s world if every day could be like that.”

“Well,” said Flash’s dad, “games aren’t the concern here. It’s about what Mayhem created.”

“That’s true,” said Mayhem. “I brought all my deep down feelings to the surface, and put them into a real person. When I created the Sombra for the game I thought it would be like any of my other creations, but it turns out it could actually feel.

“It took me a while to understand what exactly Nega was, but the only way to conquer him was to defeat the feelings holding me back from my best self.

“Because my willpower was lacking I went in the wrong direction, getting myself hurt and my friends as well when they had to see what Nega was doing to me.

“Things are different now. I understand my importance. I understand my value. I understand that I can’t keep beating myself up over past mistakes. As Twilight said, just beating myself up isn’t going to make everything better. And like Cup said, time passing is insignificant. The only way to prove that I’ve changed is to keep walking forward and doing all I can to help others.”

Fluttershy was beaming. Mayhem had grown so much in the past few hours, and she felt so proud of him.

Discord felt the same. 

Cup could feel his inner strength pouring off of him. He really had vanquished his fears and doubts.

“You’re Cup, right?” said Chocolate’s dad.

Cup took her eyes off Mayhem to focus on him. “Yes I am.”

“As we found out today Mayhem went pretty far off the deep end in the past, and we’re only hearing about this today. As a parent I’d like to hear your perspective about why you allowed your children near him again after what he did in the past.

“We’ve heard a little of it from Twilight and Mayhem, but I want to hear it from you.”

Cup shook her head. “I scolded Twilight over keeping his past a secret, but she justified it by saying she’d always be there to observe. I wouldn’t have just said yes to it if I knew beforehand.

“I’ve told Mayhem this, but there’s only two reasons I agreed to give him another chance. The first was that my children have a strong bond with him that they didn’t want to let go of. So it was more for their happiness than because I genuinely trusted him. I’ve told him I’d have been happier if he was out of our lives.

“And the bigger reason is simply his mental age. He thinks and acts around the level of my children, and he doesn’t yet have the capacity to truly understand the depths of his actions in the way an adult would. He thinks in a very narrow, in the moment, way. 

“And thus, even if he still makes me a bit uncomfortable. I’m willing to allow him to prove himself to me so long as Twilight is there in case he gets out of control.”

“Things have been very peaceful,” said Carrot. “Even understanding that he has a childish mind that simply has too much power, it took us quite a while before we could look past that to actually really acknowledge he’s a child that can’t be measured to the standards we would expect for someone older.

“Now that he’s come back into our lives he hasn’t done anything suspicious. Quite the opposite. As a gesture of respect for our reasonable uncertainty he puts us in control of his magic when he visits. And by that I mean he always informs us and asks permission before using his powers.”

“Not that we assume his next snap will mean trouble when he’s clearly content, but it is an example of how he’s taking the feelings of others into considering before acting. A far cry from the boy who selfishly put himself before everyone else just because he was bored.”

“It’s probably the same for the rest of us,” said Peppermint’s dad. “We’re still not there yet. We’re mainly okay with this because Twilight is there observing. If not for that I wouldn’t feel ready for him to be around my child, harmless or not.

“It’s clear through his experiences today that Mayhem has grown, but for a few moments there at the start this other half of him was willing to get others involved because they were trying to protect the object of his grudge.”

“Exactly,” said her mother. “As soon as he recognized them he immediately abandoned the attack and begged for forgiveness, but, as Twilight pointed out, if those hadn’t been his friends he wouldn’t have stopped his assault.

“Of course, we can say that it was a byproduct of Nega having just been created and following his ‘programming,’ but things could have gone as badly as they did at the superhero world.”

“I don’t know if I quite agree with that,” said Masky’s mom. “It seems like the opposite. Nega rejected his ‘program’ when it would lead to others getting hurt that he cared about. And now Nega doesn’t exist anymore, so whatever threat he posed is gone with him.”

“Well,” said Tree Leaf’s mom, “Mayhem was the one who was feeding his darkness in the first place. It was his inability to get past his inner issues that put them in danger, and by extension possibly the others around him.”

“Hmph!” said Cup. “Exactly! Twilight already said it all, but what were all of you thinking when you thought about attacking someone out of control with rage? Did you honestly believe that would go well, even if all of you had some of his magic?”

Pound sighed. “Well… we know now that it was a dumb decision, but we just really wanted to protect our friend.”

“Fair enough that Twilight didn’t tell you some things,” said Carrot, “but you didn’t even stop to think about how Nega was deliberately not firing in your direction despite his hatred for Mayhem, solely because he didn’t trust he wouldn’t get you caught in the crossfire?”

“Come on, Dad,” said Pumpkin. “Cut us a break here. We were all scared. We didn’t have time to think about stuff like that.

“All we saw from him is someone hating and attacking a friend, doing a great job of getting in character as the villain, and then attacking and hurting him again. We didn’t get to see any of Nega’s better sides because Twilight never told us about them.”

“That may be true,” said Cup, “but that doesn’t excuse your behavior. If things were going to escalate to a battle then that is Twilight’s responsibility, not yours. Even if what she said did go a little too far, she was right to yell at you for being so foolish and putting your lives at risk.”

“We were scared Mayhem was going to die,” said Pound. “He had already been knocked out once.”

“And?” she said angrily. “That still doesn’t excuse you kids trying to jump into the fray in a real battle and not leaving it to Twilight to deal with.”

Peppermint rubbed her hooves in a circle. “B-but… Twilight said if she had to step in then it would mean having to destroy Mayhem.”

“That’s not going to work!” said her mother. “She didn’t tell you that until after you had tried that. Extra abilities or not it’s still a darn fool thing to think of assaulting someone who’s so full of rage they have no control of themselves and they’re destroying everything in sight.”

“Exactly!” said Cup. “I can’t even blame Mayhem for this one. Of all the choices you could have made in that situation you decided violence was the best one?” She let out a big huff. “You know what? Twilight already said it all, and you came to understand your foolishness, so I’m not going to keep harping on about it.”

Peppermint’s mom shook her head. “Fair point.”

“So… where do we go from here?” asked Plum’s mom.

Plum looked up at her mother. “I know you might need some time to think about things and make your decision, but I want to keep being friends with Mayhem.”

“Same!” said Flash. “Mayhem needs as many connections as he can get. It took all of us combined, and a lot of explanation from Twilight, for Mayhem to conquer the darkness in his heart.”

A tear came down Sweet Pea’s face. “All of us helped save a friend today, and I know I’m proud of that.

“Mayhem has become a new person because he had friends to lift up his heart.”

Chocolate said, “I finally understand why Mayhem freaked out so bad when I first asked him for a superhero adventure the day we met.

“Nobody here ever wants to see Mayhem go back to his bad self. That’s why he needs us.” 

Tears formed in his eyes. “We all made an important promise to him that we’d stay by his side and keep his heart strong. I want to keep that promise. It not only keeps Mayhem safe, but, just by being a good friend, it also helps to protect Equestria.”

"Exactly," said Plum. "Now that we know everything about his past I understand why Twilight said it was so vital for him to have friends around.

“Kitten Mayhem for life!” She pumped a hoof.

“Huh?” said her mother.

“The day we met Twilight told us a little bit about his past. She explained to us why we were there. Normally Mayhem is like a sweet little kitten, completely harmless. But when his boredom gets out of control he turns into a tiger, vicious and scary.”

“We all want to see him remain kitten Mayhem,” said Chocolate. “That’s why we made our Pinkie Promises.”

“Same here,” said Sweet Pea. “His past is pretty scary, and that’s why we have to make sure he stays in his kitten form.”

“Our promises didn’t just stop mattering now that we know his past,” said Flash. “Pound and Pumpkin said that a Pinkie Promise is something you make with your whole heart and soul, knowing that once you say the words and do the gestures you can never take it back.

“I know I’m going to keep my promise, because being there for those I love has always been what matters most to me.”

“We’ve been having these adventures for six months now,” said Spring, “and we’ve never once seen tiger Mayhem return. Even Nega wasn’t really a tiger. He was just hurting so much because Mayhem accidentally made him feel all of his buried feelings.

“Things only became so out of control because we didn’t know everything. If we had understood what Nega was earlier we could have helped him right from the start.”

Chocolate looked up at his parents. “So what do you have to say about all this?”

Chocolate’s mom had a distant look on her face. “I… don’t really know what to say. This is some pretty heavy stuff to just throw in our laps, and now it feels like it’s too late to do anything about it. You’ve grown too attached to one another.”

His dad sighed. “This information is too big to just make up our minds on the spot. Based on the evidence we’ve seen Mayhem really has grown more mature and moved on from the person he was back then, but having that past sprung on us like this…

“It’s clear you value each other, and I don’t dispute that having all of you around helped him move on, but right now I just really need some time to process everything.”

“Same, basically,” said Plum’s mom. “Mayhem’s reformation does appear to be genuine, so I see no reason to permanently separate you from him, but for now I’d say you’re not going to be around for at least next week’s session.”

“I’d say the same,” said Flash’s dad.

Flash bit his lip. “I guess that’s fair. I want to argue, but I understand you don’t know Mayhem as well as we do.”

“Right,” said Chocolate. “I just hope it’s not too long of a separation.”

“Same,” said Plum.

Sweet Pea’s mother turned to Spring’s parents. “You’ve been pretty quiet about things. You don’t really seem surprised.” Before they could respond she got a curious look on her face. “Wait. In that rush of memories Twilight said something about how Mayhem explained his past to Spring because he identified with her feelings and wanted to see her improve.”

Clear nodded. “That’s right. We were pretty angry at the time, but, as our daughter pointed out, Mayhem still being around got us our son back. It also let us see how much hurt she was carrying inside and how we weren’t paying as much attention to her as we should have been.

“We owe him a great deal for the good that he caused.”

“Oh, Twilight?” Cup said with an edge in her voice.

“Yes?” she replied.

“I remember that conversation about the will to live too, and now that I’m thinking about it there’s one very curious line in there.

“So what’s all this about Mayhem sneaking into Flurry’s cutecenera?”

Panic crossed the faces of Mayhem's old friends, as well as Twilight and Fluttershy. None of them had thought about that line.

Fluttershy felt her heart pounding as she set Discord down next to her and got up.

Mayhem squirmed. How could he have been so dumb? Now they were going to get mad at her. 

He couldn’t stop her. It would be dishonest to claim he had done it on his own when she was the one that had encouraged him.

She bowed to the parents. “Please forgive me, but that was my fault.”

“Your fault?” said Peppermint’s mom.

“Yes. Mayhem was still burning with guilt the week after the superhero adventure. When he found out that Flurry got her cutie mark because of it he was afraid she was gonna be miserable over it.

“Since he wanted to talk to her and make sure she was okay, and because a cutecenera is a once in a lifetime event for each pony, I brought him along with me.”

“So you just decided that your ‘child’s’ feelings were more important than the rules we put down?” Tree Leaf’s mother asked angrily.

Mayhem groaned. He didn’t like to see anyone getting angry at his mom, but he knew they had every reason to be.

Fluttershy got up from her bowing position. “I didn’t intend to defy your rules. I brought Mayhem along, but I told him he wasn’t allowed to actually play with his friends. He could talk to Flurry about her feelings for her cutie mark, but that was it.

“However, things went wrong after that. Flurry completely lost her party spirit, constantly staring at Mayhem after he left. I didn’t want to ruin her once in a lifetime event, so I tried compromising. He could play with them, but he had to keep his identity a secret.”

“Hmmm,” said Cup. “Now that I think about it, I remember a shy pony hiding from me that looked just like a pony version of Mayhem. Hmph. I don’t know how I missed making that connection.

“And what about you, Twilight? How did you come to know this?”

“I didn’t know until the meeting with Spring,” she replied.

“And you thought that was okay?” asked Masky’s dad. “You sure informed us about the worse stuff, which I do appreciate, but the little stuff is just fine to be overlooked?”

She sighed. “I was put in a tough position when I heard that news. Dealing with Spring’s heartache was the bigger priority at the time.

“After we had done what we could for her and I dropped him back off I decided to let it go because it was dangerous knowledge.”

“Dangerous?” said Peppermint’s mom flatly.

Twilight nodded. “Yes. Mayhem’s reason for fighting was to improve himself for the sake of eventually seeing his friends again. If I spilled that information it could have spiraled out of control. If he lost his friends for good his heart would have crumbled, and I didn’t know what he would do after that. 

“Perhaps he would have become like Spring and just spend all his days being depressed and giving up on life. Or perhaps he'd become so wrapped up in that pain that he would have become a hateful being. If he came to believe that his good actions no longer mattered, he could very well decide he might as well be bad and take out his pain on everyone around him.

“Bringing him along for such a special occasion made sense, and as long as he didn’t decide to make a habit of going against your wishes I decided to let things slide one time.”

“So,” said Carrot. “Is there anything else that’s been kept from us since everything’s being put out in the open?”

Mayhem shook his head. “No. That was a one time thing. I didn’t want to sneak around behind anyone’s back. I just really wanted to talk to Flurry and then keep my distance. Mommy just felt bad for us.”

“Of course she did,” said Cup. “Because you always attract trouble for those around you.”

For a moment Mayhem felt sadness creeping in, but it was quickly replaced by anger. “You know what? No! I’m not letting that stand!”

Cup blinked “Excuse me?”

He glared at her. “I acknowledge that I had some bad days, but don’t act like I’m constantly causing problems just because you’re letting my bad moments completely overshadow my good ones. Those bad days were months apart from each other, and along the way we had some great times together.

“Even after what happened the day I was 'born' you let me run around with your kids. You accepted my first apology. You let me in your house. You frequently let me play with your children. You let me sleep in Pound and Pumpkin’s room without supervision. You had a blast joining in with the snowball fight I created.

“After the superhero adventure, when you finally gave me another chance, I was moved by your sadness and tried to give you more time to get past your fears, and you were the one who insisted you wanted me to come over so you could observe me.

“When I come visit I’m always respectful of your fear of me by telling you my intentions when I snap and asking permission first.

“Even that first day you told me your path of forgiveness wasn’t just pebbles because you saw how different I was.”

He took a step forward. “I know I made a big mistake and lost control of myself, but that error taught me so many things I never would have known about the importance of friendship and love, and I’ve strived every day not to ever become that person ever again.

“So don’t try and act like I’m nothing but trouble and causing problems every other day, because it’s a flat out lie and I don't appreciate the accusation!”

Fluttershy blinked. She was happy to see Mayhem standing up for himself from an unjust generalization.

Twilight felt the same. More than anything else it truly convinced her that he had put his past behind him.

Pound and Pumpkin were also impressed that he was standing up to their mom considering how afraid of her he had been in the past.

They looked up at her to see how she was going to react. She didn’t quite look mad. They couldn’t really tell what she was feeling.

After a time she picked up Pound and stood up, sitting him back on the chair.

As Cup approached him Twilight debated saying something. She didn’t want Cup and Mayhem getting into a shouting match.

When she was in front of him she surprised all of them by bowing to him. “You’re right. I’m sorry for my inappropriate words.”

Mayhem’s glare left his face, replaced with surprise. He certainly hadn’t expected that. “Um… it’s okay.”

Cup rose. “It’s just… I really hope this is the last of the ‘bigs’ with you.”

His head tilted. “The bigs?” he said confusedly.

“It may be true that you have quite a few positive qualities, and have done a lot of nice things, but about every six months or so something big happens. When trouble arises with you it always comes big. The day of Fluttershy’s birthday, then the superhero adventure, and now this thing with Nega.

“I’d really rather you caused trouble in smaller but more frequent doses than all these explosive doses. Now that you’ve confronted the past hopefully there aren’t going to be any more of these huge events.”

Mayhem let out a slow breath. “Me too. Me too. I enjoy chaos, but it needs to be in moderation.”

Cup glanced over at Fluttershy for a moment before turning her gaze back at him. “Considering it was Fluttershy’s idea in the first place I’m choosing not to hold that defiance against you.”

“You’re not going to be mad at her, are you?”

She sighed. “What would that do? Fluttershy has always been a softie. It’s just too ingrained in her character to be sympathetic to hold a grudge over it, especially when she was the one who brought my children home back when they ran away.”

Mayhem let out a sigh of relief. 

He hugged Cup’s leg. “I want to thank you, Cup. I know that you told me you only gave me another chance for your kids happiness and not for me, but none of this would have been possible without you.

“Flurry’s parents were always going to give me another chance because of Starlight’s turn to good, but she lives so far away and doesn’t have as many chances to visit. If you had shut that door for good I would have lost part of my motivation for staying good in the first place, and I couldn’t have won today.

“Even if I had the other four it wouldn’t have been enough. Knowing that Pound and Pumpkin would always be left out of our adventures would have only made me feel guilty. I couldn’t have found the will to live with that weight on me when I barely won as it is.” 

He nuzzled her leg. “Even after what I did you still cared enough to give me advice about being more honest about my feelings, and thought about how I might get some fake friends who only wanted to use me for my powers.”

A happy tear came down his eye. “I think you’re an awesome mom and pony, and from today on I’ll continue to make my redemption feel earned, so I never hurt you like that again.”

Cup took in a slow breath, unsure of how she wanted to respond. She had certainly not expected his expression of gratitude.

“I’m… happy that you’ve progressed to this point, but I’m still not ready to say that I’ve forgiven you for what you pulled. There’s still a ways to go before I’ll be ready to say those words genuinely.”

After a short time she picked him up and gave him a hug. “I do want to at least acknowledge the effort you’ve put in for it. Keep up the good work.”

Mayhem hugged her back. “I will! Thank you!” 

As Cup set him back down he let out a content sigh.

He looked at the other parents. "So what do you have to say about this?"

"Cup isn't exactly wrong," said Tree Leaf's mom. "The initial idea was Fluttershy's, not yours, and she did at least try to be respectful of our wishes while still caring for you."

"Well," said his dad, "after she's saved all our flanks from the likes of Tirek and bugbears and other crazy monsters I think we can cut a national hero a break."

"Fair point," said Peppermint's mom. "She was put in an awkward position. If it really was just the one time then I'm willing to let it go."

"Same," said her dad. "I am still a bit annoyed, but it's not something I'm going to hold onto."

"Now that I think about it," said Masky's mom, "you were of great help to our son. He trusted you enough to open up to you about all his hidden feelings, and that in turn led to him opening up to us."

"Since that time he's been so much happier," said his dad. "so we can't stay mad either."

Fluttershy bowed to them again. "I'm truly sorry. Thank you for forgiving me."

The relief Mayhem felt was immense. He had totally forgotten about keeping that part secret. He really didn't want to see Twilight or Fluttershy get in trouble because of him. Even If Fluttershy was the one to suggest it he had been the one to agree, so it was still partly his fault.

Things had gone better than he ever could have hoped for. The parents of his new friends were upset, but not irreversibly so. They would need a few weeks, which he could take. He could still talk to them through the notebook to fill them in.

The parents of his old friends didn't hold him sneaking into the cutecenera against any of them.

He had brought his self-confidence up enough he defended himself from a wrongful accusation. 

He smiled, feeling so happy with life. 

Spring noticed the pure joy on his face and how relaxed he was. He truly had come far from who he was a few months ago. An odd feeling began to blossom inside her.

Mayhem’s head spun around as Spring Meadow suddenly began sobbing. “Hey, hey!” he said nervously. “What’s wrong?”

Sweet Pea sat next to her friend as Spring fell to her knees, still crying heavily. She was quickly joined by her parents and brother.

No one knew what had set Spring off, so all they could do was wait for her to come down so she could explain herself.
> 11-24: Value
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had to wait a few minutes, but Spring’s crying finally eased off.

Spring rose on shaky hooves and threw herself at Mayhem, hugging him tightly.

Mayhem returned the gesture. “Come on now. What happened? Why were you crying like that?”

She didn’t answer, just holding him tighter.

Mayhem just continued hugging her back, feeling disturbed. Everything had gone so well. Why was Spring so devastated?

After another minute of sniffing Spring finally spoke. “I… I finally realized something.”

“What’s that?”

“I… I still remember the day we met.” She let out a little whimper. “You weren’t any better off than I was.”

She squeezed harder, sounding like she was about to break down again. “We were so alike. We were both suffering so much. Our hearts were heavy with guilt. We felt like trash that didn’t deserve anything good in our lives anymore.

“You’re not like that anymore. You were able to pull yourself out of the darkness and confront your past. You found your courage and the will to live.  And I…” She let out a sob. “I got to play a part in that. After you saved my brother and helped me reconnect with him I… I…” She let out another sob. “I was finally able to pay you back for everything you’ve done for our family.

“Every week I hurt a little less, and I fought because I wanted to be there for my brother, b-b-but e-even after all this time, I… I still didn’t think I really mattered. A part of me still wished my brother had been just a little bit slower, or that I hadn’t been punished enough for what I caused.

“B-b-but just watching you, seeing the new you, seeing how you were fighting so hard for me and knowing that I played a part in you finally overcoming the darkness, I finally... I…” She sobbed. “I finally feel like I really am necessary and important. I’m finally glad that I’m still alive, because I helped you become a better you.”

That brought a smile to Mayhem’s face. These were happy tears.

She pulled back, wiping her face. “I’m not selfish enough to think that I was the only one responsible, because I know everyone played a part, but at the same time I don’t think you could have done it without me.” She looked around a bit before asking, “Does that still sound selfish to say that?”

“Not at all,” said Twilight. “As you said, everyone played their own role in helping Mayhem overcome his past. That incomplete heart all of you made to help encourage Mayhem when he was struggling is a great metaphor.

“You’re not trying to claim solo credit. Without you as part of the group Mayhem wouldn’t have enough hearts lifting him up to succeed. Not to discredit any of the other children, but of all of them you were the most in need, and Mayhem’s drive to help you succeed was his main motivation. He had to step up for you, so I think you were indeed the main contributing factor in his success.”

Hearing that confirmation from Twilight made her legs go weak, and she fell to her knees gently sobbing again. 

Forest put a hoof around her. “You’re very important, Sis. You’ve been helping me all this time.”

“More than you know,” said Twilight. “Do you remember what I said about how your guilt consuming you doesn’t help anyone?”

Spring gave a little nod. 

“Now go back to what you were saying about the part of you that wished Forest had been too slow to save you. Your guilty side is so caught up in itself that you’re not thinking about what that would mean for him.

“Think about how you felt the whole time Forest was in the hospital, and try to imagine your positions being reversed. If you had crashed from that height there’s a good chance you would have died. At best you would have broken half the bones in your body.

“As Mayhem said at the hospital, making Forest conscious opened him up to feeling and hurting again. And if Forest had failed to grab you in time he wouldn’t have been in a coma, but every day he would have had to live with being just a few moments too slow. Just try and picture the shame and guilt he would have felt to have to go home and tell his parents he had let you die.”

Spring clenched hard, then her whole body shuddered. She got a pained look on her face as she grabbed Forest in a tight hug. What she had felt in the three months Forest had been in a coma were feelings she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy.

Twilight was absolutely right. She was so caught up that she didn’t think of how things would have changed if Forest had failed to rescue her. The week after he was woken up she had found out he already felt guilty for getting injured because it meant he couldn’t be there for her. He talked about how his mind came up with all sorts of ridiculous scenarios that would have stopped her from doing what she did that day. And all that was just from knowing she had been in emotional turmoil.

How would he have felt if he had missed her by an inch? How would he feel if he had seen her in his position, bleeding and unconscious or screaming in pain? She knew the pain of feeling responsible for causing someone she loved to get hurt. She couldn’t stand the thought of Forest feeling that way. It was why she got so riled up when he tried to blame himself. 

Because she had survived she had been able to be there for him when he woke up, as well as Mayhem during his journey to improve. 

She looked at Mayhem and called his name. 

“Yes?” he said.

“It’s not over yet.”

“What’s not over?”

“I think you’ve become really cool and strong. I don’t want to live with these feelings anymore. I want to be cool and strong like you.”

Flash grinned. “So you’re ready to forgive yourself too?”

“That’s awesome!” said Sweet Pea.

Mayhem wanted to join in on their enthusiasm, but she was staring at him intensely like she had something else to say.

“What?” he finally said. “What is it?”

“Mayhem… can you make me my own Tantabus?”
> 11-25: Willpower
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone reacted with shock.

“No way!” said Mayhem.

“Exactly,” said Clear. “Why would you want to create another one?”

Spring growled. “Stop babying me!” she said angrily. “Because we all believed in Mayhem he succeeded. Why don’t you believe in me? 

“I’ve made as much progress as he has, and I know all the places he went wrong. I understand what I need to do after watching him.”

Mayhem groaned, looking up at Twilight to be the voice of reason.

She felt his look, and met eyes with him briefly before turning her attention to Spring. Her horn glowed, separating Spring from the rest of them and setting her down on the other side of the room facing all of them.

In a serious voice she asked, “You think it’s that’s simple? Just because Mayhem succeeded doesn’t mean you will.”

“It doesn’t mean I won’t, either,” Spring replied. "And you were the one who told me I shouldn't let what other people can or can't do make me think I can't do it too."

Mayhem felt the same sensation from Twilight as when she had asked him to look in her eyes. He felt Twilight’s inner strength radiating off her. It wasn’t threatening like when she had faced off against Nega, but it almost felt like a physical weight in the area.

“And just what makes you think you can win?”

Spring met her gaze. “Because I have the hearts of all my friends with me, but even more than that I have something important to fight for too. There’s someone I want to help.”

Twilight slowly walked closer to her. “And you think that’s all it takes? You think it’s that simple?”

Instinctively Spring started to back up and shrink down as Twilight grew closer, but she conquered the impulse and stood her ground, not averting her eyes. 

She thought of what had happened with Mayhem, and how he had gone about things completely wrong. Actually, they all had, and Twilight had scolded them harshly over it. None of them were ready to win over Nega. 

In the end, though, Twilight had been testing them. She had to make them see the path they were on was bad and redirect them the right way. Once they understood where they had gone wrong it hadn’t taken long for Mayhem to succeed.

She felt like Twilight was testing her too. Twilight was a nice person, who only got angry or mean for their benefit. She had seen with Mayhem’s inner side that he went right for his guilt, hitting him with all his worst thoughts until he couldn’t even stand up anymore and nearly gave in to the darkness. If she couldn’t even stand up to Twilight then she wouldn’t stand a chance against her Nega.

Twilight was right in front of her now, glaring down at her. “You arrogant child,” she said coldly. “There’s no way you can win.”

Clear and Still both gulped at how intensely Twilight was targeting their daughter, but neither of them spoke up in her defense because they felt Spring was being foolish and needed some sense talked into her. 

The mood grew awkward for the children. It felt exactly like when Fluttershy had yelled at Mayhem. Even if she wasn’t looking at them directly the sheer intensity of her gaze paralyzed them.

Spring was trembling slightly, her eyes watering as she fought the urge to blink. She felt like she might collapse, and her heart was hammering, but she stood resolute. 

With a slight quiver in her voice she said, “I-I’m not backing down, T-Twilight.” She focused her heart on her goal, finding her inner strength. She found the courage to take a step forward, matching Twilight’s glare. “I want to fight, because I want to be stronger. I don’t want to let my past control me anymore. To help the person I want to help I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Pound blinked, impressed that she was standing up to Twilight. 

It was quiet between them for about another thirty seconds, and then the tension broke as Twilight smiled. “Remarkable. Even with everything I put into it you didn’t turn away or cower. You stood up tall and faced me with courage. Well done.”

Spring fell to her knees, panting but proud of herself.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Still.

“It means I think she’s ready to face this challenge.” She took a few steps towards them. “She’s shown that she can stand up for her beliefs and has a strong underlying motivation that won’t let her back down from fulfilling them.

“I know that she’s your daughter, and you don’t want to see her get hurt, but the purpose of her wish for today was to give her the strength to finally conquer her darkness alongside Mayhem. The most important point of today is that she’s finally starting to truly recognize her value and grow past Forest’s accident. She even stared me down and wouldn’t turn away or back up despite giving her an intense stare.

“While we’re all here together I feel it’s for the best to not lose this momentum by expressing doubts about her. I can’t force your decision, but I think you should let her go forward with your blessing.”

“And… what happens if she does fail?” said Forest cautiously. “Mayhem only created Nega on accident. Deliberately creating another creature like that is too dangerous.”

Pound raised a hoof. “Is it, though? Luna’s Tantabus had her dreamwalker powers, and Nega had Mayhem’s reality breaking powers. What can Spring’s Tantabus do? It won’t have any magic, so it wouldn’t be hard for Twilight to stop it.”

Pumpkin bit her lip. “Well… we shouldn’t pretend like it’s going to be helpless. Even without magic Nega did still grow powerful enough from Mayhem’s bad feelings to knock him out cold.”

“But that’s only because Mayhem didn’t understand what Nega was. He only saw Nega as an enemy to be destroyed, so that’s why he grew to hate Nega, not knowing he was only hurting himself. Spring knows what she has to do by watching Mayhem.”

Clear tapped her hoof on the ground. “Knowing what to do and actually accomplishing it are two entirely different things.

“I notice you didn’t answer Forest’s question, Twilight. Spring’s feelings run deep, and you threatened to wipe out Mayhem if you had to in order to keep Equestria safe.” Her gaze grew fiery. “Are you going to threaten to kill my daughter too?”

Twilight met her gaze. “I have no desire to harm children. I intervened precisely because their stated intention to attack Nega was going to force me into that position, something none of us wanted. That’s why I yelled at all of them, because I needed them to understand just how close they had come to the worst case scenario.

“As Pound said, Spring understands what she needs to do from watching Mayhem. She knows that ‘Sombra’ isn’t some outside intruder, but her own inner thoughts. She knows that violence will not subdue that part of her, but only intensify her feelings.

“She also understands that the quickest way to find inner strength is by fighting for others, and that drive was strong enough that she wouldn’t back down from me despite the intensity I came at her with.

“She has all the preparation she needs to conquer this final challenge. She has the hearts of all her friends with her, and sufficient drive. If worst comes to worst and it seems like she won’t prevail I certainly don’t intend to harm Spring. With her Tantabus being incapable of magic, and me with some of Mayhem’s power, it wouldn’t be hard to restrain her inner feelings.”

“Just give it up, Twilight!” Spring said angrily, making everyone look at her. “Of course I can’t win if everyone isn’t part of the circle lending me their hearts.

“All my friends are by my side, and even you believe in me. I can’t say the same for the ones I most need on my team.”

Spring rounded on her family, furious tears coming down her eyes. “WHY CAN’T YOU EVER BELIEVE IN ME?” she said in a hurt voice. “Always, always, you act like I’m so weak.

“I did overestimate myself months ago, but I’m not the same Spring I was back then. I feel like I’m so, so close to finally becoming like Mayhem. I know from watching his battle that it’s going to be one of the hardest fights of my life, but I want to do it. 

“I want to fight this battle, no matter how much it hurts, but I know it’s going to be impossible if everyone I love isn’t giving me their support.”

Forest, Still, and Clear were conflicted. They certainly did want to see Spring succeed at casting off the shackles of her guilt, but they had seen how brutal Mayhem’s fight with Nega had gone. Both physically and emotionally he had gone through so much. They didn’t want to see her suffer like that.

As Twilight had stated, Spring was certainly more prepared than Mayhem was considering what she had learned watching the two of them. Her confrontation, ideally, wouldn’t be anywhere near as intense. 

Clear asked, "Well, can you at least tell us what the point of it is? If you're ready to forgive yourself then why can't you just do it? Ponies have moved on and forgiven themselves without some freaky magic turning their darkest thoughts into a real being."

"I think that's a fair question," said Twilight. "Why do you feel that it's necessary?"

Spring's eyes faded out. "Because there's something I need to see."

"Something you need to see?" said Mayhem.

"I... don't know how I'm going to react when I see it. I don't even know if seeing it is actually going to help. But I really feel that until I do see it I won't be able to move on."

Mayhem bit his lip. "But... um... what are you looking for? What is this thing you want to see?"

"Myself," she said simply. "I want to see myself.

"I've even already thought of a name for her: Mirror."

"Mirror?" said Twilight.

She nodded. "As you said, Mayhem's big difficulty in settling things with Nega was seeing him as an enemy to be destroyed and gotten rid of, but really he was just going to war with himself.

"I don't want to make that same mistake. Since you called Nega Mayhem's reflection, I'm going to keep with that theme to keep it in mind that Mirror is just another part of me."

Twilight blinked, then smiled warmly. "That is very smart thinking, Spring."

That got a small smile out of her. "Well, I've been paying attention to everything that's been going on today, Twilight. I want to get past this as much as Mayhem did."

Her smile faded as she looked back at her family. "So... what do all of you have to say about this?"

Forest let out a deep breath. “You’ve gone through so much pain, Spring, and you’ll only continue to hurt inside until you truly confront your inner thoughts. I want to see you triumph. Even though I’m scared I don’t want to see you hold anything back or fail because you’re feeling discouraged I didn’t support you when you needed it the most. I already did that while I was in a coma.

“If this personal battle is something you must do to move on then I’ll support you just as I have the past few months.”

Still and Clear saw a momentary smile cross their daughter’s face before it faded again as she looked up at the two of them. Their thoughts were hardly different from Forest’s. They really didn’t want this to happen but they also had to acknowledge that Spring would never truly move on until she confronted her past and forgave herself for it.

They had failed to notice how deeply Spring was suffering and put too much focus on their unconscious son rather than their daughter in need. Did they really want to be responsible for failing their daughter again? No!

Clear pulled her daughter to her. “I’m scared too, but I’ll support your decision.”

Still joined in. “We want to see you prevail, so we’ll add our hearts to yours.” 

Spring heard a little sniff come from him, and saw tears brimming in his eyes. “As long as I have all of you inside my heart there’s no way I can lose.”

Twilight smiled warmly as they broke apart. They finally looked ready.

“Aunt Twilight,” said Flurry.

“Yes, Flurry?”

“We certainly can’t do this here. Spring’s Tantabus won’t have magic, but that doesn’t stop them from being able to be destructive.”

“Besides that,” said Pound, “Nega only held back because he didn’t want to hurt his friends, so we can’t bring the parents with us besides Springs, or they could be in danger.”

“And mine,” said Sweet Pea. “We’re as good as family to her, and I know my parents will want to be there for this.”

“Fair point,” said Twilight. “Of course I’ll have a shield up regardless, but it will still be safer to only have those she’s closest to.

“I do have to emphasize that it will be better if you try to stay out of it as much as possible. This is Spring’s inner conflict, and forgiveness is something that can’t be forced upon someone. She has to make her own decisions, just like Mayhem did.”

“Understood,” said Forest.

“Well, let’s begin then,” said Mayhem, snapping. They appeared in a black void. “Even though most of the parents aren’t with us I did leave them a viewing window so they can see everything if they want to.”

“Why is it so empty here?” asked Sweet Pea. 

“This isn’t an adventure to go through like before,” he replied. “We’re only here so Spring can confront her inner feelings, so there’s no need for scenery.”

“Spring,” said Twilight, “this is your last chance to back out. Once Mayhem creates your Tantabus it can’t just be uncreated. It can only be subdued by you coming to terms with your past.”

“I’m not backing down, Twilight!” Spring said strongly. “Do you want to have another stare-off to convince you?”

“I just want to make sure you understand what’s at stake, because you’re not truly understanding what you’re asking for.”

“I watched Mayhem’s battle, so of course I do.”

Twilight shook her head. “No, you don’t. I showed you Nega’s feelings, remember? By asking to create your own Tantabus you’re asking Mayhem to create something only born to suffer and bear the weight of your guilt.”

That made her squirm uncomfortably.

“If you cannot win over your inner feelings then we’ll be forced to abandon it in this alternate world. Without magic it won’t be able to follow us back to the real world, but then it will be trapped in an empty world where its pain will never end. 

“Once it begins you can’t just quit mid-way. You’ll be stuck until you either prevail or we’re forced to flee. If it comes down to that all you will have accomplished is making all those you love hurt.

“So I’ll ask you one last time: are you truly ready to go through with this? You need to be absolutely certain.”

Spring looked at the ground, now feeling distinctly uncertain. She hadn’t considered what creating a Tantabus would mean for it. And, as Twilight said, if she failed to conquer her feelings then they just watched her getting attacked for nothing.

When they had all been falling into despair it was Pound that had snapped them all out of it and inspired them to get up and fight again. His question had been so simple, but had so much depth. Someone they cared for was in need. Wasn’t that enough of a reason to fight? 

Back then she had thought of Mayhem, and how she had wanted him to succeed in getting past his inner feelings. Together they had succeeded. 

There was still one more person in her life she wanted to help, and she knew she’d never be able to do it until she conquered her own inner feelings. That goal was a part of what had allowed her to continue on past her guilt as she had slowly recovered. 

There was no choice to make. There was only one direction to go, and that was up. She wasn’t going to give in.

She looked back up at Twilight, strength back in her eyes. “Yes!” she said. “I want to do this. I won’t back down.”

Twilight took in a slow breath. “Very well.” She turned her head. “Mayhem?”

Mayhem lifted his claw, but didn’t snap. “Spring!” he said, looking her in the eyes. “I was only able to come this far because I fought for you. I can finally feel the light, but it won’t really mean anything if you’re not by my side enjoying it with me.

“I want you to find your happiness too, so you better prevail here or my own victory will be meaningless. Got it?”

She could feel his inner strength pouring off of him. She smiled at him and nodded. “You got it.”

Mayhem hesitated for a few moments, but he knew he had to believe in her. He snapped his claw.

Spring winced. She felt hot, a black energy condensing on her back before rising up and molding itself into her form, hovering in the air. Just like Nega it’s colors were the opposite of Springs.

She took a deep breath. “Well… here we go."
> 11-26: Facing the darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spring wasn’t sure where to start as she and Mirror looked at each other. She didn’t know if it felt worse being an observer earlier, or having to face off against herself alone. She knew that all of them supported her, but she still wished they were all standing with her in such a pitch-black place.

Mirror suddenly charged at her, making the filly let out a squeak. She put up her hooves protectively to block the attack, but Mirror just flew up a bit over her head and flipped, kicking her in the back of the head and sending her crashing into the ground.

Clear let out a groan, holding onto her husband. From watching Mayhem’s battle they knew things were going to involve some physical and emotional pain, but knowing that didn’t make it easier to see.

Mirror landed. “Get up!” she said. “It’s too early to pass out now. I still have so much more justice to administer.”

Spring rose, wincing a bit as she rubbed her head. She hadn’t expected that.

The Tantabus slowly approached her. “It just never ends with you, does it? Always thinking you’re so superior. Never taking your limits into consideration. Talking big because you believe you can do anything you want and then failing when reality catches up with you.”

“I don’t think I’m superior!” Spring fired back.

Mirror growled, flying at her.

Spring thought she was prepared for Mirror going over her again, but instead she put her hooves on the ground suddenly, using her momentum to jump forward at a diagonal and kick her in the side, sending her back to the ground.

Mirror flipped in the air, and landed with her front hooves on Spring’s back.

Spring gasped in pain.

“You’re weak!” said Mirror. “You’re pathetic! And every time you go off on your own to flaunt how tough you are it’s not you who has to deal with the pain that results. It’s everyone around you.

“Your parents told you not to fly too high and you didn’t listen, with the result that your brother had to save your worthless life, almost getting killed in the process. It’s a good thing you met that draconequus, because if it wasn’t for him Forest could have remained in that coma for the rest of his life.

“With just one- stupid-action-“ she interspersed the last three words with another slam on her back “-you almost stole your brother’s whole life away. That’s YOUR fault! That’s on YOU!

“Because of YOU Forest lost three months of his life! The fact that your little draconequus friend cut his punishment short for your stupidity doesn’t make it okay!”

Mirror got off of her. “You claim you’ve changed, but what are you doing now? Lying there in pain, just as you did a few months ago, because you did the same thing you did back then.”

As Spring rose she flinched as Mirror hopped up and kicked her across the cheek.

Mirror landed, darkness coming off of her. “Twilight was right to call you arrogant! You haven’t changed a bit.

“What do you care about the possibility of others getting hurt because of you, as long as you prove how strong you think you are?”

Forest closed his eyes tight as Mirror spun around and bucked her in the chin, sending her to the ground for a third time on her back.

Still and Clear were crying. Spring couldn’t seem to put up any fight at all, even with her greater understanding of the situation.

Pound put a hoof to his heart. “I hate having to just stand there and watch this. It just feels too similar to when Mayhem fought Nega.”

“Same here,” said Flash. “Even if I know this is a personal battle she can only win by herself, I want to go over there and encourage her.”

“Just be patient, everyone,” said Twilight. “I don’t like seeing Spring getting hurt any more than you do, but the battle has just begun.

“We have to believe in her.”

Spring groaned in pain. Everything ached.

“Simply pathetic,” said Mirror. “Talking so tough, but as expected you’re just lazing around on the floor. Your strong words, as they always are, proving to be nothing but empty boasting. 

“Is that really all you have, weakling?”

Spring moved her head to look at Mirror, sitting down like she was waiting for her. 

She put her mind to her goal, and she felt strength returning to her. 

She ignored the pain, getting back up on her hooves. “I can’t lose here! There’s too much at stake.”

Mirror laughed, the darkness surrounding her growing. “Yes, that’s right. Keep talking big, you failure. Continue to make others suffer as I tear you apart. Oh, but what do you care if others get destroyed emotionally as long as you get what you want? You’re disgusting!”

Spring glanced at the others for a moment, and she could make out her parents pained expressions.

“Pay attention, failure!” Mirror said with a cruel laugh as she charged once again.

Spring unfurled her wings and took to the air. If she couldn’t avoid her on the ground then maybe her best bet was to get some more room to dodge.

Mirror stared up at her, and only began to laugh harder, really starting to sound unstable now. “Oh, yes! Brilliant! The sheer stupidity rolling around in that head of yours is just stunning.”

The Tantabus took to the air as well, charging at her repeatedly as Spring dodged her. After a while it became apparent Mirror wasn’t truly trying to hit her.

Mirror finally stopped racing around and got on her level, snickering all the while. “And here we are again, right?”

“Hmmm?”

“Chasing you around wasn’t just for fun, you know. This was all about proving you’re the same weak, pathetic filly you were at the start.”

“And I’ve been avoiding you all the while.”

Mirror smirked. “Because I wanted you to.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been playing you from the start, making you dodge the way I want you to. You were so busy avoiding me you never even noticed.

“Just look down. See anything familiar?”

Spring did glance down, and was surprised to see how far up she was. Constantly dodging Mirror and the nonexistent scenery kept her from noticing Mirror had been deliberately baiting her into rising up high in the sky.

“Idiot! Taking your eyes off your opponent!”

Just as Spring glanced back up it was too late to defend herself as Mirror kicked her in the face again, sending her plummeting downwards. 

“Now suffer the fate you deserve!” she said coldly. “The one you should have suffered all along instead of your brother!”

Spring was dazed from the pain for a few seconds. For a few moments she considered just letting herself fall out of guilt, but the thought of what Twilight had said about how Forest would have felt if their positions had been reversed sparked her willpower. If she crashed into the ground and got seriously hurt everyone would suffer, and she couldn’t allow that.

Twilight and Mayhem were both ready to use their magic to stop Spring’s fall, but she managed to get herself upright and slow her momentum enough that she only landed a bit roughly.

Forest let out a sigh of relief. Spring often fought him, but he pushed her to join him for flying lessons so she would increase her skills. At least it had some effect on her ability to recover.

Mirror frowned. “Still ticking after that, huh?” The darkness surrounding her grew thicker and thicker, to the point she no longer seemed to have a solid body. She almost blended in with the blackness of the world, her glowing green eyes the only real thing distinguishing her from the background. 

She let out a yell of frustration. “You harm everyone you come across! And it’s time to hold you accountable! Prepare to be destroyed!”

Mirror laughed sadistically, charging her at full speed.

“I see,” Spring said sadly. “There it is. I finally saw what I wanted to see. I finally understand.”

Spring didn’t move, just looking at her with a mournful expression.

All of them winced as Mirror’s hoof connected, but Spring didn’t recoil or react at all.

Mirror looked at her with confusion, the darkness surrounding her fading until she looked normal again. “W-wha-? Why are you still standing? I put all my power into that.”

A tear came down Spring’s face. “That’s because you no longer have the power to harm me.”

“What?”

“You’re my reflection. You’re a part of me. I know what I’ve felt on the inside, but seeing it on the outside made me see how badly I’ve treated myself in the past. 

“I’ve felt so much sadness and guilt, bullying myself over and over. But after watching Mayhem and listening to Twilight I know that’s not the solution. Seeing how much you were hurting and how you could only deal with your feelings by getting violent, how could I possibly feel hatred for someone suffering so much? If you get your strength from my self-hatred then you won’t have any power if I just stop hating myself.

“I’ve said a lot of terrible things to myself, but I’m not going to continue living that way. I’m finally able to feel empathy for myself.” She closed her eyes and put a hoof to her heart. “I can feel the light of all my friends and family surrounding me.”

She opened her eyes and they grew misty. “The both of us… we both deserve to be loved.” She reached out her hooves and grabbed Mirror in a hug, the tears streaming down her eyes. “I love you! I love you! I love me! That’s what I want to see in my reflection.” 

Mirror noticed now that her pain had stopped. More than stopped. She could feel happiness infusing her being, her bitterness fading as her colors changed to match Springs.

“I know I made some mistakes in the past, but I’m ready to move on past them. There are people that need me, and I want to fight for them. And so… I forgive you. I forgive me. And from now on I’m gonna do my best to continue helping the people I love.” She let out a sob. “B-b-because I’m someone important to them. I always have been. Just like my brother said, the only person who ever hated me was me.”

Mirror hugged her back, feeling such relief. “Thank you,” she said.

After a few more seconds Mirror dissolved into magic particles and entered her body.

Spring put her hooves down, quietly sobbing as she felt her self-love.

She barely had time to dwell on it before she was lifted in the air and spun around as Twilight said, “You did it! I knew you would, Spring! I’m so proud of you!”

She landed, and Spring could see all her loved ones surrounding her.

She got hugs and congratulations thrown her way, but at the moment it didn’t mean anything to her.

“Be quiet!” Spring yelled, making them look at her in confusion. 

She went up to her brother. “Forest… it’s finally time.”

“Hmm?” he said.

She sniffed, tears streaming down her eyes. “Y-y-you said that day Mayhem woke you up that you’d be able to forgive yourself if I forgave myself.” She hugged herself, quietly sobbing. “T-that… t-that’s what I was fighting for out there.

“I… I know you’ve suffered like I have, and I wanted to see you get rid of your guilt for good. E-e-even though it was so painful fighting with Mirror I-I knew I h-h-had to win for your sake.

“And… and… I did win. I conquered m-my darkness. So now…” She sobbed. “Now you can let go too, right?”

He stared at her for a short time, understanding her motivation now. 

He looked up thoughtfully, then said, “Mmm…no.”

His response took them all by surprise.

Spring’s face fell. “W-why… why not? I did what you asked!” She felt like her guilt was starting to creep back in.

He looked back down at her. “I’m not convinced you’ve changed. Mayhem conquered Nega, and he returned strong. He confessed about his past and held his head up high while doing it. I don’t see the same thing with you.

“You’re crying like a baby and still just seem so weak. Even if Mirror is gone now you still seem like the same Spring Meadow, and I don’t have to keep my end of the bargain if you haven’t kept yours.”

Spring blinked. She had gotten too carried away with thoughts of her victory and let her guard down too early. It wasn’t time for tears yet.

She closed her eyes and took some slow breaths, focusing her mind on her goal.

When she opened her eyes she had a determined glare on her face. “I’ve worked too hard to fail now!” she said strongly. “You saved my life, and I won’t ever forget that. I’m not just gonna sit and mope and waste what you did for me. I helped Mayhem grow into a better person, and I’m coming after your sadness and guilt too. That’s what I’ve been fighting for the past few months, and I’m GOING to achieve it! Got that?”

Spring and Forest both stared at each other, and it was reminiscent of the stare-off between Twilight and Spring earlier.

Forest’s eyes grew wet. “That’s… that’s what I’ve been waiting for. I’ve longed for you to finally overcome my accident.” He put a hoof to his face with a gentle sob. “I can feel your inner strength. Now I believe that you’re going to be okay.”

“Y-you better!”  Her voice quivered, her emotions stirring to see him cry. “C-c-can I c-cry now?”

“S-sure,” he replied, pulling her into a hug as they both began sobbing. Clear and Still both joined them, holding onto their children.

Pound threw a hoof around Mayhem, happy tears coming down his eyes. “After dealing with Drill Bit, I know how good it feels to finally see all your efforts pay off and put that check mark on a friendship problem.”

Mayhem hugged him. “It sure does. Spring did cross the finish line with me. We can both feel the light again.”
> Epilogue-1: True draconequus heir
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight was relaxing with a nice book when she heard a frantic knocking on her front door. 

She put a bookmark in and teleported to the entrance.

When she opened the door she saw Mayhem, Discord, and Fluttershy standing there.

Mayhem looked to be close to a panic attack. The other two were more subdued, but they also looked very concerned.

“What happened?” she asked, skipping the pleasantries.

“We need to talk!” said Mayhem. “Now! It’s an emergency… I think.”

“You ‘think?’ Well, come on in.”

As soon as they closed the threshold of the entranceway Mayhem slammed the door shut. 

Twilight chose to ignore it. “What happened?” she asked again.

“Daddy is rejecting me!”

Her eyes went up to Discord. “Why?” she asked. “I don’t like family squabbles either, but this doesn’t exactly seem like an emergency.”

“What are you talking about?” Mayhem asked. “I’m not fighting with my family.”

“You just said Discord is rejecting you.”

“He is!”

“And what would you call that?”

“Mayhem,” said Fluttershy, “I think a demonstration is in order. Twilight is mixing up what you mean by rejection.”

He nodded. “Mommy doesn’t like to leave me home alone, so when her and Daddy are busy I have to go home. I don’t like it, but it makes her feel better, so I go along with it.”

Twilight put her hoof up. “Okay, so before I mix anything else up, you’re also referring to two different definitions of ‘home’ here, correct? I believe in the past ‘going home’ was the idiom for Mayhem returning to Discord.”

Fluttershy nodded. “That’s correct.”

Twilight nodded in return. “Continue.”

Mayhem also nodded. “Okay.

“Today Mommy was supposed to go hang out with Applejack, and Daddy had a meeting with Princess Celestia. We had all just eaten lunch and were getting ready to leave when the problem started.”

“And that problem is…?”

“I can’t go home! Watch.”

He snapped, and his body dissolved into magic particles. They headed for Discord, but when it touched him they were deflected and only went around him.

After a short time of repeating this from other angles Mayhem reformed.

Twilight had a curious look on her face. “Has this ever happened before?”

He shook his head. “Never!”

“Well, that is unusual, but I don’t see where the emergency comes in.”

“I only exist through Daddy’s magic. If I can’t go home then it means something has changed. Maybe I’ve just been out so much, so long, that his magic is rejecting me as being part of him.”

Discord had an unusually somber look about him. “Nothing like this has ever happened before, Twilight. If my magic is rejecting him for being too separate then there’s a possibility that Mayhem is out permanently, and the next time that he uses up all his magic his consciousness won’t return to me. That will mean his death.”

The word made Mayhem shiver, and he only barely held back from breaking down. “I’m scared to use any magic now. I might not be able to use it for the rest of my life, or I’ll cease to exist.”

Twilight looked from Mayhem to Discord. She let out a little sigh. “Forgive me, but I have to consider all possibilities. You’re not, like… doing this on purpose? Like a prank?”

Discord glared at her. “No! Of course not! This is a serious matter and I want you to treat it as such!”

If Discord was being this blunt then she knew he couldn’t be behind it.

Twilight paced for a few moments. “When was the last time you went home?”

Mayhem looked thoughtful. “Like… maybe four or five days.”

“And nothing was different that time?”

He shook his head.

Twilight put a hoof to her face. “I don’t have any ideas either! I never played around with or studied chaos magic. I didn’t think I needed to, or that it was even possible to truly understand it.”

Mayhem pouted. 

She heard a whimper come from him, and she stomped the hoof down. “Well, it’s never too late to start. We can’t give in to despair so long as there are still possibilities to explore.”

She turned to Discord. “Can you give Mayhem magic?”

Discord pointed at Mayhem, feeling like this was going to be fruitless, but when the stream of magic hit Mayhem it wasn’t repulsed.

“Oh!” Mayhem cried out. “I’m feeling energized.”

Twilight let out a sigh of relief. “Well, at the very least we know that Mayhem can still be recharged. Even if it’s true that Mayhem will truly disappear if he uses everything up, so long as Discord is around he can always give you some magic.”

Next she turned to Mayhem. “Can you do the same thing in reverse? Can you give Discord just your magic?”

“We’ve already seen that it won’t work,” Mayhem replied.

“Have you tried it?”

“Well… no, but-”

“Then stop arguing and try it!”

He pointed at Discord, but he was starting to feel afraid.

Twilight guessed what he was thinking. “We’ve just seen that Discord can still transfer energy to you, so you’re no longer limited to just what you have. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

He had seen it, and it made sense, but it still took all his courage to do it.

Just like when Discord had done it, the stream of magic wasn’t rejected when it hit him.

Twilight began to pace around again. “So… the two of you can still exchange magic with one another. It seems like it’s only Mayhem’s consciousness that is being rejected.”

“But why?” asked Fluttershy. “Why now?”

Twilight continued to pace around, deep in thought and mumbling to herself.

Mayhem watched her anxiously. 

She suddenly paused, an idea coming to her. An idea so outlandish and absurd she would have rejected it outright if it was anyone else, but Mayhem had always been different.

Her heart started to race as she looked down at the little draconequus. If she was right about this then it would be one of the greatest feats of magic she had ever bore witness to.

The problem was in how to test her theory. If things went wrong then she might very well cause Mayhem to cease to exist altogether, and she didn’t think Pound and the rest would ever forgive her.

Still, even if the risk was there, she had to take this chance. If she was truly correct in her assumption then she could set Mayhem’s mind at ease.

Mayhem was biting his lip. Twilight was looking at him so seriously and seemed a little afraid.

Twilight looked at Discord. “Listen carefully. I need you to have a stream of magic at the ready.” She took in a sudden sharp breath. The magnitude of what she was thinking was staggering.

“Are you alright, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy with concern. “You’re looking really keyed up.”

Twilight nodded, gulping. “I have a thought… but I need to confirm it. There’s just a certain risk involved with it. If I’m wrong then Mayhem is going to start disappearing. That’s why I need Discord to be ready.”

Discord lifted a claw towards Mayhem, his serious face on. He nodded. “I’m ready.”

Twilight’s breathing went up. While she was nervous about Mayhem, she also felt like she didn’t want to cast this spell. She didn’t know if she was ready to be right. 

Her horn lit up, Mayhem gently trembling.

As Twilight pointed her horn at him Mayhem cried out, “Wait!” He pointed at Discord and pulled his claw backwards. Discord slid across the floor until he was two feet from him. 

He didn’t know what Twilight was going to try to do, but at least if he started to vanish he wanted Discord closer so the magic stream didn’t have to travel as far.

He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. “O-okay,” he said timidly. “I’m ready.”

A light shot out of Twilight’s horn, hitting him. Her heart was going a mile a minute, ready to break the spell if she needed to.

After a few moments Mayhem opened one of his eyes and looked around. “Am… am I okay?”

Twilight felt faint, and fell to a laying position as her legs lost the strength to support her. It had actually worked.

“Twilight!” he called out, running to her. “Are you okay? What did you do?”

Twilight heard the worry in his voice, and shook her head to focus. “Mayhem, I want you to try casting a spell.”

“Um, okay.” He snapped, but nothing happened. He got a curious look on his face. “You were looking pale, so I wanted to get a wet washcloth to rub your forehead with.”

She tried to stand but her legs wouldn’t hold her weight. She was still too surprised to think about something as mundane as standing.

In the end, she knew this wasn’t over yet. There was one last thing she had to test before she could truly say she was right. 

Gathering her willpower she forced herself up. She shot another blast of magic at him. “Try casting a spell now.”

He nodded, and snapped again. This time it appeared, and as he said he wiped her forehead with a washcloth.

“I need to do one more test. Discord, I’m still counting on you here.”

He nodded.

“Give me some of your magic.”

He moved his claw to her and shot a stream of magic at her. When he was done he pointed back at Mayhem.

Her horn lit up, and another beam of light hit Mayhem.

Mayhem began to feel fatigued, and soon he fell to his knees, unable to remain standing.

He gently panted as the light faded.

Just like before Twilight asked, “Can you cast a spell?”

Mayhem had to struggle to lift his claw, but he managed a snap before letting his arm fall back to his side.

Nothing happened.

“Okay,” said Fluttershy. “What did that prove?”

“Nothing yet,” said Twilight. “The next few minutes will tell.

“Discord, unless Mayhem starts to vanish don’t give him any magic.”

“Why not?” he asked. 

“Whether this next test pans out or not I’ll tell you everything when it’s over. I don’t want to give him, or you and Fluttershy, a false hope by explaining what may just be a flawed theory.”

Mayhem was too tired to care at the moment, so he crawled along the ground towards Fluttershy and forced his arms up at her.

She picked him up, sitting down in a chair and holding him to her. She did wonder what Twilight had in mind, but she trusted that her friend had his best interests at heart, so she didn’t push the issue.

Twilight began to pace around the room. This was going to be the deciding factor. She felt impatient beyond measure, but there was nothing to do but wait. 

Discord watched her for a short time before directing his attention towards Mayhem. He didn’t want to miss it if Mayhem started to disappear.

After about ten minutes Twilight finally stopped her frantic pacing and returned to Mayhem.

Everyone turned to her, eager to have this mystery cleared up.

“Mayhem,” she said, “I want you to cast a spell for the exact same thing you were trying to use your magic for earlier.”

He didn’t feel quite so exhausted now, even though he was still drained. He lifted his claw and snapped. A flower appeared between them, going behind Twilight’s ear.

“Oh my gosh,” Twilight said slowly. She put her hooves to her face. “Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh!”

“What?” said Mayhem.

“Exactly!” Fluttershy said angrily. “We’re all tired of the vagueness and secrets.”

“Right!” said Discord, crossing his arms. “If you don’t start talking I’ll just go into your brain for the information, with or without your permission.”

Twilight was huffing as she put her hooves down. “I’m sorry. I’m just… in shock. I-I-I never thought this would happen. I didn’t even know it was a possibility… and yet it’s happened before my very eyes. I just need some time to process it before I make a scene. I feel like I’m about to freak out.”

Mayhem could see she really did look at her emotional limit. “Well,” he said quietly, “can you at least tell us if it’s good news or bad news?”

“Good. Very, very good.”

He let out a sigh of relief. “Okay. If that’s the case I can wait a little longer.”

Her horn lit up, and she gave him all the magic she had absorbed from him.

She put a hoof to her face again, trying to regain her composure. She forced herself to take slow breaths for a few minutes until her feelings stabilized.

When she felt she was under control she put her hoof down. “Okay, I’m ready to talk.”

Mayhem sat up straighter, eager to hear what she had figured out.

“Today… we have all bore witness to something that has never happened in all of recorded history.”

Discord’s eyebrow went up. “Is that a fact? And what would that be?”

“The true birth of a draconequus.”

“Come again?” said Fluttershy.

“Mayhem has evolved, truly becoming his own individual self.”

“Haven’t I been doing that for a long time?” asked Mayhem.

“I’m not talking about your personality here. I’m talking about you. What you are. Or, rather, were.”

She could see all of them giving her confused looks. 

“Twilight,” Fluttershy said impatiently, “can you please stop beating around the bush and just be blunt?”

“The reason Mayhem’s consciousness is rejecting going back inside Discord really is because the two of them have separated completely. However, this is a cause for celebration, not concern. Mayhem has truly become real. In other words, Mayhem is no longer just magic taking Discords shape. He is a true-blue living creature, no different than Discord.”

All of them looked floored.

Discord’s crossed arms fell to his sides. “Are you serious?”

Fluttershy hopped out of her seat, so taken by this statement that she forgot Mayhem was on her lap.

Mayhem barely felt the impact, hopping off the floor. “T-T-T-Twilight,” he stuttered out, “w-why do you think that?”

Twilight looked down at him. “The first spell I cast on you was the exact same one I tried using on you back when you first talked to Cup. It was a spell to suppress your magic. However, since you were just living magic the spell immediately caused your mind to go blank and made you start to disappear.

“That didn’t happen this time.”

Mayhem was finding it hard to breathe. “A-a-and th-the second test?”

“Once that was done I used Discord’s magic to drain all of yours. Let me repeat that. I drained you of all your magic. And yet you didn’t disappear. You just grew tired and found it hard to move.”

“Oh my gosh!” Fluttershy called out, feeling her legs going weak just like Twilight’s had earlier.

“And then,” said Twilight, “was the biggest thing of all.”

“Wait!” said Discord. “You don’t mean-?”

She nodded. “He was too exhausted to cast any spells, and yet after ten minutes of rest he was able to cast one, even though neither Discord or I gave him more. This means Mayhem isn’t fully reliant on outside sources for more energy anymore. He’s generating his own.”

Mayhem stumbled over next to Fluttershy, needing to sit down.

“Even for someone whose special ability is doing the impossible he’s really topped himself here.”

Each of them was in their own world. Now they understood why Twilight was close to having a breakdown earlier. They each needed a little time to process it themselves.
> Epilogue 2: Promise for the future
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy was the first to be able to speak. “Why… why now? Why did Mayhem become real? Do you think it was really just about Mayhem separating from Discord for long periods of time?”

Twilight shook her head. “No. Well... this is a unique scenario, so it may have played a part in it, but I don’t believe this is a coincidence that it happened now.”

“So what’s your explanation?” asked Discord. 

“This all has to do with what happened when he confronted his dark half. If I’m correct then Mayhem probably could have done this the first few weeks after he surfaced.”

“You really think so?” Mayhem asked. “Why?”

“Mayhem might not have dwelled on it much, but the day he came into the world he committed some terrible actions. He took over the bodies of his future friends, and nearly killed the one he would label his mother.”

She suddenly paused, a curious look on her face. “Y’know, I just thought of something. It made sense to try and get rid of the Elements of Friendship to fulfill your original ambitions, but you included Discord in the circle of people to be destroyed.

“Even if you could exist independently of him back then, you still wouldn’t have access to any other chaos magic. That would have put a damper on your plans.”

Mayhem blinked. “Mmm… I was pretty dumb in a lot of ways back then. I wasn’t thinking ahead. I just wanted to get rid of everything I thought would interfere with me.

“But get back to what you were saying.”

“Right, right. Sorry.

“Anyway, as you began to embrace love and your affection for Fluttershy grew, you also began to experience other emotions. I’m sure somewhere in your heart you already felt guilty for what you had done. Your ‘Sombra’ was already coming into existence, and thus there was always a part of you that believed you didn’t deserve to live after what you had done.

“These feelings were amplified many times over when the superhero adventure happened. You couldn’t just claim ignorance this time, and you knew that. After you came to your senses you felt absolutely horrible over what you had done, and your plan was to go inside Discord and never come out.

“You did find a goal in reuniting with your friends and helping others, but you never truly confronted those feelings until that moment. It was more literal than most cases, but you truly faced yourself and your negative feelings. You finally acknowledged yourself and the value you had. You were able to accept the bad you’ve done while not dismissing it or losing yourself in it.

“By bridging the gap inside yourself you were able to forgive yourself for the past and finally find the will to live.”

Mayhem was still looking at her, but his eyes had faded out.

“So,” said Fluttershy, “you’re saying that when Nega disappeared that it was then that he became real?”

Twilight nodded. “That is my belief, though I can’t prove it.”

She shook her head. “I’m still having trouble believing it, though. Creating something that can think isn’t too hard. Luna showed that you don’t need chaos magic to create something capable of autonomy.

“What’s truly leaving me flabbergasted is that he’s taken the impossibility of chaos magic to its absolute limit. The Tantabus that Luna created fed off her negative emotions for energy. It was connected to her mental state, and thus lost its strength when she began to forgive herself. Nega was the same, gaining power from Mayhem's self-hatred. Mayhem, however, has become self-sustaining on his own. 

"It’s just unthinkable, chaos magic or not. One day some of Discord’s magic just decided it was different, and wasn’t going to just be tethered to him. It was going to go off on its own. And after a very long road we’ve reached the conclusion of that journey.”

“Twilight?” Fluttershy said timidly.

Mayhem’s head spun towards her, hearing the anxious tone in her voice. “What’s wrong, Mommy?”

“I… this may just be me being silly, but… b-b-b-but what if Mayhem isn’t actually self-sufficient?”

“We saw it for ourselves,” said Discord. “Are your own eyes not good enough for you?”

“That’s… that’s not what I’m saying.

“Oh, I feel like I might just be paranoid, but I’m feeling afraid that this might not be good for Discord.”

“Why not? What’s going to change?”

“I’m really hoping that it’s just as you say, Twilight, and it’s because of him resolving his inner feelings that he’s accomplished this, but what if we’re wrong? What if Discord goes away after this?”

Twilight gave her a curious look.

Discord put an arm around her. “Come on, now. Don’t be silly. Why would I leave just because my little chaos spawn is self-sufficient? It’s not as though he’s our only connection to one another. We’ve been friends since long before he came into our lives.”

“It might not be up to you.”

Twilight tapped her hoof on the floor a few times. “Now you’re the one being vague, Fluttershy. Just what are you getting at?”

“So far as we know there is only one draconequus in the whole world. Why is that? Maybe because when a draconequus like Discord ‘gives birth’ everything goes to the child.”

Twilight squinted in her direction. “What are you saying, Fluttershy? You think Mayhem has become a parasite slowly absorbing Discord?”

“I don’t know, but it would explain how he can generate his own magic.”

Mayhem floated up and hugged Discord, crying. “Noooo! Don’t disappear, Daddy! I don’t want to be real if it means you’re gonna die!”

Discord hugged him back. “Relax, squirt. There’s no sense in making panic where there doesn’t have to be.”

Twilight opened her mouth to argue, but then slowly shut it. She couldn’t exactly argue with Fluttershy’s assertion. Mayhem’s creation and true birth were so far beyond anything magic had studied that she just didn’t have enough information to deny it. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

She turned to Discord. “So how about it, Discord? If Fluttershy is correct then it means that you did the same to a draconequus before you.”

Discord shrugged. “I really don’t know. I’ve been around for a long, long time, even discounting my thousand year banishment. I don’t recall going through the same process that Mayhem did. In the end I just think that I’m a manifestation of chaos. A force of nature, no different than a hurricane or a tornado. I might have always existed in different forms, though I’m fairly certain there has been no other draconequus other than me up until he came out.”

Twilight bit her hoof. “Mmm… I could try suppressing or absorbing your power to test whether he still gains energy naturally, but I don’t know if that would actually prove anything.”

“Eh.” Discord pulled Mayhem away, setting him on the floor. “As I said before we shouldn’t make panic where there doesn’t need to be. I haven’t felt any different lately, so it’s likely not true. But-” he shrugged again, “-if that’s the case then it is what it is. I do hope you’ll at least make my funeral nice.”

Mayhem got a pained look on his face. “H-how can you be so casual about this?

“Huh?” Discord was now giving him an uncharacteristically tender look.

Discord rubbed his head. “Because I have you. I know that I’ve been distant at times, and you despised me simply because I was your container up until the twins birthday party. I’m not always around like Fluttershy, or teaching you like Twilight, but I’ve always cared for you.”

“Daddy,” he said quietly, a warm feeling going through him.

“You’re a true draconequus heir. You’ve proven that even our brand of magic can evolve and grow beyond itself. You’ve also shown you’ve embraced the magic of friendship, gaining so many good friends.

“I feel like you’ve truly surpassed me, my child, and that’s why I’m not afraid of what might come next. After all, you’re still young. You’ll reach much greater heights before you’re done.

“You’ve grown so much, my son, and I am so very proud of you.”

Mayhem began quietly sobbing as those words washed over him.

“Oh, Mayhem,” Fluttershy said tenderly.

“Who knows what’s actually going to happen,” said Discord. “Maybe we’re just switching places, and I’ll be the one on the inside. I do hope you’ll let me out to play once in a while.”

“Of course I would!” Mayhem replied with a sniff, wiping his face.

“Or maybe it’s the way of the draconequus. I still like to use my power just to mess with others. And while that is chaos, it’s what others expect of me. There’s no surprise in it. 

“I also just haven’t felt as rambunctious since you’ve come along. When a being of chaos is no longer chaotic then maybe he just can’t exist and has to be replaced by a new being with new ideas of chaos.”

“But then what about Mayhem?” Fluttershy asked, shivering a little. “He’s worked so hard to become one with harmony. Now you’re saying if he does too well at being good he could vanish?”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Discord replied, waving his claw dismissively. “Mayhem is perfectly chaotic in his contradiction.”

“Contradiction?” said Twilight.

“Of course. A being of raw chaos magic… embracing harmony? It’s absurd, and it’s that absurdity that flies in the face of possibility that has allowed him to do it in the first place. It’s the ultimate blend of chaos and harmony.”

“Huh.” Twilight blinked. “I never thought about it that way. I knew Mayhem was embracing love and friendship like you, but I never considered the difference between having chaos magic and being chaos magic. Since you specialize in doing the impossible, then I guess it’s only fitting that the ultimate personification of chaos has become so proficient at harmony.

“As you said, it doesn’t make any sense, which is why it makes sense. It’s the ultimate contradiction: the fusion of two opposites that shouldn’t be able to exist simultaneously.”

“Almost makes your head spin just thinking about it,” said Fluttershy. “Chaos’ craziest chaos... is harmony.”

“Well, this is all hypothetical,” said Twilight, “but let’s continue down this path.

“Let’s say Discord does disappear. What then?”

Discord rolled his eyes. “Do I need to spell it out? I die. And then you go on with your lives.”

“I know that. I just wonder what will happen to Mayhem. You weren’t aware of him for a long, long time. Does that mean someday he’ll eventually have his own Mayhem, and start this cycle again?”

“Ooo!” Discord said, interested. “What a fascinating question.”

“I don’t think so,” said Mayhem, crossing his arms with a scowl. “I don’t think you should sound so happy about me dying.” 

“I didn’t say that!”

“If a draconequus birth causes the old one to slowly vanish then that means if I get my own Mayhem I’m gonna die too.”

Discord blinked. “Oh, um, I suppose that’s true.”

“It is a bit scary,” said Twilight, “but consider the timeframe. Considering how old Discord is and how long it took you to emerge, then, assuming this is all true, you’d likely have at least a millennium or two to live before that comes to pass.”

“Well,” Mayhem said quietly, “I’m just gonna pretend it’s not true until it actually happens… if it ever does. I don’t want to think about Daddy dying because of me.” His eyes clenched shut and he began to cry again.

Discord got on one knee, wiping away Mayhem’s tears. “Now, now. No crying.

“I want you to promise me something.”

“W-w-what?” Mayhem asked with a sniff.

“We don’t know what the future may bring, but if the worst does come to pass then you’re not allowed to blame yourself. You’re not allowed to hate yourself. You’re not allowed to stop walking the path you’ve chosen.

“I want your word, right here, right now, that you won’t let the fire of friendship go out. No matter what struggles you go through, no matter how hard it gets, you can’t ever give up.”

Mayhem balled up his hands. He thought of his recent wish-granting session, and how his friends had made a lifelong promise to always stand by his side. They all supported him and made him see how much value he had in their lives.

Whatever happened, there was still too much he had to do. He couldn’t ever give up, or he’d let down all the friends who believed in him.

He opened his eyes, solidifying his resolve. “I promise, Daddy! I’ll never give up! I’ll keep making you proud!”

Discord shook a claw at him. “Do you really understand the weight of that promise? Casually doing such things without thinking about their greater meaning is still a failing of yours that you need to amend.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve lived a long life, far longer than the average lifespan of a pony. It will be the same for you. Do you understand it now? Even if they never fall from an outside circumstance, at some point the ones you care for will pass from old age.”

Mayhem tensed, a shiver going through him.

“Knowing that, will you still hold to that promise? It can seem easy to say that you’ll never give up when surrounded by your friends, but what will you do when one of them goes?”

Mayhem began to breathe harder.

Fluttershy felt bad. “Discord, this really isn’t the right-”

“Fluttershy, this isn’t the time,” Discord said seriously. 

She met eyes with him, and she could see something in them that made her believe in him.

He put a claw to Mayhem’s chin, pushing so they were eye to eye. “Listen to me, Mayhem. The future of Equestria may depend on you. The future of your friends and your mother is going to depend on how you act. You’re going to determine whether their deaths are going to be permanent or not.”

“B-but we can’t bring the dead back to life,” Mayhem replied with a sniff.

“That’s not what I mean. The body may decay and vanish. That’s something we can’t stop. What you can do is ensure that their legacy is preserved forever.”

“Their… legacy?”

He nodded. “Fluttershy is my nearest and dearest friend. She showed even the monster I was kindness. She did the same for you, and has showed you true love. Beyond us she has shown love to tons of animals and other ponies.

“It will be devastating when she dies. All of Ponyville will mourn. But then what comes next? What will you do?”

Mayhem squirmed in discomfort, not even wanting to picture a life without Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy has always been the Element of Kindness… but will kindness die with her? What will happen to all the animals? Will everything she spent her life embracing be left to vanish? If that comes to pass then she truly will die. But you have the chance to make sure that doesn’t come to pass.”

Mayhem glanced over towards Fluttershy before looking back at Discord. “D-Daddy?”

“You get it, don’t you? You will have to take care of the animals like she used to, and see that they live happy lives. You will have to pass on the kindness she always showed to you and make sure everyone you meet knows that wonderful feeling. So long as you do that Fluttershy will always live on through you.

“Death is painful, but you’ll have to find your strength to remind everyone of what Fluttershy stood for when they’re sinking into the darkness. If everyone is sinking they need a symbol of courage and power to look to in order to help pull them out, just like you did for Spring Meadow and her brother. 

“It’s no different than the rest of your friends. Their hopes and dreams will fall on your shoulders.”

“I’ve spoken about this myself,” said Twilight. “I have no desire to die, but as I watch the children of the new generation growing I know I don’t have to fear what comes after.”

Discord rubbed Mayhem’s head again, repeating his earlier words. “No matter how painful, no matter how hard, you can’t ever give up. You’ve already surpassed me in chaos magic, and you have more true friends than I do. One day I want you to surpass even Twilight at the most powerful magic of all.”

Mayhem blinked. “Do you really think I could ever do that? Even though I look so weird and I’m not a pony?”

“Your heart is in the right place, and what you’re like inside is more important than what you look like on the outside. After all, Sombra was a pony who enslaved his own kind, while you’re the ‘weird-looking one’ who saved a filly from a lifetime of guilt.

“Besides, we can’t be losing out to these ponies. We have to show that we’re the most powerful in every way.” He winked at Mayhem. “I mean, the ultimate being of chaos becoming the ultimate being of harmony and friendship? That’s gotta be humiliating for the ponies that are most well known for their unity.”

Mayhem put a claw to his mouth as he chuckled.

Twilight giggled. “He’s certainly got the potential. I won’t complain if he does become even better than me and lead Equestria into even greater harmony. It will show how, no matter your beginnings, everyone has the chance to do great things. They don’t have to be defined by their past.”

Mayhem looked between Twilight, Discord, and Fluttershy. Each of them was giving him an encouraging grin. Fluttershy and Twilight had always believed in him, and he had rewarded their faith by going above and beyond. 

He had needed their love, their trust, and their encouragement. Without it he would have stayed bad, or he never would have found his potential. If he let what they stood for die with them then it would be a disgrace to the efforts they had gone through for him. Everyone deserved a second chance when they had done wrong, and the belief that they weren’t hopeless.

The idea of losing them was terrifying. At his age and stage of maturity he knew he wasn’t nearly ready to fulfill the hopes they were placing in him, let alone cope with the death of any of his closest connections. For now he’d have to keep relying on all of them and hope they all stayed alive, but one day… one day he’d get there.

“I’m not going to take back my words!” Mayhem said strongly. “I’m gonna do it! I’m gonna keep to my promise!”

Fluttershy put her hooves out to him, and he gladly flew to her, feeling the warmth he never got tired of as she held him close.

“I know you can,” she said sweetly. “Because you’re my lovely little Mayhem.”
> Epilogue-3: True friendship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pound was gently tapping his hoof on the floor of the castle, not quite impatient but a little anxious. Twilight had brought not only their friends, but all the parents as well. She hadn’t seemed angry or upset, but the fact that she wanted all of them together clearly spoke of something big. 

He wasn’t the only one. Masky was pacing around, while Peppermint was curled up with her head on her knees. 

Mayhem’s new friends weren’t faring any different.

The parents were similarly in the dark about what was to come. 

It was a relief to them all when Twilight returned with the final child, Plum Pie, and her parents.

Plum looked around at all of the children, a bit glad that she was the last one. Everyone seemed uncomfortable and uncertain. 

“Hey there, everyone!” Twilight said brightly when Plum and her parents took a seat. “Drop the mopey faces. I have some exciting news for all of you.”

That did get the children to relax. It wasn’t bad news.

Mayhem came into the room. “Hey, you guys!” he said happily, waving to them.

Flurry stared at him. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but she felt like there was something different about him.

She wasn’t the only one who felt it. He seemed so relaxed and content.

“I have something amazing to tell all of you.”

“What is it?” asked Peppermint.

“I’m me! I’m my own person.”

Pound and Pumpkin looked at each other before looking back to him. “Weren’t you already your own person?” asked Pound.

“Yeah,” said Pumpkin. “That was the whole point of you existing in the first place.”

He nodded. “But until now I was always reliant on Daddy to live. That’s not the case anymore.”

Flash’ eyebrow went up. “What do you mean?”

Mayhem lifted up his paw, and it broke down into chaos magic. “In the past I was just magic. I took Discord’s shape just because it was familiar. But I’m not just magic anymore. I am Mayhem to my core.”

“I still don’t get it,” said Chocolate.

Mayhem recreated his paw. “By confronting my past thoughts and overcoming them I talked down the part of me that felt like I shouldn’t exist. Now I feel the opposite. I see my true value and how much I mean to all my friends.

“Now I’m real like all of you are. I’m no longer tethered to Discord. We’ve fully separated.”

Twilight could see all of them still looked confused. It wasn’t surprising. It had been hard for her to accept it herself until she had tested it out. 

“In other words,” said Twilight, “Mayhem no longer vanishes and returns to Discord when he’s out of magic. He’s also not limited to needing Discord to restore his magic either. He can now generate his own magic independently, just like all of you regain energy by sleeping and eating.”

“Are you serious?” Sweet Pea asked incredulously. “He can really do that?”

Twilight nodded, and then explained about Discord no longer accepting Mayhem, as well as her theory on how he had accomplished it.

Just like her, they all needed a little time to process the enormity of it.

“So,” said Tree Leaf, scratching his chin, “you’re saying that he became really real just because he’s believing in himself now?”

“That is my theory, though I have no way to confirm it. This is the first time that anything like this has happened. At least to my knowledge.”

Cup looked uncomfortable. “Look, I don’t mean to be a downer here, considering his emotional growth, but this isn’t exactly the most reassuring of news. If he can no longer be put inside of Discord then there’s no longer any way to contain him if he gets out of control.”

“That’s incorrect,” said Twilight. “Now that he won’t vanish from lack of magic he is vulnerable to magic suppression, much like I tried to use on him before. That was the first test I tried on him to see if my theory was correct, and he wasn’t able to cast any spells of his own while my spell was active.

“This also means I don’t always needs to be around to supervise when he comes to visit. He becomes like the equivalent of an earth pony. Even if he loses his temper the most he can do is go physical.”

Carrot let out a deep breath. “Well, that’s certainly a relief to me.”

Twilight got a thoughtful look on her face before frowning. “I’m going to have to do some experiments on him.”

“Hey!” Pound cried out. “You’re not gonna turn Mayhem into a lab rat just so you can study him.”

Ignoring Pound she looked at Mayhem. “Let me create a fictional scenario. Let’s say an army of bad Changelings attacked tomorrow while you’re playing with your friends. Your magic has been suppressed so you can’t use it. In the process of the invasion they invade the house you’re at, and take down one of your friends permanently right in front of you because you couldn’t access your magic.”

Mayhem let out a heavy breath. 

“I don’t want to experiment on Mayhem just for fun. I want to see how much I can tweak the magic suppression. Maybe I can limit him to just certain spells. Or maybe I can have his magic blocked but it will become available at a certain trigger, such as protective feelings. 

“There’s no point to gaining so many friends if you can’t protect them when it matters the most, don’t you think? You’ll only plunge into despair over your guilt. It could also mean you won’t be able to protect yourself from danger, and your friends will suffer over you.

“In the end, though, I can’t force you to agree. It’s up to you.”

Mayhem looked at his friends and shivered as he thought of the possibility she had raised. He looked back up at her. “T-Twilight, I wanna be a lab rat!”

“Well, that’s for another day, but glad to see you understand.

“Any objections, Pound?”

Pound shook his head. “No, Twilight.”

Mayhem bit his lip. “Now that’s another thing I have to worry about.”

“Is something else bothering you?” asked Spring Meadow.

He nodded. “Mommy is worried that my becoming real has a cost.”

“Like what?” asked Flurry. “Like you’re gonna go ballistic or something?”

He shook his head. “She thinks that there can only be one draconequus, so the reason I’m able to generate my own magic is because I’m taking control of Daddy, like we’re switching places between who is the real one and who is only magic.”

Masky blinked. “Umm… well, are you?”

“I don’t know! It’s been several days since our recent trip into the world of wishes, and I had no idea I had become real until today. If that is what’s happening I’m not trying to do it. It's just happening.”

“I think Fluttershy’s wrong,” said Flurry, making everyone look at her.

“Why is that, Flurry?” asked Pumpkin. 

“Because Mayhem is a good person. He wouldn’t just take Discord’s freedom away when he knows how terrible it feels.”

“I appreciate the sentiment,” said Twilight, “but you’re just talking from personal feelings.”

Flurry shook her head. “If he only became real through conquering his guilt then he’d go right back to feeling guilty if anything happened to Discord. That’s why I think there has to be another explanation. "

“Mayhem has already defied all of our expectations,” said Chocolate Chip. “If he can do all the stuff he does in our wishes then what’s so weird about him making his own magic?”

“I understand what you’re saying,” said Twilight, “but it doesn’t make sense. And, yes, I know his power is meant to not make sense, but even he has limits.  All the things he does with his magic have a cost. They drain some energy. That’s why in the past he’d vanish if he did too much. 

“Energy needs to have a source. It needs to come from somewhere. Either internally, such as from sleeping and eating, or externally, like Changelings. For him, there is no apparent source of where he’s getting his magic from, so it shouldn’t be possible for him to increase in energy on his own.”

“Oh, come on, Twilight,” said Pound. “It’s so simple.”

“You think so?”

“He gets his magic from the power of love.”

Twilight took in a slow breath and let it out. “Look, I’m happy that Mayhem is embracing friendship and the special magic that it brings to us all, but you and Flurry talking about it as being a literal source of energy for him is just wrong.”

“Then you weren’t paying attention.”

She sucked on her cheek, annoyed that Pound was getting under her skin. “Okay, then. Explain it to me. I’ll all ears.”

He nodded. “Hey, Mayhem. Show us the end of the battle with Luna’s Tantabus.”

Mayhem nodded back, snapping.

They watched the memory play. The Tantabus had grown large and was attempting to escape the dreamscape. When they found out Luna had created it out of her guilt they encouraged her to believe that she really had changed from her past self. This allowed her to forgive herself, and the massive Tantabus shrunk down until it was about Luna’s size and seemed to phase into her body.

The memory faded. “Okay,” said Twilight. “We’ve seen the past again. What does that prove?”

“The Tantabus,” said Pumpkin. “It didn’t disappear. It just went inside of her.”

“That’s right,” said Masky. “Does that mean you can’t destroy a Tantabus once it’s created?”

“I don’t know about that,” said Pound, “but I’m glad you guys noticed.

“When Mayhem created his Tantabus the two of them were bitter rivals. Our Mayhem wanted it gone, while Nega hated him. Just like Luna’s Tantabus it fed on her feelings of regret and self-hatred to grow stronger.”

“Oh!” Flurry said, catching on. “But then Mayhem was able to forgive himself, and the two of them became friends.”

Mayhem was listening closely, curious where this was going to end up. 

Pound nodded. “That’s right. The other Mayhem absorbed all his negative feelings to grow stronger, using all that power against Mayhem. But then they worked things out, the two of them learning to care for one another.”

Twilight tapped her hoof on the floor a few times. “So… if I’m understanding you correctly, then your theory is that the Tantabus is still inside Mayhem, but now it’s feeding on Mayhem’s self-love rather than his self-hatred?”

Pound nodded again. “And because Nega knows that he’s loved and is friends with Mayhem he’s not greedy. He willingly shares the energy he receives from Mayhem’s good feelings.”

“Woooooow,” said Plum. “If you’re right then Mayhem really is fueled by friendship.”

"Mayhem sounds more like a good Changeling if that's the case," said Flurry.

Mayhem threw himself at Pound, gently sobbing.

“Hey,” Pound said with concern, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he replied.

“You’re not crying over ‘nothing.’ “

“I’m just feeling relieved. Mommy really scared me with her idea, but I like yours a lot better. I didn’t want to make Daddy disappear.”

Pound hugged him. “Hey, that’s what friends do. Help save you from the bad things.”

“Friends… save you from the bad things,” Mayhem said quietly to himself. “Mom’s show you love. Princesses care for every pony.”

“What’s on your mind, Mayhem?” asked Pumpkin, seeing the somber look on his face as he mumbled to himself.

He pulled away from Pound. “Daddy made me very happy today.” His carefree expression returned as he thought about it. “He told me how proud he was of me for everything I’ve accomplished, calling me the ultimate fusion of chaos and harmony, and that I was a true draconequus.”

He squirmed in joy.

“Awww,” said Spring.

He sighed now, his happiness fading again. “He told me something important besides that, and it’s what is on my mind now.”

“What did he tell you?” asked Flash.

“He said that, even under the best of circumstances, our friendships can’t last forever.”

“Why not?” asked Masky.

“Even if you don’t die in battle or from an accident or sickness, eventually I’ll lose you to old age. Unless I’m different than Daddy my lifespan is going to be much greater than all of yours. One day…” He clenched, tears dripping onto the floor. “O-One day I’ll be the only one left.”

His melancholy spread to the others.

Spring fought it off, walking forward. “So… what then? You want to live a lonely life never making friends?”

Mayhem shook his head. “No! I’m going to hold tight to all of my friendships. After all, it’s going to fall on me to keep all of you alive after you’re dead.”

“Uuuhhhh…”

“You’re gonna make us zombies?” asked Peppermint.

“I don’t mean it literally,” said Mayhem, gathering his strength and focusing hard on his promise. “Daddy told me that the people we love never truly die as long as we keep their memory alive, so that means if we embrace what they stood for then they’ll always be alive in our hearts and the hearts of the ones we interact with.

“If Mommy goes-” he let out a shuddering breath “-then I have to take care of all the animals and make sure everyone doesn’t forget what kindness is. If Pound goes then I’ll have to protect Pumpkin and always make sure she’s safe. If Twilight goes then I have to make sure that everyone is still spreading friendship to one another.”

His eyes clenched shut. “E-e-even if I’m the last one I won’t let any of you die. I’ll make sure all of you live for as long as I do, b-b-because all of you are too precious to ever be forgotten.” He hugged himself, quietly sobbing.

The children smiled, walking over and getting into a group hug.

That made him feel better. After a while, when they let go, he said, “Daddy told me that one day he wants me to surpass Twilight as the ultimate being of friendship. Are you going to let that happen?”

Pound grabbed him in a headlock. “Get real! We ponies aren’t going to lose to you when it comes to friendship and love!”

“Got that right!” said Flash, giving him a noogie. “You’ve only come this far because we’ve taken our precious time and devoted it you.”

“So I guess that means we have to keep giving him good examples to look up to,” said Peppermint.

“Sounds good to me,” said Spring Meadow. “It’s the least I can do after he helped me.”

As Twilight watched them play-wresting with one another she felt, as she had so frequently before, that the next generation was coming along fine. There were plenty of true friendships before her eyes, and they would blaze new paths that would take friendship further than it ever had before.
> Bonus chapter 1: Weight of the world
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As they left the hospital Mayhem had a bright expression on his face. He hadn’t caught up to his friends yet, but he had done something pretty amazing.

“Did you see that, Twilight?” Mayhem said cheerfully as he floated alongside her on the way back to Fluttershy’s house, blushing with joy. “They were so happy with me.”

“I did see that,” Twilight said warmly. “You did something really special. Fluttershy will be proud to hear about how your first day went.”

“This is so awesome! It feels so much better than what I did before.” Some of the joy left his face. “I’m really sorry, Twilight. I screwed up really badly and lost myself in my own selfish pleasures.”

Twilight patted his head. “Don’t dwell on the past. Rather, focus on your future. The past is for learning from, after all.

“Keep that smile of yours, Mayhem. If you mean your apology then just keep helping me to help others. It benefits us all.”

Mayhem nodded. “Okay, Twilight.”

After a minute Mayhem got a thoughtful look on his face. “Hey, Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“I did something good today, right?”

“Of course.”

“And you want me to keep doing good things, right?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“That poor filly had to go without her brother for so long.” All the happiness faded out of his voice. “It had to hurt so much. And I’m sure it was the same for her parents.

“When I think about almost losing my friends it feels like a giant hole opens in my heart, but because of my powers I helped to close that hole and spread love.”

“Yes. You sure did.

“It seems like you have a thought pulling at your mind, Mayhem. It doesn’t seem like you’re bringing this up for nothing.”

“That filly’s brother isn’t the only one in the hospital, Twilight. Just think about all the ponies I could help with my powers. With a couple of snaps all the patients in the hospital could be sent home.” His voice filled with excitement as he giggled. “Can you imagine how great that’s going to feel for them?”

Twilight got an uncomfortable look on her face. “You… shouldn’t do that…”

“Huh?” he said, confused. “Why not?”

“It’s… just… it’s not what’s best for them.”

That only confused him more. “After what we just saw with Spring and her brother you think we should just leave them injured or sick in the hospital?”

Twilight felt a pang in her heart. “Look, Mayhem. You already did your good deed for the day. Just let it go, okay?”

His eyebrow went up, and he found himself getting a bit angry. “Just ‘let it go?’ Why should I? You just told me you want me to keep doing good things for others, and now you’re saying to just ignore people that are in need of help?”

Twilight gritted her teeth, feeling a gentle pounding in her head. “Mayhem, please. You don’t understand.”

Mayhem’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, I get it alright! You’re just jealous!”

“What?” Twilight said incredulously.

“This is all about you! You don’t like that I can be a better hero than you’ll ever be with my magic!”

The pounding deepened to a throbbing. “That’s not it at all!”

“Bull, you hypocrite!” he said furiously. “You tell me to help people in need, but as soon as you realized I could help a bunch of ponies at once it made you feel threatened because they’ll be celebrating ME instead of you.”

Twilight was panting now, feeling a haze in her mind. “Mayhem, stop!”

“No! I really looked up to you, but it turns out you’re just shallow and uncaring!”

“Mayhem, shut up!” Twilight said angrily, and before she could stop herself she swung at him.

Mayhem fell on his butt, holding his cheek and shivering. “Y-y-you hit me,” he said, tears forming in his eyes

Twilight was horrified at her loss of control. “I’m so sorry! I just… I… I can’t…”

She fell to the ground, gently sobbing. “It’s… I know it’s not okay, but you dug into my greatest source of pain.”

Mayhem stood up. “Greatest... source of... pain?” he asked.

With a flash of her horn she teleported them both to her usual reading spot.

She was glad no one had been around to see her lose control like that. The repercussions of such an act would likely have brought her greatest fears to pass, or at least push things in that direction.

She took in a few deep breaths to try to compose herself before she said, “Mayhem… please try to understand. I wish I could just tell you to do what you want, but… things… aren’t… they’re not that simple.”

Mayhem kept his distance. He still felt a little afraid, but he would at least listen. “So what’s the problem?”

“As a princess, or even just as an adult, I can’t just be thinking about the present.” She sniffed. “I have to do my part to ensure the future works out for as many ponies as possible.”

“And wouldn’t more ponies be happy if I cured them?”

“Yes. Of course they would.”

Mayhem started to get angry, but it was quickly eclipsed by fear. He didn't want her to strike him again. In a calm voice he asked, “So then what’s the problem?”

“The ‘problem’ is you, Mayhem. Or, to be more specific, your power.”

“My power?”

“Yes. It’s very dangerous for the future.”

“But you’ve seen I can use it for good reasons.”

“I’m not talking about morality here. I’m talking about how your power is temporary.”

He just felt more and more confused. “I mean, some of the stuff I make is just there to play around, but it only goes away when I want it to.”

Twilight tensed, letting out a heavy sigh as she fought to keep her composure. “I’m talking about lifetimes here, Mayhem. Discord and Celestia are long-lived, but I don’t think even they will live forever.

“That’s why we have to be very careful about the future and how much help we provide.”

Mayhem stared at her for a little while, his face screwed up in thought. He couldn’t quite put the pieces together. “I don’t get it, Twilight."

She took in another slow breath. “How future generations develop is going to be largely dependent on the ponies of the present.” She glanced at him for a moment before looking back down. “And other species too, of course.

“As princess my role is like a parent. I look after and provide assistance when others are in need. However, there has to be a cutoff point. We can’t do everything for them or they’ll grow spoiled.

“When it comes to horrible monsters we step in to save lives because we have the most power, but when it comes to personal issues we only provide as much help as they appear to need, and then we move on.”

“Why? When it comes to helping others shouldn’t we give it our all?”

Twilight took in another slow breath, not wanting to take her feelings out on him again. “Because we don’t want ponies to turn out like Spring Meadow.”

“Spring Meadow? What does she have to do with this?”

“The incident with Forest’s accident happened precisely because Spring felt like her parents didn’t have enough faith in her abilities. She acknowledged jumping from that ledge was a bad idea, and was even willing to back off… up until she remembered that feeling of her parents not having enough confidence in her.

“We have to strike a balance between doing too little for others and doing too much. If we don’t provide assistance then problems won’t get solved, but doing too much can be just as damaging. It robs them of a chance to figure things out themselves and grow from the experience. 

“Just today you thanked me for allowing you to go forward on your own to help Spring. That’s the ideal way for any authority figure. We allow those under us to try, standing nearby to provide assistance if they find they’re not quite up to the task.

“How would you have felt if I pushed you aside to insist that I be the one to help Spring, even after you felt the passion flowing? It would have made you feel inadequate and wouldn’t have taught you anything.”

“Okay… I guess I can get that.”

“The biggest question we have to ask ourselves is: what’s going to happen after I die? It’s an unpleasant question, but it’s one we have to be honest about. That’s why we strive to help others better themselves, because we know we’re not going to last forever. And once we go all our knowledge and experience go with us. 

“That’s why we have to push others to become self-sufficient. We don’t want to create a solution to a problem that relies on our presence.”

“Hmm… I don’t get it,” said Mayhem. “Snapping to help others heal would happen instantly. It doesn’t rely on me to be there, so I don’t see how it relates to me.”

Twilight pushed a hoof to her face as she let out yet another heavy breath. The pounding in her head was starting to return.

Mayhem squirmed around. He was getting frustrated again, but was too nervous of her hitting him again to let it out. “Could you stop getting mad at me?”

“I’m not mad at you, Mayhem. This isn’t about you. It never was about you. You just set off the pain I hold inside.”

He saw tears coming down her eyes again as she put her hoof down, and he found himself feeling bad for her. “So… what is it? I saw that Spring was holding in a lot of stuff inside. What are you holding in?”

Twilight found her emotions bubbling over. “I HATE THIS!” she yelled, making him jerk back a step.

“You hate what?”

“I’m the Princess of Friendship. My role is to help others, and yet because of my position I have to make painful decisions like these sometimes. It’s like I said earlier. I wish I could just tell you that it’s fine and to do what you want. I wish I could say to heal everyone to bring happiness to others, and it makes me feel sick to my stomach knowing that we have the power to do so but it’s not advisable. The very notion of letting others suffer ‘for the greater good’ disgusts me, and yet I have to play my part.”

“I… still don’t get it, Twilight.”

“I’m sorry. I know sometimes I ramble and beat around the bush when I try to explain things. I’ll try to be more blunt. The concept I’m getting at is that expectations for the future can cause trouble. Take a child that whines when they pass a toy store and throws a tantrum when they’re told they're not getting any more toys. The parent is tired and just wants there to be peace, so he gives in and gets them a toy to quiet them down.

“Now the idea is put in the child’s head that ‘If I cause enough of a scene I’ll get whatever I want.’ So they try it out, and sure enough it works a second time. Then a third. Then a fourth. Then a fifth time.

“And so starts a pattern. Having repeatedly seen their parent give in to their demands they start developing a sense of entitlement and grow spoiled. As they grow up their demands grow with them. They want to stay up late. They want to go out with their friends on a school night. They want to do their homework later. And still the parent continues to give in.

“They carry that sense of entitlement into high school, bullying other children because they believe they have the power.

“Then they grow into an adult, always believing they deserve more and more. Work? Why should they have to work? Why should they have to move out?”

She finally looked at him again. “Most problems don’t start out big. There’s no real harm in occasionally just giving in, but when things happen constantly it creates a pattern and expectations of future behavior, and that’s where the danger in your power lies.”

Mayhem opened his mouth then closed it again, his eyes narrowed in thought. “I… feel like I’m getting the general idea of what you’re saying, but I still don’t understand why it’s a bad thing. I can get why you don’t want to have a child turn into a jerk by never telling them no, but what’s bad about people expecting you to be a hero? If it that’s bad then shouldn’t you just quit being a princess?”

“The difference between the two of us is the issue. You have powers that most ponies could hardly imagine. They far outstrip my own. Anything you want you can make happen in an instant.

“Of course your power can be used for good or for evil, but the problem lies in you becoming too well known for your power. The reason I let the others think you were just making illusions you can interact with is precisely because you’re not ready to be recognized so much.”

His eyes fell. “So is that what the point of that story was? You think if I get praised too much for helping others I’m gonna turn out like the spoiled brat?”

She shook her head. “No… and yes. That is a possible issue, but that wasn’t the point. The point was about patterns, and the more well-known you become for your power the more danger it can cause for the future.

“Just as it was for the parent, it’s okay to just give in sometimes. When people like Spring come specifically to you to ask for aid, then it would be cruel to turn them down.”

“So just tell me already. Let’s just say I help a bunch of people and get recognized. Then I help more people. And more people. Can you just tell me where the harm is for the future by helping hundreds of ponies past horrible injuries and illnesses and letting them live happier lives?”

“As I said earlier, the problem is that your power isn’t guaranteed to last forever. Nothing is. You may live for millenniums, helping hundreds upon hundreds of ponies. And, in the short term, that’s fine. But when you look at the long term it sets a dangerous precedent.

“With power like yours, that can instantly heal a pony from everything except death, it can inspire recklessness. Cases like Spring Meadow could become commonplace. Why be cautious? ‘If I break a leg or a wing then Mayhem will make it all better, so whatever.’ When you take away the consequences of foolish behavior then it only encourages more of them.

“Let’s take it a little further. For the next thousand years you visit the hospital daily to perfectly heal every patient admitted that day. Then the news starts spreading of the miracle child. Now suddenly you’re getting requests from far off lands to heal others. You’ve already shown that you can split yourself up into multiple beings, so that’s not an issue either.”

Mayhem stared at her intensely, still not really seeing the issue.

“Now that doctors and nurses and hospitals have become more of a formality their life purposes are now essentially meaningless. Of course they’re happy to see patients healing and going home, but now they no longer have a purpose. Someone else is doing their work better than they ever could.

“Another hundred or two years later this process continues. Medical research is deemed completely unnecessary, since any viruses are instantly struck down whenever they appear. New doctors and nurses cease, since their career paths are rendered pointless with you around.

"Skip another generation ahead, and suddenly you’re gone.”

His eyebrow went up. “Why?”

“It doesn’t matter why. It could be you were attacked, or had to be sealed away. Whatever the reason you’re no longer in the world. You no longer exist.

“Now… what do you suppose is going to happen to the world in your absence?”

Mayhem blinked. “Ummm… things… um… return to how they were before?”

“How? Because you did everything yourself and couldn’t pass on your power your absence now causes a big hole in the world that could take another few decades to fix. You spread yourself out so much, robbing people of their chance to grow and learn and contribute, that without you there they have no idea what to do when a crisis happens.”

Mayhem got an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.

“Because nobody was studying medicine or disease there’s no one around who knows how to set a cast. No one knows how to perform surgery. No one knows how to cure or study diseases. Why? Because your existence meant they never had to know. You solved things instantly before such things were ever needed.

“However, now that you no longer exist, and that knowledge is desperately needed, everyone is stuck playing catch up. And who knows how many are going to die to illnesses and diseases that would be easily curable during this time with medicine. How many are going to be inadequately bandaged up? How many are going to get incorrect treatments that make their condition worse?”

Mayhem looked at the ground, an awkward expression on his face.

“All of this is precisely why I said earlier that we always have to think about how much aid we provide others. We’re best serving others by teaching them how to operate without us… by making their own individual world one they can survive in without needing us to hold their hooves.

“Think of what happened today. I probably could have done exactly what you did in helping Spring, but I held back because you clearly wanted to try and it meant something special to you, and so I gave you that opportunity. If you had messed up I would have helped guide you to get us back on the right path, but you handled yourself just fine.”

Twilight sighed heavily, tears forming in her eyes. “And so we come to the main issue: I hate the concept of allowing others to suffer in the present because it will be better for them in the future. Your power is amazing, and you could solve so many problems, but it could lead to much worse problems in the future because it’s too amazing. 

“Your power makes things happen instantly, with no effort, and that’s the problem. For ponies we still have to actually work for it. We have to put ourselves out there and struggle, and we still wouldn’t come close to the efficiency you have.”

The tears that had been hovering in her eyes finally fell down her cheeks. “Princess Celestia… she’s lived a long time, and she’s able to fully comprehend the truths of the world. I’m still too young and inexperienced to accept it.”

Mayhem heard her sniff. “What do you mean?”

“At times I just feel like I’m sitting in a hole, and no matter how much I climb I can never get out of it. That ‘hole’ is the feeling that no matter how much I do it’s never enough. It’s the knowledge that I’m a powerful, influential person who has limits.”

She wiped her face. “If I had a wish it would be to create a world in which I’m not necessary.”

“Hey!” said Mayhem, feeling disturbed. “It sounds like you want to die.”

Twilight looked up at him, shaking her head. “No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I just want everyone to be self-sufficient and live peaceful lives without monsters coming along to disturb it.”

She looked back down at the floor. “Princess Celestia has warned me several times about taking on too much. She’s told me to acknowledge my limits, and that there’s only so much an individual can do, but it’s not easy to accept that.” 

She pushed a hoof to her face. “When I think of ponies like Spring Meadow, a child suffering with such heavy feelings, it just reminds me of how much hidden pain there is in the world. 

“How many others in Ponyville are going through similar experiences? The map has sent us out across Equestria, but there was someone who needed our help right here in Ponyville.”

She began to shake. “There are people like her in desperate need of a friendship lesson, but I never knew she existed before she came pounding on my door to speak to you. That sort of thing kills me inside. Celestia may be Princess of the sun, but I’m the Princess of Friendship, and knowing there are people suffering like her in my hometown without me knowing…” She let out a sob.

“I hate my limits! I want to do more! More and more! But… at the same time… I know…” She drifted off for a while, before sighing. “I know I can’t do much more than I am already.”

Her horn lit up, creating a line going upward that kept splitting into two additional lines. Faces of ponies appeared at every split, with Twilight’s face going up the initial line. “It feels like every decision I make involves leaving someone alone.”

The Twilight face took the left path, meeting up with the sad pony face at the end of the path, and they began smiling. “While I’m out helping one person someone else is going neglected.” The Twilight face moved back to the beginning. “And, even though I know I need it, when I’m just staying at home resting and relaxing, I’m helping no one else at all. It just feels selfish to dedicate any time to myself goofing off when I’m someone who holds so much sway in the world.”

Mayhem stared at the pathways Twilight had created for a while. “Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“I think you’re forgetting something really important.”

“What’s that?” she said with a sniff.

“I know about your past. About how you were always alone and didn’t consider anyone a real friend. You’re not that pony anymore.”

He looked down at her. “The thing you’re forgetting is that you’re not alone anymore.”

“Yes, I have friends now, but what does that have to do with this?”

“Everything! You said that when you take a path to help someone then someone else is left behind, but that’s assuming that you’re the only person in the world that’s trying.”

He created a Fluttershy head, putting it next to Twilight’s on the pathway. As they came to the first fork Twilight went left and Fluttershy went right. “With more people that just makes more help.

“Just like you said before, the goal is to make it so you’re not necessary to keep things going, and your help just creates a cycle.”

He created an image of Starlight and Flurry. “You helped Starlight come to terms with her past, and she turned to the side of good. Once she earned their trust she became Flurry’s caretaker, and watched over her growing up, ultimately helping her past her fears over her cutie mark. 

“Because you helped Pound and Pumpkin they were able to help Flurry past her issues over friendship, and all of that led to Flurry helping me. And because you forgave me it allowed me to help Spring and her family.

“We all help each other, Twilight. We understand the pain and want to make it go away in others. And then when they feel better it makes them want to pass those feelings onto someone else. So you don’t need to do it all yourself, because we’re all helping each other. And the reason we can do that is because someone like you started the cycle.

“It’s unfortunate that we’ll never be able to help everyone, but we can all do all we can to spread good feelings for each other.”

He walked over to her and gave her a hug. “Just like Masky and Flurry I know you’re not bad. You just had some bad stuff inside making you not act your best, so I forgive you for hitting me.”

“Mayhem…”

“I still love you, Twilight. You’re still taking care of me after I did something way worse than you did, and now that I understand your pain I want to take it away so I can bring out the good pony I’ve always known.”

Twilight let out a little laugh, hugging him back as she gently sobbed. “You’re a real sweetheart,” she said lovingly. “Fluttershy is lucky to have you as a son.”

Mayhem grinned.

After a while she pulled back. She had gotten her composure back. “I’ve never claimed to be perfect. I know very well I’m not, but… every so often, I fall into things that I know I shouldn’t. Things that I feel I should know better about. Things like this.

“As my role in Equestria grows my responsibilities feel like they should grow with it. I’m well aware that it’s impossible to help every person and that everyone has limits, but I still can’t help sometimes feeling like I should be doing more, or that what I do isn’t enough and will never be enough.

“Those thoughts can then sometimes spiral into thinking that I’ve never really done anything helpful for others.”

Mayhem blinked. “But how can you think that? You’ve saved the world and redeemed so many people.”

“Well… we all have a dark side to us, and that part of us is never satisfied. It may be temporarily won over by perfection, but the second something goes wrong it shatters. 

“Being a student of Celestia was such a big honor that I naturally developed a desire to never disappoint her. Those feelings grew into a subconscious fear of her. I was always so worried about something bad happening to me if I let her down.

“Of course I was younger then, but I’m embarrassed about how exaggerated my ideas grew. I thought she was going to send me back to magic kindergarten just for being late on one report.”

She let out a sigh. “The sad part is that I’ve always seen how kind she was. She very rarely lost her temper, and yet I couldn’t let that idea of her go because I was one of her few personal students. Considering I almost failed my entrance exam, and it was only being startled by the sonic rainboom that set off the magic surge that allowed me to pass, I didn't want to risk losing my position.”

“Wow,” said Mayhem. “You always seem to have it together. I didn’t know even you still had things from the past you were holding onto.”

“Well, as I’ve said many a time, I’m just another pony. Being an alicorn doesn’t mean I don’t feel like anyone else.”

She patted his head. “Thank you, Mayhem. I needed that hug.”

He grinned back. “You’re welcome!”

“As I’ve told Pound and Pumpkin, I believe that children can teach important lessons just as adults can if we bother to listen to them. What you said is a very mature way of looking at things. Once I set someone on a better path it opens them up to possibly help pull someone else back on the right path, continually causing a cycle of helping others. 

“I guess it’s most helpful to visualize it like dominos. My piece doesn’t have to knock over every individual domino. I can set one off and let the ones in front of me work on doing the rest.”

She pulled him close again, tears coming down her eyes. “And sometimes the ones we help will come back to help us in return.”

He hugged her back, giggling happily.

When she released him this time they shared a smile for a few seconds, but then she got serious. “I guess the only thing left is to decide what to do about your ambition. I hope you understand by now that I wasn’t telling you not to help just because I want all the glory to myself.”

Mayhem got serious too, nodding. “I do understand that, Twilight.”

“I already explained the problems being too helpful in the present can cause for the future, but one other issue I want to bring up with you becoming well-known is that you’re still a child. A child with ultimate power... as Cup said it’s easy for your power to be misused by others, even if you never give them any.”

“How could someone use my power if I don’t give them any?”

“Simple. Do you remember the situation with Masky?”

“Yeah. He was having trouble with his family because he never spoke up that he was feeling lonely.”

“Yes. You, Fluttershy, and Pumpkin told me about what was going on with him, and he resolved his issue. But another day when we were discussing the changes he went through she told me about the deal he made with you. He talked you into giving him some power so he could mind-control his parents to be what he wanted them to be, or to make it so that they didn’t like travel anymore.

“Adults, with all their knowledge, usually commit deliberate evil. However, younger children can commit accidental evil when they commit horrible actions while thinking they’re doing good.

“To Masky it might not have seemed a big deal to alter his parents thoughts or personalities so they were happier together, but forcing someone to change who they are without their consent is an evil act.

“And that comes back to you. You believed you were helping him to better his life, while facilitating his evil actions.”

Mayhem looked around awkwardly. 

“And one can easily see how such things can grow worse. As an example, Queen Chrysalis comes to Ponyville disguised as Fluttershy and looking a total mess. She’s bruised and cut up and dirty. You spy her, instantly getting worried as she tells you that she managed to barely escape Chrysalis and the Changelings, telling you that the real Fluttershy is the imposter. In a fit of rage you send Fluttershy into the sun.”

Mayhem shuddered hard, and continued shivering. 

He raised his arms to her, and she held him to her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “That example went a little too far, but I just needed to get my point across.

“Someone doesn’t have to have your power to cause bad things. They just have to convince you to use it on their behalf. And since you’re still young and naïve they could very well be directing you to do something they convince you is good, but is actually evil.”

When he stopped shaking he looked up at her and said, “I don’t think that’s really fair, Twilight.”

“Why not?”

“I didn’t just agree to Masky’s proposal. I was really conflicted after what happened when Daddy gave his power to Pound and Pumpkin. That’s why I asked Mommy about it, and she told me it was okay. She misinterpreted what I meant, but she told me that we all share our gifts with each other to make their lives better.

“I have an amazing gift… but…” He sighed. “BUT I understand what you’re saying. I need to be careful with my power so I don’t hurt others on accident, but I’m already doing that anyway. I put you in charge of my power today, letting you decide if I was going too far. And you never needed to stop me, so I think I’m doing better with my power than you think I am.”

She rubbed his cheek. “I didn’t say you were abusing your power. I only wanted to give you an example of where your power can go wrong.”

She set him down. “It is your power, and I think you should do what you feel is right with it.  I just want you to keep in mind what I’ve told you.”

Mayhem’s hands balled up as he tensed. After a few seconds he loosened up. “I think… I think I’m going to do like what you do with the map. When someone calls out to me for help I’ll provide them assistance, but I don’t want to start taking on the problems of the world. If even you can’t handle that responsibility I know I can’t either. I don’t like it, but I’m just going to let things go.”

“I don’t like it either, Mayhem, but it isn’t up to any one person to do it all. Pain sometimes helps us to grow if we can overcome it, just as we saw with Spring Meadow. You used your past to inspire someone else. It wouldn’t have meant so much to you if it wasn’t for what happened.”

“Yeah…” 

“You okay?”

Tears began dripping down his eyes. “I want to go home! I want my mommy!”

“Okay,” said Twilight. “You’ve had a long day, so let’s get you home.” 

She put a hoof on him, and then with a  flash they were gone.
> Bonus 2: Early draft of Pumpkin making up with Masky
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

During recess Pumpkin sat under a tree and watched Pound hanging out with his classmates, still trying his hardest to fly. Iron Wing was still acting like a jerk, but she could tell he wasn’t serious about it. 
“Hey, Pumpkin,” came a voice next to her. 
She turned to look and saw Masky standing there. She wasn’t sure how to feel about him now. She had got swept up in her feelings, and it had led her to make the same mistakes Pound had made. “What do you want?” she asked, keeping her voice neutral.
“Well, I’d, um… like to talk to you.” 
“About what?”
“Just about, um, things.”
He was looking very awkward. Pound seemed alright now, so she’d hear him out.  “Okay, then.”
Relief passed across his face, and he sat next to her, curling up into a ball, his head on his knees. “Pound talked to me before.”
“He did?” she asked, curious. 
“Yeah…” It was quiet for a few moments. “He didn’t say much. He just told me to either leave you alone or to stop persuading you to do bad things.”
“Pound…” She looked over at him again, his face red with exertion as he strained his wings. He hovered for about ten seconds before he landed. He was definitely improving. 
“I can tell your brother really cares about you just from that. He didn’t yell or hit or threaten me, but the look in his eyes was intense. It was kinda scary. He seems like the kind of pony you wouldn’t want to mess with.”
A tear came down Pumpkin’s eyes. Even though he was protecting her he didn’t completely shut out Masky, giving him the option to improve his behavior. She appreciated that.
“Yeah, your brother really loves you… and I hate him for it!”
Pumpkin glanced in his direction. His voice had cracked a bit when he said that. A few tears were coming down his face. “You hate Pound for being a good brother?”
“I don’t have anyone like that in my life. I’m an only child. My parents travel all over Equestria, never staying too long in one place.”
“And what about you? They leave you with a foalsitter or something?”
He shook his head, his eyes clenching shut. “No… they always take me with them. They never stay in one place longer than a month. I was in a different school before I came here, and I’ll be in a different school next month too. I never get to hang out with anyone long enough to be real friends with them, so what does it matter how I act?”
“Hmmm?” Pumpkin’s head tilted a bit. “What do you mean?”
He squeezed his body tighter, shaking a bit. “I’m SAYING it doesn’t matter if I’m good or bad here. I can be the nicest, kindest pony or the nastiest, worst one, and it won’t matter a bit. Since it doesn’t matter I just act like whatever kind of pony I feel like at the moment.” Changing his voice to quiet and unsure he said, “I-I-I c-can be a scared p-p-pony afraid of everyone.” His voice changed again, becoming suave as he pushed his mane back. “Or a cool kid that breaks all the rules.
“I can be whoever I want, since I don’t want to be me. By next month I’ll be gone, and a week after that everyone will just forget that I was ever here. So why should I care if I’m being bad? Even that barely makes my parents pay attention to me.” He buried his head in his knees, quietly sobbing.
Sympathetic tears came down Pumpkin’s eyes. She was starting to understand him now. She put a leg around him, rubbing his back. “I’m sorry, Masky. I didn’t know that things were so hard for you.”
He looked up at her, his face wet with tears. For a moment it seemed he would return her friendliness, but then he shoved her and turned away, crossing his legs in front of him. “Don’t bother!” he said angrily. “I don’t WANT you to be nice to me. I already told you that it doesn’t matter, didn’t I? You act all nice and pleasant and all that junk, but as soon as I’m gone you’ll just forget about me! You’ll move on to the friend’s right in front of you and forget I ever existed.” His angry tone vanished, replaced with sadness. “Just like my parents,” he said quietly.
Pumpkin stood up and sat in front of him. “I have a friend named Peppermint Swirl who reminds me a lot of you.”
“Am I supposed to be happy that there are more ponies being ignored?” he asked emotionlessly. 
She ignored his question. “Her parents weren’t paying much attention to her because they had just had a baby. A baby is near helpless, needing a lot of care and love. Peppermint felt she was being pushed out of her family, and grew to hate her little brother for it. It built up until one day she gave him a hard smack. Her father was so surprised that he smacked her in return.”
Masky sighed. “I almost want to say I wouldn’t mind that. At least they would be paying attention to me for once.”
She ignored him again. “I ran into her at the park, having run away from home, and I got the story from her. Despite how strongly her emotions were burning she never told her parents how she was feeling, and not opening up to them led to that incident. 
“When her father found her he immediately apologized, and then Peppermint told her dad about her feelings. Realizing how much he had been hurting his child he resolved to do better, and now Peppermint is happy again. She does have to share her parents affection with her brother, but it’s not as one-sided as before.
“So what about you? Have you ever opened up to your parents about how you feel about all this traveling you do?” He didn’t answer her. “I guess not, because ‘what does it matter,’ right?”
He started shaking again, taking in a sharp breath
“One of the important things I’ve learned is that ALL ponies, from children to princesses, make mistakes. Sometimes really big ones. Princess Luna was sealed away for a thousand years because of jealousy that led her to attacking her own sister. Our parents and Princess Twilight were too hard on us when me and my brother got into a fight and it led to us running away because we thought we weren’t wanted anymore.”
Masky looked over at her. That caught his interest. “You did?”
“One of our friends found us wondering at night, and she talked us into making up with them. Our parents were heartbroken that they had been so harsh, and Princess Twilight learned that she didn’t know much about kids our age.
“She learned something important, so she wrote it down in the Friendship Journal. It’s something they want to leave behind for the next generation of ponies, so they write down in it whenever they feel they’ve learned an important lesson. And on the other half of the page Twilight had US write down what we had learned from the experience, because she felt that no pony is too young to teach something important to others. It meant a lot to both of us, and showed that she was really sorry.”
She gave his head a pat. “What I’m trying to say is that your parents aren’t perfect either.” His interest faded away, and his expression went blank. “Maybe just like with Peppermint they don’t realize how much they’re upsetting you.
“So do you really hate travelling that much?”
He didn’t answer right away, looking lost in thought. “Well… not really. I actually don’t mind it that much. I’ve seen a lot of crazy things growing up.” His expression perked up. “I’ve been to Cloudsdale and watched the Wonderbolts perform with the aid of a cloud-walking spell. We went to Canterlot and got to meet Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. We’ve travelled to the Crystal Empire and seen the crystal ponies, and Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. We’ve watched the migration of dragons, hundreds of them in every single color overhead and showing off.  We’ve-”
He went off for a while, talking about all the places they’d gone. For a kid her age it certainly seemed he’d had several lifetimes worth of travel for the average pony. His eyes were twinkling with excitement and the contrast perplexed her. 
She put a hoof to his face to quiet him down. “I don’t get it. Your parents have taken you all over the world to see a whole bunch of cool stuff, you’re always included in stuff, and you seem happy with all of it. So how are they neglecting you? What’s really missing from your life?”
He looked contemplative again as Pumpkin put her hoof down. “Well… I guess… it’s not really so much about THEM. It’s more like we can’t every waking minute together having fun. They have a job that lets them travel a lot. It lets them see the sights, but at times they have to work. Sometimes they’ll hire a foalsitter, but sometimes they’ll leave me alone with a promise to keep all the doors locked and not let anyone in. When things are like that I get pretty lonely. And because we travel about so much I just don’t have the time to make friends to hang out with.” He let out a big sigh, his head drooping. “Because even if I did I’d just have to say goodbye to them over and over and over everywhere we went.”
Pumpkin rubbed his head again. “So your parents take you on a whole bunch of awesome adventures and trust you to be responsible enough to leave you alone. The only thing you’re really missing is lasting friends. Is that about right?”
“I guess so.” He gave another big sigh.
“From what you say I think your parents really care a lot about you, but you’ve given up before you even tried. Of course your mom and dad wouldn’t get there’s a problem if you’ve always been excited before.”
He turned his head away. “And what would talking to them do? Even if they feel bad for me what are they supposed to do about their job?”
“That’s what YOU have to find out! They’ve been doing this since you were small, so they must be good if they’ve kept it up this long. Did you ever stop to think that maybe they’re getting tired of travelling around themselves, but kept moving around anywhere because they just want to see you happy?”
Masky slowly turned back toward her, an eyebrow up.
“A parent who loves their child will do most anything to make them happy, and maybe they think you’d be miserable or bored without all that excitement in your life from seeing so many different things. You’re so busy thinking of things from just one way that you don’t even realize that maybe moving around is just an expression of how much they love you.”
His head backed up a bit, his lip quivering as tears welled up in his eyes. “Mom… Dad…” There was a mournful tone to his voice. 
“Wait here a moment. I want to show you something.” She stood up, grabbing her bag. She sat down next to him and pulled out a journal from inside.
“I don’t know what your parents are really thinking, or how much they really love you. All I can do is promise to be a good friend to you. That’s why I wanted to show you this.” 
She set it in his lap, and after a brief glance at her he opened it up. He read the first page, then let out a snort. “What is this, you talking to your imaginary friend? And I thought I was bad.”
Pumpkin’s eyes narrowed a moment, but what else was he supposed to think? She didn’t know about the connected journals herself until Starlight told her about them. She couldn’t exactly blame him for thinking she was writing to herself. 
“This is a magic journal,” she told him. “They form a pair. Anything I write in here shows up in the other one.”
He blinked. “Woooow,” he said, looking back down at it. “That’s cool.”
“Yep! Even if they’re halfway around the world they’ll still get the message. I can talk to Princess Twilight and her student to see about getting a copy for you.”
“Y-you’d do that for me?” he asked, gulping.
“Sure. I mean, I think you’re kinda cute.” She blushed, and he looked away, blushing too. “I can’t promise your parents will give you what you want. The only thing I can do is keep offering you friendship, even if you do leave us next month. As long as you have the notebook we can talk to each other every day, and you won’t ever have to feel alone again.”
He slowly turned back to her. “Why… why are you being so nice to me? After what I did… you should be furious at me.”
Pumpkin slowly breathed in, then just as slowly let it out. “To be honest I’m kinda ashamed of myself for getting swept up in your words, but it did have a good outcome. Truth be told…” She looked embarrassed. “Well, I hate putting down Pound, but being truly honest he’s kinda weak.”
“Whaaaaat?” Masky replied incredulously. “That look he gave me wasn’t ‘weak.’ It was anything but.” 
Pumpkin let out a little moan, feeling guilty. “Pound tries hard, but when it comes to just himself he’s a bit of a pushover. That’s why he was so bothered by not flying: he couldn’t muster up the courage to confront his bullies. They walked right over him.
“However, by you pushing me to get involved in things it made things personal for him because he feared for my safety. That’s what made him settle things with them. He really just wanted to protect me. If he thinks there’s some kind of danger he’ll do whatever it takes to get me out of it. That’s why, more than anyone else in the world, Pound is my number one hero.”
Masky looked away, then back at her. “But doesn’t that apply to, like, everyone you love? You don’t think your mom or your dad would do the same for you?”
Pumpkin glanced over at Pound again. “Well, it’s not that they wouldn’t… it’s just that it always amazes me how a pipsqueak like him will take on whatever is in his way. He tried to take on four older colts at once one time when there was a problem. He even threatened to beat up Princess Twilight if she made me cry, even though he had just gotten over a serious injury.”
Masky’s eyes bugged out. “He didn’t!” he said incredulously.
Pumpkin laughed. “Twilight is a close friend of our aunt, so she’s like family to us. Even so, I wouldn’t doubt he’d say the same to even Princess Celestia.” She let out a little sigh. “The reason he threatened her was because I was terrified. I had lost control of my magic when I was angry and sent a bookcase toppling on top of him. He nearly died.”
Masky’s mouth hung open.  
“When I saw Twilight I freaked out, sure that she was there to give me some horrible punishment like taking me away from my family, and I ran to Pound for support. That’s why he said what he did. He wasn’t going to let even a princess pick on me. How many ponies do you know would do that?”
Masky slowly shook his head. “Not many. I certainly wouldn’t have the guts to say that.”
“That’s one of the reasons I respect him more than my other family members… when he’s not driving me absolutely bonkers, that is.” 
She rubbed his head again. “So let’s get back to you, because there’s another reason I care about him so much, and it’s why I can’t just leave you alone, so I’m offering you a Pinkie Promise not to forget about you.” 
“A what promise?”
“A Pinkie Promise,” she repeated, “named by my Auntie Pinkie. Once you make a Pinkie Promise there’s no taking it back, unless something like a life-threatening injury happens or something really serious like that. Otherwise, it’s a commitment to see something through to the end. 
Standing up she sat in front of him again, lifting her hoof and moving it around. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I Pinkie Promise to you that I’ll always be your friend, unless…” She drifted off, thinking of Pinkie’s promise to her and Pound after they ran away from home. She had promised to love them forever, even if they went bad. She didn’t want to make an exception when she was acting like Pinkie. “I’ll always be your friend, even IF something happens and you turn evil. I’ll keep believing in you and try to bring you back to the side of good.”
“Why?” he asked again, looking thoroughly confused. “Why make that promise to me? We’ve only known each other a few days.”
“Because… I know what it feels like to be lonely. That’s why I understand you so well, even though we’ve gone through different things.” She set her head on her knees, hugging her legs. “I don’t know what I’d do without Pound. He’s more than just a brother or my twin… he’s my best friend.” A solitary tear came down her eye. “We get into some big fights sometimes where we attack each other or yell or won’t talk to each other, but we always come back together before long.
“During one of those fights Auntie Pinkie, rather than sending us to time-out or something like that, decided to separate us. She kept me home, and left with Pound to one of our friend’s houses, telling us that we weren’t allowed to see each other for the rest of the day.”
“And how did that make you feel?” he asked curiously, mimicking her pose.
“Great, at first. It didn’t last, though. Since we weren’t in school back then and none of our parents or Auntie Pinkie’s friends have children we usually only had each other. Auntie Pinkie was gone and both our parents were working downstairs, so it was just me. I got some rare alone time, but it wasn’t long at all before I started feeling bored and lonely. Eventually I snuck out of the house to go make up with him. Halfway there I ran into him. He was feeling the same way.”
“Okay, but didn’t you get in trouble for breaking the rules?”
“Well, Auntie Pinkie found us, and we united against her, telling her if she was gonna punish us for not listening she was gonna punish us together, since we wouldn’t be separated again. We were both scared, but then she smiled and told us that was what she was hoping for when she forced us to be apart.”



For the TL:DR crowd who scrolled past the author's note, this is just an early draft I didn't complete, so it ends abruptly here
> Bonus 3: Early Draft of Mayhem's second appearance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Knock knock knock.
Mrs. Cake heard the gentle rapping on the door. It was the weekend so they knew it wasn’t a customer. Opening the door she saw Fluttershy.
“Hello there, dear,” Cup said. “How are you? You’re looking a bit tired.”
Fluttershy nodded sleepily. She sighed. “I’m exhausted. You remember Mayhem, I’m sure?”
Cup nodded, frowning slightly. She certainly did, considering he had nearly killed the lot of them and possessed her children. “What about him?”
“Well, he’s improved a lot since you last saw him. I think you’ll find the change stunning.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Fluttershy giggled, her eyes slowing closing before she caught herself, shaking her head. “Sorry.”
“What’s got you so wiped out?” Cup asked with a little concern. 
“Well… Mayhem has gotten attached to his new freedom. And to me. It’s like having my own kid. He always wants to play and snuggle and get hugs and kisses.” 
She yawned, putting a hoof over her mouth. “I was right, you know. Once he got a taste of love and affection he understood why Discord changed so much. He is always doing things to try to make me happy. He’ll feed and take care of the animals, or give me flowers, or whatever else comes to his young mind.
“Don’t get me wrong. He’s a little sweetheart and so so adorable but he’s also very needy and demanding of attention. I just can’t keep up with him all alone. I could just tell Discord not to let him out when he asks, but I don’t want to push him away after all the progress he’s made.”
Getting a pleading look on her face she said, “I was really hoping that Mayhem could come over for a playdate if the twins are free. I need a break.”
Mrs. Cake squirmed a bit. “Uh… I really… don’t…” She trailed off. After everything he had put them through she certainly wasn’t eager to have him back, especially as she didn’t know whether he’d mind himself if Fluttershy wasn’t around. 
She sighed. “After all you’ve done for the twins I can do that much, but could I make one little request?”
Fluttershy looked relieved. “Sure. What do you need?”
“Could you sleep here? Maybe in Pinkie’s room.”
“I don’t mind, but why is that?” she asked.
“Well, given what I saw last time he doesn’t care much for Discord, but he certainly cares for you. I’d just like you to be nearby in case he gets out of control. That way you can calm him down.”
She nodded. “Makes sense to me. There’s still a lot he has to learn, and self-control is going to be on the list for a while.” She gave Cup a hug. “Thank you so much.”
Cup gave her a hug back, patting her back. “No problem.” She waited, but Fluttershy didn’t let go. She heard a gentle snore, and she grinned awkwardly. Fluttershy going out of her way to help others could win almost anyone over. She couldn’t ever forget how Fluttershy had brought her children back to her when they had run away. 
She picked Fluttershy up and set her on their couch for a short nap. The twins were upstairs playing, and her and Carrot had just been relaxing, so Fluttershy got to sleep without being disturbed.
After about thirty minutes she woke the pegasus up. 
Fluttershy looked kind of lost as her eyes opened, glancing around and muttering incoherently. Once she got her bearing she realized where she was. “Oh, no,” she said guiltily. “Did I fall asleep on you?”
Cup laughed. “Literally,” she replied. “You gave me a hug, and then you were out.”
She sat up and stretched, yawning. “Sorry about that. I’ve just-”
“No worries,” Cup said, cutting her off. “You told me about how tired you were. I didn’t want you walking or flying home in that state, so I thought a little nap would do you good.”
She got up and stretched again, her front half going down as she pushed her front hooves out, then did the same with her back hooves. “Ugh. It helped, but I still feel like I’d rather go back to sleep.” Standing up straight now she sighed. “I’d rather get Mayhem first. Then I can sleep all I want.”
“Well, don’t push yourself, dear,” Cup said, patting her back.
Fluttershy gave her a tired smile. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” She went to the kitchen and splashed a little cold water on her face to help her waken more, then left and took to the skies, lazily letting the air direct her home.
When she got there she saw Discord seemingly sleeping in a hammock, but one of his eyes was floating above his body and following the movements of Mayhem, who was chasing some of her animals around. 
As she landed she called out, “Mayhem!”
He screeched to a halt, turning in her direction. His eyes lit up. “Mommy!” With a snap of his claw he vanished, appearing in front of her. He began nuzzling her chest. “I missed you.”
Fluttershy blushed. She was honored that he called her that, but it was still an odd thing to hear. It wasn’t like she and Discord were dating, but anyone who heard him call her mommy would immediately assume Mayhem was the product of her and Discord being intimate. It wasn’t like he could be confused for anyone else’s son, being just a mini version of Discord. Of course she had nothing against Discord, but she just wasn’t into him in a romantic sense. 
She put aside her musings for the moment. He was waiting for her to reciprocate his affection. Sitting down she picked him up and hugged him close. “Aww, I missed you too.” She nuzzled his nose, making some silly noises, and Mayhem laughed. 
Another thought came to her: could Mayhem grow up? He was a personification of Discord’s magic, and he acted much like Discord had when he had first been released. Allowed freedom and the chance to be himself he was certainly learning new ways to be and maturing, so she wondered if the babyish form he was taking was deliberate. On the other hand, he sure acted much like she’d expect a toddler to. He was self-centered, always wanting attention and love, and didn’t consider the consequences of his behavior as long as he was having fun. If she continued to help him mature would he still keep that form but simply act different, or would his appearance change to match his maturity?
It was an enigma she honestly wasn’t in a hurry to resolve. His cuddly personality was a delight, and she wasn’t eager to see it vanish. The only reason she wanted to get rid of him for a while was just to focus on some other things for a while. Namely, sleeping uninterrupted.
She decided to get back on track. Setting him down she said, “I have a fun surprise for you,”
“Ooooh!” he responded, hopping up and down eagerly. “What is it, what is it?”
“Well, it’s not here. We have to go somewhere else for you to see it.”
“Okay!” he said, nodding. 
“For now I want you to go home.”
Mayhem pouted. ‘Go home’ was Fluttershy’s euphemism for returning to Discord. “Aww, but I don’t want to go. What about the surprise?”
“Don’t worry. It won’t be for long.” She put her face right near his and planted a dainty kiss on his forehead. “Don’t you trust me?”
Mayhem opened his mouth, then closed it, and then sighed. “Okay, mommy,” he said in a defeated tone. He slowly lifted his claw, and then gave it an unenthusiastic snap, and his body slowly dissolved until it turned into a mist, heading to Discord.
“Discord!” Fluttershy called out. “Time to go.”
Discord got up, watching the mist enter his body. “I think you’ve unleashed a monster, Fluttershy,” he said dispassionately. “I can already feel him wanting to come back out.” He teleported over to her.
“No worries.” She gave Discord’s stomach a rub. “Once Mayhem proves that he can control himself we can leave him out all the time. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
Discord chuckled. “He liked that.”
“I’d also like you to start treating Discord a little nicer,” she added, her voice getting a bit stern. “You’re a part of him, so I think you should stop looking at him as just the cage that restricts your freedom and more like a friend.”
Discord rolled his eyes. “Well, he’s a little more reluctant on that one, but I feel like he’ll try if it’ll make you happy.”
“That’s all I ask for.”
Discord put a claw on her, and teleported them both near Sugarcube Corner.
“Well, here we are,” Fluttershy said brightly. “I told you that you wouldn’t have to wait long.”
Discord extended a finger and a plaid mist came out of his finger until Mayhem materialized again.
Mayhem scratched his head. “Mommy, what was the point of going home if I was just going to come out a few seconds later?”
Fluttershy picked him up and gave him a nuzzle. “You’re a being made of magic, so if that magic is used up you’ll vanish and your essence will once again be inside Discord. For your first time being out and also away from me I think it’s safer for you to only have a little bit of magic sustaining you so you can’t get into too much trouble if you lose control of yourself.”
Mayhem’s head tilted. “What do you mean being away from you?” He looked heartbroken. “Are you abandoning me, Mommy?”
She planted several kisses on his face. “Oh, don’t be silly, Mayhem. I love you very much. I just thought it might be nice to have someone your own age to play with for a little while.” She added in her head, ‘Relatively speaking…’
He gave her a sour face. “Like who?”
She gave him a big smile. “Come on, now. Don’t make that face at me.” She turned and gestured with her hoof. “It’s Sugarcube Corner. I’m sure you remember Pound and Pumpkin, don’t you?”
“Oooh!” His eyes lit up again. “Oh, yeah! They were those two kids I got to have so much fun playing with a while ago.”
Fluttershy set him down, getting her stern face on again. “And?” she said meaningfully.
He flushed a bit. “And…” He twisted one of his back legs around bashfully. “And I took over their bodies and tried to use them to hurt a lot of ponies… including… you…” His eyes filled with tears, and he looked like he was about to begin sobbing. “I’m sorry, Mommy!”
He was certainly progressing much faster than Discord had, whether that was because Discord had mainly been playing her in the beginning, or because Discord had already learned these lessons and Mayhem just wanted to see if they were valid for him as well. 
Fluttershy hugged him to her. “That’s what I want to hear. I want you to take responsibility for what you did and apologize. If you really want to be allowed to be out all the time then you have to prove you’re mature enough to handle it. I told Mrs. Cake that you had really improved since the last time she saw you.” She gave him a loving nuzzle. “You don’t want to make me a liar, do you? That would make me feel so sad.”
He shook his head hard. “NO!” he said firmly. “I don’t want to make you look bad, Mommy.” 
She rubbed his head. “That’s my boy.” She had that odd sensation in her stomach again. Even though she was gradually getting used to him calling her ‘mommy’ she had a lot more difficulty in addressing him in ways that made it seem like he was her son. She guessed she was just worried about being teased or disliked. Even though Discord was good now some ponies still had trouble getting over the days he used to cause chaos to reign. A few of them might react with disgust or revulsion if they thought Mayhem was biologically her kid, and she hated the idea of other ponies breaking off a friendship with her for that. 
“Are you okay, Mommy?” Mayhem asked curiously. “You look upset. I don’t like it when you’re upset. I want to see your lovely smile.”
“Huh?” she murmured, pulling herself out of her thoughts. She saw the concern in his eyes, and suddenly felt an odd protectiveness for the young Draconequus. Even though, age-wise, he had several lifetimes over her, he still had the disposition of a five or six year old, with a bit of naïveté and innocence to go with it. For all intents and purposes he was a little kid just looking for love and guidance, and he had chosen her for that role. 
Her concern for herself quickly vanished as she thought of how she had been treated at Summer Flight Camp, all the teasing and bullying and mocking. Mayhem was so different that she worried he would get it worse than her if she started bringing him out into public places more often. As she knew from her own bullies, and from watching the twins, kids didn’t have the best filters on their mouths. 
She wanted to see him excel and grow, not think of himself as a freak. And when the taunting came, as she knew it would, Mayhem would need a safe space to vent his feelings, much like she had done for the twins when they were having trouble with their parents. 
She hugged him close again. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.
Mayhem felt drops of moisture hitting his head, and when he looked up into her eyes he let out a quiet gasp before holding her back. “Mommy, it’s okay. Don’t cry. What’s wrong?”
Why did it matter what other ponies thought? Why did it matter if he called her his mother? Even if he wasn’t her child by blood she loved and felt for him like he was. It was no different than if she had adopted him, which in effect she had. 
“Oh, don’t mind me,” Fluttershy said with a slight groan. “I just feel I should be treating you better.”
“B-but you’re great!” he said. “I think you’re the best pony in the whole world!”
Discord gently chuckled. “Well, that’s something we have in common.”
Fluttershy blushed heavily at the praise. 
Mayhem glanced over at him, thinking of Fluttershy’s request. “I guess you’re not so bad if you like Fluttershy so much too.”
Fluttershy beamed. “Hey, there you go!” She set him down and put a hoof out.