Absence Of Life

by AnnEldest

First published

What first started out as a simple dare turns into a hellish nightmare as these groups of students find out the hard way that some things should be left untouched.

(I'm not going to lie, I really don't like this story. I spend a lot of time on it and after reading it over, I just found myself not really into it. I'm not saying this in any bad way. I just know that this is definitely the worst story out of the franchise. So the story's no longer Canon. It's just for a fun read and you don't need to read it. If you've been following the series you don't even read this one cuz it's no longer Canon. I won't delete it cuz I've spent so much time on it but I'm not going to go back to fix it either. I'm just going to move on.)

Takes place after beyond my grave: nightlight

What first started out as a simple dare turns into a hellish nightmare as these groups of students find out the hard way that some things should be left untouched.


Warning: Some scenes may be too graphic for some readers

Editor(s): ShadowStarEX

Cover: made by CrimsonRose97

Prologue

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I was at Twilight's school in the courtyard, seating down at one of the tables. She looked at me with caution as she sat across from me. She kept messing with her hair and kept her eyes on everything else but me. She knew what she needed to do. She knew that this was more than what she anticipated and it wasn't a game anymore.

"Look, I know you're scared. This is something that no child should have to go through but I need you to talk to me." I kept my voice calm and stern.

"It wasn't meant to happen like this. We didn't mean for this to happen." She tried not to cry.

"I believe you, but it happened, and now I need your help to fix it."

She stayed quiet and looked down at the ground, deep in thought. After a few moments, I slammed my hoof on the table to get her attention. She jumped in surprise and yelped.

"My friend was attacked by this thing, your friend is fighting for her life, and one nearly killed herself because of it. It's only a matter of time before somepony will get killed. And when that happens, that will be on you and your friends. I hope you can live with that," I raised my voice at her.

"Okay, okay!" she yelled. "I get it."

"I'm sorry for yelling but this is very serious." I calmed down a little.

"I know," she said.

"Good. Now tell me what happened that night?" I asked.

She picked a bag that was next to her and sat it on the tablet. She pulled out a book and a camcorder and pushed them over to me. I recognized the book almost immediately.

"If you want to know what happened, I can tell what went on that night but if you want the full story, we would have to go back to the beginning," she explained.

I blinked. "Okay? Where does the beginning start?"

"About a week and a half ago," she answered.

"Alright then..."

I was looking through the book seeing symbols and photos of different demons and creatures ripping on each other's throats and creatures bowing down in front of other demons, worshipping them. All I could think was: what the hell did these kids got themselves into?

"Tell me everything, Cozy Glow."

Part One: A New Start

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Beyond My Grave: The series Part One

Shredder looked carefully at me. I could see the doubt on his face. Not that I could blame him or anything.

“Are you sure about this princess?” He asked.

I really wasn’t but I knew that I needed to at least try.

“Yes,” I said. “Just tell me how to do it.”

He signed heavily as he stood up from his chair and headed over to his bookshelf. “Very well then.” He grabbed one of the books and laid it on his desk right in front of me.

I gazed at the book which had a picture of a moon with spirits flying around it. Shredder opened the book and began flipping through the pages. I saw that the book was in another language. From what I could see it appeared to be in pony Latin. He stopped flipping and pointed at the page.

“Quot capita tot sensus,” Shredder read to me. “It means-”

“‘As many heads.’ It also means ‘in so many perceptions’,” I finished for him.

“Oh I see,” he laughed to himself. “Do you know what this will do?”

“I am hoping it will help me,” I said.

He nodded. “If done right, yes it shall.”

“Okay, what do I need to do?” I asked as I read over the page.

“Well according to this, the best way to connect your mind to the Nethers is to let the spirits guide you there.”

I looked confused at him. “I don’t understand. Am I already connected to it?”

“A part of it at least,” He answered. “Think of it as the layers of the earth. They are many layers before we get to the crust. Well, same here with the Nethers. There are different ‘layers.’ What you see is one layer of it. But what you are wanting to do is to go even further into it.”

I nodded as I listened to him explain it to me.

“As you know when Discord is asleep, he can go far into the Nethers. Though you can’t necessarily enter into the Nethers, you will be able to see more of it. And with this book, you will learn how to not only see them but also be able to use them as a power source,” he said.

“Power source?” I asked. “You mean as a source to help me and Discord with our weird “spirit” magic?”

“Correct. Discord told you about the pact with Soul Dreamers and Psychics?” He asked.

“Soul Dreamers help protect the psychics as they both work together to protect everyone else and have a connection with each other involving mind-reading and weird spirit powers....then yes he has,” I said.

He sat back down in his chair. “I must say, I am surprised that he agreed to this,” he admitted.

I shrugged at him. “Why?”

“I just never saw him as the type to care when things got too rough.”

“With most things, yes but this is different. And it’s not that he doesn’t care it’s…,” I thought to myself for a moment. ”It’s complicated. Discord is not the easiest of creatures to understand,” I told Shredder. “But with this, he’ll always be there for me.”

“I sure hope so,” He said doubtfully.

I looked down at the floor. I was hoping too. I never doubted Discord anymore but to say I didn’t fear that he would leave me alone would be a lie. Not that I thought poorly of him. It was more me than him.

“Ready to begin?” He asked.

I took a deep breath as my mind was yelling at me to back out from doing it. I knew I could hurt myself if I did it wrong but I needed to learn more about my new powers. If Discord and I were going to help ponies with the living and the dead, I needed to know how to control it and see how far I could go with it. I couldn’t keep depending on Discord anymore. Especially, with the risk that he might not be there to help me.

“Yes, I am.”

“I will help you this time but after this, you will have to learn how to do this on your own.” He grabbed the book.

“Understood.”

He lifted the book and began to read the tome silently. When he was done, he carefully closed the book and set it aside. He walked up to me and went down on his knees. He then put a claw to my cheek.

“Now close your eyes and remember these words. They shall be of great use to you in the future. But whatever you do, don’t let anything in the Nethers tell you where to go. You can’t trust anything in that place,” He warned.

“Okay. I will be careful,” I assured him.

“Good. Now close your eyes and I will begin.”

“When do I open my eyes?” I asked.

“You’ll know when.”

I closed my eyes and he began to whisper: “Per oculos omnium Ruit Omnis qui viderit. Per oculos omnium Ruit Omnis qui viderit.”

He repeated the phrase over and over; getting quieter each time. It got to the point where I couldn’t hear him speaking at all. I could still feel his claw on my cheek. The world around me suddenly felt heavier as it weighed down on me. It took more effort to sit up straight and I felt sick as if I was going to throw up.

Then I hear something...a voice. No… many voices. A variety of them. Now, this wasn't anything new to me but somehow this felt different.

This must be it.

I slowly opened my eyes. Shredder was still by me and I was still in his office at his bar. To any normal pony, nothing seemed changed. However, for me, that was not the case. I stood up and stepped back away from my chair as I stared at the world around me.

There were so many creatures surrounding us now. Most of whom were just roaming around. There was no indication that any of them noticed me or Shredder. The world was darker and it felt much more faded. It was hard to see from a far distance. It was like I was back at the graveyard the night I first met Dusty except it was much more peaceful here.

“You can see them, can’t you?” Shredder asked.

I didn't answer him as I approached a young little filly who was by his bookshelf. She was simply singing to herself as she danced to her own little tune. I carefully reached a hoof out to touch her shoulder but my hoof though only went right through her. She didn’t appear to notice that.

“I can’t touch her.” I turned back to him.

“Remember Princess Luna, you can only see into the Nethers,” He reminded me as he stood back up.

“Right.” I looked back at her as she continued to dance and sing. “Is there a way that she can see me?”

“Only if she chooses to or if you force her too.”

“I can make them see me?”

“It takes a lot of strength and power but yes. I said you couldn’t go there but I never said you couldn’t bring them to us,” he said.

“What?”

“Discord in the Nethers has all of the power and control there. But he's nothing in the real world. You, however, do. You may not go to them but you can bring them here to us. With that, you will be able to use their power to help yourself, them, and your friends in this world,” He explained. “That is where your power comes from. The problem comes from your lack of control. It appears there are moments where you and he can use it for a brief time but not enough to be able to use it whenever you please.”

My eyes widened. There was no way I could be able to do all of that.

“I told you, princess. You have such a strong connection and potential of power then I have ever seen in such a long time. You're special.”

I looked around at the wandering spirits again. “They look so peaceful.”

He chuckled. “It’s because they know it’s safe here. Most of Nethers are far more aggressive. I am sure Discord can inform you of that.”

I laughed a little at that. “It's so strange. Knowing that they are always around us every day and no one knows.”

“We do, though,” Shredder said.

I lifted my hoof and concentrated as I tried to form a blue orb similar to the one I made back at the Crystal Empire when I first used it to protect Flurry Heart. My hoof slowly lit up blue but it was difficult keeping it lit as it kept fading out.

“In due time, Luna. In due time,” Shredder said from behind. I sighed heavily. That was the problem. I had so much to learn that I didn’t know if I had time.

“Teach me, Shedder,” I ordered.

He chuckled again. “One thing at a time. First, you have to learn to see them on your own then I can teach you.”

“How long will that take?” I groaned. I could already feel the spell wearing off. The spirits began to fade away as I saw fewer and fewer by the second and the voices went away.

“As long as it needs to,” He answered.

“Of course,” I slightly snapped.

“Don’t worry, Luna. You’ll get there. I know this hasn't been easy for you but once you let go of the things that frighten you and hold you back, you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish.”

I had to believe that I could. I had to learn this. It was the only way to protect me and my friends. Without my alicorn magic, this was all I now had.

“I know.”

He smiled at me. “Good.” He looked over at his clock on the wall. “I am afraid that is all the time we have tonight.”

“Same time Saturday?” I grabbed my cloak that was hanging on his coat rack and was already heading for the back door.

“Of course.” He handed me the book. “Remember to practice on your own time as well.”

“Okay. I will,” I promised him as I took the book from him. “See you then, Shredder.” I then trotted out the door.

“As always.”

I trotted through the back door and went outside as I put on the cloak. I looked up at the night sky; the moon would have to be lower soon. I began to feel a sharp pain in my side. It was my wing that broke many months ago. Sometimes it would feel fine and I would have no troubles with it at all but other times like this it tended to hurt.

Though the bandages and cast had been removed, it still occasionally hurt a lot. Usually, I could ignore but it was really bad that it was impossible to. My doctor said that the pain was normal and would go away. However, I felt like the pain had worsened in the last few weeks. Probably meant something bad but what did I know? Maybe it was just me thinking too much about it.

I leaned against the building and groaned. I knew I should have brought the painkillers with me. Not that they helped much anyway.

“You alright?”

I turned my head to the right and saw a diamond dog walking up to me. It wasn’t common to see them in Canterlot. I wasn’t surprised though. Many creatures of all kinds came to Shredder’s bar so it wasn’t the first time seeing creatures that weren’t from or well-known Equestria.

“Oh...I’m alright thank you.” I tried sounding polite. “Just recovering from a broken wing is all.”

“Sorry to hear that. You just look like you’re in a lot of pain,” He said.

“Is this the part when you offer me drugs?” I laughed sarcastically.

He smiled and laughed as he got close to me. “Funny but no.” He looked at the bar as a few ponies trotted out the front door laughing among each other.

“You friends with Shredder?” He then asked.

I shrugged. “I guess you can say that. Why? You know him?”

“Yeah, I do.” He nodded. “Haven’t spoken to him in a while, though.”

“Huh, I see,” I said.

“He’s alright. Just really old school with things,” He said.

“Not always a bad thing,” I defended.

“True. Well, I best be going. Hope your wing feels better.” He gave me a light tap on my shoulder.

“Me too,” I laughed.

He passed me and was about to head for the front door when he stopped suddenly. He turned and faced me again.

“Will you be at the Midnight Fest?” He then asked. I gave him a weird glare.

“You know where all beings and creatures surrounded by the Nethers and spirits go too.”

“I know what you’re talking about,” I said sharply. “I have a friend that asked me to go but I said no.”

“How come?” He asked.

“It’s not meant for me…” I sighed heavily. “I didn’t ask for this.”

A look of realization came to him. “Oh, I see.”

“Good, then you know why.”

“I know why but I think your friend has a reason for wanting you to go. I get that this isn't something we all ask to be in our lives but it doesn't mean it's a bad thing. You can learn a lot by being around people that are like you.

That's what the festival is meant to do. It's meant to help you learn more about yourself around people that can understand. You seem to forget that we are all different from the outside world. That's what makes us better than them.”

I listened carefully to what he was saying to me. I couldn't deny that he made a valid point. I couldn't be ashamed of what I was. I accepted this life but I didn't know how deep I was willing to go. Maybe that wasn't the point though. Maybe I was missing what was being said to me.

“I’ll consider it,” I finally stated.

“Okay good. Hope I see you there.” He turned to walk away when I called him.

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Canight.” he simply said.

“Well nice talking to you, Canight. I hope I see you again.”

“I hope I see you again very soon…”

I watched him as he walked away and entered the bar before trotting away myself. It was time to go back to the castle before Celestia woke up and found me gone. I didn’t need to start my morning with another fight.

My only hope was that I could get some sleep even with the pain I was feeling.

I trotted back into my bedroom. I was very sore and my side ached. I went into the bathroom and opened the drawer. I took two of my painkillers and groaned. No matter how I moved it, it felt impossibly numb. They say the pain dulls with time, and that things will get better. But how can things be better when the reason the pain isn’t as bad anymore, is because I’ve forgotten or gotten used to it?

I just need some sleep is all.

I stared at myself in the mirror when I heard something. A moan; somepony moaning in pain. I turned to the open bathroom door. I slowly trotted to it and peered around for the source.

“Celestia? Is that you?”

I knew better than to believe that. The air chilled to ice. Abruptly, a chill rose up my spine making me shiver. Something was here with me and I could feel it. I slowly trotted out of the bathroom, closing the door behind me.

At first, the sound was no more than the soft susurration of leaves in a summer wind. Then it became more like a ponies stomping on crunchy brown paper; sounds of hushed whispering began to erupt. A breath so hoarse and so faint echoed around me. I moved around actively trying to locate it.

I noticed a black silhouette in the corner of my bedroom. It stood there patiently as if it was waiting for something or someone.

“Who’s there?”

The figure slowly trotted into view. It was a late teen, young adult, male pony. He had a black coat with a teal mane. His cutie mark was a ball of blue fire surrounded by stars that seemed to be glimmering. The clothes he was wearing were old and all ripped up.

He stopped about 4 feet away from me. None of us said anything. We only stared at each other. I wasn’t scared like I used to be but I felt very uneasy. I was shaking a little as I tried to say something to him.

“Who are you?” I then asked.

He took a step forward. “I know you can see me.”

“So?”

“I need you to find me. I need your help.” His voice sounded dry and out of breath as if he was dehydrated from not drinking water for days.

I shook my head slowly at him. “I don’t know if I can.”

“Please.” He took two more steps towards me. “I need your help.”

I started backing away from him. “Stop! You shouldn’t be here.”

“It’s cold and dark...they need to find me.”

“I’m sorry…”

He pulled something out of the front coat pocket and dropped it. He then turned to face the window and began trotting. I only could watch as he disappeared as his body made contact with the wall.

I went to where he was standing to see what he had dropped. With my magic, I picked up what turned out to be an old pocket watch. I didn't know the purpose or his reasoning for doing so but it must have been important to him. I simply said it down on my nightstand next to my bed. I told myself I would have to look into it later.

Then there was a sudden knock on the door. I lit up my horn and opened the door. I already knew who it was.

“Morning sister,” I said calmly.

“Morning, Luna.” She tried giving me a warming smile but I could see right through it. She was still very angry with me. “The moon has to be lower in a few minutes so I wanted to make sure-”

“I was still here,” I finished with a sarcastic smile.

”You really want to go there now?”

“I knew you were going to regardless,” I said.

“I was hoping we could talk about it without fighting for once. I don’t want trouble,” Celestia said to me.

“Is that why you’re having the guards watch my every move?!” I snapped. Celestia looked shocked at me with her eyes widened. “Yeah. Didn’t think I knew about that, right?”

“And do you blame me?!” She scoffed. I stared at the floor, unable to answer that. “You just take off for a few days without letting anyone know and just expect me to be okay with it? Especially, since you don't even want to tell me what happened.”

“I told you what happened,” I mumbled to myself.

“Then why does it always seem like you're hiding something from me? I can't even trust my own sister.”

I stared at her coldly. “You never trusted me. Even before any of this happened.”

She gasped. “I did trust you. I took your word at first. When your wing got broken I trusted what you were telling me was truthful. I can't trust you now because I know that you're lying to me most of the time .”

I was breathing more heavily now as I felt my stomach twisting and turning. “I am telling you the truth. It's not my fault you don't believe anything I tell you.”

“Then why are you afraid to tell me what’s been going on with you?”

I shook my head. "There are some things I don't think you need to know. There are things I know that you can never understand. It's pointless to even try to talk about it."

A strong wave of sadness and anger crashed through Celestia as she did her best not to cry.

“It’s not like you never lied to me before and kept things from me.”

“Don't do that, Luna. Don't you dare put this on me!” She yelled. “I always trusted you. But how can I now?”

“Why should I trust you, Celestia?!” I countered back at her. "All those years ago, I begged you to give me a chance. I cried to you, wanting you to believe me. Wanting you to just listen to me and you said no.” Tears began the form in my eyes. I tried my best not to cry but I could feel a lump in my throat as it started to burn.

Celestia took a deep breath and stayed silenced. Her expressions soften. She nodded her head as the realization started to come to her.

“Oh, Luna...I know I didn't treat you well before. I know I said things that must still stick with you. I guess there are reasons for you to be hesitant.”

I kept my eyes to the floor. I couldn’t look at her anymore.

“But sister, that was a long time ago. Times have changed. I've changed. Please just let me in. Don't shut me out. Let me help you. I know I wasn't there for you then. But I'm here now.” Her eyes were pleading with me. There was so much I wanted to say. So much I wanted to let out to her but I didn't know if I could.

“You’re too late. You’re 1000 years too late.”

She sighed in disappointment. “Is that really the road you wish to trot on?”

“No,” I whispered. “It’s the road you put me on.”

“What are you even talking about!?" snapped Celestia, rolling her eyes. "I'm not asking for a lot. All I'm asking for is the truth. I don't think that should be too hard for you.”

“You have no idea,” I stammered. I began to sniffle as I hung my head toward the ground, I saw a few tears slip from my eyes.

“Because you don't talk to me!!! I'm trying to help you.”

"Ever consider that I just don't want your help?" I snapped. "I tried talking to you. I tried telling you how I felt. But if it didn't have anything to do with you, you didn't want to hear me. If it didn't make sense or every pony thought I was crazy, you sided with them."

"Luna, what is going on with you?" She begged for an answer.

I looked downward and only shuddered.

"Luna tell me!" She demanded. "Answer me!!"

"STOP!" This time I screamed in the Canterlot voice. "Stop telling me what to do! You don't need to know about every little thing in my life. You don't get to control what I do or what I say or how I do it. There are things in my life that I just don't want to tell you. Get over it. You're not my mother so stop treating me like a foal!!"

"Then stop acting like one. You go on and on about how much you hate your life and how miserable you are. But you did this to yourself. You are the one that started to withdrawal from everyone, you were the one who started having problems with everyone, and you are the one that started distancing yourself from me. You have no right to feel sorry for yourself because you put this on yourself."

My heart sank; I could not believe what I was hearing. “But you were the one who shut me out! You were the one who was not there for me!” I screamed, on the brink of hyperventilating.

“I’m here now. I want to help you. Why can’t you just talk to me?”

“Because you never listen to me! You say you want to help and understand but you don’t. You never understood me. You never wanted to.”

“Luna, I’m trying to talk to you. But we are going all over the place and it’s getting us nowhere,” Celestia said flatly.

“Then get out of my room.” My voice was shaky and out of breath from screaming. My eyes red now and my throat burning even more intensely.

“It’s impossible to talk to you. I want to help you but you’re hopeless.” Celestia then turned to trot out the door.

“You don’t think I know that?! You made that very clear to me,” I said as she trotted out the doorway.

Celestia stopped and faced me. “How so?”

“Ever since we were young, you were always embarrassed by me. Even now I see it in your eyes that I'm just this burden to you. Why would I want to talk to you?”

I continued before she could interrupt me. I wasn't giving her the chance to talk.

“There is so much I want to say but I know you will never accept me for it. I can't be what you want me to be. I just wish you would just tell me how much I disappoint you for who I am, then try to make me something I'm not. Trust me, it would hurt a lot less.”

I then slammed the door on her before she could say any more to me. I knew she wouldn’t come back in to talk to me. She would most likely let it go and wait for another opportunity to bring it up later. Which would most likely lead us into another fight.

I laid down on my bed and covered my face and screamed. There was so much I needed to let out. I just didn't know how to. I hated what my relationship with my sister had become. I wanted to fix it so badly but I couldn't fix it the way she wanted me to. But I didn't like being mad at her and I especially didn't like her being mad at me. she was right, though. I was pulling the victim card and feeling sorry for myself when really it was my fault. It was me that was hurting her. But as always, I had to make it about myself and my problems.

I was too busy pondering on the fight that I almost forgot to lower the moon. I quickly lit up my horn and lowered the moon and helped my sister bring forth a new day. It was funny. The sun wasn't even up and my day was already off to a wonderful start.

She’ll never understand.

I guess that was what I was afraid of. Something needed to change. I couldn’t keep living like this. Something had to be done. I needed to do something but what?

“Once you let go of the things that frighten you and hold you back, you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish.”

His words echoed in my mind. I thought about everything that Discord and Spike and Shredder had told me in the past. And then thought about the small conversation I had with Capper the night I reunited with him.

“A guardian is still cooler.”

“Perhaps. But doesn’t mean that a psychic isn’t cool either.”

I went back into the bathroom and turned the light on. I stared at my reflection. I needed to know who I saw in myself. It wasn't anyone I was too fond of but I knew I needed to change that. I was tired of feeling sorry for myself and being angry at everyone. It wasn't going to be easy but based on everything that had happened in the last few months, I needed not only to accept what my life had become but also embrace it.

I looked at my long mane and tail that were still waving as if there was always a breeze wherever I went. I guess I always thought that was the best part of my hair.

I thought back to when I was a young child when I was starting to learn magic and looked much different. I was weak but I was learning; embracing myself into a new life that I had agreed to go into. Just like when I found out I was a psychic, I didn't expect to become a princess. It was offered to me and I took it. And now just as I was when I first became a princess, I was weak but learning to become stronger as a psychic. A new life I agreed to go into; a new start.

With my magic, I opened up one of the bathroom drawers and pulled out a pair of scissors.

Hear My Whispers Through The Dark

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I am the maker.
The creator of your dreams.
I have the sights of things you'll never see.
I hear the voices that go creeping through the night.
And I have the power to bring them back to life.

I say the things that need to be said.
You are alive but I am dead.

Go beyond the mountain.
Go beyond the day.
I'll lift up your soul when you fall down to your grave.
Go beyond the horizon.
Higher than the sky.
I'll be your voice, your comfort. I'll be your guide,
Even when the world falls apart.
Even when life gets hard
I'll hear your whispers through the dark.
You are never far. Never fear,
I'll hear your whisper through the dark.

Hear my whispers through the dark.

Part One: They're Not All Bad...right?

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The dragon satyr hybrid with dragon-like wings known as Sabrina landed in front of the bar wearing a cloak. Standing there, she saw Luna in the distance. Not too far for her was Canight. She made sure to keep her head down and not be noticed by him. She knew he was up to no good but it would be worse to confront him now about it.

You’ll get your chance soon enough, she thought.

She watched as the two talked from a moment before Luna started trotting back to the castle. Canight watched Luna before walking away himself. Sabrina sighed in relief.

It’s okay. She’s okay for now, She thought to herself.

She knew that the princess was in pain and it was worse cause she knew it wasn’t going to get any better.

"And it’s all my fault.... "

She then walked into the bar, passing the guards and making sure to avoid Canight. She walked past the tables and groups of different creatures until she came upon Shredder’s door and knocked. A couple of seconds later, the door opened, and standing there was Shredder.

“Sabrina! Well, I wasn’t accepted to see you tonight.”

“I need to talk to you.” She leaned in closer to him and whispered: “About Luna.”

He looked around to make sure no one nearby heard them. He then stepped out of the doorway, allowing her to come inside.

“I see. Come in.”

The two took a seat as he poured two glasses of wine. He gave one to Sabina as he took a sip from his own glass.

“So what seems to be the concern? “ He asked.

She looked down at the floor, ashamed and guilty. He could see in her eyes that he was not going to like what she was going to tell him next.

“What did you do this time?” His voice was more stern.

She let out a shaky breath. The dread and anxiety deadened her mind and body.

“I…” she paused, letting her eyes roam the room. She knew she had to tell him, but at least this way her mind had a few moments longer to prepare.

“Sabrina, what did you do?” He asked again.

“I gave her the curse…” her voice trembled a little.

“What?!” He stood up from his seat and started pacing like a caged tiger. “Do you realize what you have done to her?”

“I had no choice. Shader and Ollie were fighting in her dreams. It was causing problems in the Nethers. But Shader refused to stop. Giving her the curse was the only way to keep him away from Luna,” she defended herself.

He stared at her for a moment. He didn't even need to read her thoughts and look through her mind. “You hide behind your words. You want your words to mask the real you. I can see through it all. What are you afraid of telling me?"

“I-I don’t understand,” She said.

“Don't speak untruthfully to me. Don't try to convince me that you did this for her own safety. We both know who desires you are trying to really fulfill.”

She signed knowingly. There was no point in lying to herself or to him. But she knew despite what she could say, he would never agree with this. “Look, I know she will be able to overcome it.”

He scoffed in disgust. “I knew it.”

“If she breaks the curse, she’ll be able to prove herself,” she said.

“It’s too soon, Sabrina. She’s not ready,” Shredder said.

“But you said so yourself, she is getting more powerful-” she started to say.

“It’s not time!”

“We don’t have time!!” Sabrina slammed her claws hard at his desk causing some items to fall onto the floor.

“We do. Maybe not as much as we would like but we have enough. You just don’t understand,” he yelled.

“But I do-”

“No, you don’t! Luna is still very naive about this all. She has barely begun what she is fully capable of doing.”

She took a moment to calm herself before looking back to the floor. She kept her head down. “I’m sorry.”

“Who else knows about this?”

“Not many,” she answered.

He sat back down and took a deep breath. He then put his claw under her chin and lifted her head up. “It’s okay. We’ll figure something out.”

“I hope we can,” she said doubtfully.

“You hold a lot of faith in her.”

She smiled at that. “I had faith in Selena so I must have faith in Luna too.”


A few hours after the sun first rose from its slumber, I went into the bookstore, hoping she would be there. I passed a few ponies and a few bookshelves. I trotted up to the counter and waited. A few moments later, a griffin walked out holding a few books. She noticed me and smiled.

“Hello, Princess Luna.”

“Nice to see you again, Misty,” I greeted.

She then took a second glance at me. “Hey, I like your hair.” My mane and tail no longer were wavy. It was short just like when I was younger. My mane barely reached my shoulder.

“Thank you.” I blushed a little. “I was hoping I didn’t mess it up.”

“I think it looks good. So what brings you here today?” She asked.

I pulled out the book Shredder gave me and placed it on the counter. She peeked at it and smirked.

“Shredder gave you that, right?”

I nodded. “Think you could help me?”

She put the books she was holding down on the counter.

“Give me five minutes.”

Some time later

I slammed myself onto my bed and groaned.

“I just can’t do it!”

Misty was sitting on the floor right next to my bed, looking through the book. I would say she was reading it but I was sure that she didn’t know how to speak nor read pony Latin.

“You’re trying too hard,” she said. “You just have to go by the book.”

“I've been doing everything by the book!” I snapped as I glanced over to her.

“If you were, then you’ll be able to do it.”

I groaned again. “How do you control it?”

She closed the book and sat it on the bed. “Well, for starters I stay calm and relax. You know, the things that you can’t do.”

“Okay, you’re not helping,” I said sternly at her.

She laughed. “You wanted feedback, right?”

“Helpful feedback,” I said.

“It is helpful. You need to work on being relaxed and not stressing out all of the time.”

I scoffed. “That is easy for you to say. You don’t see them as I do.”

Misty looked at me weirdly. “Wouldn’t that make it scarier for me since I don’t know where they are?”

I paused for a moment and thought carefully about her question. “Well, maybe for normal spirits but the ones I have seen are far from the ones most psychics talk about.”

“Okay fair but you are really paranoid of them.”

“Can you blame me?” I thought about Barry Tarts and the mare that attacked Cadance. The only spirit I ever saw that didn’t try to kill us was Silver Blitz. But even then she wasn’t that easy to deal with as well.

“No. I still think you should try to trust them,” She said.

I laughed sarcastically. “You sound like Shredder.”

“Unfortunately, I do agree with him on that one. You always should be alarmed and cautious with some but you shouldn’t completely shut them out and discredit them,” she explained to me.

I covered my face with my hooves. “I know it sounds weird but I don’t know how.”

“What are spirits, princess?” She asked suddenly.

“Huh?” I blinked.

“Just answer the fucking question,” she snapped sightly.

“...They’re just people that have died and haven’t crossed over….”

“Not all people are bad.” This time it was said as a statement.

I thought about the villains and the shady ponies Twilight and her friends have faced in the past. “I would hope that.”

“Then if spirits are just dead people and not all people are bad then not all spirits are bad,” She said. I sat up and signed. I knew where she was getting at. I guess I just needed more time to process it all.

“I guess that can be a valid point,” I admitted.

“Look, I'm not saying you have to be friends with them. If anything, it's better if you're not. But try to understand them. They're confused and they don't always know they’re dead. That's why we're here.”

She grabbed the book and held it up in the air for a moment."You have to let all your worries go and focus. Use that energy to make yourself stronger rather than be afraid then you'll have more control over them and yourself."

She then let go of the book, letting it drop to the floor but before it could actually land, she held out her claw and the book stopped a few centimeters from touching the ground.

"What? How did-?" My words trailed off.

"Freeze... it's something my grandmother could do. At least that was what I was told. It's something I've been trying to teach myself as of recently. Nothing too special yet."

I only nodded.

"What I'm saying is there is so much you can do. You just got to let go."

I shrugged. “I guess I can try…”

She smiled. “I guess that’s a start.”

“So now what?” I asked.

“Now let’s do something fun and get your mind off of things,” she suggested.

“Like what?” I asked.

“Why don’t we start with your hair?” She started messing with my new short hair. She ran her claws through my hair, feeling its smoothness. After a moment, she gasped. “We should dye it.”

“Ummm, I don’t know how I feel about that,” I said unsure.

“Come on, it will be fine.” She kept examining my hair as it was clear that she had many ideas going through her head. “It would be sooooo pretty.”

“I don’t know…”

“You said you wanted to try something new. Let’s start with this,” she said. “Then we can get something to eat. Some fun?”

I thought carefully for a moment. “Depends. Who’s paying?” I asked knowingly.

She laughed. “I don't know. Maybe the one who has more money than she knows what to do with and lives in a castle with way too many bathrooms in it.”

I got off the bed and went by my nightstand. I grabbed a bag and put the book inside. I saw the pocket watch the spirit left behind. I grabbed that and placed it in the bag as well. I then trotted to the door. She quickly jumped off the floor and followed me. She walked past the door when I stopped her with my good wing.

“But I’m choosing the color.”

She put both of her hands in the air, jokingly. “Cool, fine.”

“Okay then. Let’s go.”



After hanging out with Misty, I decided to head over to Twilight’s school. It was the afternoon so I knew Spike would be there. I trotted around the school for a bit looking for him. I ended up asking somepony if they had seen him and was told to check the courtyard. So that was where I went.

And just as I was told, I found Spike sitting at a table with another orange dragon. I knew very little about her; mostly from what Spike had said about her. Other students passed them as they carried their own conversations. I made my way to them as they continued.

“I don’t get it,” Smolder said.

“What’s not to get?” Spike asked, surprised.

“So you just dress up and ponies just give you candy?”

“Yeah,” Spike clarified.

“But why?” She was confused.

“For fun of course!” Spike jumped happily.

“Right.” She nodded. “And you do this every year?”

“Every year,” Spike beamed.

“Mmhmm. I see.”

I laughed as I realized what they were talking about. I stepped into view and spoke. “Well, there's more to it than that.”

The two of them turned to see who had just spoken to them. I chuckled as I joined them at the table; setting my bag to the side of me. “But yes, that is a big part of it.”

Spike stared at me speechless. His eyes looked up and down as he examined me. I was confused for a moment before I realized why he was surprised to see me.

“Luna...you’re hair it’s-” My mane was not only changed in length but now also color. It was a very bright shade of white. My tail also matched the color of my mane as well as a big chunk of it being cut so it was no longer as thick nor wavy as before.

“You like it?” I blushed.

“I-I love it. It’s not what I would expect from you,” he admitted. “But it suits you.”

“Good. Now I know I made the right decision.” I was relieved that Spike liked it. I was hoping I didn’t look weird like a clown or something.

“I think you did,” Spike agreed.

“I’m glad.” I looked over at Smolder. “Anyways, I don't mean to interrupt your conversation but do you think I could borrow Spike for a few minutes?”

“Go ahead.”

She leaned to her side a little to look behind me. I turned and saw a small pegasus with a pink coat, curly light blue mane, and a cutie mark of a rook. She stood there staring at us.

“I need to talk to Cozy Glow anyway. See you later, Spike.” Smolder got up from her seat and headed over to her.

“Later,” Spike said back.

“It’s a bit early to talk about Nightmare Night, don’t you think?” I spoke up to him.

“It’s only a month away,” Spike cheered. “Plus, it’s never too early to be talking about it.”

“I guess not,” I laughed.

"Yeah. And I got something special plan for Discord, Big Mac, and I. It's going to be great. You're going to love it," Spike said with a smirk.

"Looking forward to it," I joked. "Anyways, how are you and Twilight doing?"

Spike smiled dropped. "Okay, I guess." He didn't sound convincing.

"You guess?" I raised a brow.

He threw his arms in the arm with a sigh. "I mean she is still mad at me but we're not fighting like you and Celestia are."

I leaned my head against my hoof. "Lucky you."

"She was really mad at first but calmed after a while."

"What did you tell her?" I asked.

"The truth; that I was helping you," Spike explained. "Don't worry about it. Twilight and I could never hate each other. Even when we get into bad fights."

I shook my head a little. While I was glad that things weren't too bad between them, I was slightly jealous. I wished that Celestia wasn't so hard on me and just let me be my own pony.

“Nightmare Night and Twilight aside, what are you doing here?”

I rested my head on the tablet. “I was hoping you could give me some advice about...you know.”

“Yeah. I got it.”

“I've been thinking about the last few months,” I began saying. “I know I decided that I had to accept this life but I don't just want to accept it. I want to embrace it. But I don't know how.”

Spike was tapping his claw on the table as I spoke.

“Since you know much more about this stuff than I do, I was hoping you would know what I need to do.”

“What you need to do is stop avoiding them. Do what Discord did. When Spirits called to him, he didn't ignore them. He went to them and tried to figure out what was needed from them. You need to do the same,” He said.

I groaned. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

Spike smirked knowingly at my reaction.“When they come to you, you need to listen to them and see what they need. It doesn't have to be anything big. You can start small and build your way up.”

I knew he was right. I just needed to stop being scared. I was about to say something when I noticed someone standing right behind Spike. It took a few glares before I realized that it was the same pony I saw last night. I could tell that he was scared and confused. I tried to keep my attention on Spike. However, I didn't deny to myself that maybe the spirit could be the start that I was looking for.

Spike must have noticed the change in my demeanor because he began to look very concerned. “You alright?”

“Huh?” I shifted my focus away from the spirits. “Of course.”

“You sure?” He didn’t sound convinced.

“The thing is…” If I was going to start right, I couldn't hide things from my friends anymore. At least to the ones that knew of my secret. “I saw a spirit last night in my room. He wanted my help but I said no.”

“I figured,” Spike boasted. “Well, if you are looking to embrace it, don't do that.”

“You think I should help him? I have a feeling he will return to me.”

“If he comes back, sure.”

“The spirit left this before leaving.” I put my hoof in my bag and pulled the pocket watch out. I sat it on the table and pushed it over to Spike. Spike glazed over at it.

“It must be attached to this. It could have meant a great deal to him when he was alive. Maybe you should help him.”
Spike grabbed the watch and opened it up

My eyes went back to the spirit. “Alright then. I will make sure to make note of that.”

“Umm good.” Spike nervously shifted in his seat. He could tell that I was feeling uncomfortable about something. It then hit him. “You see him, don’t you?”

“He is standing right behind you.”

Spike yelped and jumped away from where he was sitting. “What is he doing?”

“Nothing,” I answered. “He’s just standing there.”

“Well, I’ll let you figure that out." He slowly got off his seat, making small quick looks behind him. "I’m going to see if Twilight needs my help or something…” He then quickly walked off. I rolled my eyes but smiled.

I put my attention back on the spirit. There were no emotions on his face. I couldn't tell if he was sad, scared, or angry at me. He stood there tall and thin; his skin pale as the full moon.

I was the first to speak up. “So you need my help?”

His voice raspy and quiet as he spoke. I shivered to from the cold of his presence.

"They don't ...know where I'm at...They don't know...who did this to me..."

I tilted my head to the side. "I don't understand. Someone caused your death?" I didn't want to assume the worse.

He sat down and leaned his head over to the side. I wasn't sure what he was trying to do. I then saw that there was a big chunk of skin ripped off from the neck, covered with dried up blood. I put a hoof to my mouth and gasped.

He went on top of the table and crawled over to me. Before I could back away from him, he grabbed my hoof with a tight grip. And just like what happened with Cadance when I saw her at the hospital, I saw a series of mixed flashbacks all played one after another.

I saw a group of ponies together; laughing and drinking as they trotted through a dark night. One of them was pulling a cooling filled with drinks. I heard him laughing but couldn't see him. I noticed a pair of arms in front of me, holding a camcorder and recording the ponies. I was seeing through his eyes.

I then realize that they were on the edge of the Everfree forest.

"I don't like watching myself," a mare from the group laughed. She went up to him and tried covering the camcorder with her hoof.

He backed away from her. "Easy there, Goldie. This wasn't cheap."

"My bad," she said in a fake hurt tone. She gave him a small kiss on the cheek before returning to the others. "Come on the night is still young. Let's do something already."

"Calm down. We'll get to it," A male pony said. "Troy, where are you?"

"I swear if you are trying to prank us again, I'm again to beat your ass." Goldie tripped over herself. The stallion I saw ran up to her and tried helping her up. She pushed him away and got up herself. "I got it."

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tipsy." She laughed and fell over again.

He rolled his eyes. "RIght. just a little."

All of a sudden, a growl could be heard. They all froze and looked at each other.

"What the hell was that?!" One of asked.

"Was that from the EverFree Forest?"

The wind started to blow harder. Black clouds sprawl across the sky, billowing in from the west. Their brassy glare drained the color from houses to trees, leaving neighborhoods tinted bronze in the faltering light. The air grew heavy and the humidity pressed down, suffocating. The scent of rain is dark and heady. The first crack of lightning rent the air and within seconds the rolling boom of the thunder reverberated overhead. Soon the rain fell, slow to start, splattering the sidewalks haphazardly.

The growl returned; much louder and more aggressive sounding.

"Alright...time to go." The Stallion trotted backward. The others soon joined him.

A scream pierced the night storm. It echoed through the terraced trees making the origin hard to pin-point. The first cries were undoubtedly terror.

The mare stopped. "Wait, that's Troy." She ran away from them and towards the Forest.

"Goldie stopped don't!"

There was another scream. He stood there; I could feel the tension grew in his face and limbs. His breathing became more rapid, more shallow. He turned to run only to be met with a large figure launching at him.

He screamed then everything went black.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I jumped back and screamed, falling on my back onto the ground.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Twilight loomed over me, concern in her eyes.

I looked around me and saw that I was back at the school. I gasped loudly and breathe heavily unable to make words with what I just saw.

"Princess Luna, are you okay?" She asked.

I sat up with a sigh. "I'm fine, Twilight. I just got scared."

"You did seem to be deep in thought."

I chuckled. "Yeah...I guess you can say that." My eyes went back to the table.

He was now gone.


“So this random guy just came to you for help?” Discord asked.

“Pretty much.” I stared down at the table Spike and I was at before the spirit came.

He leaned closer to me. “And you want to help him?”

“Yes.”

He leaned even closer. “And you told me about this without being pressured by anypony?”

“I don’t think this is as big as anything we dealt with before but just in case it is, I thought you should know.”

“So a change in hair, attitude, and philosophy?” Discord stared at me before putting his paw and claw on both sides of my cheeks and pulled me up to his face.

“Alright, who are you and what have you done with Luna?”

I pushed him away from me. “Discord!”

“What? This is so unlike you. It's frightening.”

“That’s the point,” I said.

Before any more could be said, Spike went up to the table. He then placed a box filled with newspapers, files, and articles on the table. Spike pulled some of the newspapers out of the box and handed a few to me.

I used my magic to look over them as he took a seat right next to me, looking over the ones he had. Most of them were wrinkled, ripped up, or had stains on them. A few looked like they were on the brink of falling apart. It was obvious that a lot of them haven't been looked at in years. Discord just flew around us, taking small glazes from behind us.

“Is that him?” Spike pointed to a picture on the front page of the newspaper. I took a quick look at it and nodded.

“Yep, that’s him,” I clarified.

His eyes shifted down at the paper as he read. “So his name is Timber Hall and he did live in Ponyville. It said here that he went missing about 2 months ago with a group of friends when they all went out one night. No one has heard anything for any of them since.”

“2 months ago?!” Had he really been looking for help for that long? The thought of that really hit me.

“Wow, poor guy. He was so young.” Discord grabbed the pocket watch and opened it. “The watch looks old, though.”

“Any sign of foul play?” I then asked.

Spike glanced back at the newspaper. “According to this, they don’t know. He just disappeared.”

"Did he says what happened to him, Luna?" Discord asked.

"Not much. I think he was attacked by something, though. I don't know what, though."

Spike kept looking through the newspapers. "Hmmm. He could have been attacked by the Fallen. Some did get to Ponyvillie."

"Maybe," I agreed.

"What are you going to do?" Discord asked.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Guess see what I can find. He clearly wants me to find his body."

"Well, if it is the Fallen then since we stopped them, it doesn't seem like we need to worry too much about it," Spike said.

"Hopefully, it stays that way." Discord crossed his arms. Spike and I chuckled as I rolled my eyes.

"Or at least it can wait till tomorrow after our guy night," Discord them added.

"Wait, you are doing that tonight?"

Spike started putting the newspapers back in the box. "Why not? It has been a while and we could use some relaxing for once."

"Fair enough." I grabbed the box from Spike. "Can I take this back with me to Canterlot?"

"Just bring it back when you're done," Spike ordered.

"Don't worry, I will."

"You'll keep us updated?" Discord asked.

I made my way to the door that would lead me to the long hallway. "If I find anything, yes."

I waved bye to them and made my way out of the school courtyard. I knew I needed to get back to Canterlot before Celestia started to worry about me. I was still mad at her but the least I could do was not cause any more problems between us.

I kept thinking about timber Hall and his friends. Just knowing the fear they must have been in and nopony was there to help them. Their families still looking for them with the hope that they would see their brother or sister, mate or friend again. But I knew that their families' hope would be in vain.

It was strange thinking about that. I already knew what happened. I already knew that they were all dead and they were afraid. I bit my tongue, trying not to cry. I had to be strong for them. It may have been too late to save them but I could at most give closure to their loved ones and find where they were now.

I must have been deep in thought cause I didn't notice the filly coming towards me. We bumped into one another. My shot eyes shot up as her bag fall to the ground; a book falling out of it.

"I'm sorry." I lit up my horn and handed her the bag and the book.

The filly only smiled and grabbed the bag. She was a small pegasus with a pink coat, curly light blue mane, and a cutie mark of a rook. "It's okay, princess. I wasn't looking where I was going."

I recognized her. "Wait a second. You were that filly-"

"That Smolder was talking to," the filly finished. "Yeah, I saw you talking to Spike."

"Right...yeah. I am in a rush and I didn't see you," I said.

"It's okay. Really. Even princesses can make mistake."

"That is very true."

She opened the bag up and put the book inside. I saw the cover had a symbol on it that looked Latin.

"Interesting book you got there." I pointed at it. "Can you read Latin?"

She quickly shoved the book in and zipped it up. "It's for a friend who I was actually on my way to meet."

I gave a small laugh. "I see."

"Well, it was very nice to meet you, princess. It isn't every day you get to talk to royalty." She pulled a hoof out to me. "I'm Cozy Glow."

"Nice to meet you, Cozy Glow." I grabbed and shook it.

She bit her lips and let out a guilty chuckled. "...I have to...um...Have a nice day, princess."

She zoomed passed around me with her head down. I turned around and watched as she headed towards the school. She made one last look at me before continuing to trot off.

"Okay then..."

I spread out my wings and made my way back to Canterlot.

Part One: I Felt His Pain

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It was close to nightfall when I went back to Shredder's bar. Normally, I only saw him once a week but tonight I needed answers. Shredder seemed surprised by my presents though he still let me into his office. I took a seat in front of his desk as he poured a glass of wine for himself.

"What brings you here, princess?" He asked.

I kept thinking about Timber Hall and his friends. The vision I saw was still fresh in my mind.

"I had another vision..." I simply said.

"Oh, I see," he smiled.

I scoffed at him. "It wasn't good. I saw a poor man and his friends get attacked by something! Now they've all been missing for 2 months."

He nodded his head a little. "I'm assuming you don't know what attacked them."

"I didn't see it. He didn't see it," I recalled.

"He?"

"TImber Hall." I pulled out the newspaper from my bag and laid it on the table. He leaned over he looked down at it. "That was his name. He keeps coming to me, wanting my help. It was as if I was him. I felt his fear, his pain...I-I even hear his last thoughts."

He grabbed the newspaper and read over it.

"Shredder, I don't know what that was. I mean, I had visions before but never like that." My voice was shaky as I lightly tap the table with my hoof over and over again.

"Maximo dolore."

"What?" I tilted my head to the side.

"Great di-"

"I know what it means," I snapped. "What's the relevance of it?!"

"You saw the visions when they were at their most distress. You saw what caused them to end up to that point." He took another sip of his wine.

I blinked. "Is that is?!"

"It's not that complex, princess," He said with a chuckled. "Though I will warn you to be careful. Going too far into someone's mind could cause damage to your own. But you most likely could come up with that conclusion from your dream ability."

"I can't forget the fear he felt just knowing that he was going to die." My eyes laid on the ground trying so hard to not cry. "How do I move on from that?"

He signed sadly and frowned. "You don't for your mind will never let you."

That was what I was afraid of.

"It d-didn't e-even happen to me so w-why does this hurt so much?" I could feel tears forming in my eyes. Shredder got up from his seat and went next to me. He put a claw on my arm.

"Don't hold in your tears. It will only make it harder for you."

I immediately started crying, not even knowing why I was. Shredder gave me a small hug as I ended up crying into his arms.

"This is what he is feeling. This why you must be careful. You are no longer just feeling your own pain but his as well," he explained. "You made not be able to get over it but you can make the pain easier to deal with."

I looked up at him desperately.

"What do I do?" I whispered.

"Make it easier..."

I left shortly after and headed back to the castle. I needed to think about everything over. Maybe Discord, Misty Spike was right. Maybe I needed to relax and stop worrying so much. The stress was overwhelming and it was starting to consume me.

Just as I got back to the castle, my horn lit up and a scroll appeared in front of me. I opened it up quickly read over it. It was from Spike.

Dear Princess Luna,

I thought about what you told me and Discord and did a little digging myself. And well, I found out a few things I think you would like to know. Mainly about the poket watch. I could write it out and tell you but it might be better to talk about it face to face. I'll be at the school with Twilight all day tomorrow. It doesn't matter to me.

Also, I know you have been feeling down lately and I have a pretty good idea why. I know things have been hard between Celestia and you. You know how I feel about you keeping your secret from her but that doesn't mean you can't tell her how you feel. Just know you can always come to me or Discord if you need to talk.

From, Spike

I folded up the note and went into my bedroom. It was almost time to raise the moon. I sat the note on my nightstand. I would worry about that later. I opened my window and lit up my horn and began to bring forth the night. I smiled at the sight of stars glimmering across the sky.

After a few moments, I laid down on the bed. I knew what I needed to do and tomorrow I planned on speaking to her finally. I wasn't going to avoid her anymore. All I hoped for was that she would listen to me but most importantly that I would be able to listen to her.


"I was searching all over for Smolder. We were supposed to meet at the library during lunch but I didn't find her there. I assumed she either forgot or something came up. So I went looking for her. That's when I saw you and Spike talking to her. I didn't want to interrupt so I waited until she was done. I needed to make sure that everything was still going to plan. It seemed all was well. Now, all we needed was to wait till it was night."

"She said she needed to talk to you about something," I remembered Smolder saying something like that.

"Yeah, she did. We were planning a little sleepover with our friends. We were planning in meeting in my room," she explained herself.

"Twilight allowed that?" I asked.

"We had permission. She said as long as we didn't leave the school pass curfew, it would be fine." She put her head down in shame. "I really wish we listened to her now."

"Pardon me but what I don't understand is how did a slumber party turn-" I started to say.

"Into one of us going to the hospital," Cozy Glow finished with a guilty smirk.

"Yes." I gave her a stern look.

"Welllll....."

Perspective

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I am the truth being cover through the lies.
I am a demon with an angel in disguise.
I am the hope that shines in the light.
And I am the pain that causes strife.

I see the ones who live or fall.
I see the eyes through them all.

I am the Angel Of Darkness.
I bring the fears to life.
I am a demon in the shadows.
But I hide within the light.

I don't know who I should be.
The world keeps on changing.
And I don't know if I should be afraid
every time I beyond my grave.

Part One: The Night Aligns

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Spike and I trotted down the halls of Twilight's school. I found him with Twilight in her office and he dismissed himself. I didn't try to say much to her. I knew Celestia and her were talking about me leaving so suddenly to help Capper with the Fallen. Knowing Twilight, she would have most likely sided with my sister and I didn't want to start any problems with anypony else.

"You said you found something out?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah, you can say that. I think it could help you."

"I will take any help at this point," I admitted. We went around another corner. A few students stopping briefly as they spotted me.

"Then you might want to hear this then."

Before any more could be said we what sounded like a door slamming. Spike and I looked down the hall. My eyes widened as I saw no other than Trixie trotting down the hall. Her mane was a mess and she looked really pale. She appeared to have lost a lot of weight since I lost saw her as she was nearly skin and bones.

"Trixie Lulumoon?" I said out loud; more surprise on how she looked. But she must have heard me for she stopped and stared over at me.

"Princess Luna?!" She grinned, surprised to see me. She trotted over to me and Spike. "What are you doing here? Are you once again in need of the Great and Powerful Roxy?" She sounded hopeful.

I chuckled knowingly. "Not today but when I need her, I'll let you know."

"Pity. Of course, you always know where to find me. I love your mane by the way. Not enough mares really appreciate this color." She began playing with her own mane in pride.

"Thank you."

"I didn't realize you two knew each other," Spike jumped in.

Trixie and I smirk at each other. I knew she was thinking the same as me. "We met before."

"I still have the costumes," she cheered.

I mouth "So do I" to her. She chuckled lightly in response.

Spike noticed this. "Do I even want to know?"

"For your sake," I started.

"No," Trixie and I said in unison.

"O-okay then," Spike said weirdly.

"So how are you doing?" I then asked Trixie.

Her smile quickly dropped and faded as if it was never there, to begin with. She quickly cleared her throat and said, "I'm great! Better than great. Beyond it."

"Sure you are," Spike said sarcastically. I shoved him lightly with my wing. Spike pushed my wing away and let out a "hmph."

"Enough about The Great and Powerful Trixie’s emotional life! I, unfortunately, must attend to other matters but am looking forward to speaking with you princess hopefully sometime in the near future.” Trixie managed to pull a cheerful, cocky smile on her face. “See ya later, my faithful friends!”

She threw a smoke bomb on the ground and ran away. I quickly lit up my horn and put a shield around Spike and Ito to prevent us from breathing in the smoke.

"Thanks," Spike said. "I don't get why she always needs to do that.

"It's fine, really," I replied with a shrug. I had a sick feeling in my stomach. Something wasn't right with her. I made a note to myself to check on her later to see what was up. "So anyway, with that out of the way, what was it that you wish to tell me?"

Spike pulled out the pocket watch Timber Hall gave to me. "I didn't find out much about him but Discord pointed out something that stuck with me."

"Which was?"

"The watch. It's old," Spike said. "I did some research on the watch and I found quite a bit about it."

I used my magic to take hold of the pocket watch and held it in front of me. I examined it, trying to see what Spike meant. It didn't look special to me. It looked like a normal old watch.

"What's so significant about it?"

"It's the company who made it." Spike turned the watch around and pointed to a name that was imprinted on it. It was mostly covered in rust but you could make out what it said. "It's called a Flex Watch."

"I never heard of it." I kept my eyes on the watch. It still was ticking. I didn't realize that the watch still worked.

"I'm not surprised. It was around after you were sent to the moon and though the company is still around, they stopped making them over 200 years ago. Well anyway, back then they didn't have digital watches or clocks so it was common for everypony to have a pocket watch. You could get a cheap one or a really expensive one made of gold or ruby. Now because of this, it was a way to tell one wealth and how much they made and their job and stuff."

I smirk brightly at that. "Flex Watch."

"Thus the name." He nodded with a grin. "As I said, they stop making them. So having one is rare but they are also worth a lot as well. Even getting ahold of one of the cheaply made Flex Watches are worth something."

"So this is worth something?" I pointed to the pocket watch.

Spike scoffed. "Worth something?! More like a lot." He leaned in closer to me and whispered: "The gold is real. That pocket watch is made entirely out of pure gold."

I lifted my head up in surprise. "What?"

"It's old, a little rusted but it's real."

Spike and I both had our eyes on the watch as the big question came.

"How much is it worth?"

"If you found the right seller, you could get at least 100,000 bits."

My mouth dropped. "What?! That much for a watch?"

"They are very very rare," Spike repeated.

"Unbelievable," I whispered.

"So your spirit friend was literally holding onto a goldmine," Spike let out a small laugh. "His kids could have kids before needing to worry about getting a job."

"I wonder if he knew," I then pointed out.

"That's the problem," Spike added. "If he did, why didn't he sell it. He worked as a cashier for minimum wage. If I was him, I'll be selling that thing so fast."

"You mean you wouldn't have eaten it," I teased him.

Spike crossed his arms. "No. I think."

I chuckled a little when a thought came to mind. "Unless it wasn't his."

Spike sighed as he nodded. "That would mean someone killed him."

I thought back to the vision I saw of them by the Everfree Forest. "I don't recall seeing anypony else but them. It looked like they were attacked by something."

"You just don't know by what or possibly who," Spike interjected.

"Unfortunately."

"That's all I got to tell you. I know it brings out more questions but it also gives you a lead," Spike said cautiously.

"Spike, you're fine. This actually gives me something to go on," I reassured him.

"Well, I'm glad," Spike gleamed.

"Thanks again. I'll let you know if I find anything else."

"Same here," Spike said. "I should get back to Twilight. Don't want her to get worried about me again."

"We wouldn't want that now," I laughed.

Spike groaned yet gave a small smile. "See you around?"

"Yeah."

Spike gave me a quick hug before walking off. I watched him disappeared as he went around the corner. I then started to make my way out of the school. The world outside teased me with its calmness; everypony trotting by chatting and laughing with one another as they went through their day.

I looked up at the sky. It was past noon. I would need to sleep soon to be ready for that night. I could only hope that in the meantime I was not aware of every second of every minute. My mind constantly regurgitating the worries of the day, the worries of tomorrow, the worries of yesterday. Always wanting answers yet could never come up with a new or brilliant solution to offer. The only thing I could do what I had always done; take each day as it comes.

Though, it seemed that doing so was not working as well as when I first came back from the moon.

"Luna?"

My ears perked up and looked around for the one who called me. "Yes?"

“Well isn’t it the princess of my favorite time of day?"

I immediately smiled as I figured out who is well. I soon saw Capper coming up to me.

"Capper! It's so good to see you." I said as I gave him a hug. "It's been a while."

"Sure has," He laughed. "I see you cut your hair."

"Yeah, I did. You like it," my face glowed.

He examined me for a few seconds. "Not the color I would have chosen but it really works for you," he approved.

"Good. I was hoping it looked okay." I started messing with my hair. "But what are you doing here? I thought you went back to Los Pegasus with Shira."

"I did but something came up and she had to leave with my uncle," he explained.

I raised a brow. "What?"

"Apparently a Guardian went missing and they needed to start a search. They think he got into some trouble deep within the Nethers so nothing that should affect us," he added in relief.

"That's good." I smiled.

"Yeah. Anyways, after she left, I realized that I liked being around friends and decided to stick around here for a while."

"Glad to hear it," I said. "How have you been?

"Alright I guess," he answered. "You?"

"Other than the strain between my sister and I, good."

"Okay. That's good." I couldn't tell if he actually believed me or not. Luckily, he accepted my answer.

"When did you move here?"

"About a few days ago."

"Have you spoke to Twilight or any of her friends?" I then asked.

"Not really," He shook his head. "I did however ran into Trixie yesterday."

"Really?! Huh. Oddly enough I just spoke with her. She was at Twilight's school."

His eyes widened in surprise. "Oh. So you noticed that she-"

"Looks awful," I interpreted Capper. "Yes, I did. Do you have any idea what that was about?"

Capper puts his paws in his coat pocket and kicked the tiny pibbles on the ground. "No. I didn't ask her and I won't. I knew she wouldn't tell me but she probably figured out that I was concerned for her."

"I wonder what's going on with her."

"I'm sure whatever it is, she'll be fine." I could by his tone of voice that even he didn't believe that himself. I didn't say anything though. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Spike wanted to talk to me about something. It's not really a big deal." I didn't want to get into Timber Halls and his friend's with Capper. "I was on my way back to the castle. I actually should be going."

"Really, now?" Capper asked sadly.

I signed. "Yeah, if I'm not asleep in a few hours then I won't be ready to go to the dream realm tonight."

He leaned in closer to me. "Is there a way I could convince you to stay for an hour?"

"Sorry but not today. But maybe some other time." I faced the direction of Canterlot and spread out my wings.

"I'll hold you to that," Capper said.

I smirked. "I was hoping you would say that."

Then I took off.


You are mine...come to me, Luna. I know you can hear me. You can't run from me.

The world turned dark and gray as smoke covered the sky. Everything was on fire, destroying everything in its path. Black shadows ponies and creatures of the Fallen roamed the streets and buildings of what was once known as Canterlot. Luna only smiled darkly as she hears the screams of the ponies being ripped apart by the monsters. They cried and screamed for their lives. Some even tried fighting back and run away.

Shader came from behind and placed a claw on Luna's shoulder. "Well, done my child. You know what you need to do now. Kill them, my Angel Of Darkness."

"Let me help you," Discord pleaded with her. Spike hid behind Discord's back as he too was crying.

"We can all still walk away from this," Spike cried out to his lost friend.

"Don't make us hurt you." Tears fell from Trixie's eyes.

"Sister, it doesn't have to be this way..." Celestia shouted.

But the one who was hurt the most came from the eyes of an unexpected friend. Capper was never much of a cryer. He has been upset but never to the point where he cried. He never even cried about his parent's death. But seeing all that the two have been through and where they are at now, it killed him too much from inside. Seeing Luna in so much pain and too far gone from them and it was all his fault. He could have done something to stop her. He could have saved her but it was too late now.

"Luna, please! Don't do this!" He began to tear up.

Luna smiled venomously at her sister and her friends as they gave her pleading eyes. Her eyes turned into a red with green auras.

"I've already made up my mind."

"LUNA, NO!!!"


"Funny how they say this is what you will become but I know the truth. I know everything, Selena."


"Luna! Luna, wake up!"

I felt myself being shaken. I opened my eyes and saw Celestia looming over me clearly concerned.

"I heard you screaming and I got scared."

"S-sister?" I sat up and covered my face. Tears were already forming.

Celestia hugged me in a warm embrace and nuzzled me to calm my shivering down. "It's okay. You're okay."

The picture of Shader behind me and me willing doing as he told me was fresh in my mind. The things I did to those innocent ponies were all too much for me. It's okay. It wasn't real. Your friends are safe. You didn't hurt anypony. Equestria is okay. The Angel Of Darkness...he called me it again.

"I'm sorry. I had a nightmare," my voice crack as I tried my best not to cry. I turned away from her. I couldn't bear to look at her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked with her sweet caring soft voice. "You know that you can tell me anything, Lulu. I won’t judge, no matter what it is. I'm here to listen."

I wanted to believe that so much. Just tell her the truth. Spike is right. We don't need to say everything but just at least how I feel. Maybe she'll understand.

"Not really." I sighed disappointedly at myself. Or maybe not...

"Oh, okay. That's fine." I could hear the sadness in her voice. There was so much I wanted to say. So much I needed to say. Yes, I was still mad at her but her holding me like this felt nice. It was a peaceful feeling to know she cared.

"Could you stay with me? Just until I go back to sleep?"

Celestia's face lit up brightly. "Of course."

She sat down next to my bed. She tucked me back into the bed with her magic. "I know things been rough between us but I want you to know that I'm always here for you."

"I know," I whispered.

"I love you."

"Love you too."

It was the first time we spoke without fighting in a while.

I closed my eyes and a few minutes later I fell back to sleep. I woke up a few hours later, raised the moon, and went to the dream realm. It helped to get my mind off of things at least for a little while.


What’s going on? I was jolted awake by someone shouting. "Celestia, is that you?" I lifted myself up, and I looked around my room.

"Luna!"

I screamed loudly as jumped off my bed. I quickly stood up with my horn already lit only to see Discord standing on the other side of my bed. He was covering his ear. Most likely because of how loud I screamed.

"Discord?! Could you stop doing that?!" I shouted.

"Sorry, Lulu." He held his arms up as if he was surrounding himself. "It's not like I mean to do it. I forgot you would be sleeping still this late in the day."

I took a moment to take a few deep breaths to calm myself down. "What are you doing here?"

Discord took a seat on my bed and signed heavily. This wasn't going to be good. I could tell already by his demeanor.

"You ever found out if Timber Halls and his friends were killed by the Fallens?"

I blinked, confused at the random question. I answered anyway. "No. Why?"

"Two people were attacked last night in Ponyvillie." His voice dropped.

I put a hoof to my mouth. It couldn't be. We stopped the Fallen. They were no way they could have gotten away. Unless we missed one. No, we couldn't have.

"This doesn't make any sense. I thought we stopped them."

"I thought so too," Discord threw his arms in the air.

"Oh my stars." I was now pacing both and forth. "Are they alright? Tell me that nopony was..." I didn't even want to say it.

"That's the problem. We don't know. Spike told me this morning and said I should inform you." Discord watched me as I continued to pace. "That's not all that Spike wanted me to tell you."

I stopped pacing and looked cautiously at Discord. "What?"

"The ones that got attack last night. One was a student of Twilight from her school."

My eyes widened at the thought that a child was attacked by one of those monsters.

"And the other," He paused and stared at me with the same look I had.

"...was Trixie."

Part One: The Absence Of Light

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The day started like any other day; lectures, classes, occasional daydreaming. Just what any other kid would do. I personally was excited for that night. Everything was all set. Smolder and Cozy had planned this for weeks. Since it was going to be their first Nightmare Night, Smolder thought this would be a great way to celebrate it. Just something to spook the other with. It was more of Smolder's idea than Cozy. She asked Cozy Glow to help her since none of them would have expected her to do something like this. Today, she just needed to make sure that everything was all set to go.

"Smolder, I thought we were supposed to meet in the library," Cozy was slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," she apologized to Cozy. "I ran into Spike in the hallway and we started talking. I completely forgot about meeting you."

"It's fine. You're here now."

"Anyways, you got the book?" Her voice got excited.

Cozy Glow sat her bag down on the ground and pulled out a book. Nothing was on the cover and the color was a faded brown with a couple of water stains that were now imprinted on the book. A few pages were held together with tape so they wouldn't fall out. Though it wasn't close to falling apart, it did have to be handled with care. Which was why she was holding on to it. She knew it would be ruined with Smolder.

"Right here." She showed it off to her. Cozy Glow didn't want to actually give it to her so she opened the book for Smolder to see. She leaned in closer and looked at the page.

Her face turned from excitement to confusion. "What is this? I can't read it."

"Of course silly. It's in pony Latin," Cozy Glow smiled.

"You can read Latin?" She asked doubtfully.

"No, but Ocellus can...or somewhat can. She's going to help me translate after school."

"Perfect. Now we wait for tonight and by tomorrow it will be the talk of the school. Every creature will definitely be freaked out by it," She mischievously chuckled.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Cozy was unsure about it.

"Relax, Cozy. It will be fine." She gave her a light punch on Cozy’s shoulder.

"I just don't want to start trouble," She said.

"We're not doing anything wrong. Just causing a few spooks."

"A few spooks, huh?" Cozy laughed knowingly.

She crossed her arms. "It will be worth it."

"Okay, I trust you." However, Cozy didn't fully believe she knew what she was doing. Maybe that was the reason why she agreed to help smolder.


"Lunch was about to end so that was all the time we had to talk. The next time I would see her would be with the others."

"And this is the book you were talking about?"

"Yes, Princess Luna." She pointed at the page I was on. "That was the story we were looking for."

I kept looking over the page. It showed a mother and daughter tied to a pole being burned alive in front of a cheering crowd. You could have mistaken it for a party for a special occasion. Well, it seemed to them it was. I gagged at the sight.

"So what happened next?"

"That night we met in my room. We had a few things planned before Smolder and I would do our thing. But first, we had to get it all set up so I decided to start with a movie. You know something small. I didn't have a lot of good movies. Luckily though, Sandbar brought over a bunch of films for us to pick from."


Sandbar dumped a pile of movies onto the floor. The group glanced over and looked at the varieties. There were horror films, romance, actions, and even a few classic films that were obviously older than any of them.

“Wow, so many many choices. We get to watch all of these, Sandbar?” Silverstream screeched in excitement

"There is no way we could watch them all in one night," Sandbar chuckled.

"Yak don't want to watch something too scary."

"Why a movie? Why don't we do something more exciting?" Smolder groaned as she flew around the room.

"Like what?" Sandbar asked doubtfully.

"Hmmm, I don't know. Just not sit around and watch something."

"I'm sure a movie could be fun." Cozy got up from her spot and jumped off the bed. She trotted to the pile of movies, bumping her book bag in the process. The bag fell on its side and a book fell out of it.

Cozy started looking over the movie. Gallus saw that Cozy Glow didn't realize that she knocked her bag over. He sat the bag up straight again and glad the book to put it back into the bag. He got a glance at the cover which had different symbols surrounding a crescent moon.

"Umm Cozy," he stared. Cozy looked back behind her and saw him holding the book. "What is this?"

"I thought you would be smart enough to know what a book is, Gallus," Smolder said sarcastically.

"Shut up. You know what I mean."

Cozy quickly jumped over and grabbed the book from him. "It's nothing."

"Surely doesn't look like it," Gallus said.

"Is that the book you showed me early, Smolder?" Ocellus asked.

"Yeah..."

"Don't worry about it. It's a book about demons, spirits, and things like that," Ocellus then said. "Cozy and Smolder needed help reading it since it's in pony Latin."

Sandbar scoffed. "You believed in that stuff?"

"I don't know. I wouldn't go far to say yes but I would like to," she answered.

"I believe in them," Silver Stream jumped in.

"Yak doesn't like to think about dead creatures," Yona scarily spoke.

"Who does?" Smolder pointed out.

"It can be very interesting. They are so much to learn about them," Ocellus said.

Cozy opened the book and laid it on the floor. They all gathered around it as she flipped through the pages. They all saw the pictures of monsters and demons bleeding and fighting each other or ripping apart ponies limb from limb.

"I don't like this," Silver Stream said. "These monsters don't look so nice."

"Where did you get this?" Sandbar gasped.

"Oh….well….I…borrowed it from Spike," Smolder nervous smile was enough to convince them of her resolve but the earth pony only responded with a concerned and sarcastic expression.

Smolder leaned back with a smile on her face. She grabbed the bag and pulled a few things out. The group only watched as they waited to see what the dragon was up to. Then her orange scales tightened as fire erupted from her mouth. The room was centered by a small fireplace that was lit ablaze by the dragon. She took a small pile of dirt and created a mist over the flames.

“Oh, throughout history there have been many tales and stories about the afterlife. Many Gods and spirits roam around our lands, unseen to our very own eyes. But...but the worst are demons,” The calls of the young orange dragon filled the darkroom.

“Demons?” the young pegasus pony stuttered.

“Oh yes, terrifying creatures that come to eat your soul,” The orange dragon growled.

“Yona isn’t scared of soul-eating creatures. Yona would crush it.”

“Well, you should be!” the dragon roared. “You’re brute strength won’t help you. They fear no living creature and tear through anything in their path."

"Come on Smolder," the blue griffin scoffed. "There's no way demons are real. I mean spirits that come to eat your soul; that sounds completely stupid."

"Oh...but they are real. Very real indeed. They have been thought out by many who have learned of their terror. It has been written in books and told in songs of the shape-shifting spirits of deception." The dragon encircled the group as her voice was but a mear growl in the night.

"Wellll golly!" Came the cries of the small pony. "These things sound pretty scary." Her sweet kind-hearted voice took little command over the room. Instead, it was but the mere presence of a puppy's wine that filled the room.

"Why yes Cozy, they are," Smolder grunted with some satisfaction.

"Come on," the older blue-haired earth pony laughed. "I'm with Gallus on this one, that can't be real."

"Well mister big brain," Smolder scoffed. "I don't see you bring any evidence or facts to the table."

"Well….neither are you," the earth pony chuckled.

Smolder hovered in the air for a moment as she chuckled became more devious. "Ocellus!" She called out as she snapped her fingers and pointed to a spot next to her.

"I would rather stay out of this debate," the bright young changeling chuckled.

"You're the office book worm of this group and therefore this is your place amongst us." Smolder swooped down and picked the changeling up. She sat Ocellus beneath her and dropped a book in front of the little changeling. "Read it and see it."

Ocellus backed up from the book which was full of mysterious markings and had clearly been made from an unknown substance.

Smolder landed next to the book and flipped to a bookmarked page. "Ahhh ha!" She called out. "Demons. "The legendary harvesters of time and despair." Smiled looked up from the book as the group started to slowly gravitate to the open knowledge.

"I don't know," Cozy Glow's cutie innocent voice opposed. "This book feels like the sort of thing that we shouldn't have."

"Oh come on," Smolder laughed. "Twilight is always reminding us to read more, so this is a great started."

"Ya… I doubt Twilight would approve of this….book," Gallus smirked.

"Well you wanted proof, and now you've got some." Smolder ran her claw across the page as she started to read the inscription. "These dastardly spirits are not bound by our world and only seek to flood it with despair and death. It is unknown why they are naturally led to this inclination, but it still brings them great pleasure. They feed off of the fear of the living and care not for their well-being. Instead, they use the living as pawns to bring death and destruction to the living world, and usually, any encounter with them ends in utter ruin. What is best known about these spirits is that where they go, death will follow."

Smolder looked up from the book with a smile full of her sharp teeth. She saw the horror that stained the group's faces and even chuckled as she saw Yona hide behind her ponytails.

"So what do you think?" Smolder gowled.

"I think I wanna go home," Cozy cried.

The earth pony cleared his throat as he slowly closed the book. "This is definitely something we shouldn't have."

"Oh come one Sandbar," Smolder teased. "Admit it, you're scared.

"I'm not scared, this is…. I mean… where did you actually get this book?"

"I already told you," Smolder scoffed.

"Come on, did you really get this from Spike?"

"Yup," She chuckled. "I swear it."

"And why would Spike have this book. I mean what is it even made of? Cause it isn't paper." SandBar ran his hoove across the page to feel its weird properties.

"I really don't know the answer to either of those questions,” Smolder replied. “But clearly he too knows the truth of these terrifying creatures.”

“Yona doesn’t want to meet any demon,” Came the cries of the frightened yack

“Trust me,” Smolder laughed. “No one does.”

"I don't know," Sand Bar scoffed. “I'm not still not convinced that demons are real.”

“Really,” Smolder scoffed. “Alright Mr. Sceptic, what’s going to convince you.”

A small devious smirk washed its way across the pony’s face as he chuckled. “How about you show me.”

“What?”

“I’ll believe you if you show me one.”

The whole room came to a sullen silence as an odd feeling of dread and awe-filled the empty space. Smolder hoovered in the air as she stared down at the opposing blue earth pony. The rest of the group exchanged glances of approval from one another as the silence droned on.

“So I have to show you a demon?”

“Yes,” Sand Bar froze for a moment as his brain slowly processed his command. “Oh wait, I mean no! They're not real so there’s nothing to show.”

“Woh woh woh,” Smolder laughed. “You can’t make a challenge like that and then just back down. If they’re not real then what’s the issue if I show you?”

“Well, you can’t show me because they aren’t real.”

“Why not give it a try then?”

“Listen,” Sand Bar chuckled as he cleared his throat. “Say they were real. You said it yourself that no pony lives to tell about, so it would still just be a really bad idea.”

“Yona is confused,” The Yak laughed.

“About what?” Replied the blue pony.

“I thought you were an earth pony, not a scaredy-cat.”

“What!?” Sand Bar turned to see the rest of the group giggling at the remark.

“Ya SandBar,” Smolder taunted. “That just sounds like a cheap excuse to hide the fact that you're scared.”

“Come on Smolder,” He pleaded. “It’s not like that. It’s perfectly normal for someone to be a little skeptical. Professor Twilight is always reminding us to question things.”

“Ya well, Twilight also reminded us that a good argument is only made better through facts.” The Dragon’s face lit up with glee as she took in an enormous amount of pride.

“Alright right Mrs. Smarty,” Gulus scoffed. “How exactly do you intend to do that”?

The room was stained by another ocean of silence. Smolder slowly descended to the ground as her mind started to race. She tilted her head as her thoughts started to drag on her physics. She turned to her commands to see their reactions. Their faces were stained with concerned yet curious expressions. She knew that they were wondering exactly what she was going to do just as much as she was.

“That’s a good question,” Sand Bar added. “How do you plan on showing us, a demon?”

Smolder only continued in her silence as her mind continued to race.”Welllll….. I…. You see….” Her drawn-out high pitch voice-only brought amusement to the skeptic griffon and earth pony. “There is one place…. I think….”

“Well golly Smolder, surely you don’t mean Savannah?!”

“Who and the what now?” Smolder and Sand Bar said in perfect unison.

“You never heard about Savanna?” Cozy Glow’s sweet concerned voice flooded the group’s curiosity with glee.

“Who in Equestria is Savannah?” Gallus chuckled.

"Well, about 60 years ago, there was an old small village on the other side of the EverFree Forset. The villagers there were afraid of the forest and anything involving dark magic. However, there was a family that lived in the Everfree forest and they had a young beautiful daughter named Savannah. She was always known in the village for singing in the Everfree forset the same song every day. She had a big heart and treated everypony with kindness. She had such a bright view of life, always saw the good and never the bad."

"However, some held a huge hatred towards her because she a strange love for dark magic. They say she was using it but she always said otherwise. Even the town leader wasn't so fond of her. So when a pony in the village died, they blamed her for it. Even though there was no proof she did it and they killed her. Rightfully angry by this, Savannah placed a cruse on the village and one by one her murders died mysteriously until the village was no more. Even though the village has been gone for many years, they say anypony who goes to her old house can still hear her singing her song."

There was a moment of awkward silence as they all stared at her with surprise and fear.

"I-is that true?" Silver Stream's voice was shakey.

"Yep. All of it," Smolder answered.

"Come on. It can't be," Sandbar said.

"Why not?" Smolder snapped.

"I lived here my whole life and I never heard of that," Sandbar explained.

"That doesn't mean anything!" Cried Smolder. Sandbar shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Well, they is only one way to find out."

"You don't mean-" Ocellus started.

"Why yes, I do. We should go to the house and try to find Savannah," Smolder smirked.

"This is crazy," Sandbar crossed his hooves.

"It would be more fun than watching a movie," Gallus shrugged.

"See. Thank you, Gallus. Alright, who's in?" Smolder's voice rose in excitement.

"I am!" Cheered Silver Stream. "It does sound like fun."

"Umm Yona not sure about this." Yona shivered a little.

Ocellus looked down at the book, unsure of herself. "Yeah, I don't know either." She flipped throw the pages, each one scaring her more than the last.

"Don't worry. None of this is real," Sandbar resurrected her.

"Then there shouldn't be no problem going," Smolder throw back at him. "Or you could just stay here and watch a boring movie alone while the rest of us goes out and have fun without you."

"Okay, Yona goes if all her friend goes too."

Ocellus looked over to Sandbar. "I'll go if you think it's a good idea."

Sandbar saw he was outnumbered and sighed heavily in defeat.

"Fine. Only to prove you wrong."


The moon hung low in the sky as its light forced its way through the thick layer of clouds. The cold blanketed the ground in a thick layer of mist. The students all stood in front of the old broken-down house that was reak of horror. The ambiance only helped instill a silent scream that echoed in each of the children.

“This is the place!?” Gulous’s whisper scream seemed to be captured by the old rotting wood.

“Surly,” Cozy whispered as she gulped.

“Yona doesn’t like this place,” The Yak whimpered as she hid behind her braids.

“Well,” Smolder gulped. “You said you wanted proof, so this is how I’m going to show you.” Even the mighty dragon cowered before the swaying of the night sky.

“Are you really sure you want to do this?” Sand Bar objected.

“Well if it’s the only way….” Smolder turned to see the group of cowering animals looking at the slaughterhouse.

The group slowly trailed behind the one brave cowered that was a mighty dragon. She led the group like a shepherd to the flock of sheep. The wind seemed to pick up as they approached the old wooden door. Smolder slowly turned the doorknob and listened with concerned ears as the old rusted gears ground together in the rotting metal.

The door slowly creaked open with a loud awakening as if it were a sleeping giant that awoke from years of slumber. The rest of the house seemed to follow the same awakening as the moonlight hit the surfaces that had laid dormant for many years.

The group walked into what appeared to be a large walk-in the hallway. They looked around at the large old rusted decore that seemed like it was once welcoming to those who entered. However, all that remained was a shadow of a tragic past.

“So what exactly is the plan here?” Sandbar asked as he kicked over a broken photograph.

“Well it’s like I said, you have to find a mirror.”

“I still think this is a bad idea,” Sandbar gulped.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of a creepy old house.” Smolder tried to hold back the quivering fear within her to little avail. Luckily for her, her sad attempt was masked by the cowering mist that hung over their heads.

“What, No, of course not. I just don’t think we should be….”

“Well if you’re not scared then let’s do this,” Smolder interrupted.

Sandbar only grunted as he watched the prideful dragon walk towards one of the broken-down hallways. The group followed like a pack of wolves in search of their next meal. The hallway’s style followed the rest of the house’s design of rotting wood, old and broken photos, and the signs of mold and other scavengers.

The bathroom was perhaps the one room that showed signs of the past. The large mirror was still intact and timed seemed not to disturb its stature. The group pilled into the half-decent bathroom as Smolder walked up to the mirror.

“Alright, so what do we do now?” Gallus asked.

“We say the chant that brings her forward.” Smolder shrugged as she wiped the mirror in front of her.

“And exactly is supposed to happen?” Sand Bar gulped.

“I guess we’ll see,” Smolder chuckled.

“Wait,” Sand Bar gasped. “You have no idea what is supposed to happen?”

“I mean… I guess she just….apears.”

“Well, this bad idea just turned into a horrible idea,” Gallus gulped.

“What even was the chant?” Ocellus whispered into the dark.

Smolder pulled out a small piece of paper and scanned through it slowly. “So it says we must say this phrase into the mirror at the dead of night and saturated in darkness.”

“Come again?” Gallus groaned.

“We have to read the paper out loud in pitch darkness,” Ocellus chuckled.

“So… who’s gonna do it?” Smolder asked. Her response was eyes of judgment that rained over the dragon. “Ya, I kinda figured,” Smolder sighed.

The dragon turned and stared into the glaring mirror as the group watched in awe. She took a deep breath before she turned to the changeling that stood next to the door. Ocellus slowly closed the door as the group was encased in darkness. Smolder look another deep breath as she turned back to the mirror.

“See now spirit from the depth of the night, come forth now into the absence of light.” The words of the dragon echoed through the room and filled in the gaps in the darkness. The groups’ wandering eyes scanned the room in search of any activity foreign to them. “Should I say it again?”

“I don’t think so,” Sandbar whispered. “But like what’s….”

“Stop bumping me.” Ocellus called out.

“What?” Gallus whispered back.

“Whoever’s bumping me, can you please stop?”

The group stood in silence as they waited for someone to respond. “Who bumped you?” Gallus asked.

“I don’t know,” Ocellus growled. “Whoever’s next to me.” Silence followed.

“Alright stop messing around,” Gulus growled.

“I’m not!” Ocellus growled back.

“Alright!” Gallus growled. “Whoever just touched me, you’re not funny.” The group only remained silent. “Alright! Open the door!”

Ocellus quickly opened the door and let the moonlight flood the room. The light revealed the group standing inside a decent yet dirty bathroom. “Who was doing it?” Gallus groaned.

“It wasn’t me,” Cozy proclaimed.

“Me neither,” Yona interjected.

“Wasn’t me.”

“Or me.”

Gallus looked around to see that everyone had removed themselves from the situation. “Well….Someone had to do it.”

“Clearly it was Sandbar,” Smolder scoffed.

“Me? Why me?”

“Cause you’re next to him, and it wasn’t me.”

“Well, it wasn’t me,” Sandbar objected.

“Yona thinks dragon is trying to scare everyone.”

“What!?” Smolder gasped. “That’s ridiculous!”

“Is it,” Gallus added. “It makes total sense to me.”

“In what way!?”

“Well, obviously you would want to scare us so you can prove your point.”

The group continued to throw their accusations as their voice rose in volume.

Open your eyes.
It's time to see the morning sun
Don’t cry.
Don’t run.
Let’s see what the day becomes.

Silver Stream turned around and looked behind her. She looked back to the group as they kept arguing. Did they hear it? Was it just in her head?

I wait for the time when the sun will truly rise. See now spirit from the depth of the night, come forth now into the absence of light.

There it was again. The voice sang beautifully but who was it from. She turned back to the hallway where the voice seemed to originate from. She knew it couldn't be her. She inched forward towards the door and reached out for it.

"Ummm g-guy." She stepped back shaking badly now.

The group kept yelling at each other.

"Guys!" She screamed louder this time.

The group silenced and looked over at Silver Stream.

"What?!" Smolder and Gallus yelled.

"I s-s-see s-something."

Suddenly their voices were cut off by the horrific scream of a mare. The group froze in place as the scream shook the very walls around them. She was meet with the distorted face of a screaming mare. Her head popped around the corner and her voice shook the very walls. The group all jumped back as they too screamed in return. The door slammed shut as the darkness flooded the room.

They all kept screaming as they trembled and rushing out of there. They ran into each other and knocking one over as they headed for the door. They ran out of the house and got as far away from it as they could.

"Wait! Wait!" Yona cried as she stopped running. "Yak don't see Sandbar."

Ocellus stopped and looked back where they came from. "I don't see him either."

The other soon stopped and they looked around him."Sandbar! Sandbar! Where are you?!" They all called out for him.

"Where did he go?" Smolder asked.

Ocellus gasped. "We didn't leave him behind at the house?!"

They sure didn't want to go back to the house. Before any more could be done, there was a creak heard nearby them causing them all to jump. They glanced at each other as none of them knew what to do.

Then there was a loud thump as something fell from the sky and slammed hard onto the ground in front of them. It only took them a moment to realize who it was.

The moon slowly approached the night horizon as the screams of the innocent echoed into the night sky. A bird jumped from its resting place upon a branch as the atmosphere shook in fear.

A New Day

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Open your eyes.
It's time to see the morning sun
Don’t cry.
Don’t run.
Let’s see what the day becomes.

What scares you is never knowing what‘s meant to happen next.
I feel that the beauty is not knowing what to expect.
So whether the day brings me luck or leaves me to my death
I shall treasure each moment from dawn till I go to bed

Part One: A Shallow Night

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The clash of the night gods roared overhead as their light streamed down into the world below. A heavy dread of dark clouds and thick moisture blanketed the large school as an ocean was poured over their heads. Ponies rushed to their rooms as they tried to avoid the assault from above.

The school was quiet as the air was clogged with a thick sense of anguish and worry. Classes were in session, but every student seemed to feel the sense of danger that had taken place.

The rest of the students seemed more or less fine, apart from being in near shock from their experience. They sat in chairs in the waiting room of the ponyville hospital as they all thought about their injured friend.

Sandbar laid on a bed of white cloth and light padding. He laid unconscious with a three-inch deep gash in his leg. His head was wrapped with bandages that covered one of his eyes. The nurse watched over him as she tended to his wombs.

Ocellus sat in the corner as she watched her friends participate in the ancient ways of the politicians: screaming and throwing accusations as they threw logic aside.

“He told you that it was a bad idea!” Gallus screamed.

“I’m not the one who wanted to go there, alright!” Smolder roared back.

“Yona didn’t want to go,” The Yak cried.

“Well, you didn’t have to go you know.” Smolder snapped.

“She was just trying to be a good friend,” Cozy interjected.

“Shut up Cozy!” Smolder growled. “This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t tell us about that stupid place!”

“Me?” Cozy whimpered.

“Yes, you.”

“Hey,” Gallus roared back. “This isn’t her fault, it’s yours.”

“How’s it my fault?”

“You’re the one who just had to prove yourself.”

“You all wanted to see it just as much as me,” Smolder defended. “I’m not the one who’s wrong here.”

Ocellus lowered her head as she shut off her ears from the world. Her head droned on with thoughts and suspicion. She too thought about how things could get to that point. She thought about who really was the one to blame for what had happened. She shook her head to ease the crippling battle that took place inside of her.

She looked up to see the group continuing their assault on one another. She was even shocked to see little old Cozy joining the blame game. Her attention was stolen from the hippogriff in the corner who sat staring at the ground. The once cheerful silly outgoing hippogriff now had a grizzly look into space in front of her as if she were an animal at slaughter. The changeling shrugged off the notion as she too was in shock.

Ocellus looked back to the ground as she took in a deep breath. Her eyes slowly crept open as they became heavier. Each blink seemed to cause her vision to dissipate more and more. Soon the world was no more than a blur of colors and rays of light. Her head lowered as her energy seemed to drain from her body. Soon heavy darkness came upon her that stole her consciousness away. She was a mear corps sitting in a chair. Her breath steadied to a near stop as her muscles slowly froze in place.

Almost as quickly as the darkness came, it was sent away with a single scream. Ocellus jumped as her eyes shot open. The scream echoed in her head: it was a familiar scream. She looked around as her breath matched the panicked rhythm of her heart. It was the scream she heard in the house; she could never forget it.

Her attention was once more stolen away as she saw Twilight walking towards the group. Their war raged on even as the alicorn stood above them. She watched as Twilight stood and observed the battle for a few moments.

“Excuse me!” Twilight shouted. “This isn’t the time or place to be fighting.”

The group coward before the alicorn and ceased fire at each other. Gallus and Smolder dropped to the ground as they both stared each other down.

“How is he?” Gallus growled not looking away from the dragon.

“He’ll be okay,” Twilight gasped as she saw the tension between the group. “He’s just going to need to rest for a while and won’t probably be out of here any time soon.”

Cozy, Gallus and Smolder all sighed in relief.

“Now then,” Twilight said as she cleared her throat. “I would like to ask all of you about what in Equestria happened?” Her voice was concerned yet strict; a notion that most hadn’t seen.

“Well we didn’t do it,” Gallus snapped.

“I didn’t say you did it,” Twilight struck back, still in her strict tone. “I asked what happened?”

“Gee Twilight,” Cozy sighed in her usual sweet voice. “We really don’t know. It was far too dark for any of us to truly make out ....” Cozy froze as she stared down at the ground.

“Dark?” Twilight gasped. “What were all of you doing out by yourself in the middle of the night?”

Ocellus sighed as she saw Cozy, Gallus, and Smolder exchanging glances just waiting for one of them to come up with a lame excuse. She then glanced over to Silver Stream who remained lifeless in her chair. Her eyes were dead and showed no concern for anything around her.

“Was it supposed to be a joke or something?” Twilight’s firm voice rattled the room.

“No,” Smolder pleaded. “We just wanted to do a little project."

Twilight raised a brow at them, knowing there was more than they wanted to let on.

"We may or may had gone to house in the EverFree Forest to see if some stupid story was true...” Smolder quickly finished.

Twilight looked at them in disbelief and gasped. “What?! Why would you go to the EverFree Forest of all places in the middle of the night when you know very well you would get in trouble?”

“We didn’t think something was going to attack us,” Gallus scoffed.

“It's an old house surrounded by wilderness,” Twilight shot back. “There’s going to be dangerous things.”

There was a long moment of silence as none of them knew what to say about what happened. Their eyes went to the floor, ashamed.

“We’re sorry, okay.”

Twilight signed spoke more empathy this time. “I appreciate it but I'm afraid sorry won't cut it right now. Your friend got hurt because of your carelessness.” Twilight stopped to look at the group's response.

Gallus clawed the ground as he tried to avoid eye contact, Cozy’s head was lumped over as tears filled her eyes, and Smolder just looked annoyed.

"So what are we going to do then?"

"I don't know," Gallus whispered to himself.

"Well for one thing, since all of you snuck off on your own little field trip, I think it's only fair that all of you take a week to think about it."

"What?" Gallus gasped as he raised his head.

"I'll let you stay here for the night so you can be by Sandbar but in the morning I want all of you back at the school and none of you are allowed to leave the school for a week."

What?!" Yona cried out.

"You can't do that!" Smolder defended.

"Actually, according to the agreement I made with all of your parents and guardians, I can," Twilight assured them; her voice back to being firm. "And if they have a problem with it, I'm sure after explaining my reasons for it, they would also understand if you all choose to take it there."

None of them said anything.

"Good," Twilight said after a moment. "Then I will accept to see you all in my office in the morning before class starts. Now if you excuse me, I must speak with Sandbar's parents."

Yona and Cozy Glow only nodded as Twilight trotted away from the group.

Ocellus flinched at the remark as if it had pulled her back to realization. She looked forward to her friends who argued back against their punishment, but then her attention was once more stolen away. She looked over to Silver Stream who still was frozen with her gaze to the floor. It was then that she got an awful feeling creeping down her spine. She turned down a darkened hall that had only a flickering light for illumination.

Her breath quickened as she could hear the steady sound of a wheezing breath. She could feel eyes locked onto her from the darkness but she could not see them. Her vision became blurry as the darkness began to envelop the light. She could feel her skin tighten and contract as she began to choke on her own breath.

“Ocellus!”

The changeling's daze was shattered by the call of her Griffon companion. She turned to see her friend in her face with a stain of anger on his face.

“Come on, let's go.”

“Go?” She whispered.

“Ya, didn’t you hear what Twilight said?” Ocellous'ss frozen gaze gave the answer to his question. “She said we’re suspended for a whole week.”

“What!?” She gasped.

“Ya, it’s so dumb, but what can we do?” Gallus scoffed.

“Oh, ok,” She whispered.

“Okay?” Smolder scoffed. “Aren’t you at all mad?”

“I’m...I guess I’m just worried about Sandbar.”

“Silver Stream?” Cozy’s sweet voice drew the group's attention. “Are you alright?”

The group all looked to their hippogriff friend who still stared blankly at the floor. She didn’t acknowledge their voices in any way.

“Silver?” Smolder called out. “What’s up?” There was only silence as a response.

“I think she’s just shocked,” Gallus sighed. “Or just mad...I guess.” They continued to stare at their unresponsive friend.

“Silver?” Ocellus whispered as she approached her friend. “What’s wrong?” She went face to face with the hippogriff until she could see right into her eyes. She flinched as SilverStream jumped back. The hippogriff looked up as locked her gaze away from the changeling. Ocellus looked in the direction of her friend.

Her breath quickened as she realized that it was the same dark hallway. She could feel the same gaze staring at her from the darkness. Suddenly SilverStream began to breathe heavily. She leaned into Ocellous’s ear and gasped.

“She’s here,” SilverStream gasped.

Part One: I Spy My Little Eye

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The grizzly day streamed on as the clouds seemed to feel the dread and pain of those below. Cozy stared out of her window at the tears that flew down from the clouds. She sighed as the gloom settled in the waiting room. Sandbar still hadn't woken up still being brought in. She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the rolling clash of the gods overhead. The pegasus was really putting on a storm that day, and it would continue for many moments afterward. She would have to return soon. All her friends had seen since left. She decided to stay as she wasn't looking forward to being stuck at the school.

She opened her eyes to see a bright flash crazy across the gray sky. It was then that she thought back to the night before. She couldn’t explain what had happened; all she remembered was the pitch dark followed by screaming. She remembered running towards the moonlight as the bathroom door slammed open. She remembered the sounds of SandBar screaming and then she saw Gallus and Smolder hauling his lifeless body.

Her trip was interrupted by another clash of the sky, and she shook her head as she returned to reality. She really regretted ever mentioning that dreaded place. She couldn’t help but think the worst; what happened if the story was actually true?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a strange sight. She saw an odd cat walking into the hospital. She saw the tall orange cat wearing a red coat. He looked somehow familiar without looking recognizable at the same time. She thought that perhaps he was merely only mentioned to her. She couldn't help but get an odd feeling about this. She never saw him there before.

He walked up to the counter and spoke to the lady at the desk.

"Sorry, sir but family only at this time." Her voice sounded harsh.

Cozy watched as he put his paw to his face and sighed heavily. He didn't seem to let her tone get to him.

"I understand that and I get why you have that rule. But she doesn't have a lot of families left and none near here. I was told she most likely won't make it and I will like to see her one last time if that is to be the case."

"Sir, I'm really sorry about your friend, truly I am. But I can only let family in."

"Come on is there anypony here that would care-"

"Sir I can't. You're going to have to-"

"Let him through." Spoke a stern yet calming voice.

Cozy turned as the other two stop and looked to see Princess Luna standing in the doorway. She was wearing a cloak that was mostly stoaking wet from the rain. She went up to the counter and gave a small smile to the cat.

She knows him?

"It's okay. We're both here to see the same pony."

Who do they want to see?

The mare wasn't pleased but knew she couldn't say no and told them what room they needed to go to. Cozy waited till the mare at the desk wasn't looking and jumped out of her seat and followed them through the quiet hallways till she stopped at a corner as they stopped by a door.

“How bad is it?” Luna asked.

“Spike said they should be okay,” the cat responded. “But I just had to be sure. I have seen it go down both ways”

"I didn't want to believe it..."

So he is friends with Spike.

They went into another room. Cozy stood in her place afraid if she got any closer and one of them walked out they would notice her. No one left the room for a few minutes. She wondered what they were talking about if they were talking at all. A few more went by when she saw that they walked out of the room.

"Where is he?" Luna asked.

"I think this door." The two walked towards Sandbar’s room as Cozy trailed behind. This time she gathered enough courage to get closer. She watched them entered and went up to his bed.

Why are they by Sandbar's room? ...he never said anything about knowing a cat. She watched from around the corner as they engaged in an exchange of whispers.

“I don’t think it’s The Fallen.” The cat walked up to his leg and bent over to examine it. Cozy unintentionally made an odd face of curiosity as she observed the cat’s actions.

“Are you sure?” Luna asked.

“Ya, it would be much worse if it was from one of them. Plus the womb would be black and scorching.” The cat walked around the hospital bed and continued to examine the earth pony. “I don’t feel any of their presents either.”

“That’s good I guess,” Luna sighed. “But then what the hell did this to him?”

“You think it’s something…. Not alive?”

“I honestly have no idea,” Luna chuckled. “Well, where did this happen?”

“Spike said that the kids he was with told Twilight they went to some old house in the Everfree forest,” He explained.

Why did Spike tell him all of this?

“I have heard that there are some old ghost stories about the place, but I really doubted any of them were true,” Luna assumed with a shrugged.

“Well, we could always check it out,” Capper suggested. “It’s not too far from here.”

“Ya, but do you really want to?” Luna sighed.

“I mean sure,” Capper chuckled. “Better to be safe than sorry, right?”

The two left the room and headed off to their destination. Little did they know that they had a tail, another sweet innocent tail.


The sun hung low overhead as the birds bathed in its rays. The clouds scattered and left the land a beauty of life and luxury. All creatures of the land look the time to celebrate the weather as they ran across the crisp grass and breathed the cool air.

The Griffin stared up at the sky which all enjoyed on that today, all except for him. He laid in his windowsill as he let the breeze brush past his feathers. The way of regret had found its way and then routed itself deep within his soul. along with a great amount of anger they penetrated through. That night was supposed to be nothing more than childish fun and innocence yet it turned out to be such a disaster. He growled doesn't spot enveloped him and took over a little in his since I was left with him. He then rolled over and jumped onto his bed as he took in a deep breath.

Suddenly he could hear the sweet rhyme are an enchanting lullaby that flooded into his room. He sat up as he searched for the source of who is responsible for the noise. He looked around to see that there was no other life in his room it's somehow the sound seemed to radiate from the very walls. A strong feeling of eyes that were locked onto him made a shiver run down his spine. it was a bright sunny day out with nothing to fear yet somehow he seemed alarmed.

“Hello?” He called out. “Is someone there?” He heard a giggle at a response to his call as a little bit of tension eased out of his body.

“Witch?” The Voice called out. Gallus Opened his mouth to respond as nothing came out. “Sorcerer? Evildoer?” The voice seemed to grow in volume and darkened at the same time. “What did they call me?”

Gallus backed up on his bed as fear once more crept his way through his room. At the same time, dark ominous clouds blocked out the sunlight and left his room in a gloomy shadow. He stared at the door that led to his only exit. It was so close to him yet somehow seemed so far from the bed. He quickly got up and ran to the exit like a lost puppy running through a dark forest. Once he got to the door, he quickly turned it and tried to force it open but it didn't budge. Perplexed, he tried again. Still, the door would not open. He banged his body against the door as it refused to give away. He started to scream for help.

He stopped at the sound of crackling wood. he smelled the familiar scent of charcoal Woodsmoke. he could see an ominous glow that emanated a shadow against the door in front of them. In the darkened room there was all the one light that seem somehow dark. He slowly turned around to see the Flames that enveloped a pony. Her eyes gleamed as a fire Pierced her Iris. Her gaze locked with his as her hatred pierced through him.

“Witch?!” She screamed as she lunged at the griffon.

Part One: Something That Is Dead

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In the school, a small pony roamed the halls scared with the curse of boredom. She sighed heavily at the quiet empty halls. Classes were scarce on that day, leaving the school empty to all those who weren’t confined to its walls. She paused as she passed a familiar hallway.

She stared down at Gallus’s room which too wreaked of silence. She sighed as she slowly walked away from her friend’s door. She checked the library for any signs of life but was only greeted by the buzz of a fly that too shared in her loneliness. She slowly walked away from the empty display of books as she clung loosely to life. Suddenly her ears perked up in instinct. She turned as she heard the melody of an enchanting tone emanating from the hall of books.

She slowly crept back into the library as she tried to locate its origins. The very books seemed to sway to its sweet melody as the air became heavy. She began to search every hallway of bookshelves searching every crevice. It was pulling her closer. The voice was her guide leading her like a tour guide. Her journey led her left and right up and down till she had searched nearly the entire library. Just as she was about to give up hope of ever finding her mystery pony, she heard a sweet innocent echo.

She turned around to a darkened corner of the library where the voice emanated from. A weird sensation took over her body as if her body was alarmed. Suddenly her legs became heavy and her breaths quicken. The Voice became a home that echoed into the dark corner. Cozy follow the trail slowly creeping towards what felt like danger. She swallowed hard. Her actions seemed horribly wrong but her mind could not come up with the reason why her body knew it all too well.

“Cozy?”

Cozy snapped her head around and let out a scream preparing herself to be attacked.

"Oh, dear. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you."

Cozy took a moment to catch her breath. “...Princess Luna?”

“Ya?” Luna chuckled. “What are you doing?”

Cozy turned back to the corner that was now let with the rays of the sun. The darkness had subsided and the light had rained once again. The sense of danger had vanished just as quickly as it had arrived at all seemed to be in order once more. Cozy took a deep breath and her body relaxed and the tension had eased its way out of her body.

“Nothing,” she replied. “I was just lonely that's all.” Her sweet innocent voice filled the room with something other than fear. It made the princess smile and filter her heart with something other than worried.

“I was informed about your friend. I'm sorry about him."

"It's okay," she said in a low tone.

"Well, I heard that you all got in trouble for what happened.”

“It was all my fault,” she cried. “I should have never told them about that place. Sandbar would be all right if it wasn't for me.”

“Now now, it's not time to play the blame game and he's alright and that's what matters.” Luna’s words of comfort brought more delight to the room. “Besides, you seem to have learned your lesson and you won't do it again so that's another plus.”

“I suppose,” she sighed. Her ears perked up once more as her thoughts had one due to another place. “What are you doing here by the way?”

“Oh,” Luna paused. “ I came to check up on a friend of mine; to make sure she was alright.”

“Really?” Cozy tilted her head as our thoughts processed the princess’s words. “Weren't you in Sandbar's room yesterday though?”

“Oh, I mean... I was yes.” Luna’s thoughts race to come up with another lame story as she wasn't prepared to be confronted. “I was also trying to get a word on what had happened.”

“And you didn't ask one of us?”

Luna paused once more as she searched her thoughts for a response. “I didn't want to bother any of you yesterday. I figured you'd had all been through enough for the night.”

“That makes sense,” Cozy chuckled. “I appreciate your concern for him.”

"Of course..." Luna leaned in closer to Cozy. "Do you know what happened?"

Cozy stared at the ground as her mind process went into overdrive. She didn't quite see how the pieces fit together. Luna seemed too nervous and somehow seems like she was hiding something about the incident. She thought back to the sight she had seen in the hospital with Luna and the orange cat. She remembered the words they said and the concern they showed for Sandbar. They seem too worried about his injury for it to be so simple, Luna was worried about something, something that she clearly didn't want to share with anypony.

"Have you ever heard of the story of Savannah?"


She tried gathering all of her friends at the library during lunch when they all could talk. Cozy Glow couldn't get what she heard Luna and her friend said out of her head. None of it made sense to her. She was hoping that the others would understand or maybe even know what the "Fallens" was.

Much to Cozy's dismay, Silver Stream nor Gallus showed up. She figured that Gallus was still mad at Smolder and Silver Stream was still shaken up about what happened to Sandbar.

"I'm telling you, girls, something is weird is going on."

"I don't know Cozy. Are you sure you're not overthinking it?" Ocellus asked. "We were all there and none of us saw anything strange."

Smolder was barely paying attention as she was deep in thought. "What happened was just an accident. Just a dumb accident."

"I want to believe that," Cozy cried out. "But after hearing what Princess Luna said, I can't."

"Pony spied on the princess?" Yona's voice was shaky. "Yak don't think that was a good idea."

"Yeah. Didn't take you as one to be nosy," Smolder added.

"I wasn't being nosy. I was simply trying to be informed by speculating a conversation from people without their awareness nor consent." Cozy puffed put her chest out in her defense.

"So in other words, you were being nosy?" Smolder repeated herself.

"Or stalker," Yona nodded.

"No!.. I mean only when they went into Sandbar's room."

Smolder and Yona gave each unsure glances.

"What were they doing in his room?" Ocellus asked.

Cozy shrugged. "I don't know. But her friend mentioned something called the 'Fallen'."

The others thought to themselves as if trying to figure out what Cozy was talking about.

"Yona's confused. What was princess doing in Sandbar's room?"

"Exactly!" Cozy pointed toward Yona. "Why? It doesn't make sense."

"I'm sure she has her reason. The thing Cozy Glow is that its none of our business," Ocellus said.

"I know but if she does know something, we should have the right to know," Cozy pointed out to them.

"But we don't know what she is doing," Ocellus tried being more firm.

Smolder finally stopped looking at the ceiling and glanced at Cozy then to Ocellus. "Then why don't we find out for ourselves then."

"Smolder wants to spy on the princess?!!" Yona's eyes widened with fright. Smolder only shrugged uncaringly.

"No. Not going to happen." Ocellus jumped in on them. "Haven't we caused enough trouble already?! Let's just let it go and move on."

Smolder laughed a little. "You scared?"

"No. I just don't want to get in more trouble. Had we listen, we wouldn't be in this mess and Sandbar wouldn't be in the hospital." Her voice dropped low and she put her head down. Ocellus looked up at her friends for a moment before turning her head to the side.

"None of you have to help me..." Cozy got off of her seat, went by Ocellus, and then put a hoof around Ocellus. "I wouldn't want any of you to get into trouble and be mad at each other because of me."

"Don't worry. Pony only looking out for her friends," Yona smiled at Cozy.

"Well, I care about you all," Cozy said proudly.

"Was her friend was a cat wearing a red coat, right?" Ocellus suddenly asked.

"Yeah," Cozy answered only to realize she never told any of them what Luna's friend looked like."Wait how did you know that?"

"Look behind you."

Smolder and Cozy turned around and there standing in the hallway right in front of the library, was no other than Princess Luna and the cat Cozy told them about. But it wasn't just them. Spike was there with them. They couldn't make out what they were saying but whatever it was, it looked important from where they were sitting. They stood there for a moment before walking away. Cozy stepped away from the table and made her way out of the library.

"Cozy Glow what are you doing?!" Ocellus called from behind her but Cozy Glow didn't stop nor took the time to answer.

Cozy tried to keep up with them without being seen. She turned the corner and saw them standing in front of the door. only this time the Lord of Chaos himself was there. Cozy recognized as the door to Twilight's office but had a strange feeling they weren't there to speak to her. Once again they stood there and spoke to each other. Cozy wanted to get closer to hear them but worried that they would see her. The cat and Spike soon walked off as Discord walked into the room.

Cozy Glow remembered them bringing up Spike but to also see Discord involved. Now she knew something was going on and she was going to be the one to find out what it was.

"So in an hour then?" Spike called out to them.

"In an hour," Luna confirmed. She looked around her as if to make sure nopony was watching them then followed Discord into the room.

Cozy Glow knew this was her chance. She slowly trotted right next to the door and pressed her ear against it, hoping to hear them. Though she couldn't hear everything, she was able to pick up a few key details here and there.

“Well, I guess it's just you and me now,” The Echoes of a Charming devious voice brought a smile to the princess’s face.

“Looks like it, Dizzy,” Luna chuckled. “ You're late.”

“Rule number one, I am never late,” Discord corrected as he dropped down from the ceiling. “You are just early.”

“Whatever. Keep telling yourself that,” Luna sighed as she shook her head. “Why did you want to meet here anyway?”

“I was in the neighborhood and I had something to do that was close by so it worked out in my favor.”

“Sure. Whatever you say, dizzy.”

“What? You think I'm lying?”

“Nope,” She blurted. “I just don't really care.”

“Fair enough,” he replied. “Anyways, shall we continue?”

"Well, we only got an hour so let's get to it."

Cozy Glow leaned in closer to the door unaware of the two figures coming towards her from behind. They watched cozy Glow as she listened in on Luna and Discord. They gave each other weird confused looks before joining her and pressing their own ears on the wall, not actually sure what they went meant to be hearing.

"So what are we listening to?" Smolder then asked.

Cozy jumped back and screamed causing Smolder to flinch and fall on the floor. Yona stepped away to avoid being bumped into.

"Calm down, geez. It's just us," Smolder said, annoyed.

"Oh, Golly. You scared me!"

Before any more could be said, Yona had grabbed the two of them and quickly ran away from the door and around the corner. Cozy heard the sound of a door opening and a pair of hooves storming out. She knew that it was most likely Princess Luna. She was glad Yona got the hint that they shouldn't be seen by Luna. They all stood quietly hoping that the princess wouldn't check the corner.

"I never know what I see is real or not..."

Luckily for the students, the door closed a moment later. They were safe for now.

"What are you doing here?!" Cozy snapped at the dragon.

"What? You run off and you think we're not going to follow?" Smolder countered back. Cozy noticed that Ocellus wasn't with them.

"Ocellus-"

"Yeah. She walked off shortly after you did," Smolder finished.

"Ocellus afraid of getting into more trouble," Yona added in.

"Well, you didn't need to scare me." Cozy's voice cracked a little.

"I didn't think you would react like that," Smolder defended herself as she flew above the pegasus pony. "So tell us. What did you hear?"


"Wait, so you were spying on me?!

Cozy shrugged guiltily. "I wouldn't say spying more like listening in on your conversation that you weren't aware that I listening to..."

I rolled my eyes and chuckled a bit. "Okay, sure. We'll stick with that. Just please continue. What happened next?"

"You kinda know that. We heard you and Discord saying you were going to go to the house and the door we first stuck out of, the lock was still tape. We knew we could sneak out without nopony knowing." Cozy paused and waved a hoof in a sorta motion.

"Or at least we hoped."


The trio ran to the side of the house. Smolder and Cozy flew up to the window and quick glances inside in hopes not to be seen. Yona was tall enough to climb up to the window and look through the window that way. Roaming around the living room was, sure enough, the Lord of Choas and the Princess of the night.

It felt strange to Cozy Glow. Just a few nights ago they were there, having fun with no care in the world. Now the place left a sour taste in her mouth.

"Yona won't go inside the spooky house."

"Good thing we don't need to go inside," Smolder reassure her yak friend.

The claws of a lion slowly pushed on the old rotting door causing it to sway and its rusted hinges. Its rejection could be heard and the loud creak of the resistance it was backed by. The house was silent as it showed no opposition to their presence. Discord walked by its creepy old decor.

“I'm not seeing or feeling anything,” Discord reassured the princess.

“Neither am I,” Luna confirmed back. “Just keep looking.”

"What are we looking for?"

"Anything that stands out. Maybe something about this Savannah girl," Luna calmly said.

She trotted out of the student's view as she headed up the stairs. Discord followed suit as he walks up the old rotting stairs. He trod carefully as each stair-step felt like it could collapse under the weight of a feather and they showed the rejection to any pressure as the wood creek to bend beneath them.

"Maybe if we're lucky we'll see her. Hope she's hot," Discord chuckled with a big grin.

"Grow up, Discord!" Luna's disapproving voice could be heard from the upstairs.

Outside the window, Smolder looked over to Cozy with her own disproval.

"You shouldn't have told them about her."

"Savannah isn't real, remember?" Cozy said with a bit of sass in her voice.

Smolder only shook her head and looked back inside the house. They saw Discord coming back down the stairs and roam around the house. He came in and out of the living room a few times. Nothing more was said between the two. It went on this for a while. Cozy flew to some of the other old broken windows and tiny holes to get a better look at what Discord was doing.

The house to him was another horse sight of mold and followed by old memories and voices that whispered through the wind. He made his way to one of the doors that line the hallway and was quick to open it. Inside revealed a bathroom with a shower toilet and a mirror above the sink.

"Almost as good as upstairs," he spoke to himself as admire the two-bathroom multi-bedroom house for what it was.

Cozy wasn't surprised. She also knew that the house in its prime day was surly once a luxury sight to be seen, but now it laid waste and ruined; waiting for time to finish its meal. He walked up to the old mirror and wiped it clean with his paw. He smiled as their function revealed a rather dashing devilish individual.

Cozy smirked as Discord took the time to admire himself. At least he was enjoying himself.

He then looked down to the sink which was full of rusted metal and glass chippings. He ran his claw along the side of the sink and held it up to his face. The brown felling coded the tip of his claw and revealed its age.

Suddenly, as he was investigating, a loud crash echoed throughout the house grabbing all of their attentions. Yona gasped as she looked over to Smolder who also was more than concerned.

"Aaaahhhhhh!!!"

"LUNA!" Cozy and Discord cried out.

"Cozy, no!" Smolder whispered.

Smolder and Yona worried that their presence was now known and started running away from the house. Cozy then realized her mistake and covered her mouth but it was too late. Discord turned to see the flash of a pink pony with curly blue hair. They only stood and stared at each other unsure what to do. Cozy saw her friend already a bit away from the house running, and quickly joined them. Discord ran over to the window to see the pony disappear into the bushes.

Cozy Glow ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. She tried catching up with her friends but wasn't able to find them. Not that she was too worried about that. She was the one who led them all to the house so she knew how to get back to the school. She was more afraid of dealing with the Lord of Choas, knowing all of what he could do with his power.

It took some time but she found her way back to Ponyvillie. She saw the school and sigh in relief. She entered through the same door they left and trotted over to her room.

It's okay. Everything is fine. Nopony knows you left. You're fine.

She got to her bedroom door and trotted inside where she was met by a blue alicorn standing in front of her bed.

Part One: From The Other Side

View Online

I found myself entering the hospital, partially wet from the rain. I wasn't expecting it to be storming. Mainly because it wasn't storming back in Canterlot. But it wasn't my main concern at the moment. The first thing I noticed was Capper at the front desk. The two seemed to be arguing about something. I moved in closer to listen in and I realized that he was trying to see Trixie. That could bring a smile to my face. It was nice to see that he cared enough to see her.

As they argue, I saw the same pink filly that I ran into at the school sitting on the chair, giving me a confused look.

Cozy Glow?

"Let him through. It's okay. We're both here to see the same pony."

I heard a light laugh. I knew who it came from.

I could see that he had a giant smirk on his face but I couldn't tell if it was to spite the lady or if he was just happy that I was there to intervene. Nonetheless, she told us where we needed to go and we headed over to the room. She also then inform us to be careful as she was most likely still unconscious.

I looked back at Cozy. We gave each other a brief stare before I looked away and continued down the hall. I could only assume that she was friends with the student that was attacked.

"Thanks for that," Capper said with a smile.

"No problem. I could tell she was being difficult," I said.

"I don't mind, really." Capper looked at the wall, checking the numbers.

“How bad is it?” Luna asked.

“Spike said they should be okay,” Capper responded. “But I just had to be sure. I have seen it go down both ways”

"I didn't want to believe it..."

Eventually, we found the room and made our way up to the door. I use my magic to turn the doorknob and carefully open the door. A big part of me was hoping that she would be awake and greet us with the same outgoing energy, shouting "the great and powerful." Of course, that was not the case. She laid still on the bed, eyes closed, her body wrapped up with bandages. The thing that concerned me the most was the one that wrapped around her neck.

"What happened?"

"Spike told me that somepony found her like this last night," Capper shrugged as he told a seat next to the hospital bed. " no one is exactly for sure why but apparently she was found by the Everfree forest. The same place where the student was attacked. Or at least they were around the same area. I'm not really for sure if other than what I was told so it is hard to say what is actually true."

"You think they were attacked by the same thing?" I already knew what he was going to say.

"I mean it would be a pretty damn coincidence if it was otherwise."

"She looks bad..." I said in a low voice.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. Trixie has always been a fighter."

"Do you really believe that?" I questioned.

"I'm trying to," Capper let at a guilty chuckle.

I shrugged. "I guess that's something."

"What else is on your mind?"

"What?" I lifted my head up and stared at him.

"I could tell there is something else going on?"

I nodded my head with a sign. There really wasn't a reason to lie to him. “There was this stallion named Timber Halls. He and his friends went missing a couple of months ago. No bodies were found, no signs of foul play. They just disappeared.”

“But?”

“But I recently saw him come to me in my room. He told me something did this to him...then I had like a vision where I was him and I saw his last moments of life.” The emotions and feelings of that vision started coming back to me. I had to take small shallow breaths to prevent myself from hyperventilating. "But I couldn't see what killed him."

“You think it could be the same thing that attacked Trixie?” Capper asked, connecting the pieces together in his mind.

“I'm saying it's a possibility.”

We stayed quiet for a moment and just stared at her. I can only hope that things would turn for the better. I knew that she made mistakes but so did I and so did Capper. This was something that no one deserves. I could only wonder what did this to her. I didn't want to believe it The Fallen but that was the only conclusion I could think of. Timber Hall then came into my mind. I haven't seen him since he appeared at the school, but I wondered if they were connected. They were all attacked by something mysterious at night. No explanation, no idea what it was, and no one else who saw it. And anyone who did was apparently missing, most likely dead, or unable to speak.

"A student of Twilight's was attacked?" I then asked.

Capper stood up from his seat. "Yeah, Spike told me which room he should be in. Follow me."

Hours later we headed over to Twilight's School. We wander the halls of the school not paying attention to the few glances that we got from the students. I was honestly surprised that Twilight still had classes going on just by what happened right before but what did I know? Spike told us that we were to meet him by Twilight's office, but I failed to mention that I barely knew where anything was at the school since I had never fully been through the school. So I was on my own and because I knew for a fact that Capper has never been at the school we were lost and was very obvious that we had no idea where we were going. We ended up going to the entry that led to the library. A few students walked in and out with no care nor worry in the world.

Capper eventually asked one random student where to go. I was about to follow him when something caught my eye. It was Cozy glow again. I didn't realize that she had left the hospital. But I guess I couldn't have been too surprised. Something seemed off with her. She was looking up at the ceiling her eyes drifting all over the place and she looked really concerned. She was frightened about something. My mind was telling me it was just shaken up by what happened to her friends, but another part was telling me that something else was off. I needed to know more. If she really wasn't there when he was attacked then maybe she was aware of what happened or maybe even knew what attacked him. She could have seen something that the others didn't.

Without saying anything to Capper, I went into the library and followed her. I needed answers and it seemed like the moment she was the one who had them all.

"Cozy?"


"Savannah?" I asked confused. I wasn't aware of the story she was mentioning to me.

"Yes, it's an old tale that has been passed down for years here in Ponyville," she said.

"Forgive me but I know quite a few people here and I've never heard of it before," I did have doubt in my voice but not because I didn't believe her.

"Well, it is pretty old and it has been debated if it's true or not."

By the look on my face, I could tell that she noticed my doubt. She then walked past me and started looking at the books that were on the shelves. I wasn't 100% sure what she was looking for.

She looked back at me. "Come on. This way," her voice sounded a little snappy.

I said nothing and followed her as she blocks down each book alley and glaring at the books. She finally came to us. And hold out an old brown Dusty book from the Shelf. She turned and faced me and showed me the cover that read "The old tales and legends of Ponyville."

She opened the book and started flipping through the pages until she came to a stop and pointed at the page. I lowered myself down and saw that the page showed a photo of what looked to be Everfree Forest with a young pony walking wearing a cloak.

"That's her." She then flipped the page and it showed a map of the Everfree forest. There was a spot that had a star on it. "This is where they say she lived. As I said, it's very old but it is still talked about."

"Well okay but what does this have to do with why you went into the Everfree forest?"

"It was because we wanted to prove to Sandbar that it was real. It was just meant to be fun I guess. It was really stupid but I went along with it. I didn't want to be the Oddball out I guess." She signed in disappointment.

I chuckled as she handed me the book. "I guess I can see that. Just out of curiosity do you believe it?"

"I mean I never thought of it before but I wouldn't be too surprised if things like this existed. I'm just wasn't sure if Savannah was real." She then looks behind her in the direction where he came from before staring back at me. "But now I'm not sure what's real anymore. I'm not saying what happened to Sandbar was Supernatural or anything. I just find it weird how it all did happen."

I only gave reassuring smile. "That's just life" I wasn't sure what to say anymore. "...I hope for the best for your friend."

"Same for you."

"Thank you."

"I have to go but everything about her is in the book. Now you know that I didn't make it up," she smirked knowingly.

I blushed with embarrassment as I quickly try to think of something to say. "Cozy glow, it wasn't... I wasn't saying I didn't-"

She only laughed as she walked past me and left, leaving me speechless. I tried following her to see where she was heading next but it had appeared that I have lost her. I look down at the book staring at the map. I read through the story and found at who she was and what happened to her. I hoped for her sake that it was just a story. But from the ghosts we dealt with in the past, I wouldn't be surprised either way. It's sad in a way when you really thought about it.

So many bad things happening to good creatures.

I looked around to make sure no one was watching before I use my magic to rip off the page and putting the book back on the shelf. The map was the only thing we needed at the moment. I was pretty confident that I would be able to find exactly where the house was.

"Luna?" A voice called to me. I almost thought it was a spirit. However, when I turned around it was only Capper.

"Yes?"

"I found Spike and told him you wanted all of us to talk. He says he has a few things he must do but he'll come back here in a couple of minutes," Capper explained.

"And Discord?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. So I guess we just wait for the time being."

Well, it took longer than a few minutes. We just sat in the library for what felt like hours before we saw Spike finally entering the library.

"Spike?" I called to him.

"Sorry about that. It's just much harder to go off without telling Twilight. I just don't want her to worry." He walked up to us somewhat out of breath.

"You're fine Spike. We figured something was up."

I felt bad bed she worried so much about Twilight and not wanting to freak her out. I get that that wasn't entirely my fault but I just feel like there was some blame of mine. I knew how much you wanted me to tell Celestia so he could tell Twilight but I always wondered why he didn't just tell her. I guess there was a really big part of him that's still respected me enough not to. I appreciated that.

"Discord is by Twilight's office," spike said. "I think he was busy with something."

"Busy doing what?" Capper asked.

"I'm not sure," Spike answered. "Just come with me."

We followed him out of the library and trotted down the hallway. I made a note to remember these halls. Soon we saw Discord by a door who smiled at the sight of us.

"Well, look who's finally here?" Discord cheered loudly.

"Discord we were here hours before you," Spike said flatly.

"But you weren't by the office first," Discord pointed out.

Spike put his claw up to argue against it but put it down after a few seconds. "Okay, you're not entirely wrong... But that doesn't mean anything."

"It means that I'm right," Discord smirked.

"Could we please talk about this when people aren't getting attack?" Capper asked annoyed.

Discord and Spike crossed their arms and both said, "Fine."

I chuckled a little.

"So what do we know?" Discord then asked.

"They said that they went to an old house in the Everfree Forest," Spike started to explain.

"What for?" Discord asked.

Spike only shrugged. "Not sure."

I didn't realize that none of the students actually told Twilight why they went there in the first place. "To prove if a pony named Savannah was real," I then said to them.

They all stared at me with no clue what I was talking about. "I spoke to one of the students and they said that they were told of an old tale about a young mare who was burned alive because they thought she used dark magic to kill someone."

Capper's eyes widened at that. "What?!"

"Can't say I heard worse," Discord sighed.

I pulled out the page I ripped out and showed it to them. "This is where the house is at. I'm sure I could find it." Discord grabbed the page while Spike flew behind him to get a better look.

"You sound sure of yourself," Capper said as Discord handed him the page.

"I know the Everfree Forest backward and forwards. If it's there, I'll find it."

"And do you know any more about this Savannah girl?" Spike then asked.

"Sadly, not much at all. Just that many thought she was a witch or something. As I said, it's a Ponyvillie tale. Nopony knows for sure if it was even real," I said.

Spike didn't look convinced. "I never heard of that tale before."

"Well, technically she didn't live in ponyvillie, right?" Capper called out.

"Right, I guess," I answered. "Maybe we can find something to see if she was real."

"Even if she is real, it's going to be a lot harder to find any information on her if she actually didn't live here," Spike argued.

"Well her story is told here. The book I read it from was from Ponyville. so maybe there's something on her," I pointed out.

Spike still wasn't so sure but he sighed in defeat. "I'll see if I can find anything but don't get your hopes up."

"Thank you." I grabbed the page back from Capper. "Meanwhile, I'm going to check out this house."

"You're going now," Discord asked shockingly.

"You rather I go at night?" I asked sarcastically.

Discord was quiet for a second then patted me on the head. "You made the right choice."

I then turned over to Capper. "Think you could help Spike? Maybe keep an eye on how Trixie is doing?"

"Yeah, I can help. Though, are you sending me off to research duty because you think I could help or because you know that Discord won't be able to do it? Or he wouldn't do it?"

Discord let out an overdramatic gasp. "Hey, you know that I am her protector.” He put his arms around my neck and pulled me closer to him jokingly. “I was assigned to protect my very life on her and that means going to dangerous more fun exciting places that don't involve books or reading. I can't go against my life work." he paused for a moment. "Or deadly work I think would be more accurate. Either way, it's my responsibility."

Spike rolled his eyes as Capper laughed a little. ”Sounds like a plan then," I said as I pulled away from him.

"We can meet at Twilight's castle in an hour," Spike said.

"Works for me," Discord agreed.

"Alright then. We best get started," Capper said to Spike.

"Right. Come with me." Spike nodded and the two began to walk away from us.

"In an hour?" Spike called back to us.

"In an hour," I confirmed.

"Ready?" Discord asked.

"Could we talk for a moment in private?"

Discord opened the door to Twilight's office and looked inside. "It's clear." He flew inside of the room and I followed soon after.

“Well, I guess it's just you and me now.”

“Looks like it, Dizzy,” I chuckled. “ But you were the one that was late.”

“Rule number one, I am never late,” Discord corrected as he dropped down from the ceiling. “You are just early.”

“Whatever. Keep telling yourself that,” I sighed as I shook my head. “Why did you want to meet here anyway? Like at Twilight's school?”

“I was in the neighborhood and I had something to do that was close by so it worked out in my favor.”

“Sure. Whatever you say, dizzy.”

“What? You think I'm lying?”

“Nope,” I blurted. “I just don't really care.”

“Fair enough,” he replied. “Anyways, shall we continue?”

"Well, we only got an hour so let's get to it. I just wanted to tell you something before we do." My eyes went to the floor. "I didn't want nopony to hear us."

Discord got closer to me. "Yes, what is it?"

I took a deep breath. "I'm thinking about telling Celestia The truth about me being psychic."

Discord nearly fell to the ground, completely out of breath at what I said. His head literally fell to the ground and his mouth wide open. I just stared at him unsure what his reaction meant. He put himself back together and just stared at me for a moment. His mind debating if I was actually being truthful to him or not.

"You're serious. Like you're not kidding me right now. You actually want to tell your sister?"

"Well, I thought maybe Spike was right. Maybe I'm overthinking it and she really changed and she would understand me.” I thought about the nightmare I had the night before and how she held me close to her arms. “I don't want to keep lying to her and I hate what our relationship has become. She has every right to be mad at me. Maybe my reasons were Justified at first but now... now I think it's time to let it out."

Discord thought to himself and started pacing around me as if he was examining me. That left a sour taste in my mouth for it didn't seem that he agreed with me. “You sure you want to do this?"

"What do you mean?” I asked in disbelief.

“I mean do you actually want to tell her or are you being pressured to?"

"No this is what I want,” I defended myself. “Is that really hard to believe?"

"To be blunt, yes it is." I couldn't believe what he was saying. "I think you're just trying too hard to please Celestia. You don't need to do anything you don't want to do because of her."

"It's not like that anymore. It's about being honest and fixing what I caused."

"But who said you caused it?” That made me think. I guess I assumed it was always my fault that all of this happened. But I didn't want to lie Celestia. I did have many reasons that I was afraid.

“That was all in the past. I think it's time to move forward you know and not lie for her anymore. I just want her to trust me again."

“Exactly. You don't want to tell her the truth you want to get something out of telling her the truth. You don't really want to tell her. Why do you anyways? Would that make you happy or fill the empty void in your life or something?" He snapped at me in disapproval.

“Why are you acting like this? I thought you of all people would be happy that I want to tell her the truth. Isn't this what you wanted?!"

He threw his hands up and started flying around the room. “Truth be told, I could care less about Celestia. It's not about her. It was never about her and she's trying to make it about her. We both know what this is about. It's not about fixing your relationship with her. You don't have to please her anymore."

“It's not like that!" I snapped at him.

“You want to tell her, go ahead. I just don't get it. Your friends believe you and they accepted you." His voice dropped. "Isn't that enough? Are we just not enough to make you happy?"

My ears fell through the side. “Discord, you don't need to take it so personally. I swear it's nothing like that. Of course I-”

I heard a small Bang with what sounded like voices right outside the door. I didn't even bother to say anything to Discord. I quickly walked up to the door open it and walked out. I didn't see much besides a few students walking down the hallway most likely to the next class.

Did I hear that right? Or was that in my head?

"I never know what I see is real or not..."

I walked back inside the room and close the door behind me.

“You okay?”

“I just thought I heard something but it clearly wasn't anything important,” I shook my head.

“Look Luna, I know I'm sounding like a jerk. I just am hoping that the choices you are making are for yourself and nopony else because the only one that needs to be happy with yourself is you."

I got what he was saying. I didn't know if I agreed with him. At least he cares. I just shook my head wanting to get on with it. I was starting to regret my decision even telling him.

“Let's just get going. We're running out of time,” my voice was low this time and I felt a sick feeling deep in my stomach.

Discord snapped his fingers and a small camera appeared in his hand. I was about to ask what it was for when I realized it was Spike's old camera that he used back when they were at Berry Tart's house. “You know just in case. Spike said to take photos of everything.”

"I get it."

“Okay then. You got the map. Lead the way.”

It took some time but soon we found ourselves in front of the old cryptic house blanketed by its ruin rot and decay. I nodded my head in disapproval as I looked back towards our target. Its charm laid in the mold that ate away at its foundations and the vines that punctured its walls. The window is shattered end the doors hung low on their hinges. It was a house that was full of history and memories but if the walls could talk they could tell the biography of all those who have passed through its domain. It was like its own world, a separate region of the planet, foreign all else.

“This is it?” Discord spoke with disgust.

“Yep,” I confirmed with a nod. “Charming isn't it?”

“I suppose, if a homeless pony lived there,” Discord stretched out. ”Do you really think it's supernatural?”

“If I knew the answers to that question, we wouldn't be here now, would we?”

“No, I suppose not.” Discord sighed. “I just don't see why you're so concerned about this.”

“Honestly, I don't know.” I sighed. “I just have to make sure, that's all.”

“Well, Timber Halls was another one that was attacked by whatever this is, wasn't he?”

I turned to meet his gaze as I squinted at him. “How did you know I was thinking that?”

“I have ears, eyes, teeth and nails and Claws everywhere. I too like to be prepared.”

“Nails & Claws?”

“I was just trying to make a point,” Discord joked.

"I know. Ready?" We both walked up the stairs and to the front door of the house.

The claws of a lion slowly pushed on the old rotting door causing it to sway and its rusted hinges. Its rejection could be heard and the loud creak of the resistance it was backed by. The house was silent as it showed no opposition to their presence. Discord freely walked in, not dazed by its creepy old decor. Been there, done that many times over at that point, so the house's warnings meant very little to him.

“I'm not feeling anything,” Discord reassured me.

“Neither am I,” I confirmed back. “That's strange. Just keep looking.”

"What are we looking for?"

"Anything that stands out. Maybe something about this Savannah girl," I calmly said.

I saw that there was a flight of stairs that led to a second floor. I got on the steps as Discord followed suit as he walked up the old rotting stairs. He trod carefully as each stair-step felt like it could collapse under the weight of a feather and they showed the rejection to any pressure as the wood creek to bend beneath them.

"Maybe if we're lucky we'll see her. Hope she's hot," Discord chuckled with a big grin.

"Grow up, Discord!" I scoffed in disgust.

"I'm kidding. Lighted up." He laughed and started going back down the steps. "I'm going to look downstairs."

I rolled my eyes and continued upward to the upstairs. I saw that there was just a small hallway with one door on one side and two doors on the other. I first went to the side with one door and opened it. With nothing much by rotting furniture with the old walls and spider webs hanging from the ceiling with rotting floors. But I could tell by the size that it was most likely the master bedroom. There was a dresser that barely was standing. I use my magic to open the drawers and I found there wasn't anything in them. There was another door in the room. I use my magic to open the door but the door fell off as I did. Luckily, I was able to stop it before it made an impact on the floor. I looked inside and saw it was just a closet, once again there was nothing but spiders and dust.

Nothing's here...

I walked out of the room closing the door behind me. I went to the other side and opened one of the doors there. It was just a bathroom with mold on the walls and the ceiling and the tiles missing or ripped out. I wasn't even sure if it was safe to go in there. I figured it was best not to risk it. I head over to the last door in the hall. It was another bedroom but smaller.

Just like the other rooms, it was run down by time but it didn't look as bad as the others. I roamed around the room not really finding anything that stood out. Maybe it was just an old tale that kids used for their own curiosity and got themselves into some trouble. Maybe I was blowing this out of proportion. I almost sounded disappointed in myself which was weird to me. That would be the best-case scenario but it was almost as if I was hoping it wasn't and I wasn't for sure why.

There was a door in the room which I assumed was just another closet. I opened it and sure enough, it was but this one was much bigger than the master bedroom about twice its size which was strange to me but it's not like it was the first. Other than that, nothing seemed off about this one either.

"There's nothing here...was I wrong?"

Open your eyes.
It's time to see the morning sun
Don’t cry.
Don’t run.
Let’s see what the day becomes.

I found my body tensed up. I didn't feel anything but I knew I heard something. I looked around the room. I could hear Discord talking to himself from the bottom floor. Was that just him?

“Discord? Is that you?” I called out, hopefully.

I began to wonder if it was from the closet. I knew it was stupid but I walked inside the closet with my horn lit in order to add some light. Was there someone in there with me? I try not to tremble with fear. I needed to stop being afraid of these things and confront them myself.

“If there's someone here with me you can talk to me. I'm here to listen. I'm not here to cause trouble I just want to help.”

I wait for the time when the sun will truly rise. See now spirit from the depth of the night, come forth now into the absence of light.

This couldn't be in my head. This had to be something real.

“Hello?”

Suddenly, I felt something touch my leg which made me jump nearly screaming. I felt like I was on the verge of having a heart attack when I look back at the closet only the see that it was just a spider. Though I wasn't fond of them they didn't scare me that much anymore. I looked behind me and noticed that I accidentally picked a hole in the wall. Must have been when I jump back.

“Dammnit…” I took sighed in relief and took a few breaths to calm myself down. “ Not everything is out to kill you, Luna.”

I would have just left the closet thing but I began to hear a clicking sound but it didn't sound like it was coming from downstairs where Discord was at. It felt much closer but I could tell it wasn't coming from the bedroom nor the closet. I lowered myself down to the hole do I kind of see if the life for my horn made it where I could see that there appear to be another room.

Did somepony board this up? Why?

“Only one way to find out.”

I began ripping pieces of the wall from the hole. Dust and spiderwebs flew everywhere causing me to cough. It didn't stop me though. I kept ripping at it until the hole was big enough for me to at least slide through. I carefully crawled in and pulled myself out onto the other side. I stood up trying to avoid the spiders and the cobwebs that were hanging, using my good wing to get the dust out of my face.

To my surprise, it wasn't another big room or had a flight of stairs and led to another. I just looked like to be small even smaller than the one I was in.

“Well, that's just great...”

I thought to myself how ridiculous I was for spending all that time ripping out a wall that led to nothing while still wondering why it was boarded up, to begin with when I noticed that there was a rope hanging down from the ceiling and tied down to the floor. I then realized what I was standing on when I heard the sound of cracking. My ears perked and my eyes widen as I suddenly felt the ground give out from under me.

I could only scream as I felt myself fall into a dark abyss that led nowhere. The last thing I remembered was hitting the ground really hard where I started hearing a ringing in my ear before the world became dark.











They came for your friend. Now they'll come for you. They are afraid of what you are. You're stronger than them. You just need to see that. Come on and wake up. Selene...wake up. Wake up!














"Luna, wake up. Wake Luna. Luna."

I open my eyes as I felt a throbbing on the back of my head. My vision was blurry but I could see a figure looming over me.

“Luna. Come on, you’re okay.”

I felt a light tap on my left side of my cheek and I shook my head as my vision started to clear up. I could see Discord now looking down at me clearly frightened but also relieved.

“Get up Lulu. You’re okay.”

I groaned as I sat myself up. I could see the room now was completely lit up. I was about to ask if there was still power in the house when I saw a random orbit of light in the middle of the room. That answered one of my questions, at least one of them.

“What happened?” I groaned putting a hoof on the back of my head and rubbing where it hurt at the most.

“My best guess is that you found what appeared to an old dumbwaiter and it gave out from underneath you.”

I saw that right by us were broken pieces of boards that scattered across the floor with ropes wrapped around them and a few metal parts.

“Yeah, I think I figured that out a bit too late." I tried shaking off the pain in my head and carefully lifted myself back up.” At least I found something.”

“At the price of getting yourself hurt,” he chuckled as he grabbed onto my side when I nearly lost balance. “Could you try not to knock yourself out again?”

“It's not like I meant for that to happen,” I said unamused

“I don't want to end up carrying your heavy ass again," Discord joked with a huge grin.

"Don't start with that," I warned him.

"In other words, you did find something, and that something is a little creepier than we were expecting.” Discord walked over to shelves full of old books potions and ingredients.

I went behind Discord and noticed that there was a very long table that had one big old book opened with writing on it but didn't appear to be any language I was familiar with. The book on the shelves was all dusty moldy and had stains; some of the writing on the side of the books were faded but from the ones I could see, they were also in a language I was not familiar with. On the other side of the room, there was a whole nother shelf but with many different jars filled with unknown substances. Discord and I look uncomfortable at each other. It wasn't the first time I saw a room like this but I knew that most of the time it was never good.

“It seems that whoever did live in this house was using dark magic and possibly was a witch of some kind,” Discord's voice sounded defeated.

“It would appear so,” I reluctantly agreed. “Look at this, Discord.” I pointed at the random symbols that were marked all over the walls in red. I couldn't tell if it was made from red paint or something else. I was hoping it was the latter.

“Some of them look more recent.” Discord pulled out the camera and started recording everything around us.

“That is very strange indeed. You know what they mean?”

“I was hoping you would,” Discord said.

“I am afraid I don’t.”

“Let's just take some photos of these symbols and see if Spike knows what they mean,” he suggested.

“Sounds good. We should be heading back anyways.”

“About that.”

“What?” I asked.

Discord groaned. “We had a tail.”

“What?” I blinked

“Someone followed us here.”

“Who?” I gasped.

“I don’t really know, but I think she’s friends with the mix student group of Twilight's.”

I paused for a moment. It didn’t make sense to me. None of the students would have expected us to come here. Except...

“Was she pink?”

“Yes.”

“With Blue curly hair?”

“Yup.”

“I know who it was.”

Part One: The Same Song

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“Cozy?” Luna sighed. Cozy only stared at the ground as she whimpered in fear. “You know we saw you?”

"Ummm what? What do you mean?" Cozy tried playing dumb.

"Cozy, I was hoping you wouldn't have lied to me. Now I wouldn't say Discord is the most trustworthy but I don't think he has any reason to lie when it comes to saying that there is a child following us into perhaps what is known to be the most dangerous place in Ponyville," Luna said flatly without even a flinch.

"Maybe he saw wrong?" Cozy chuckled guiltily.

Luna only stood up from the bed and trotted past Cozy. "Very well. Knowing that you are not allowed to leave the school, I should bring my concerns to Twilight. We wouldn't want any of her students getting hurt now would we?"

Cozy zoomed in front of Luna, blocking the door. "Okay, okay! I was following you guys. But I had good intentions."

"And what were those intentions?”

“I just wanted to know what attacked my friend and it seemed like you two knew.”

“Well we don’t,” Luna sighed. “That’s what I was trying to find out.”

“But you asked if it was supernatural and you seemed scared. Then I heard your friend mention something called "The Fallen" at the hospital. Then Discord talking about all that weird ghost stuff.”

Luna raised a brow.

Cozy cleared her throat. "Okay, I also might have listened in on you as well."

“Well,” Luna chuckled. “That’s just Discord being Discord, don’t mind him.” Luna watched as she saw the scared concerned look of the little pony.

"Then why are you here? This has to be something important if you're involved with it." This was probably the thing that confused her the most and Luna could tell by the stare that she gave her.

"Listen, not that this is any of your business but if you must know, I was investigating a disappearance that happened a few months ago and it was very similar to what happened to your friend. I was just figuring out if they were connected," Luna explained herself very calmly.

"So it's nothing Supernatural?"

"Of course not. Now, who else is with you? "She asked firmly.

Cozy almost considered just telling it was her but she had a feeling that Luna already knew the truth." Look, it was my idea. They only follow to see what was going on I guess. We all just wanted answers."

"You may have had good intentions but that doesn't excuse you either. You literally told me this morning that breaking the rules was what got your friend hurt."

"I know...I'm sorry."

“Look,” She sighed. “I won’t tell Twilight that you left the school if you stop following us, alright.” Cozy nodded in response. “If I figure out what attacked Sandbar, I'll let you know.”

"Promise?"

"Of course, young one." Her eyes shifted away from Cozy for a quick moment.

Cozy stepped away from the door. "Wait, just out of curiosity, what is the Fallen?"

Luna signed heavily as she took a moment on how to carefully answer it. "Well it's kind of complicated but to sum it up they were basically a monster army that was made from the demon master of Hell himself. Some consider them demons but they weren't exactly demons, just monsters made from the Netherworld. It's just really complicated stuff." She stood her head.

Cozy tilted her head to the side. "I never heard of them before."

"That's probably because it's not really Equestrian. The Fallen came from old tales from other countries. I would be very surprised if even someone as much as a bookworm as Twilight would know of it." Luna pointed out so casually. Her eyes then widened open as a thought came to her mind. "Of course. It's not Equestrian."

Cozy watched as Luna stormed out of the room without saying another word.

“Umm okay then…”

She slowly trotted back to her bed. A frown covered her face as she groaned. She tried to get something out of the princess but it was in vain. She knew that something odd happened in that house, and she had a feeling it wasn’t over.

There was a knock on the door. Moments later the door opened and Smolder, Yona, and Ocellus walked in as they saw an overwhelmed Cozy Glow.

"I can't believe you guys did that. Are you crazy? You could have gotten us all in trouble! "Ocellus yelled at them.

"But we didn't," Smolder snapped.

"Because I covered for you guys," Ocellus defended.

"Yeah and...you didn't have to."

The changeling only stared at the ground and said nothing.

"Now." She looked over to Cozy. "What did Princess Luna say?" Smolder asked.

Cozy flopped herself onto her bed. "You were right, Ocellus. It was nothing. It was just her investigating the disappearance of somepony else and she thought maybe it was connected to Sandbar's attack."

Smolder looked disappointed. "Really? That's it?"

"Well, Ocellus did warn us," Yona asked.

"Exactly. It was nothing and you should stay out of it."

Smolder crossed her arms. "You believe her?"

"She has no reason to lie," Cozy said. Her face turned dark. "You left me behind."

"You're the one who blew our cover. Everything was fine until you reacted and shouted like that for no reason," Smolder yelled. "What did you expect? Did you really think we're going to sit around and wait for the Lord of chaos to do something to us?"

"Well, it was still kind of a jerk thing to do."

Smolder shrugged. "Okay. Whatever."

"Is that really all you have to say?" Cozy was surprised at her response.

"I don't know what else you want me to say."

"How about sorry?"

"Sorry?! It was your idea. And you're the one who blew our cover," Smolder defended herself."I don't see you calling out Yona. She ran off with me."

"Yona doesn't wish to be dragged into this," Yona whimpered.

"Don't you get it? This was just as much your fault as it was mine. When can you just accept that? You need to stop getting mad at everyone that called you out for it," Cozy Glow tried to reason with her but it was clear that the dragon was too stubborn for that.

"It was no one's fault. It was all of our ideas and we all took the risk. You just said it yourself. What happened was an accident. Nothing more nothing less." Smolder looked as if she was on the verge of setting the room ablaze

"I don't get you." Cozy voice's raised.

"What?"

"You just don't care. I can't tell if you ever cared about anything that didn't involve you."

"I care about what happened to Sandbar, of course. Sorry, I don't cry and whine and show it off as you pony do. Us dragons don't go all soft like that."

"It's not about being 'soft'. It's about caring."

"Look, we shouldn't be fighting," Ocellus tried stepping in.

"Well, maybe I just don't care!" Smolder got up to Cozy's face.

"Then why are you here?!" Cozy yelled and pushed Smolder back. "If you don't care then just go back to your land where none of you guys give a damn."

Every creature went silent.

"But that's just it. The reason why you're here is that whatever your home life is, it's just as shitty as mine." Tears were forming in Cozy eyes.

"And you rather be stuck here than anywhere else cuz you know that you're never going to get the love and filling in that fucking void inside of you that you so desperately crave."

The room was stunned at her outburst; none of them were able to muster a word. Smolder was the most taken back as she got away from Cozy Glow. None of them have ever seen her yell like this before.

"You don't know me…" Smolder whispered and left the room, slamming the door.

Ocellus and Yona watched Cozy Glow as she hugged her knees and took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Umm you okay, Cozy?" Ocellus asked.

"Fine, I guess," Cozy said sharply.

It was obvious that she wasn't. What stood out to them was how she was acting. Something was eating her. Something she wanted to stay but was afraid to.

"Has anything weird been happening to you guys?"

Ocellus sat next to Cozy and signed. " I mean nothing deliberately happened to me but there are times where I feel like... I hear singing. I can't tell if it's me or some pony out in the hall."

"What are they singing?" Cozy grew concerned.

"I don't know. It's always too quiet for me to hear the words. I'm just scaring myself. I think we all are."

"Yona don't like her friends fighting," the yak added in.

"Me too but someone has to take the blame right?" Cozy agreed.

"It shouldn't matter. Why are we fighting over this? It's like Sandbar being hurt is not even a problem for us anymore," Ocellus said, annoyed. "Why do we care?"

"Yona only cares about Sandbar getting better."

"I don't want to care," Cozy stated. "I guess Smolder...it is our fault…"

The door reopened and Smolder stormed in. "Something's wrong with Gallus."

"What?" Cozy and Ocellus said in unison.

"Just follow me," Smolder eagerly said as she walked right out of the room.

The others got up from their spots and joined her. They followed her to a hallway where their bedrooms were at. Silver Stream stood in front of a door; Gallus's bedroom.

"What's wrong with Gallus?" Yona panicked.

Silver Stream didn't even look at them. Her eyes remained on the door.

"Silver Stream!" Cozy shouted at her. "What's wrong?"

She still said nothing. She put her claw on the doorknob and opened the door.

Gallus sat on his head curled up into a ball. His friends encircled him with concerned eyes. Silver Stream sat in the adjacent corner as she stared at the floor. Gallus sat in silence as his mind stuttered in shock as it tried to process any form of information.

“What happened to him?”Smolder turned to Silver Stream.

“I don’t know,” she gasped. “I heard him scream and found him like this.”

“Did you get help?”

“No,” Silver Stream admitted. “You all showed up shortly after and I was trying to get him to say something.”

"Gallus, you okay?" Cozy asked.

He stayed silent.

"What happened to you?" Ocellus then asked him.

Nothing.

"Please say something," Yona begged.

Not even a whimper.

"We shouldn't pressure him," Silver Stream advised them. Her voice sounded as if she was in a daze.

They all try to get their friends to talk but clearly something has frightened him where he simply was too scared to. His whole body trembling as he whispered something silently to himself. Nothing that any of his friends could say could get him to speak. The group continued to share their concerns and their theories of the events that had taken place.

"I thought you said nothing was going on," Smolder confronted Cozy.

"Nothing is going on. I mean that's what happened…" Cozy struggled to come up with a response. "It didn't seem like nothing was going on."

"Yeah, that certainly looks like nothing." Smolder sarcastically remarked as she pointed over at their shaking friend.

"I don't know what to tell you."

“What do we do?” Ocellus whimpered.

“What can we do?”

The group paused, interrupting all of the conversations. They all slowly turned to look at their enchanted friend. He slowly looked up at them with a frozen staying of concern on his face.

“I saw her,” Gallus whispered.

“Saw who?” Ocellus whispered back. Cozy knew what he was most likely going to stay and there was praying, it wasn't going to be who she thought.

“The pony from the house. I saw her in the Darkness right before she attacked Sandbar.”

“Hold on a second,” Smolder gasped. “You saw someone attack Sandbar, and you didn't think to mention it?!”

“I barely realized anything that happened. And I wasn't even sure what exactly happened. It all happened so fast and I hardly ever believed it.”

“But you said you saw her in here,” Smolder questioned. “So why didn't you go get help as any normal creature would?”

“I didn't think anybody would believe me; would believe what I saw anyways. I didn't even believe it...at least not at first.”

“Why wouldn't they believe you?” Ocellus asked as she got in Gallus's face.

“Because I saw that same pony somehow mysteriously teleported into my room who was on fire.”

They all stared at him in disbelief. There was no way they heard that right.

"I heard singing...saw her standing there," he pointed at where he saw her. "Then she attacked me…"

"Are you certain it was her?" Smolder asked with doubt.

"I know what I saw," he snapped.

"You heard singing," Silver Stream then asked. Without even waiting for an answer, she said:

"What scares you is never knowing what‘s meant to happen next.
I feel that the beauty is not knowing what to expect.
I wait for the time when the sun will truly rise.
See now spirit from the depth of the night,
come forth now into the absence of light."

Gallus was shocked and stared wide eyed at her. He tried saying something but nothing came out.

"That's the song…" Silver Stream wasn't even trying to ask. “I keep hearing it. Over and over again. I can’t stop hearing it.”

“Oh golly,” Cozy said.

Silver Stream lifted her head. “You heard it too?”

She told the group what she had felt in the library and a feeling she had ever since they left the house. Her suspicions were only confirmed when the other explained feeling similar symptoms of somebody watching them from the darkness. Every creature except one.

“Okay, this is crazy.” Smolder shook her head.

“What? I’m not making this up,” Silver Stream said quietly.

“I’m not saying you are,” Smolder corrected herself. “I’m saying it’s crazy...I don't...you really think we’re being haunted by some dead pony?”

“I didn’t,” Gullas started. “Until something attacked me.”

"Yona don't know what to think anymore."

“What are we going to do?” Ocellus asked.

“What can we do?” was the only thing Cozy Glow could say.

The group disbanded with ominous hanging from a fear factor; the incident was over yet nothing was resolved all the same. Suddenly myths seemed plausible and they started to question what was really going on.


"We kept our distance or at least I did. It was...we didn't know what to do. We were all afraid to tell Twilight and after talking to you, I didn't think you could help us. I guess you are a good lair."

I felt my stomach flip at that. I wanted to say how sorry I was for all they went through. They were all so young, too young to have to deal with this.

I cleared my throat. "Did anything weird happened during this?"

"No. There were times I thought I heard something but I couldn't tell if it was her or if I was scaring myself."

I smirked at that as I could very well relate to it. "Tell me about what happened with Silver Stream. That's what I'm most curious about at the moment."

She buried her face in her hooves. "Yeah...I knew she took it hard. I didn't know how bad though. Savannah had gotten ahold of her in ways I wasn't prepared for."

"But was it really Silver Stream?" I asked.

"At this point, I don't know."

"And you didn't go to Twilight because..." I started to asked.

"I wanted to but we were both scared of getting in trouble. And we didn't want Silver Stream to get in trouble too.

If only I knew then what she was planning on doing to herself..."

Part One: A Voice To Follow

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The clouds rolled in from overhead and participated in the active dry thunder. A storm without rain; without a master, it aimlessly fired at the ground. The lightning illuminated the dingy sky and forced color to the land below.

The orange dragon hadn't talked to her friends much since the fight. Instead, she stayed distant and spent most of her time in her room. The hall seems foreign to her now as she gazed at their decor and looked at all the empty lockers. Every one was so concerned about the incident and the weather outside to everyone away from the hollows of the school.

Smolder wandered the halls looking left and right through the windows to the outside world. She sighed as she realized the position of solitude and the weight of her punishment. It had been a few days since she wasn't allowed to interact with the outside world and she started to feel the weight of the situation.

Sandbar had been in recovery for a couple of days and he seemed to be mostly alright. Twilight had asked questions about what happened in the house but he had no memory. Instead, he described flashes of loud noises in the feeling of something grabbing him. He couldn't make out what it was as it was too dark but he remembered feeling a deep cold breath on his face and the growl before it tore into him.

She walked down the hallway with her head hung low and our thoughts up high in the clouds. It was then that she heard a little whisper that seemed to call her name.

"Hello?"

I wait for the time when the sun will truly rise. See now spirit from the depth of the night, come forth now into the absence of light.

No...no...It's not that.

She tilted her head up towards a tinted hallway that seemed to have uncanny darkness to it. She didn't see many by the blinking in ominous-looking lights that coded the void in front of her. Instead, she kept walking forward until the whisper called her from the darkness once more. She stood up straight and looked down the hallway with more conviction. The darkness seemed to back in her as if someone was standing there watching, calling her.

It was then that she could feel the cold rush past her. it wasn't cool and easy like the breeze that lingered outside; instead, it was cold and harsh and scraped the dumpster hide with emotion and clear intent. Then she started to creep forward fueled by curiosity Yet repelled by anguish at the same time.

“Smolder?” An innocent voice back in her from the opposite direction.

Smolder turned away from the Dark Void. I saw her little pegasus friend standing before her. “Oh, hey Cozy Glow.” She sighed. “What are you doing?”

“Same as you,” Cozy sighed. “Just wondering about these empty halls.” There was a pause. "Look, about the fight, I-"

"Don't," Smolder said coldly. "Don't go there. Not now."

Cozy looked down the hallway that her dragon friend had been staring at before. She said looking back down the hallway to where her other friend's rooms laid. “Have you seen the others at all?”

“Not since the incident.”

“Golly,” Cozy gasped. “I haven't seen anyone in what feels like forever now.”

“Well, I've seen them around,” Smolder corrected. “I just haven't talked to them or even approached them.”

“Well, I suppose I've done the same,” Cozy admitted. “Actually,” Cozy perked her head up as a thought entered her mind. “ I haven't seen Silver Stream at all.”

“Yeah, me neither actually,” Smolder admitted. “I think she's the only one I haven't even seen a glimpse of.”

“I sure hope she's alright,” Cozy gasped.

“I'm sure she's fine. She’s probably just still upset like the rest of us.”

“Do you think we should go and check up on her?” Cozy smiled with her innocent voice.

“Eh,” Smolder sighed.

“Come on,” Cozy beckoned. “I get we're not too happy with each other but she's our friend we should at least see if she's alright.”

“Fine,” Smolder sighed. “It's not like I have anything better to do I guess.”

The duo made their way to their friend's door and slowly knocked on it. It was just odd as there was a slight hesitation for the dragons not as if she resented it. the silence was their only answer as the call echoed in what seems like an empty room. Smolder knocked once more, only for more silence to call back.

"Silver Stream?” Smolder called out. “Are you in there?”

Silence called back.

“I guess she's not in there,” Smolder sighed as she got ready to walk away. "Welp. We tried."

“Smolder,” Cozy whined as she motioned towards the door.

“What?” Smolder groaned. “She's probably just asleep or something.”

It was then that they heard a loud crash and their friend's room followed by a loud scraping sound. The two froze as they stared at the door then back at each other and once more to the door. They both put their heads up to the door and listen only for something to smack against the door hard causing it to rattle.

“Silver Steam?” Smolder called out. “Are you alright?”

Another loud crash was their only answer and the two backed away from the door as they looked at each other. Smolder took a deep breath and look back up at the door. She turned her friend and nodded her head as if to inform her of her actions. Cozy nodded back in approval as if giving her a sign to do whatever she was about to do. The dragon charged forward and smashed right into the door causing it to snap open and rattle on its hinges.

Smolder crashed to the ground and slid across till she had that back wall. Cozy gasped as loud as she could at the sight before her. Silver Stream's entire bedroom had looked like a hurricane had passed through it and left nothing but destruction in its wake. Papers and trash covered the floor with what appeared to be writing and symbols all over the walls, all written in black ink.

"What happened?" Cozy was nearly out of breath from the sight.

The two looked around at what once was their friend's room. But where there was destruction, there was absence as well for their friend was nowhere in sight.

“Where is she?” Cozy cried.

“How should I know,” Smolder groaned.

“D-did she do this?” Cozy cried.

“Look,” Smolder growled. “I came in here right behind you so I know just as much as you do alright.”

“But then where…” Cozy paused as she stared at the shattered window on the far side of the room. She looked down at Smolder as she got to her feet and gazed at the same scenery.

“You don’t think?”

"Come on!" Smolder flew out the broken window. "Before we lose sight of her."

Their journey began as they followed the ominous footprints that were outside the broken window. In the distance, they saw Silver Stream flying off somewhere. They both exchanged glances and looked back at the school as they knew the risk they were taking, however, their friend’s safety and sheer curiosity. They led deep into the forest and showed no signs of stopping.

Eventually, they came to a stop when they saw where Silver Stream ended up going.

“Oh great. This place again?” Smolder asked as she gazed up at the large broken castle of the two sisters.

The duel had followed her through the forest and right up to the majestic palace. It was a place that they did never truly gone only heard stories and tales of. They didn't see any reason for their friend to be there and they knew they sure weren't supposed to be there either. Just once more curiosity and concern towards the entrance and which like a dog on a leash they followed.

Inside they admired the broken draping tapestries that hung high on the walls. The old castle seemed to hold many stories and whispered in the wind. The history that was engraved in the walls would take a lifetime for someone to review.

“Silver Stream?” Cozy called out.

Smolder turned around to see the little pony staring at the hippogriff. “Silver Stream?”

Their friend stood in a trance as she swayed back and forth locked up to the wall in front of her. She took no acknowledgment of your friend's calls and only continue to sway back and forth.

“What are you doing here?” Smolder gasped.

The silence was their only response.

“We're not supposed to leave the school, you know that.”

Silence was still the only response.

“Silver Stream!” She growled.

“Smolder!” Cozy snapped.

“What?”

“Something is clearly wrong with her. You can't just yell.” Cozy bend down and got her to a friend's face. “Silver?” She whispered. “What's going on?”

Silver Stream Jolted her head as her eyes shifted to acknowledge her friend. “Are you alright?” Silver stream nodded in response. “Why did you come here?”

“He…”

“He what?”

“He led me here.”

“Who led you here?” Smolder interjected. Cozy Looked over at Smolder as they exchanged nods of understanding. Smolder had finally realized that something was horribly wrong with her friend. She knew what the situation had to be dealt with carefully.

“He led me here," she repeated. "He wanted me to come to find him. He said she was with us,” Silver Stream gasped.

“Who was with us where?” Cozy whispered.

“In the house.”

“Is she the one who attacked us?” Smolder whispered as she bent down next to her friend. Silver Stream nodded in confirmation. "Look, she isn't real-"

"Let her talk," Cozy interrupted. She spoke calmly to Silver Stream. "Go on Silver Stream."

"She is going to kill us like she killed him and his friends."

"Who?" Cozy then asked.

"I-I don't know," she said. Cozy saw she was holding something but couldn't make out what the item was. "All he told me is that no creature knows where he is at. She is going to do the same to us."

"Nothing bad is going to happen Silver Stream. You're just scaring yourself," Smolder reassured her. But the look in her face suggested that she was slightly worried about what was being told to her.

Cozy Glow looked at her weirdly at her friend. Part of her wanting to believe Silver, another wanted to think that Silver Stream was crazy. It would be the more sane, less dangerous option. Yet it stood out to her for some reason. It sounded familiar. She gasped as she then remembered Luna mentioning somepony going missing not too long ago.

Are they connected after all? Maybe Luna was on to something...I knew it. She does know something.

“Witch.”

"What?”

“They called her witch.” Silver Stream looked up at her two friends with a stamp of horror on her face. “She came with us,” she gasped. "She needs one of us."

"For what?" Cozy asked.

"To be free..." her voice drifted. "She's close... Savannah."

“Wait. Where is she now?” Cozy gasped.

Open your eyes.
It's time to see the morning sun
Don’t cry.
Don’t run.
Let’s see what the day becomes.

They all stood still, chills running up their spines.

See now spirit from the depth of the night, come forth now into the absence of light.

"Please tell me that's some creature just trying to break into a song," Smolder pleaded.

"I can hear him..." Silver Stream let out.

"W-what?" Smolder stuttered.

Their eyes traveled around the room, debating if they really wanted to know the source. Cozy got a glance at Silver Stream; her body trembling as she whimpered. It was at this moment that Cozy saw exactly what Silver Stream was holding tightly in her hands as she pulled it out in front of her.

"Silver Stream, what are you doing?! Stop! Don't do it!"

"I have to. You don't understand."

"Stop Silver Stream! Give me the knife."

Smolder got in between them and grabbed the knife away from Silver Stream. She flew up above them. Her arms crossed with a look of pity and disappointment. Cozy couldn't tell if Smolder was upset at Silver Stream or Cozy Glow. Cozy seemed sure that it was meant towards Silver Stream.

"Are you kidding me right now?! This is why you came here?!"

"W-what?" Cozy was shocked.

"You really want to do this to yourself?! To your family, your friends?" Smolder cried out in anger but also concern. "Instead of coming to your friends and talking to us about it, you choose to come here and...and..." Her voice drifted, unable to say it out loud.

"I--I... it's not like that. I wasn't going to do anything to myself."

"Oh, so this is plastic then?!" Smolder sarcastically asked, holding out the knife.

Silver Stream covered her ears and started rocking back and forth. "Shut up! Leave me alone! Get out of my head, please!"

"Smolder, you're not helping!" Cozy put her hoof on both sides of her cheeks and forced Silver Stream to look at her. "Tell us what going on with you," Cozy pleaded. "Let us help you."

"I feel like..."

Silver Stream started hyperventilating as she kept rocking back and forth. Cozy tried calming her down but it was no use. She mumbled silently to herself.

"What happened to her?" Smolder whispered to Cozy.

"I...I don't know."


"It all happened so fast," Cozy Glow's voice trembled. "When I saw the knife...I almost didn't react to it. My mind couldn't process it."

I found myself breathing more heavily now. So many memories flooded my mind.

"I just jumped on her, trying to get the knife away. Smolder didn't even--it took her a moment to realize what was going on."

Her eyes watered as she held back tears.

"Smolder then helped me get it away from her. She kept screaming but I couldn't make out what she was saying. We weren't sure what to do..." Her voice clearly distressed. "It took a while but we were able to calm her down. She said a voice kept telling her that she needed to," Cozy Glow made air quotes with her hoof. "find him."

"Find who?" I asked.

"No clue," she shrugged but her face said otherwise.

"But?" I pressed on.

"But...I thought it might have had something to do with the pony you told me about," she said. "The one who went missing."

My mind quickly thought of Timber Halls. I knew then what Silver Stream might by "finding him." If it was indeed him that was talking to her. It would explain why I hadn't seen him since the day I spoke with Spike in the courtyard. My only question was then why Silver Stream? He could have easily just kept talking to me.

"Maybe. It could be possible," I agreed.

She laid her head down on the table. "We took her back to the school and brought her to my room. I had Smolder watched her. We weren't sure what to do. I never dealt with anything like this before."

"No child should have to," I whispered to myself. "That's why you went to me?"

"Yeah. I was hoping to--"

"I know what you were trying to do," I said coldly.

"I knew it was wrong I just didn't know what else to do," Cozy admitted.

"Well, in your defense, normal ponies don't usually get attacked by ghosts." It was the first time she smiled during the conversation.

"I sure hope not." she laughed. "It was not a good day for sure."

I pitied her. I could see how this was all wearing her down. "Everything that happened with Silver Stream, this happened-"

"The night of the attack," she answered. "Yeah, it was. But you already know that."

"Not what led up to it," I corrected.


Cozy sat outside in the courtyard. Hours had already passed She told Smolder she would try not to be too long, but it depended on whether she would spot the princess or not. She knew that Luna hadn't left to Canterlot yet, or that was what she hoped for. All she could do was wait. She remembered hearing them say to meet up somewhere. Maybe they were planning to come back to the school.

Just as she was going to give up, in the distance she saw the same cat from the hospital. Beside him was no other than Princess Luna. Cozy assumed they were headed over to the castle much to her disappointment.

Getting into trouble should be the least of your worries. She needs to see this.

She got up from her seat and tried to catch up to them. "Princess Luna! Princess Luna!"

Princess Luna and her friend both jumped. Luna turned around and saw Cozy coming up to her.

"Cozy Glow?! What are-"

"I know. I know. Don't leave the school, follow the rules. But I need your help," Cozy was nearly out of breath. "T-there s-s-something wrong...I don't know..."

"Deep breaths, kid. Don't knock yourself out," the cat told her.

Luna put a wing around Cozy. "It's okay. I know it has been hard on you."

Cozy took the cat's advice and took a few deep breaths. Luna remained quiet and waited till she knew Cozy was calm down enough.

"Feel better?"

Cozy nodded.

"Okay. Now tell me what's wrong," Luna said calmly to her.

"It's my friend, Silver Stream. Something's wrong with her. She has been distant from us and talking to herself. All my friends are scare and freaking out and I don't know what to do."

Luna faced back at her friend who only shrugged. "Umm Cozy, this sounds like something you should go to Twilight or Starlight Glimmer for."

"I would," she said. "But I don't think she would understand this as you would."

Luna looked carefully at her. "In what way exactly."

Cozy clear her throat. "I can show you if you would please come with me?"

She can tell Luna was skeptical about going. "Look, Cozy I--"

"Please! For me," she jumped. "It would help a lot."

Without saying anything, Luna lowered herself down and placed a hoof on Cozy's cheek. She stood still not sure what the princess was doing or if she should move. Luna's eyes shot open after a few seconds. She looked more frightened than Cozy Glow was.

"Princess? Princess Luna? Are you okay?"

"Huh?... I mean yes. I'm fine, thank you," Luna said. She trotted past Cozy towards the school. "Capper?"

"I'll just wait at the castle," Capper pointed behind him.

"Very well. I will try not to be too long," she said before turning her attention to Cozy. "Take me to her."

Part One: Witch Way To Go

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"I don't understand. What happened?!" Ocellus asked Silver Stream and Smolder.

"Nothing!" Silver Stream yelled. "It was a misunderstanding."

"Then tell us what you were doing?!" Smolder yelled.

Silver crossed her arms. "You won't understand…you haven't seen her...hear him" she whispered.

"You mean...S-Savannah?" Yona asked.

"Okay enough with this Savannah shit!" Smolder roared. "We're not going to get through this if we keep bringing it up."

"So what? We want us to just let it go!" Gallus asked in disbelief.

She didn't even hesitate with an answer. "Yes."

"I hate to break it to you but I can't just let go what happened to me," Gallus shouted back to her.

"Well, that's your problem then. I'm not going to lose my mind cause everyone else here lost theirs."

"Guys, stop fighting!" Yona tried to intervene but was drowned out by the others.

"You don't understand, Smolder!' Silver Stream said. "You have no idea what's happening."

"I'm trying to but I also don't want to jump on anything crazy," Smolder said.

"Every creature, let's just calm down and collect our thoughts," Cozy Glow suggested.

Every creature took a moment in silence. They took small stares at each other before looking down at the floor.

Cozy waited before she was sure that everyone was calm enough before she turned over to Silver Stream. "Now then, can you please tell us what you were doing at the Castle of The Two Sister?"

Silver Stream sat down in the corner of the room and hugged her knees. "I just wanted to help. Someone did something in that house they weren't supposed to do. They release something... something very powerful and evil."

"Savannah?!" Yona asked.

Silver Stream shook her head. "Something that was once her."

"Is it her or not?" Smolder asked, confused.

"That's what he said."

"Who?" Ocellus asked.

She shrugged. "It's a voice I keep hearing. I don't know how to explain it but ever since we left the house, I kept hearing this voice. It told me this was going to happen. That we were going to be attacked by something. I didn't believe it at first but I heard the voices just like everyone else. I was only trying to help stop us."

"You've been listening to a voice in your head?" Smolder almost laughed.

"Smolder stop!" Ocellus and Cozy Glow said.

"What?!" Silver Stream stood back up and jumped in Smolder's face. "I'm not making this up."

"I didn't say that," Smolder pushed her back.

She grabbed onto both of Smolder's shoulders and held a tight grip on them. "Then stop looking at me like I'm crazy."

Smolder tried backing away from Silver Stream but wasn't able to. Silver kept her grip as she started to shove Smolder to the wall.

"Let go of me, Silver. Calm down," Smolder said, still trying to pull away.

"You were the one that brought me to that house. You did this to me! You did this to all of us!" Silver screamed in Smolder's face as she slammed Smolder to the wall.

For once, she actually was somewhat afraid of her friend. Silver Stream wasn't the one to act like this. Yes, she could be over-excited and dramatic but not like this. This wasn't like her at all and that's what made it frightening to Smolder.

"Stop! Silver Stream, let go!" Gallus flew behind Silver, grabbing her and pulling her away from Smolder. He sat her down on the bed as she continued to hyperventilate.

Smolder could only stare at Silver Stream. She tried to think of something to say but nothing came out.

"You okay?" Ocellus asked Smolder who only nodded in response.

"It's okay Silver Stream. Just calm down. You're okay," Gallus comforted her or at least tried to. She began taking deep breaths.

Cozy Glow stood back away from them watching how all of her friends were falling apart. They needed help but they also needed help from someone who would understand what was happening to them. She couldn't get out of her head what Silver stream had told them back at the castle of The Two Sister. If what she told them was really connected to what Luna was investigating then maybe they could figure out what exactly is going on.

"I'm going to be right back. Just stay here."

Without even waiting to hear a response, she ran out of the room. Unsure what to do next, the students waited for Cozy in her room while she was out. They weren't entirely sure what she was out doing. But it was not like they had any clue what to do nor what was going on. And despite the strain between them, they also didn't want to go off anywhere alone.


"And that was when you came to get me, correct?" I asked.

"Yes," she clarified.

"Do you have any idea what they were fighting about?"

She let out a light chuckle. "No, but I'm sure we both have a good idea of what it was based on. I have to ask though."

"What?"

"Did you once ever think that we were being... haunted by Savannah?"

I thought back to when she took me to confront the students. Admittedly, I didn't really think about what they were going through. I assumed that they were fine and didn't think anything was happening to them. The realization that I was wrong came at me like an oncoming train. It was unexpected and would hurt nonetheless.


It was like 2-3 hours when Cozy Glow came back with Princess Luna. They both heard yelling as they approached the door. No doubt in Luna and Cozy's mind that it was the students fighting with one another.

"That doesn't sound good," Cozy said.

Cozy Glow opened the door to her room and allowed Luna to trot in before her. What they saw when they entered was Smolder and Gallus jumping at each other while Gallus being held back by Ocellus and Smolder being held back by Yona.

"Guys, stop it already!" Ocellus yelled at her friends.

"Stop blaming me already! You agreed to go with me!" Smolder shouted.

"You knew what you were bringing us to!' Gullas shouted back.

"That's enough!"

Luna lit her horn up. All the students, except for Silver Stream and Cozy Glow, notice their bodies being wrapped with a blue magical orb as they were pulled away from each other but still held in place. It took them a second to realize what was happening and who caused it.

"Princess Luna?...well this is unexpected," Ocellus said.

Luna released them from their magical hold after a few seconds. She scanned the room. She needed to see Silver Stream. Luckily, she spotted her in the corner hugging her knees and eyes seemingly dead, staring at the floor.

"What has gotten into you all? I understand that you're worried about your friend. But you shouldn't be fighting with each other."

"I wish it was just that," Gallus snapped in a whisper.

Silver Stream stood back up from her spot in the corner. "I wish I never went to that stupid house."

Luna wasn't sure what to make out of what she just saw and heard. She looked down at Cozy Glow who looked back guiltily. "What has been happening to you all?"

Smolder scoffed at that. "None of us have a clue but according to Cozy Glow you do."

Luna suddenly felt stood up as the students looked up at her. She cleared her throat and said: "Cozy, I know you think I have all the answers but I don't. I wasn't even aware of what was happening with you all."

"Do you have an idea now?" Cozy said sharply.

"I don't know what game you're trying to play but it's not working," she said coldly at her.

"I'm not playing games, I'm trying to help my friends."

Luna laughed while she shook her head. "Fighting amongst each other is your way of helping?"

"Yona doesn't want to fight," Yona said.

"It's not like any of us wants too," Ocellus added.

"Then why are you?" Luna asked.

They went silent. They thought back to everything that has been happening to them that was the question. Why were they fighting? The answer used to seem so obvious but now being confronted with it and having to think about it it seemed almost irrelevant.

"I guess we were trying to blame someone for what happened with Sandbar," Cozy Glow spoke up.

Luna sighed in pity. She wasn't completely sure what was going on but was starting to get a better idea. It's worried her that they might be facing something similar to what she and her friends have faced. She knew that this was something she was going to have to alert the others and that they were going to have to look into. But at this moment, there was another problem in place that needed to be fixed.

"I understand that no one wants to take the blame when things like this happen. And friendships can be hard and are going to be times where you wonder why you are friends and if it's even worth seeing. Twilight wouldn't agree with this but sometimes the answer is no. but I don't think that is the case for you.

"What happened cannot be fixed nor changed but this can be. You can apologize to each other and take the blame for what happened and work through this together and not against each other."

The students looked away from each other ashamed of themselves. They knew that they were all going through something but instead of helping each other, they all resorted to fighting. They'd rather fight over whose fault it was rather than helping regardless of whose fault it was. Now because of it, their friend was clearly suffering in silence and had forgotten about Sandbar who was still at the hospital not even aware of how awful his friends had been to one another. even he would be disappointed at what his friends had become.

"Now, I would like to speak with…"Luna paused as she tried to remember their name.

Cozy caught this. "Silver Stream."

"Yes, Silver Stream. I would like to speak with you in private if that's okay."

"Sure I guess," she said quietly with a small smile. She walked past her friends and went to the door.

"And for the rest of you. I'm going to be at Twilight's Castle late into the night so if you need me I'll be there." Luna then trotted out of the room with Silver Stream.

When the door closed Gallus asked: "So want to explain why you brought her here?"

Cozy was both somewhat relieved but also upset and with a sign quickly ran out of the room.

"Princess Luna?!" She tried to alert Luna.

Luna stopped in place and turned around. "Yes?"

"I need to know. Do you have any idea what's going on? You see the mess my friends are in."

"Look, I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what's going on but from the looks of it you might have more answers that would help me figure that out," Luna countered back at Cozy Glow.

She froze when Luna said that. She could tell from the cold glare that Luna wanted to hear more from her. Cozy Glow was afraid of what might happen if she knew exactly what they did.

"Silver Stream might know a thing or two about that missing pony you are investigating. You should go talk to her," she quickly said to the princess before running back to the others.

As the day was coming to an end the fear in the students rose as the darkness would soon overcome the light. The group had collectively decided that it was best that they stayed in numbers and decided to start up a buddy system; everyone was on board except for Ocellus. She wanted nothing more than to just be alone and collect her thoughts.

After slight persuasion, she too was convinced that staying alone was the last thing that was good for their safety. With that, they all chose Silver Stream's room as their barricade. That was of course after they had spent hours cleaning the room up. Silver Stream showed no resistance as she only stayed silent in her room only mumbling words and phrases from time to time.

Silver Stream slept in her bed as the others had prepared sleeping bags.

As the moon took its place in the sky raining over its nightly throne, kind words were exchanged as the students wished each other a good and peaceful sleep in the night. They all went off to the room and shut the door slowly, each of them very hesitant. They could only hope that nothing bad would happen to them if they were all together.

As the hours passed, Cozy Glow found herself wide awake with the Moon. She stared at the rays of light refracting through the window just as her mind was reflecting all of her thoughts. She rolled over to see that her friends were all sound asleep and even a few snoring. She rolled over again. This time on her back and looked up to the ceiling wondering if her mind would ever get tired like her body was.

She saw something laid on the floor underneath the bed. She clawed to the bed and reached her hoof out and pulled it out. She saw that it was a book. The same book that she got and gave to Ocellus. The book that held the tale that started all of this. The others weren't aware of the spells and secrets that were in the book. But she knew. She noticed a page was bookmarked. She opened the book and looked over the page. Cozy Glow at the moment wished she knew how to read Latin.

Why does Silver Stream have this? Has she been reading this?

She laid back down with the book next to her head. She would talk to Silver Stream about it in the morning. She knew this must have had something to do with why she ran off to the Castle Of The Two Sister. Alas as the night passed on, soon her mind ran out of fuel. It finally started to linger. Eventually, her eyes became heavy and she fell into a deep slumber.

"Witch!"

"Witch!"

"Witch!"

A cyclone of voices encircled all around filling the void in her heart. A spark, a flame she hoped that once was alive; now only laid in ruins. The whole world was truly against her and the breadth of the flame would set her free. As the voice continued to ravage her, eating her alive, gnawing her down to the bone till there was nothing left but an empty corpse, a husk of her former self. Innocence light turned to darkness, dreams turned to hatred and hope turned to anger. This is how monsters and demons were made.

Another voice enveloped the room which was not of anger but of a cry of pain. Cozy Glow's eyes shot open as panic flooded her body. She jumped up only to bump into Gallus. They both looked at each other and then looked over to the source of the one who screamed. The lights to the room lit up and they were horrified to see Ocellus screaming as she held onto her arm.

"Ocellus?" Gallus screamed as he ran over to her. "What's wrong?"

"Oh golly," Cozy gasped.

They both saw her arm which sizzled with the stain of fire that was left behind.

"What happened?" Gallus gasped.

"My arm," she cried as tears rolled down her cheeks. She was holding tightly on her arm. "S-something b-burned my arm."

"What in Equestria!?" Smolder screamed as she too jumped up.

Gallus looked over at Yona. "Yona!"

Yona was by the light switch watching the others trying to aid Ocellus who was still crying out in pain.

She already knew what he was going to tell her. "Yak on it."

She quickly left the room and headed over to Twilight's castle. While they waited for her to get back with help, Cozy did the best she could to help Ocellus. She wasn't really good at things like this but she needed to try something. She couldn't leave her friend in pain.

"How bad is it?" Cozy asked, trying to move Ocellus's hoof away. "Let me see. I need to see how bad is it?"

Ocellus slowly removed her hoof. "It h-hurts really b-bad."

"I know it does. But don't worry," Gallus reassured her.

"Yeah, Yona will be back here with Twilight and she will help you," Cozy said.

Ocellus groaned, more tears forming. Cozy saw from the corner of her eyes that Silver Stream was holding the book. Cozy Glow went up to her and took it away much to Silver Stream's surprise.

"Why do you have this?! You can't even read Latin."

Silver Stream didn't answer. She stood up from her spot; her breath shaken. "No...don't tell me."

"What?" Gallus asked.

"Somepony else is here."

Gallus froze hearing Silver's Stream word. "W-what do you mean?"

The room went silent as a burst of ominous laughter echoed from the walls. The students all exchanged glances of curiosity as they search for the source of the laughter. The laughter continued but was far darker and with a bit of a growl. They all looked at each other and got up, screaming unanimously. They charged for the door and nearly trampled one another as they broke out. They tripped over each other into the hallway as they landed at the feet of a familiar face.

"Yona went to get help."

"Princess Luna?" Silver Stream asked shockingly.

Cozy looked up to see their Yak companions standing over them. They look to the side to see that she had brought the company in the form of a princess, a cat, and what could only be described as a ball of chaos.

"I'm not even surprised at this point," Cozy said sharply. "Why do you keep showing up in my life now?"

"I could ask the same thing. Now, what is going on here?" Luna gasped.

Before anyone had any time to respond to her question the door behind the children slammed shut from a mysterious and unseen force. Everyone stood frozen and stared at the door. They exchanged glances of confusion and great concern.

"Well, that surely is something there isn't it," Discord nervously chuckled.

"M-maybe it was the wind?" Gallus's shaky voice suggested.

"Maybe we should take the children somewhere away from the room with self shutting doors," Capper said.

Luna left the kids to the library and calmed them down. She then comforted them and tried to ease their nerves. Discord and Capper bravely ventured back into the room with a bit of hesitation in every step they took. The hinges creak and fought back as Discord force it open. He took a deep breath and sighed as he was getting familiar with the set of all the events that seemed to keep repeating themselves for him.

"Alright, I've done this a million times already so let's just get on with this salary." Discord sighed.

Without hesitation, he barged into the room and slowly looked around the dark and walls. Though he had witnessed the door slamming, it mostly seemed normal and was far-fetched from what he had experienced before. Capper walked in with a bit more hesitation than Discord and looked around and caution rather than charging in.

"Do you sense anything?" Capper asked.

"Sense?" Discord chuckled.

"Yeah, don't you sense things like this or something?" Capper asked, confusingly.

"Umm no, what do you think my powers do exactly?" Discord laughed.

"I honestly have no idea. I never got into exactly what you are."

"Well, I'll have you know that I am indeed a draconequus good sir." Discord voiced with great pride.

"Not what I meant," Capper rolled his eyes. " I meant your soul dreamer powers."

"Oh, I see," Discord sighed. "Well, I'm right there with you, unfortunately. Just similarly to Luna, I can see into the world of the dead but only in my sleep. Except I also have some weird dreams too."

"There's a connection between the two of you," Capper observed.

"Something like that."

"You said that it was your job to protect her."

"That was what I was told," Discord bent down and looked under the bed. "It's our job to help the living and the dead. I see them from the outside, she sees them from the inside."

"So this was your choice then?"

Discord remembered back when he first met Silver Blitz. When he said he would help her even when she told him to run. "I guess. If it was Luna's choice, we wouldn't be doing this."

"So why do you want to?" Capper opened the closet door and peeked inside. "Forgive me for the false assumptions but you don't look like the type to want to get involved with things like this."

"Like I said if it was Luna's choice, we wouldn't be doing it." Discord went by the window. "That's the thing though. She doesn't get one. So even if I walked away she still stuck with them."

Capper scoffed at Discord's reasoning. "So you forced yourself to help her?"

Discord gave Capper a cold stare. "I didn't force myself to do anything, Capper. Bold of you to assume that I can't help a friend for the sake of not leaving them alone or to be a good friend."

"I didn't mean it like that," Capper backtracked.

"I know what you meant," Discord growled as he flew past Capper. "Tell Luna I'm going to search around the school."

Discord left a speechless Capper as he ventured out to the outer reaches of the school. Not sure what to do, he decided to return to Luna and the children.

"Did you find anything?" Luna asked.

"Nothing interesting," Capper admitted.

"And Discord?"

"He's looking around the school." Capper turned and saw the small dragon that was tending to the changeling's wombs. "Spike?"

"Hey," Spike smiled. "Long time, no see," he chuckled.

"You found the first aid kit?"

"Yeah. I guess these kinds of things are a routine now I suppose." Spike Look down at the burn that still sizzled with heat. "And you swear you didn't see what this did?" Ocellus nodded back to him. "Smolder?"

"What?! I didn't do this!" She defended.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Just making sure."

"Actually, that's a good point. You didn't get anything from the kids?" Capper whispered to Luna.

"Not really, unfortunately," Luna sighed. "They say they didn't see anything."

Capper stretched out his arms as he let out a loud yawn. He walked over to the students and sat next to the little pegasus. She looked so scared and so innocent. It was heartbreaking to him. He put his paw on her head and rubbed this softly and chuckled. He gave her a small smile. The little pony looked up to him and smiled back.

"They're going to be alright, kid, we'll find out what's going on here," he assured her.

"I hope so," she said. The two of them watched Luna and Spike help Ocellus. Capper could see that her eyes laid on Luna.

It was then that he noticed the light glaring off of a shiny surface. He turned his head to see that Cozy Glow had a peculiar book sitting next to her. She seemed to really focus on Luna and her own thoughts. He took his hand off her head and slowly slid the book towards them making sure she was unaware of his actions. He then swiftly slid the book behind him until they hit the opposite paw and stood up cautiously.

He got up and went out of view of the group to get a better look at the book. He opened the book and flips through some of the pages. The first thing that Capper noticed in the book was in Latin. He didn't know a lot but he did catch a few phrases here and there. His eyes went wide as he scanned new columns and pictures of very descriptive in disturbing creatures.

He looked back down at the party. He hid the book behind his back. Cozy realized that Capper was no longer sitting next to her. Her eyes roamed the room in search of him until she turned behind her and saw him standing there. Capper gave her a parting smile as he cautiously walked away. He leaned up against the wall next to Luna as she stood over Ocellus. Capper glanced down at the little dragon who was expertly tending to her wounds. He chuckled to himself as a sign that he was quite impressed at how far Spike had come in his practices.

"Luna," Capper called out to her in a whisper. The princess looked up at him and raised an eyebrow at his actions. Capper tilted his head in the direction away from the group. She stood up and followed the cat as they excused themselves.

"What is it?" Luna asked when they were away from the group. Capper responded by holding up the book.

"Umm," Luna just blankly stared at the quiet cat. She took the book and glanced at its cover. It appeared to be another one of Spike's horrific books that she had become all too familiar with at that point. She only shrugged and glanced up at Capper. "What about it?"

"I didn't get it from Spike," Capper groaned. "I got it from her." Capper pointed to the little curly-haired pony that sat innocently among the group.

Luna took no time to comprehend any of the news but instead took the book with her and walked over to the little pony. "Cozy, can I talk to you please?"

"What is it?" Cozy whispered softly.

Capper saw Luna and Cozy Glow trotted out of the library and into the hallway.

"There you go," Spike smiled. He was quite proud of the work he had done as he looked down at the bandaged arm.

"Thank you," Ocellous smiled back. "It does feel a lot better."

"I'm glad," Spike said in pride.

He then went over to Capper and the two started talking. Smolder took this moment to sit next to her changeling friend.

"Ocellus, I'm really sorry."

"For what?" she asked not making any eye contact.

"For everything." Smolder rubbed the side of her arm. She faced the others this time. "I'm sorry that this is all happening to us."

"None of this would be happening if it weren't for me. I-I don't like seeing my friends getting hurt especially because of me. I put my friends at risk not caring about the consequences. Maybe Cozy Glow was right. I didn't care about what happened to anyone but myself. Now all of my friends are getting hurt by something that I caused." She covered her face with her claws, her eyes watered. "I'm such a bad friend."

No creature said anything; she took this as them agreeing with her. She hoped that they knew that she truly was sorry.

However, Smolder was taken back by the sudden hug from Yona. "Dragon not a bad friend."

"Yeah," Gallus stepped in. "If anything, you were right. We all agreed to it. We should have known better."

"Yona knew we would get in trouble and said nothing," Yona said. "Yona should have spoken up and said no."

"Instead, we choose to blame you. We weren't being good friends either," Ocellus added.

Silver Stream then stood in front of them all and put her head down. "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to scare you all like that. I swear that wasn't what I was trying to do. I only meant to help you all. I guess I should have come to you instead of pushing you all away."

"Well, you're here now and that's all that matters," Smolder said with a smile. "Just don't scare us like that again."

"Promise," Silver Stream said, returning the smile back.

"Yona don't care whose fault it is. Just as long as her friends get along and are there for each other." Yona grabbed Smolder and Gallus and pulled them into a tight hug.

"Do you care if we breathe?" Smolder joked as she tried pushing herself away from Yona.

"Oh...sorry."

Yona blushed and let her friends go. Gallus and Smolder dramatically gasped for air and caught their breaths. The students laughed and for the first time in a while, they weren't mad at each other. After the laughter died out, Smolder smiled back at the group.

"So we're all good now? No more fighting?" Smolder asked hopefully.

The students glanced at each other and nodded back at Smolder.

"Yeah, we're good," Ocellus confirmed.

"Yona wants friends to make up," the yak agreed with a nod.

"As Princess Luna said, we need to be there for each other," SIlver Stream said.

"Now I have to make up with Cozy Glow and all will truly be well."

"Where is she anyway?" Gallus asked.

They heard Spike talking to Capper which made them turn their attention to him.

"How's it going on your end?" Spike asked.

"We really haven't found anything, to be honest," Capper shamefully admitted.

"Umm, where's Cozy Glow?" Smolder called out to them.

"Speaking of which, where's Luna?" Spike's eyes searched the room.

"Oh, right. Luna's just confronting your friend about something," Capper said as he motioned towards the hallway.

Suddenly the library doors slammed shut. Smolder and Silver Stream jumped at the sound while Ocellus let out a yelp. Spike and Capper looked at each other and then ran over to the doors.

"That doesn't sound good!" Yona cried out.

"Luna!" Spike called out as he ran to the locked doors.

"What happened?" Capper gasped.

"I don't know," Spike groaned as he pulled on the doors. "The door just slammed shut and I…"

They both froze as they heard screaming coming from the hallway where their friends were now trapped.

Part One: The Story Unfolds

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“Let me see what you have,” Spike said as he took the pictures from Discord’s paw.

The night had settled over us at the point as the weather violently expressed itself through streaks of lightning and thunder. The trees swayed violently to the rhythm of the rain as the bombardment of water showed no mercy to the landscape.

Discord seemed especially on edge as he jumped at every clash of thunder that passed by him. I couldn’t tell if it was due to Trixie’s condition or due to the fact that he was perhaps used to the routine of ghosts, symbols, and finding what everything means in the end. I was just glad that the routine involved Spike as he seemed so calm at the moment. I was always curious about how he processed the moment whenever we came to him asking about the meaning of whatever supernature we had for him.

“Alright,” Spike sighed as he brought about one of his infamous death books. He flipped through the pages quickly scanning through every line and passing every terrifying picture.

Discord took a deep sigh as he walked over to the window and pecked out to the crowded night sky. His eyes light up as another streak of lighting blattered the landscape. I too was mesmerized by the intensity of the display; It seemed oddly fitting as it often did whenever we found ourselves dealing with spirits.

“Wow, Discord gasped. “It seems the pegasus is trying out a touch of chaos in the weather tonight. No doubt they found their inspiration from yours truly.” He chuckled slightly, though it seemed oddly for himself as if he didn’t expect a response.

I tried to respond but my jaw was locked as my mind was flustered with thoughts. I couldn’t even make out whatever Spike said as a response. It was all just a blur of sounds that clashed together in an attempt to be understood. Alas, all was lost before the war that waged overhead, and the great rumble that came from it.

Some time had passed and Spike seemed frustrated as he found no information through numerous books. Discord seemed only amused by his frustration as if it brought him comfort. I on the other hoof was lost in my own world that only included whatever monstrosity was in front of me.

The book read about a devious little beast that had another odd name that I couldn't pronounce, but apparently, it roughly translated to the evil changeling, shifter child, or skin deserve. They were said to disguise themselves as the younglings of other species. They would then feed off of the mothers of the species until they were dead. They were known to be very territorial and protective of their food source; they would die protecting their food from even their own kind. Apparently, they were also very toxic and extremely poisonous which only added to their lethality.

Suddenly the changelings that we had all come to know and love didn’t seem that bad. I was certainly glad that we got stuck with Chrysalis instead of those little demons. For some reason, my mind took this back to Cadence and the incident that we had with her. An incident that seemed like a lifetime ago by that point.

“Welp,” Spike groaned. “I got nothing.” He tossed the book aside in submission.

“Really?” Discord chuckled. “You found nothing?”

“Nope,” Spike sighed. “It seems that these books mostly have lore and myths from a totally different part of Equestria that apparently don’t involve any of these symbols.”

“So you have nothing then,” I finally said.

“Well, not nothing.” Spike turned around and brought out another much more normal-looking book. “Capper and I did find a few things while you and Discord were out.”

“Such as?” Discord jumped.

“It seems that our friend Savannah was in fact a resident of Equestria quite some time ago.” He flipped to a page that had many old newspapers and many small papers clipped to the side of the page. “She was a nurse at the village and tended foals of their illnesses. She was apparently known as the best nurse of the village.”

“Cool cool,” Discord edged on. “And? What happened to her?”

“Well,” Spike cringed. “I can’t confirm this 100 percent, but I think I have a clear picture of what went on.” He took a deep breath as he prepared his story for us. “So this is Timber Wing,” He said as he held up a picture of a tall well-built stallion. “He had a huge crush on Savannah here. This was confirmed by a report that many gave of him trying to kiss her but was rejected by her. There were a lot of rumors going around by other nurses who were clearly jealous of Savanna.”

“Rumours?” I whispered.

“Ya, they would say she was a witch and that she used dark magic in order to heal the foals. Obviously just a cheap tactic in order to ruin her. However, what seemed to do it is when Tinder Wing’s son fell ill and seemingly died overnight in Savanna’s care.”

“Ahhh,” Discord said as he nodded his head. He clearly saw where the story was leading.

“No doubt,” Spike continued. “This caused the other nurses to go wild on their accusations and others were quick to follow. Tinder Wing was no doubt also quick to jump on the train as he had just lost his son and was rejected by her. Though the story varies here, it seems that he offered to drop the accusations if she agreed to marry him.”

“She said no,” I confirmed as I too nodded my head knowing pretty much what happened.

“Yup, and this led to a trial of whether she really was a witch or not. Despite the counsel actually voting to let her go at first, Tinder Wing’s influence had the charges go through. This left her to deal with the maximum penalty of having her limbs removed one by one, being scalped, and then burnt at the stack.”

“Sweet heaven!” I gasped.

“What the Hell?!” Discord gasped in near unison with me.

“Ya, they seemed pretty serious about dealing with dark magic.”

“Ya, you don’t say.” While I couldn't see my face I bet it displayed the same horrified look that Discord’s did right beside me.

There was a long moment of silence as we all exchanged glances of horror. Spike closed his books and started to stack them neatly. Discord and I jumped once more when the silence was broken by the rumbles of thunder overhead.

“Sooooo…?” Spike said, ending the rain of silence in the room.

“Well, we need to find out what the symbols mean,” Discord responded. “Any idea where you would find that out?”

“Agreed,” I said. “Any ideas?”

“We could bring some books from the Castle Of The Two Sister and see if we can find anything there?” Spike suggested.

“Alright, I guess,” Discord groaned at the thought of reading even more books.

“Well, I’m going to be right back,” I said as I started headed out.

“What for?”

“Twilight’s students followed us to the house,” Discord answered for me.

“What?!”

“Yeah,” I said. ”I’m going to confront her about it.”

“Who?” Spike asked. “But also more importantly why?”

“Cozy Glow but I don’t think she was alone,” I chuckled. “As for why...that’s is what I am going to find out.”

From there I had left to confront Cozy about why she had followed us. The confrontation was short and sweet, as everything was with her. She seemed just like a very curious foal who didn’t understand the situation in front of us, so I couldn't blame her for her curiosity.

"Wait, just out of curiosity, what is the Fallen?" Cozy tilted her head to the side. "I never heard of them before."

"That's probably because it's not really Equestrian. The Fallen came from old tales from other countries. I would be very surprised if even someone as much as a bookworm as Twilight would know of it." I pointed out so casually. My eyes then widened open as a thought came to me. It all made sense to now. "Of course. It's not Equestrian."

I ran back to Spike and Discord who was now at Twilight’s castle. Spike was flying around, holding a pile of books and setting them down on the table. Discord was lazily flipping through the book he was “reading.”

“Not Equestrian?!” Discord asked dumbfounded.

“It would make sense why we didn’t recognize them and why we can’t find anything on them,” I pointed out. “Also, it could explain why they were afraid of Savannah. Ponies weren’t and in some ways still aren’t open to things outside of Equestria.”

“Well,” Spike sighed as he went off into thought. “I bet if we go off and do a little more research we could find something.”

“We...” Discord gasped.

“We’re just gonna have to go out of our comfort zone again.”

I paused at Discord’s stale face. He really didn’t like the whole “we” stuff and it was enough to cause me to chuckle. He and Spike began to discuss the We business when another thought made its way into my head. I had totally forgotten about Cozy Glow following us. I wasn’t quite sure why it made its way back, but it was something I still had to but didn’t really want to, deal with.

“And by we you mean you and Luna, right?”

“Nope,” I interjected. “It means you and Spike.”

“What, why?” Spike said, taken back.

“Ya, why? You just left,” Discord also asked. “Where are you gonna go?”

I took a small pause as I decided whether or not to take the time to explain the situation to them. Though the way things were going and had gone in the past, I knew time was not in our favor. “I just have to meet up with someone, that’s all.”

“Really?” Discord groaned.

“Ya,” I snapped back. “You have a problem with that?”

“Nope,” Spike chuckled. “We’ll be fine.”

“Ya, we will,” Discord grunted.

After that, I had my way to the second incident that seemed to be boiling. I knew that Capper had left for the hospital to check up on Trixie after her attack, but I still couldn’t help but check in on her myself.

“How is she?” I asked as I was confronted by the guardian.

“The doctor says she’s fine for now, though they admit that they’re not quite sure what was wrong with her.”

“What do you mean?” I gasped.

“Well,” he chuckled. “There really weren't any injuries to her besides a single bite mark.” Capped turned to her room and then back at me. “I don’t know, it just seems…”

“Off,” I added.

“Ya.” He paused for a moment as he watched another nurse walk in and out of her room. He then cleared his throat as he smiled at me. “What about you? You find anything?”

“Not about the symbols,” I sighed. “They're not from anywhere around here so Spike couldn’t find anything in any of his 2 million demon books.”

“Ehh,” Capper said with another smile. “I’m sure they’ll find something with a little bit of time.

“I sure hope so,” I whispered to myself.

“Excuse me,” One of the doctors called out to us. “She’s awake now.”

Capper and I both lit up for a brief moment as we exchanged smiles of relief. We ran into the room as my heart was beating both out of anticipation and relief. Sure enough, Trixie was sitting up as a nurse was talking to her and asking her if she felt any pain. The nurse then checked her eyes and wrote something down on her clipboard.

“Trixie?” I called out. Trixie just glanced over to me and then back to the wall in front of her. Her head swayed slightly and her eyes stood still.

“Are you alright?” I got closer and waved my hoof in front of her face as I tried to get some kind of response from her. “Are you feeling ok?” I stood up after a moment of silence and looked at the nurse.

“She was like this when I was trying to ask her questions too. I think she’s just in shock.”

I knelt down again and tried a softer tone. “ Hey, Trixie?” I whispered. “Can you hear me?” I was surprised when she actually nodded in response.

“Ok, good.” I looked back at Capper who silently leaned against the wall. “Are you ok?” She shook her head slightly. “Why not? What’s wrong?” The silence was my only response. I took a deep breath as my mind tried to justify what was wrong with her at the moment.

“We were hoping that she would respond to you better which is why we called you in here.”

“I see,” I said as I turned to the nurse. “And you said that there wasn’t anything apparently wrong with her?”

“Not as far as we can tell.”

I turned back to Trixie who stared coldly at the wall. “Hello?” I whispered again. “Are you alright Trixie?” She once more slowly shook her head. “So what’s wrong?” Once more, to my frustration, she didn’t respond.

“Can I help you?” I groaned as I plopped my head down in defeat at her silence.

“Hold on,” Capper said as he pulled me back. “Let me try something.” He went down on his knees and put his paw in front of his face. Suddenly to my surprise his paw started to glow with beautiful golden light. The light took the shape of a small golden flame that he waved back and forward. Trixie’s gaze finally broke from the wall and locked onto the golden flame. “What do you remember, Trixie?”

“Wow!” I gasped. I gasped seeing what Capper had just done. It had just come to me that Shria must have taught Capper a few things about using his power while they were at Las pegasus. This was a talk I planned on bringing up to Capper later.

“Pain,” Trixie whispered.

“I remember the pain.”

Part One: A Beacon In The Night

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I leaned forward and placed my hoof on her cheek. She took comfort in it as she gave a light smile but only for a moment. Though I also wanted to see it for myself and this would be the only time I could. I needed to do it while she was still in this state.

I felt myself being pulled into another vision through Cozy's perspective. I felt her mind racing as she jumped on top of Silver Stream. The two of them struggled against each other, fighting over the knife.


"Are you kidding me right now?! This is why you came here?!"

"W-what?"

"You really want to do this to yourself?! To your family, your friends? Instead of coming to your friends and talking to us about it, you choose to come here and...and..." Her voice drifted, unable to say it out loud.

"I--I... it's not like that. I wasn't going to do anything to myself."

"Oh, so this is plastic then?!"

"Shut up! Leave me alone! Get out of my head, please!"

"Smolder, you're not helping! Tell us what going on with you. Let us help you."

"Princess? Princess Luna? Are you okay?"

I shook my head and took a step back away from her. Everything went back to normal instantly and I once again was back in reality. I took a second to catch my breath and clear my mind of Cozy's thoughts. I didn't need to dwell on anypony else's emotions.

Cozy was confused about my actions but didn't say anything to me which I was grateful for. Other than the deep breaths, it wasn't obvious what I had done.

Okay, at least I'm getting better at this.

"Huh?... I mean yes. I'm fine, thank you." I understood what Cozy meant now. This was serious. "Capper?"

"I'll just wait at the castle," Capper pointed behind him.

"Very well. I will try not to be too long." I didn't need to think too deeply about some of the things Silver Stream said.

"Take me to her."


"Am I in trouble?" Silver Steam avoided making eye contact with me. We trotted down the hall of the school as we spoke to each other. Next to flying, trotting made it easier to think. Ever since my wing broke, I started going on random walks through the royal garden. I preferred flying but it would have to do for now at least.

"No. Not with me," I said. "However, what Cozy Glow told was...concerning and is something that I can't just let go." Regret filled my voice. I didn't want to be the one to inform Twilight what Silver was thinking about doing to herself but knowing from my own experience, you could never take these things lightly.

"Look, I don't know what she and Smolder told you but it wasn't like that," she cried to me, her arms crossed. "I would never think to do...that to myself."

"Then what were you doing?" I asked.

"I was hearing voices. He kept telling me that I needed to find him. That finding him would stop her." Her claws were shaking as her voice dropped. I had to lean closer to her. I wasn't sure if she was whispering so nopony would hear us or if she was simply scared.

"I am afraid I don't understand who you are referring to."

She titled her head to the side and scratched the back of her neck. "I don't know who he is. He never told me his name. All he said was I needed to find him. Then I could stop Savannah."

"Stop her from what?" Was she talking about Timber Hall? He told me these things as well but why? When thinking about it, I realized that TImber Hall hadn't talked to me since seeing him in the courtyard at Twilight's School. If Silver Stream was right about this then why would he care about Savannah? What did she have to do with him? Something wasn't adding up.

"He said she was going to kill us." Tears were forming in her eyes. "I could hear her...singing this song. It was beautiful but also really scary." I used my hoof to wipe her tears rolling down her cheek.

"It's going to be okay, young one. I'm going to figure this out." I felt so bad for them. She was so scared of whatever was going with them. We needed to get to the bottom of this and fast. "Why do you have the knife? What were you doing?"

"He told me to bring it. I don't even know why I listened to him so much. He's not nice to me and he scares me. I guess I hoped he would keep his word and help us if I found him."

I nodded but there were so many things I wanted to say to her. It had to be Timber Hall talking to her. I figured he wanted her to find his body. I was confused why he all of a sudden stopped wanting my help.

"I swear I wasn't trying to hurt myself. I was trying to protect my friends. I can't lose anymore." She sniffled and rubbed her eyes. "I lost so much because of Storm King. I can't go through that again."

It then came to me that this was more than just her hearing voices and being scared about what happened to them in the house. She was not just afraid of what would happen to her but more so even afraid of what was going to happen to her friends around her. They were fighting and it was very clear that there was a strain between them. I can only imagine the effect that her friends and family back in her home country had because of the Storm King. It was both sad and frustrating to see a young child being forced to go through that.

I wrapped my wings around Silver Stream, taking her by surprise. "Never is going to happen to you or to them. I promise you that you will all be okay."

"Promise?" There was so much hope in her eyes.

I knew I shouldn't have made a promise I wasn't sure I will be able to keep. However, making it would make sure that I would do everything to make sure that I could.

"I promise."


“Pain, I remember the pain.” The words of Trixie echoed throughout the group. Capper was the first to repeat the words we heard at the hospital. “That was basically the premise of what she told us.”

I had made my way back to the castle after talking to Silver Stream. I told Smolder to keep an eye on her to which she agreed. We met in the main throne room where Spike waited to tell us what he and Discord had found. Spike sat in the seat with Twilight's cutie mark with books in his claws. Discord flew by us circling the table.

We too had information to tell them, though I was thinking that what Capper and I had to share was far more grimacing.

“So what happened to her?” Spike had asked while he started to lay out his books across the table in front of him.

“Well…” Capper said as his voice rose in pitch.

“She really didn’t tell us much,” I interjected. “She was really shaken up.”

“Wait, what?!” Spike gasped. “Did she tell you anything about what happened to her?” Spike shifted in his seat as he leaned in closer.

I sighed to myself as I knew that the answer was going to lead to more questions. Capper and I had left the hospital earlier that day and unfortunately, it had left us speechless. She started by repeating the word pain. After a moment of her staring at the flame that Capper waved in front of her, she started to go on about what happened to her that night.



It was honestly quite amazing to witness. Capper calmly wielded the flame like a sorcerer would use while fighting a powerful monster. He seemed confident and calm as he approached the sensitive situation. Trixie herself seemed like she was almost in a trance. Her eyes locked onto the fire and followed its trail of sparks and smoke as it sizzled away in the quiet hospital room.

I don’t remember much about what I was personally doing during the session but I imagine I simply stood and stared in awe at events as they unfolded before me.

Capper took his time before he started talking. He simply let her worlds trail on before he finally added dialogue to his investigation. “What happened?” He whispered almost to himself.

Trixie paused for a moment before she half-stuttered her words. “IIIIIt... Was dark, and fast.”

“What was?”

“The...the... MONSTER!!… the monster...” Trixie’s words started at a near shout but faded to a whisper as she ended in a sigh.

Capper somehow didn’t jump at the sudden rise in her tone; I however jumped back and nearly bumped into the wall. Capper on the other hand stayed still as he contemplated his next move. He took a slight yet subtle intake of air before he continued.

“What was the monster?” He asked with more volume in his approach.

“Darkness,” she whispered back.

“What was the darkness?” Capper added on in a subtle tone.

“Fa…,” Her words were quiet and unfortunately incohesive.

“It was what?”

“Fa...fast,” She took a deep breath as her eyes seemed to gain life. ”It was so fast. They...did something to me...to them." She put a hoof on the side of her neck. "I saw something...someone...I thought I knew them...”

"I thought I was going to die. Everything was burning inside me. My body felt like it was ripping itself apart."

"Do you know anything about who did this to you?" I asked her.

"Death...it was always greeting me. Letting me know he was near. I didn't think it would be that close to me. It's like he wants to taunt me now. I didn't want to die but I have been ready to die for a while now." Trixie finally took the time to break contact with the flame.



“Is that it?” Spike groaned.

“Hey,” Capper chuckled. “That was way harder to get than you think.”

After our encounter with Trixie, we had decided to make our way back to the duo that was Discord and Spike. We hadn’t gotten much from our traumatized friend and thus needed some answers. We were hoping that Spike and Discord had more success than Capper and I.

“Ya, she really went on about how painful it was.” Capper sat down in a chair next to Spike as his gaze fell deep into his thoughts. “I really couldn’t make out anything from what she was describing, but it doesn’t seem like it’s anything supernatural.”

“What makes you think that?” Spike asked as he looked up from his book.

“Well, she said it bit her.” Capper’s words were followed by an eerie silence.

“Well… is she alright?” Spike seemed to ask with a hint of awkwardness behind his voice. I assumed he was waiting for something more gruesome or shocking. Unfortunately, the little dragon had seen far too much for a simple wild animal attack to be intriguing.

“Well, that’s the point,” Capper chuckled. “Other than being shaken up, she’s fine,” Capper smirked at the same realization that I had come to. “Doesn’t fully speak demons to me.”

“I don’t know,” I hesitantly added. “What if it was?”

The outburst seemed almost random to me; as if someone else had spoken through me. Though only moments later my mind revived many memories of what Trixie had told us. She mostly talked about some creature that was fast and dark, but she slowly added more after quite some time of waiting. Soon after she started to make some sense; she started to ask if she was going to die.

Capper seemed all to calm with the situation. I, on the other hand, was completely taken back by it. Capper assured her that she was fine and even asked her if she knew where she was. This for some reason led her to ask rather daunting questions about the afterlife and if we’ve ever thought about death.

After a whole round of trivia about the afterlife and philosophy about religion; I was almost certain that she really was about to die. That, and the fact that I was ready to win The Jeopardy of the afterlife. Either way, it was definitely concerning.

“She went on and on about what comes after, and stuff about dying.” I continued to explain my concerns with the group who still seemed immune to the simple concept of death and suffering. “Is no one else gonna point this out?”

“I don’t know Luna,” Capper sighed. “I mean she was attacked and could have died if she was injured enough. Don’t you think she was in some pretty bad shock when we saw her?”

“No,” I shot out without much thought. “Well, maybe,” I added this time actually thinking before I spoke. “I don’t know; I guess.” I took a moment to reflect on the very reasonable solution that was presented to me. It took me only a second to realize that I shot down the really reasonable answer too soon.

“Well, I know when I first almost died I wasn’t fully in my right mind,” Spike laughed.

“Same,” Capper added as he joined in with the laughter.

“Anyways,” I groaned as I interrupted their session. “ Since we’ve “decided” to be less concerned about our friend, can you tell us what you two found?”

Spike paused for a moment before he looked over to Discord and chuckled. “Well, what we found was something alright.”

“Ya it is a bit wild,” Discord added.

“How so?” I knew that in 30 seconds we were going to get some answers about the symbols that would help us or I was about to mad at them for wasting time.

“Well let us tell....”


Before anyone could add anything more to the conversation, we all froze in shock at a yak that had barged through the door.

“Yona?” Spike called out. “What ar….?”

“Yona came for help,” Yona interrupted. “Something happened to Ocellus! Yona's friends are in trouble.”

“Wait what!” Spike shouted. Yona took no time to explain and instead ran back out through the door and was gone out of sight in an instant.

“Come on!” I shouted. “Don’t just stand there.”

We all followed in pursuit after the little yak. Her little legs carried her surprisingly fast as she stood ahead of all of us. I glanced behind me to see that Spike and Discord were too keeping an even pace with me. Though I did happen to notice that I didn't see Capper with them. My head swung back around to see that the cat was indeed in front of me. More than that, he and Yona had turned the corner and completely disappeared from my view. I blink a few times as I struggled to remember when it was that he had passed me. I swear he was right behind me but there he was miles ahead.

Around the corner, I just barely saw Capper’s tail enter the room before it was gone. Discord and Spike followed after me as I too dashed into the room. We were alarmed to see a group of young creatures huddled together like scared puppies.

“What happened?” Capper called.

“Are any of you hurt?” Spike immediately added.

In an instant, my senses were overloaded with a flurry of voices surrounded by an ocean of paranoia and fear. I couldn't make out much from the bombardment of words that the students sent towards me. Spike eagerly stepped into the crowd in an attempt to calm them down.

"Princess Luna?" Silver Stream asked shockingly.

"I'm not even surprised at this point," Cozy said sharply. "Why do you keep showing up in my life now?"

"I could ask the same thing. Now, what is going on here?"

“I don’t know,” Silver Stream cried as Spike held her still. “I just heard screaming and then something roared at me.”

“Something tried to claw you?!” I heard Capper gasp.

“What in Equestria is going on?!” I shouted

“Scary Monster was attacking so Yona went to get help.” The little yak sheltered at my legs as she took a deep breath.

The rest of the night was nothing more than a wave of speculations as none of the children understood what had happened. Instead, they gave rough sketches that sounded awfully like a cheap horror movie. Noises, scratches, and voices were the foundation of their stories.

“What do you think happened?” I asked Capper as he leaned against the wall.

“Not sure,” he sighed. “Whatever it was, it seems to have run off.” I saw that his gaze was drawn to Spike who was trying to calm the group down.

Capper eventually stepped away as he too realized that they really hadn’t seen enough to explain their situation. I often was reminded how hard it was for others to properly remember things once panic and fear took over. It often left a messy version of the story that was nonsensical to outside speculation.

"Luna," I heard Capper whisper my name to me.

What is it?" I ask him to which he responded by holding up a book.

"What about it?"

"I didn't get it from Spike," Capper groaned. "I got it from her." Capper pointed to the little curly-haired pony that sat innocently among the group.

The book looked like something that Spike would have. Why would Cozy have a book like that? However, what stood at to me the most was that I recognized them?

Where have I seen this before...?

My gaze was drawn to the small innocent filly that was outside the room pondering on the situation. I trotted over to address her about what we had learned. Before I fully approached her, her ears perked up at the sound of my hoove steps. "Cozy, can I talk to you please?"

"What is it?" Cozy whispered softly.

"Come with me. I need to ask you something." We trotted out of the library and into the hallway.

“You believe us right?” Her soft gentle voice flooded the hallway.

“Of course I do,” I reassured her. “I’m just trying to get a clear picture of what attacked you.”

“I don’t know,” She whimpered. Her eyes looked at me with such sorrow and dismay. “What is happening to us?”

“I’m going to find that out. I just need to--” A thought clicked in my head about the book. “Hold on,” I gasped as I teleported to the Twilight's castle. I didn’t even look back to see Cozy’s reaction. Instead, I left the helpless filly in the middle of the dark hallway.

I nearly tripped as I barged into the throne room. It took only mere moments of tossing things around before I found the open page of symbols and photos that Discord took in the house. I wasn’t sure how long I was gone, but for the filly, I imagine it felt like an eternity.

I put the book on the table open on a page of random symbols and compared them to the other photos and pictures. They matched. I remember Discord and I note that some of the symbols on the wall looked fresh like they had recently been painted on them. I paused for a moment as I realized that I had found out about some of the symbols, but I hadn't tried asking one of the few who could’ve actually seen them.

I teleported back to the school in front of Cozy Glow causing her to step back.

"That was quick..."

“Cozy,” I called out as I approached her. I bought out the page and slammed it down in front of her. She jumped back and bumped the wall as I eagerly got in her face. “Do you recognize any of these?”

“Umm…” Cozy looked down at the chaotic page of stuff I'm sure had her questioning a lot of things. “Well…” Her head tilted slightly as she closely examined them. Suddenly her eyes went wide as one of the symbols seemed to spark something within her. “I think so. I don't know. They were…”

“They were in the house,” I finished for her. "Why is that Cozy? The symbols in the house were painted on the wall not too long ago."

Her eyes went stale as her thoughts and memories overcame her. “We saw then wh…”

Before her sentence could be complete, a strong gust of wind barged in through the windows. I turned just in time for the tempest to sweep across the hallway. The door to the room was slammed shut as a flurry of voices came from it. However, the only thing I could hear was the roar of the storm that now enveloped us.

I screamed as I felt my body being lifted up from the ground and thrown into a nearby wall. I groaned as I plummeted onto the floor.

Cozy screamed as she ran by my side. "Princess Luna? Are you okay?!" Out of instinct, I jumped to cover her and tried to make a shield around us. This too turned to be useless as my horn seemed to be lifeless. By that point, I had become very aware of the meaning of no magic, and in an instant, my fears were confirmed.

"Be careful who you trust. You will find out the harsh reality as I did that trusting people blinding will only lead you to harm." A voice spoke in my ear. It wasn't Cozy Glow and it couldn't be Timber Hall. I had no time to react when I felt a grip on my neck. I felt my mind being pulled away from my body and the world span faster with each coming second making it harder to breathe.



She was in her house but it wasn't broken down. It now looked like a normal house.

"Don't do this to me? I love you. I can give you anything a young beautiful girl like you whatever you want."

"I'm sorry but I don't love you. I bearly know you."

She was tied to a pole. A large group of ponies surrounded her. Some holding torches.

"Burn her!!! Burn her!! Murderer!!!!"

"Please. Listen to me. I didn't do this."

"Burn her!!!"

I saw everything as they dropped the torch and her body and the pole burst into flames. Her screams somehow could not be drowned out by the cheering of the crowd as they celebrated.

"Luna! Luna!"

I gasped loudly, still hearing the wind blowing around us. I noticed that I was laying on the floor. "Cozy?"

"Oh good. You're okay." She hugged me tightly. I felt her body shaking. "What do we do?"

"I...I don't know."

Nothing more could be said for moments later we heard a loud crash from the other side of the hallway. From the dark shimmer of the hallway emerged the familiar pony.

“Savannah,” I whispered to myself.

She stared at me with a grin that send chills up my spine. Her body lit up in flames as parts of her skin turned into ashes which the wind blew away. The storm picked up as I tried to run away with the small helpless filly beneath me. I soon became fully aware of how helpless we were when my feet started to get lifted from the ground. I turned to see the pony slowly approaching us. All I could do was simply hold on to Cozy just waiting for our inevitable destiny to arrive.

All of a sudden, the storm subsided and all was calm. I turned to see what had happened as I fell to the floor. Savannah was no longer in view as another figure blocked her. I didn’t recognize who it was, but it was definitely another pony. It stood tall and strong and seemed to oppose Savannah. Suddenly the pony lunged at her and the two crashed against the wall. The collision sent the storm ablaze as the wind was far stronger.

Although it was much stronger it blew us away from the battle and farther from harm. I instantly got up and grabbed Cozy and ran. I only turned back once to see the battle that had begun. Then a simple thought crossed my mind, a name. Timber. The name that my mind had conquered up for an unknown reason. Though I know it had some relevance that I didn’t understand.

We needed to run away from them while we had the chance.

"Come on!"

My retreat led me further and further from the fight as I aimlessly ran through the vast castle. Cozy simply grasped for dear life as I clung to her. I ran around multiple corners before I finally hit an obstacle. I slammed into it with full force and fell to the floor. Cozy went flying and slid across the floor. I came to a halt as I slammed into the crystal wall.

“Luna?!” Twilight's familiar voice of concern filled the room.

My eyes sprung open as I was greeted by what was perhaps the greatest sight I could’ve beheld at that moment. Twilight’s magical horn lit up with a magnificent purple hue that lit the hallway.

“What in Celestia’s name is going on?!”

Part One: What She Made Me Do

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We all sat in the main throne room in Twilight’s castle. I felt myself shaking really badly, my breath shallow. My body twitched every few seconds. I had no control over my own body.

Discord sat next to me in an attempt to comfort me. I wasn’t sure what he was saying to me but I could figure it was something simple such as “You’re okay?” To which I only nodded, not even sure if that was what he asked me.

Spike was talking to the students who also were all shaken by what happened. Capper was lending against the wall closest to the entrance. Cozy Glow sat alone in a similar position as I was. I could guess what she saw though I had a few ideas. Savannah’s words stuck to me. What was she trying to tell me? I could feel her anger, sadness, and regret. But for the moment, I felt the same pain she was in when she was killed; her final breath. I thought Timber Hall’s death was painful yet somehow Savannah seemed to affect me worse than him.

I couldn’t help but feel angry for what they did to her. Even if they were right about her using dark magic, it wasn’t right. Hell, even if she was a killer, it still wouldn’t be right. However, that left a couple of questions. Did she kill the son? Did she kill Timer Hall and his friends? Or was this one big misunderstanding? And if it was a misunderstanding then who did kill them?

“Luna! Luna!”

I jumped as my mind finally came back to reality. “Huh?”

Discord’s face said it all. “What did you see?”

I thought back to the vision. Hearing Savannah’s scream was something I would never forget. “I’ll...I’ll tell you later.”

Thankfully, Discord didn’t press on. “Okay.”

Our attention was brought to Twilight when she trotted into the room.

“Well, we checked around school and spoke to a few of the students, no one heard or saw anything,” she explained. Discord only smirked at Twilight’s statement.

“We know what we saw,” Smolder snapped.

“I’m not saying you didn’t. I’m saying nopony else did,” Twilight reword herself. Twilight then examined Ocellus’s arm. “How is it?”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured Twilight.

“You sure,” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“She should get it checked out,” Spike suggested.

“I’m fine!” Ocellus raised her voice a little. Spike took that as a hint not to say any more on the matter.

Twilight observed the room. It was clear as day that every creature was shaken up. “Well then, can somebody tell me what happened?” She then flew up to Discord’s face. “Discord I swear if you are behind this-”

“Oh sure blame me for it!” Discord snapped unamusedly. He turned away from her with his arms crossed.

“Discord, this is something you would do!” Twilight countered back at him.

Discord sighed as he couldn’t deny that. “Look, I’m all for giving a little spook once in a while but this is a bit too dark for my taste,” Discord pointed at Ocellus who was still holding onto her bandaged arm.

“We were all there with him. He didn’t do this,” Capper finally spoke up from his spot.

Twilight let out a scoff. “You don’t know him as I do.” Her voice was sharp at Capper.

“Clearly not since even I know he wouldn’t do this.” Capper didn’t even look away from the spot he was staring at. “Aren’t we supposed to trust our friends? That is what you teach these kids, right?”

Spike flew to Twilight’s side and placed his claw on her back. “Twilight, I know Discord can go too far with pranks and all but he wouldn’t intentionally hurt someone. Not like this and most definitely not a child.” Discord uncrossed his arms and stared up at the ceiling. For some reason at that moment, I knew he was thinking about Silver Blitz.

The students stared at Twilight waiting for a response from her. I noticed Capper smirked when Twilight groaned. He then stepped out into the hallway, out of sight. I figured he either didn’t want to deal with any more of what happened or he was going to head back to the hospital to see Trixie. Maybe it was both. I surely didn’t want to be stuck in this.

She didn’t say any more to Discord and flew back to the table and landed behind me. I could feel her eyes staring at me. “Princess?”

My eyes were locked on the floor. I was holding onto the edge of the chair I was sitting on to help control my shaking. “Honestly...I’m not sure. We heard screaming-”

“We-meaning you, Capper, Spike, and Discord?” Twilight wanted to clarify.

“Um yes,” I answered. “We heard screaming and we were trying to find out what happened. Next thing I know, I’m in the hallway and I heard Cozy Glow screaming.”

“And did you see anything?”

Even now I wasn’t sure what I saw. I looked at Cozy Glow who shared a similar look as I had. “I saw a figure but that could be anything. I didn’t actually “see” it.” That technically wasn’t a lie.

“Didn’t actually see it?! It flung you across the room!” Cozy Glow screamed.

“Cozy Glow, that is no way to talk to Princess Luna!” Twilight jumped in on her.

“I don’t know what you want me to say.” I shrugged and stood up from the chair.

“How about the truth?” Cozy got on the table and trotted in front of me. “Those missing ponies you told me about, what do they have to do with Savannah?!”

“I already told you-”

“No!” She interrupted me. “How are they really involved with this? Did she kill them? Is that why you’re here?”

I leaned in closer to her face. I was not going to be talked down to by a child of all things. Especially now since I knew she did something to cause this. “Where did you get that book? These symbols were in the house. Why is that? What did you do that you’re not telling your friends?”

Cozy Glow stepped back in shock. She lowered her ears and put her head down. “It wasn’t meant to turn out like this…”

“I can’t help you if you don’t help me,” I whispered to her. My voice was calmer this time.

“Okay enough!” Twilight stepped in. “Can somepony explain to me what you two are on about? Who’s Savannah?”

Cozy stayed still before trotting off the table and back to her group of friends. I stood my head and trotted away from the table.

“It’s just an old tale about a pony who was killed a long time ago,” I sighed heavily.

“It’s not though,” Silver Stream cried out. “We saw her! She’s real!”

“Silver Stream!” Smolder and Gallus looked at her with eyes saying “Don’t say that.”

“What?! Are we really not going to say anything?! We were all there, we all saw it.”

Twilight blinked confusingly at them. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You see Twilight, it’s why they went to the house,” Spike said. He began to explain to Twilight about Timber Halls and his friend and a little bit about us trying to see if it had any connection to the attacks on Trixie and Sandbars. He left out the supernatural parts, of course.

As Spike was talking, I started feeling cold as if I felt a sudden breeze hit me. But I wasn’t near any windows. I looked at everyone else. No one seemed to have felt it but me. I felt something...I felt someone. I turned back to Twilight and standing behind her was Savannah. She wandered around the room, singing quietly to herself.

I had to be careful to not make it noticeable that I was staring at her. She glanced around the students and went by Spike. She trotted by the box filled with the books and papers Spike had gathered. She bent down, staring into the box.

She’s looking for something? I thought. This time I heard a gush of wind fly past me. I didn’t even need to look. I knew she was standing behind me.

“You can see me,” I heard her chuckle. “Good.”

Another gush of wind. She was gone.

“Why are you looking at me as if I’m crazy?!’ Silver Stream was close to tears.

“Silver Stream.” Twilight went up to her and hugged her. “No one is saying that. I’m just a bit confused and overwhelmed is all.”

“You’re not,” She asked hopefully.

“Of course. I’m going to get to the bottom of this, okay?” Twilight comforted her.

She was doubtful, I could tell but she nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

“Okay then. You all can sleep here at the castle tonight.”

“Great,” I spoke up. “I must be heading back to the castle before my sister worries about me.”

“Wait, is there anything else you can tell me about what happened?” Twilight stepped in front of me as I was making my way to the exit.

“Nope. You can take it from here,” I trotted around her and kept trotting until I was outside of the castle. I saw Capper sitting on the steps and looking up at the star-covered night sky.

It reminded me of that one night back when dealing with the fallen. How I and he were staring at the night sky and hearing him tell me how The way I saw the moon was how he viewed his father’s sword. I wondered if he was thinking about that night too. I sat right next to him with a small smile. He gave a smile back before looking back up at the sky.

“You escaped?” He laughed.

“For now,” I joked.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to deal with it,” Capper shook his head.

“She didn’t mean anything bad by it.”

“Still didn’t want to deal with it,” Capper said more harshly.

“You two don’t like each other do you?’ I wasn’t surprised or anything but I just never thought of it till now.

Capper smirked and chuckled quietly to himself. “Bold of you to assume that Twilight would even consider being friends with someone like me.”

“You did try to sell her,” I flatly defended.

“And?” His voice was sharped. “You tried to kill Twilight and her friends. Trixie banished her from here and trapped everypony inside and Tempest captured her and helped a dictator steal her, yours, and your sister’s powers all because she became disabled.” He paused and stared coldly at me. “What is your fucking point?”

“It’s not like she’s friends with Trixie.” I knew what he was trying to say.

“And why is that?” He then asked. “Why can she be friends with you and Tempest but can’t stand me and Trixie and Discord for that matter?”

“Well for starters, Discord isn’t easy to deal with,” I said.

“You can.” I couldn't tell if he was asking me or telling me.

“Capper, you won’t be friends with everypony.”

“You can at least respect them,” Capper rolled his eyes.

“She does,” I blurted without a second thought.

“You really think that?” It was then I realized that I never saw how Twilight treated Discord and Trixie. “Let me ask you this, princess. How do you think Twilight would have been if you weren’t Princess Celestia’s sister?”

I knew she treated me and Celestia differently. I just didn’t think too much about that because I knew that Twilight was much closer to Celestia. But now that Capper pointed it out, I did see where he was coming from. I didn’t want to think Twilight would have treated me differently. But the doubt was there. What would she have done?

I thought back to that day when I came back from the moon. Celestia trotted towards me slowly as I stayed still shaking. My mind racing and wanting to run. I thought she was going to kill me. And yet...

“Twilight...Twilight trusted me because Celestia did. Twilight trusted her so she believed that there had to be some good left in me. So to answer your question, it would have depended on what Celestia did.”

Capper said nothing.

“Twilight was the only one who wasn’t afraid of me. She gave me a chance when nopony else would. She’s not a bad pony, Capper.”

“I’m not saying she’s a bad pony,” Capper said.

“I know what you’re trying to say,” I snapped.

“If you trust her, why not tell her about your powers?”

That I couldn’t answer. I didn’t know why I didn’t want to tell her. Was I afraid that she would tell Celestia? If I told her the full story, would she understand?

“I don’t know,” I shamefully admitted. “It's nothing against her, though. She hasn't done anything wrong to me. She has done so much for me and Equestria.”

“I get it, Luna--”

“No, you don’t. You don’t know Twilight at all.”

“What do you know about Twilight?” Capper shot back at me. “Tell me one thing about her that isn't obvious.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Favorite color, music, food, drink, song, flavor of ice cream. Things like that,” he listed.

I tried to think up an answer. It was not that I was upset by that. But I didn’t want to say Capper was right. Mostly since I didn’t agree with what he was saying. “You don’t know any of that about me?”

“Of course, I don’t. I have only seen you very few times. That’s why you don’t really know Twilight.” Capper then added, “That’s what I’m trying to do now.”

“Huh?” I blinked.

“I’m trying to get to know you.” Capper moved in front of me, putting one knee on the step. From the outside, it looked like some weird proposal. “I want to actually know you. I don’t want us to only see each other when Equestria is in some kind of danger. I would like us to be friends for real.”

I opened my mouth to say something but anything I tried to come up with, I instantly doubted it and closed my mouth. It was strange seeing him wanting us to be friends. It wasn't that I never thought of him as a friend before but it was different since he called out that a lot of the time I would only see Twilight and her friends when something bad was happening. None of us ever took the time to actually get to know one another. Maybe things would have been different if we did or at least tried.

“I get that we met under unusual circumstances but I would like to get to know you if you want.” He sat back on the step next to me.

It was silly but there was only one thing I could come up with to say. “What’s your favorite color?”

He laughed. “Green.”

“Green?” I asked shockingly. Not the color I thought he would choose.

“I like the forest and nature. We don't have a lot of that back in my hometown but Equestria is filled with them. It's beautiful,” he smiled brightly as he turned his attention back up to the sky. “Although the night sky is also very beautiful, I know many don't count it as a color. What’s your favorite?”

“I like black but as you just stated not many count that so whenever I’m asked I just say blue or purple.”

“Great. Now we know one thing about each other.”

We both shared a small laugh.

His face then turned serious. “So what did you see? Was it Savannah?” His eyes were still up in the sky.

“I didn’t see her.” My body was shaking again as the thoughts and memories started coming back to me. “But she showed me something...I saw what they did to her. I can’t explain it but I was standing there when it all happened but I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”

Capper broke his gaze with the sky as he was now concerned.

“They tortured her. She was beyond scared.” I heard her screaming echoing in my head. “She’s angry, Capper and I don’t blame her.”

“Luna, you realize she has been tormenting these kids, right?”

“Now I do but does she? All that’s left in her is hate and anger. She might not see it like that.” I sat up from the step. This time I was admiring the night sky. “I need to go talk to her.”

“You really think she will talk to you?” Capper scoffed.

“I have to try. That's all I can do at this point,” I said.

“Princess?” That wasn’t Capper’s voice.

We both turned and saw Cozy Glow standing behind us. The poor things looked defeated and tired. “Tomorrow,” she paused. “At the table where you first saw me, I will be there after class and I will tell you everything but I also need to know what is going on. What you know, I want to know.” Before I could say anything or even give her an answer, she quickly trotted back inside the castle.

Capper must have had the same blank stare on his face as I did. “Well, Princess Luna it appears that Savannah isn’t the only one you get to talk to.”

“No...I guess not.”

The next morning Discord and I met up in my room. I had informed him about what Cozy Glow had said to me as well as what I saw about Savannah’s past. I also told him my plan on wanting to speak to Savannah. Of course, not to my surprise, Discord was against me going near Savannah’s house.

“Luna, we don’t know how dangerous she is.” Discord flew around the room. This was his way of pacing.

“I get that,” I agreed. “But that’s the point. We just don’t know. But she showed me that for a reason. Maybe that’s her way of saying she wants to talk.”

“Oooor,” Discord dragged out. “That’s her way of luring you in.”

“Didn’t Spike say the same thing about Silver Blitz?” I was laying on the bed staring up at Discord as he kept flying.

Discord froze midair. “That-that’s different.”

“Why?” I snapped. “Cause she was a child? Discord, Savannah wasn’t that old either.”

Discord flew down and landed next to the bed. “We knew Silver Blitz wasn’t a killer. We don’t know what she did or didn’t do.”

I smirked and stood up. “That’s what you are going to find out.”

“Huh?”

“You and Spike found out about Rosetta’s past. I’m sure you can do the same here.”

Discord gave a cautious stare at me and crossed his arms. “It doesn’t work like that. My dreams don’t just give me the answers. If they did, that would save me a lot of time and I probably wouldn’t be on the edge of going mad.”

“Yes, true but if Savannah is a killer then you will see that.” I got off the bed and headed to my dresser. Discord watched as I grabbed my saddlebag.

“So you want me and Spike to find out if she really did kill that guy’s son?” Discord asked.

“And while you do that, I will be talking to Cozy Glow and see if I can talk to Savannah.” I grabbed some of the papers and news clipping from the box that Spike gave me. I got the ones I felt were important and placed them in the bag.

“If you are able to talk to Savannah, what’s the point if Spike and I are going to find out anyway?”

“The point is--” I placed the last thing I wanted in the bag. The old pocket watch that Timber Hall gave to me. ”To see if she is telling the truth. That way if she said anything that you don’t get to see, we’ll know that we can trust her.”

I trotted past Discord and opened the balcony door. The moon would need to be lowered soon. “I guess that makes sense. And the students?”

“Twilight is watching them now. They will be fine.”

“Okay then,” Discord said. “Just tell me when you’re done with the filly and Savannah and we’ll meet up at my place. Spike thinks we shouldn’t speak about this at the school or Twilight’s castle.”

“Sounds good.” I knew why Spike thought that and I somewhat agreed with him.

“Ponyville I presume then?”

I nodded and groaned as I suddenly felt a sharp pain on my side.

Discord noticed this. “Your wing’s hurting?”

“I’ll live,” I groaned again.

“Not unless Savannah kills you,” Discord joked to which I laughed.

“Yeah unless that happens.”

Discord then snapped his fingers and we headed off to Ponyville. We were over the plan one last time and went our separate ways. I hoped that Discord would be able to find out the truth. I then trotted towards the direction of Savannah’s house.

The walk to the entrance of the Everfree Forest wasn’t long at all. I got there in just a couple of minutes. Twilight and her friends were always scared of the Everfree Forest and though I never blamed them or anything, I admired them.

It was different from the rest of Equestria. It made no sense why it was like that or how it got like that to begin with. That was most likely why it scared ponies because it didn’t make sense. But that was what always drew me to it when I first became a princess.

I took another step towards the Forest. That was when I felt it; that same looming presence.

“Savannah?” I looked behind me. Nothing was there.

“Close, but I’ll let you guess again.” I yelped and jumped back, facing back towards the Everfree Forest. Now standing in front of me was Timber Halls wearing the same old worn clothes from the first night I saw him. “You shouldn’t be going to her house. Not alone at least.”

“Where have you been? You came to me asking for help then just disappeared,” I said.

He circled around me as he spoke. “I was busy.”

“Busy tormenting that poor child.” Silver Stream’s vision struck me as I very well understood her pain.

He stopped trotting and signed. “I wasn’t trying to hurt her. I just needed her to--find my body.”

That didn’t make any sense to me. “Find your body? Isn’t that what you wanted me to do?!”

“I--I did…?” he said nothing and bit his lip. “Savannah has been watching you. She knows that you can see us. So I couldn’t risk her finding out. It would only make things worse. It’s why she is after them. I told the child that Savannah would try to use one of them to release her.”

His body movements were stiff and his voice was cold. “She’s dangerous. You can’t trust her.”

“I know you’re scared,” I first said to him.”But I need to at least hear her side.”

“Why do you need to?! I can tell you everything you want to know?!” he yelled at me. I was getting nowhere with him. It was best to leave now and go to Savannah’s house.

“She’s a killer!” He blocked me when he saw me trot away from him.

“You don’t know that!” I trotted around him.

“She killed me!!”

My mind froze as if I was strangled by just the air around me. I knew that was a possibility but to hear him say it, made it all the more real. It couldn’t be true. “I...I...why would she kill a group of randoms ponies that had nothing to do with her?”

He didn’t even waste a breath with his answer. “Because the man that got her killed was my grandfather.”

“Ummm….what?” I was left speechless. A million questions came to mind yet I couldn’t muster the words to ask any of them.

“I was shocked to find that out myself. None of my family ever told me.”

Well, at least that gave me a question to ask. “Then how did you find out?”

“My family told me he was a crazy man.” I agreed with him on that one. “He was sick, locked up in a mental hospital. He was convinced that Savannah was after him and was planning on killing him.”

I simply scoffed at that though I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to upset Timber Hall. So I kept listening.

“I had gotten a letter from him not too long before he died. He wanted me to protect something he had since I was the “lucky one” of the family.” He pulled out an old rusty chain from his pocket. “A pocket watch.”

He saw the shock register on my face before I could hide it. A smile reached his lips. “He said it would protect me from her. I didn’t believe a word.” He stared down at his body. “I wish I did. Listen, she will do to you as she has done to me. Don’t believe a word she said but most importantly don’t let her hooves get on the watch.”

“What’s so important about it?”

“It keeps her trapped in the house,” he answered. “Once you get her away from the kids, she won’t be a problem anymore. If she gets free, I fear what she will try to do.”

I felt a strong breeze hit my face. He was gone. My mind was spinning and I felt lightheaded trying to wrap my head at everything I was just told. If Savannah did kill Timber Halls then did she kill Timber Wing’s son? What if she was a killer?

It was time to hear it from her.


“It was tense at the school. Every creature had gotten word about what had happened the night before so all eyes were on us. Twilight told us we didn’t have to go to class today. So we stayed in the throne room for a while. We didn’t say much.”

“Okay,” I nodded. “So we’re now up to this morning?” I knew we were finally drawing near the end.

Cozy cleared her throat. “Yeah.”

“So is that all or is there more?” I wasn’t sure what more could have happened in the span of a couple of hours but from my own experience, I knew that a lot could happen in a short amount of time.

Cozy’s eyes drifted away from me. “Something happened.”

I leaned in closer to her. “Tell me.” I meant to ask her but it came out more like an order.

“We asked Twilight if we could see Sandbar. For one, I wanted to say sorry to him for what happened and I also thought it would help us feel better I guess.” Cozy opened the book, flipping through the pages.

“Then I saw him. I left the hospital soon after.”

“Where did you go?”

“First, I went to get the book.” She held up the book as she said that. “Then I was heading towards the house.”

“For what?” I asked.

“I was trying to see if the symbols In the book we're also the ones in the house.”

I knew what the symbols meant now but there was one thing I needed to know to confirm what I was starting to figure out. “Cozy Glow, where did you get the book from?”

She covered her face. “From the house…We found a dumbwaiter that led to a basement. There were a lot of symbols on the wall and shelves filled with books and I took one. Smolder told me to find something that could help us with the prank I guess. Honestly, it made sense at the time.” She seemed to scoff at her own logic

“I see.” It was starting to all make sense to me now. “You went to the house then?”

“No. I never got the chance to.” She pulled the camera to her and held it up. “I was on my way when I was given this.”

Part One: What They Made Me Into

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I was shaking slightly when I first took a step onto the steps. The front door was open which kinda worried me cause I thought Discord and I closed it. I could have been wrong but if I wasn’t, there were very few options on how it was opened. Hopefully, it was just the latter.

Please don’t be the monster they say you are.

I trotted into the living room. The room felt heavy as if it was weighing heavily down on me and that at any moment I could fall right through the floor, down to the core of the earth. Small breezes hit me giving me cold shivers but overall the room felt hot.

“Savannah?” I called out. “Savannah, I just want to talk.”

No reply.

“Savannah?” I called her again. “I saw what happened to you. I know what they did to know.”

Once again, no one replied. I knew she had to be in the house somewhere. The first place I thought of was the secret basement Discord and I found. I went up the creaking steps. When I reached the second floor I heard a voice. It was faint but I knew that it was there.

Open your eyes.
It's time to see the morning sun

There it was again; somepony was singing. I recognized it. I was getting close to her. Her voice got longer as I got closer to the room that led to the secret room. I was more able to make out her words.

Don’t cry.
Don’t run.
Let’s see what the day becomes.

I reached the closest where the hole that I made was still there. Her voice was smooth and calm. Hearing it brought some resemblance of peace; she got every note more beautifully and perfectly than the last one before it.

What scares you is never knowing what‘s meant to happen next.
I feel that the beauty is not knowing what to expect.

I crawled through the hole and carefully flew myself down. I wasn't trying to make much noise or do you want anything that might mess up my wing.

So whether the day brings me luck or leaves me to my death
I shall treasure each moment from dawn till I go to bed

I landed gently on the cold concrete floor. Then standing 3 feet away in front of me, back turned the other way, was Savannah.

I wait for the time when the sun will truly rise.
See now spirit from the depth of the night,
come forth now into the absence of light.

She was at the table. I assumed she was making a potion or something. There was a book on the table that was open that she occasionally glanced over.

“You came here sooner than I expected.” She closed the book and turned around with a small smile on her face.

I wasn’t sure what to say so I nodded instead.

“I thought only the others could see me.” I assumed she meant the students. “Yet, then you show up and you see me.”

“You attacked me?” I called her out.

She bit her lips and shrugged. “I thought you were with them. But then you saw it. You saw my pain and actually seem to care. You know what I am yet you’re not scared of me.”

I took a step closer to her.

“Maybe, just maybe I found someone who could listen.”

“I don't know exactly what you've been doing but those kids you've been following, you need to leave them alone.” I took another step.

“Why would I do that? I know who they've been speaking to. They're trying to keep me trapped here.” I could hear her growl a little.

I didn't really believe that they were doing anything intentionally to harm her. They seem to know very little about this type of stuff. though I didn't exactly know what they did or how it even happened so I couldn't fully defend them either. At most, I thought that it was just an accident but I needed to talk to Cozy Glow to get the full story first.

“I’m sure this is all some big misunderstanding,” I said.

“Do you even have any idea what they did?” she asked suddenly.

“No. Not really, " I admitted it to her. “But I know these kids wouldn't do anything intentionally back to you. They're terrified and all I want is for you to leave them alone.”

“All I want is to be rid of this curse and get out of this place and I will stop anyone that gets in my way.” She slammed her hooves hard on the table, knocking down some of the items.

“But they did nothing to you?” I cried back at her.

“DOES THIS LOOK LIKE NOTHING TO YOU?!” Her body lit up on fire as it burst all around. I cried out in shock and flew back to avoid being burnt.

I could hear a voice in the back of my head telling me to run. Whether it was fear or determination stopping me, I didn’t make another move. I still kept my eyes bewildered at the sight.

Savannah caught this and took a deep breath. I assumed she did this to calm herself down. The flames began to burn out until there was nothing but smoke. ”I've...been stuck in this house...for so long and I just want to be free.”

I took this moment as an opportunity to hopefully get her to listen to me now. “Well tormenting children isn't going to help you do that. If anything, it's going to make people want to push you away and keep you here. I want to help you but I need to hear your side of the story.”

She said nothing and stared cautiously at me as if she was trying to read if I was telling the truth or not. We stayed like this for a few moments. Eventually, her face softened and she simply nodded.

“Okay…” She trotted over to one of the shelves and pulled out two books. “I always knew the dangers of dark magic and what they can do to ponies. I however was never afraid of it. if anything I felt like I was drawn to it and I just wanted to learn more.” She thought the books down in front of me. I grabbed one of them and held it up to my face. There were symbols all over the cover. I recognized them as Latin symbols. I flipped through the pages as she spoke.

“I read all about the Pony of Shadows, Sombra, Nightmare Moon.” I stopped for a moment and gave her a quick look before resuming back to the book. “I guess I was hoping to find a way where we could possess it without letting it corrupt us. I wanted to use it to help ponies.”

“Soon a deadly disease hit my village. Ponies were dying so I started using what I've learned to help them and it worked. I actually found a way to use something that was deemed to be so evil to help ponies.” This I already knew from Spike. I let her continue regardless. If anything it just meant that the story was consistent.

“Nopony knew I was doing this exactly. Some did find the books I was reading so rumors spread but most didn't seem to believe them until they did.” A black aura started to surround her as her voice grew darker.

“They say you killed someone's child,” I said.

“No, I didn’t,” She spoke with a whisper but it came out strong and aggressive. “Timber Wing...was a very powerful man in the village. He wanted to marry me but I said no. I should have known that he would use his son's death to get at me. He never cared about anyone but himself.” Once again, I already knew this. I needed to get something new out of her.

“Savannah, he died in your care--”

“He was sick,” she said over me.

“What?”

“Cypress was his name.” She smiled for a second. “He was such a lovable kid. Just full of life and always curious. Very similar to me, he always wanted to learn more and he saw the good in everything and everyone. However, as soon as he was, he also was very unlucky. Ever since he was born he was always sick. We didn't know what or why. He just was. The poor kid never fully learned how to walk.” She grabbed a bottle from the shelf and poured it into the bowl. “When I and a couple of other nurses started to take care of him, we were told to not get too attached to him because his days were numbered. I couldn't help it though. Me and him just saw the world in very similar ways that we did get close.” I could see water forming in her eyes as she tilted her head back trying to avoid them from falling down her face.

“I wasn't even supposed to be there that night. The nurse that was supposed to watch him got sick so I volunteered to fill in for her.” She shook her head violently. “What a dumb decision I made. He wasn't well but he was talking and laughing but as the night went on he got weaker. He started to speak less and less then he wasn't talking at all.” Her voice cracked. “Then he was gone.”

I felt a lump in my throat as I started to want to cry but held it in.

“I tried everything I could to save him. I even tried finding other people who were more experienced than I was to see if they could find anything but death is inevitable sometimes. And there's nothing you can do about that. I learned that the hard way.”

“Then they killed you?” I asked.

“They didn’t just kill me!” she snapped harshly; slamming the bottle on the table and nearly breaking it. The vision I saw came back to me and she was right. They did more than just kill her. Maybe that was what made it worse. It wasn't that they just executed her but they tortured her slowly; giving her a much more painful death.

“But the village...you--”

She cut me off. “I didn’t do anything to the village. Whatever happened to them, they did to themselves.” She then chuckled. “I did go after those who were there or killed me. They thought of me as a monster because I used dark magic. So I used just that to get back at them. One by one they all fell to something. I learned that death was an escape so I made them stuffer in life.”

“I gave them the same illness that killed Cypress. The only difference was I made it much more painful and no matter what they did, it wouldn’t kill them.”

At this point, I didn’t even know what to say.

“I made sure to save Timber Wing for last so he knew I was coming for him. Slowly, he lost everything.” Her voice turned into a whisper as she continued to speak. “It started with a cold, then he couldn’t trot without being sore, then he couldn’t trot at all. Soon he could barely move. It got to the point where he couldn’t speak or think.” A part of me wanted to run as she got close to me but I bottled up any fear that was building up in me. She flipped through the page of the book I had.

“When he finally took his last breath, I was the last thing he saw. That should have ended it but as always Timber Wing proved himself to be...smart.” She stopped at a page and pointed at the last paragraph.

She trotted back to the table as I quickly read over it. I recognized the spell. I remembered reading it in the book that led me to meet Misty all those months ago. “He placed a curse on you?”

“I should have known he wouldn’t back down without a fight. He hated losing. He found a way to trap me even in death he still controls me.” I could tell by her voice that she was exhausted. “It’s like I’m locked in a room and he has the key. Made by the same magic I got killed for. Ironic.” She shook her head and chuckled. “I’m tired. I want this to be over. I can’t have those kids stop me.”

I didn’t think that the students were doing something intentionally to harm her but what if they were? Or maybe they did something to cause this and they didn’t realize it? That had to be the case. She was so lost in this world of vengeance and power.

But there was still one thing that didn’t make sense to me.

“Timber Hall?”

Savannah blinked confusingly. “What?”

“Timber Hall. Does that name mean anything to you?” I asked.

“No, why?”

She could be lying but I didn't know why for some reason I believed her. But then would Timber Hall really lie to protect his grandfather even after knowing what he did? Unless he believed Savannah was a killer. Something wasn’t adding up.

“No reason.” There was one last thing that came to mind. “Did Timber Wing carry a watch of some kind on him?”

“Watch?” she scoffed. “He was given this fancy Flex Watch from his father. He always carried that dumb thing around. His family was very wealthy and he made sure you knew that.”

I got myself to trot next to her by the table. I sat the book down as she poured a bottle of some pink liquid into the bowl.

“You spoke to him?” she asked suddenly.

My heart jumped. I knew she meant Timber Wing but I wasn’t sure if I should tell her about Timber Hall. Lying wasn’t the best option. If she found out the truth, she wouldn’t trust me anymore. Maybe she already knew the answer and was testing me.

“No, I haven’t. I did, however, speak to someone who knows him.” That was as close to the truth I was going to tell her without saying too much.

“Well if they know him, don’t trust them.” She put up a spoon and started mixing everything she poured in the bowl.

“With all due respect,” I dared to say, “why should I trust you?”

She showed me her hoof and seconds later it lit up on fire. She didn’t break her focus off of the bowl. “You know what I can do. I could have easily killed you and that little girl.”

“Why didn’t you?” I tried figuring out what she was making. I couldn’t tell what she was using as nothing had labels on them.

“Why did you come here? That is your answer.” She paused and made eye contact. “You should talk to that little girl now. We’ll see how much truth she tells you. Be careful though. I can sense her desires. They are much darker than mine.” She went back to her potion. Her body was lighting up on fire again.

I took that as a hint that it was time to go. I didn’t understand why she thought of Cozy like that. She didn’t think of that for the other students so why her? “She’s only a child.”

“So? Weren’t we all children at some point? Yet, here we all are.”

I trotted away from the table and spread my wings ready to fly back out of the room. Right as I took off, Savannah gave me one piece of advice.

“There is nothing stopping anyone from wanting to harm those they believe are beneath them.”

I headed over to the school and sat down at the same table I spoke to Spike at. Now all that was left to do was wait for Cozy Glow.

Part One: It All Led To This

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One of the nurses led the students to Sandbar’s room. They promised Twilight that they would be gone for too long. At that moment, being around somepony like Twilight was when they felt the safest. He seemed to be doing better as he was moving around and eating properly. They were told that he most likely would be in the hospital for a couple of weeks more.

“Care to tell me what has been going on?” Sandbar asked. He shifted on his bed trying to find a comfortable spot. “I heard something crazy happened.”

The others made unsure and worried glances at each other. They didn't know exactly how to tell him everything that's been going on. It wasn't even about whether or not he would believe them. It was more that it was so much to explain with very little to go on about what actually happened and why it was happening.

“It’s a very long... long story,” Smolder was the first to answer.

“It’s a lot,” Ocellus added.

“We’ll tell you about it later but for now how have you been?” Silver Stream asked.

“Well, not being in school is nice,“ he joked. "It's been a little boring. My parents and everyone else keep asking me what happened but I really don't remember. I was hoping you guys would see me. It's been really boring.”

“We've been wanting to see you. It's just things that happened that made it hard,” Cozy said then she flinched at the next part. “Also, we kind of got suspended for sneaking off.”

“What? Really?” Sandbar asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, Twilight wasn’t happy about that,” Yona chuckled guiltily.

“No, she was not,” Gallus said. “I'm just glad she didn't tell our parents about it.”

“That would have caused a lot of problems for me,” Silver Stream shivered at the thought.

“Yona is glad that Sandbar is okay.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be out soon enough,” Sandbar said warmly.

“We're really sorry that this happened to you. We should have never gone down there to that house,” Cozy Glow apologized and the others put their heads down in shame.

“It's nopony’s fault that it happened. I agreed to go along with you guys.” Sandbar bit his lips debating on something he had in mind. Then he added: “And I knew what was going on.”

The group was silent, not sure what to say to that. Some of them weren't sure what he meant. However, some of them had an idea that they were about to be called out.

“Umm, what?” Silver Stream asked.

Sandbar pointed at Smolder and Cozy Glow. “I overheard you two. I knew you guys were trying to prank us.”

Cozy avoided looking at them as Smolder signed heavily.

“Smolder, what is he talking about?” Gallus asked them.

She stood up and threw her arms in the air. “Yeah, it was a prank. So what?” She then continued to explain. “Cozy Glow told me the story and I thought ‘why not spook a little bit for our first Nightmare Night?’ The plan was to take you guys to the house and Ocellus was supposed to turn into Savannah and scare you guys.”

“I said I might do it. I never said I was actually going to do it and that was over a month ago,” Ocellus jumped in Immediately to defend herself. “I also said I was only going to help you translate whatever was in the book that you gave me.”

“Book?” Gallus asked.

“The book that Cozy Glow had,” Ocellus nearly yelled out.

“Now Yona is confused?” Yona was rubbing her head.

“Same,” SIlver Stream said.

“Is Savannah real or not?” Gallus snapped at Smolder. He got up close to her face.

“She was a real pony that was accused of murder and killed it. Of course, there are legends and myths that are about her that were never proven.”

Cozy got in between them hoping to avoid a fight from happening. “But we didn't cause any of this.”

“Well, something happened?” Yona pointed out.

“Yona’s right,” Gallus backed her up. “Savannah didn’t just start popping out of nothing for no reason at all. Someone here had to do something.”

“Okay, can someone tell me what's been going on?” Sandbar sat still completely unaware of what any of them were saying.

Cozy Glow wasn’t even listening to what they were saying anymore. They were all confused and the verge of yet another argument. It kind of hurt since they all had just apologized the night before. Of course, apologizing didn't fix the problem they still have to deal with. She had the hope that after talking to Princess Luna that maybe they'll be able to clear things up. But she still had to wait a couple of hours before they were supposed to meet.

Cozy thought back to that night when they first went to the house. She thought about the ritual they said. She thought about what she had learned in the book and what they saw in the house. It all had to connect somehow. The book...ritual and the symbols... She began to wonder if they were really the cause for all of this happening.

You can end this if you find me…

She froze wondering if she heard that right or if she was crazy. Her eyes slowly made their way to the door where she believed the voice came from. For a quick moment, she swore she saw Timber Hall standing there. It was quick like a flash of lightning but bright enough to know that it was there. She wasn't sure if she should say anything. The other didn't seem to hear nor notice that he was just standing there moments ago.

Without saying anything, she got up from her seat and trotted out of the room.

She stopped at the entrance of the Everfree Forest. She knew she needed to get to the house. She needed to know exactly what they did But she wasn't ready to get her friends involved especially after everything that was happening. it was best to keep them away from the house especially after what happened the night before.

However, she herself was too afraid to go to the house. She tried to build up the courage to take another step but all she could think about was what had happened between her and Luna. For a moment she thought one of them was going to be killed by this thing.

“You can do this.” She tried to encourage herself. She lifted her hoof to take a step but put it right back down.

Something’s wrong.

She knew that it came from behind. She didn't want to turn around to see him again. Why was he talking to her now? She took a couple of deep breaths and I grabbed any bit of courage she had left in her and turned around to face him.

He stood there, pale and gray, holding something in his hooves. His body was covered in scars, blood dripping out of them. Something felt off this time. He seemed...different.

Something’s wrong. Find me. Something is wrong. He told me he would fix this. He kept this from me. He was talking about what he was holding. I needed her to see this. She can help me with it. She can find me

Cozy was on the verge of passing out from holding in her breath to prevent herself from hyperventilating. He dropped whatever he was holding onto the group. Who was he talking about? Who kept what from him? And who did he want to see it? Who was she? He kept mumbling to himself as his body began to fade until he completely disappeared out of sight.

She trotted up to where Timber Hall was at and saw what he had dropped. It was an old, rusty, and clearly broken camera. Despite the fact that she wasn't sure if she should trust him or not, she felt compelled to pick up the camera.

She wasn't sure what happened but she took that as a sign to stop what she was planning on doing and just head over back to the school. Hopefully, the others were still at the hospital and hadn’t informed Twilight that she had left them. If they haven't and she went back to the school, most likely no one would have figured out that she left and went to where she wasn't supposed to be.

It didn't take long for her to get there. She went into the courtyard and to her surprise, there waiting for her at one of the tables was Princess Luna.

She actually came.

She wasn't sure why she was so surprised. It wasn't like she doubted that Princess Luna would come.

Well, here goes nothing. She trotted up to the table and came up to Luna from behind.

“Princess Luna?”


I thought over everything Cozy Glow said after she finished telling me her story. It was a lot to take in. So much happened to them and none of it was even aware of it. I felt so bad that we weren’t there to help them. I knew that it was going to be up to us to help these kids from whatever this was. The good news was that everything was now making sense. The pieces were putting themselves together.

“Well umm.” I was processing it all. “I’m so sorry this has been happening to you and your friends.”

She shrugged casually. “It’s not your fault. We were the ones who went to the house. We were the ones who did something.”

“Yes,” I began. “It does explain a few things.”

“Like what?”

I took the book from her and flipped to the page that had some familiar symbols in them.

“For starters, I think I know exactly what you all did in Savannah's house.”

Part One: What He Saw

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I’m sorry, what?”

The student and I all gathered at the Discord’s house after school hours. Spike spread out the photos Discord took up the symbols that were in the house. Next to the photos was the book that Cozy Glow had that was also open showing the symbols similar to the ones that were in the photos. We all took a brief moment to allow the students to look over both.

“So if I am right about the symbols,” Spike began to say. “You opened a door for Savannah to enter through.”

“If you’re right?” Smolder scoffed with doubt.

He gave a pitiful look and nodded. I heard a small chuckle from Discord who simply was flying around the room and occasionally stopping to stare down at the photos before resuming.

“Yes. You see, this book contains things that didn’t come from Equestria. As you all have learned we don’t really have any religions or beliefs like that. Equestria may have been around for a long long time but our tales, Traditions home from a time before Equestria. A lot of r history and beliefs come from the original 3 tribes of Earth Tony Pegasus and unicorns. And when it comes to the Earth ponies Some of the really earlier tribes did a lot of Trades with the Griffin back when Griffins were at their Peak. So a lot of the griffin's beliefs and traditions would blend in with a lot of the earth coming and some of that did carry into Equestria but many of it got Ross. This book comes from that time and it's not only very rare it's almost extinct. This book is possibly thousands of years old and I am very surprised that she was able to have a copy of this in such great condition and was able to keep it in such great condition. All of the spells in history that this book could tell is fascinating in ways that I don't know if Twilight could even believe.”

“How could she get ahold of something like this?” Ocellus was amazed by this. Despite the situation, she almost seemed excited about what she was being told.

“Most likely it was something carried in her family. Something this rare is not something you will find at a store or find add some abandoned building without it being in rough condition. Most definitely this was something passed down from her family it would make sense considering that she did live in a small village. Honestly, this is what made things hard for us because we couldn't really know what these symbols meant, and trust me it took a lot to be able to exactly find what these symbols mean and what spells could have actually been used with the symbols in the house. But after a little bit of digging and research, this is what I was able to come up with. I can't say I'm exact with this translation but is the closest I can get to.” He pointed at one of the symbols on a page. It appeared to be a cross within a star with a dot at each point of the star. “This means ‘to be let through.” He then pointed at another symbol. “This one means “to be attached to.”

“Attached to what?” Gallus asked. He picked up the photo with that symbol on it.

“Anything,” Spike answered. “Anything you want it to be attached to.”

Spike flipped the page. “These symbols, I believed to be what is keeping her trapped in the house.”

“What does this mean for us?” Gallus then asked.

“What this means is that whoever put those symbols in the house gave Savannah a temporary door for her to leave the house from and be able to follow you guys. That's why she was only around you guys but would always leave after a short while.”

Cozy Glow and Smolder shift their gaze away from the group; guilt shown on their faces.

“Great. Now we know what happened. How do we fix that? How do we make you aware she leaves us alone?” Gallus spoke both with relief but also a bit snappy.

“Wait. What does mean dead pony wants with Yona and her friend?” Yona asked.

Spike shrugged at them. ”Honestly, nothing.”

“Clearly she wants something considering she's been tormenting us all for like 2 weeks now,” Smolder snapped with disbelief.

“I really don’t know.”

I thought about what Savannah told me. She claimed that the kids were hurting her in some way. Making it where she couldn't leave. It seemed like this was all a misunderstanding since they had no real intention of summoning her or anything. But there had to be something that made her believe otherwise. My eyes locked onto Silverstream who was sitting on the floor not really paying attention to anything. She seemed lost in her own thoughts; her eyes gazed out into a void of her own nothingness.

“You okay, Silver Stream?” I tapped her shoulder.

Her body shook at the unexpected touch. She shook her head a little before staring up at me. her eyes still sharing the same dead look she had moments before. “I’m fine.”

I knew she was lying and she knew I knew she was lying but from my own experience, I knew very well not to push forward and gave her a reassuring smile. “Okay then.”

Discord laned in front of me and picked up the book from the floor. “So these kids just so happen to get themselves caught up In some mess-up love affair where are some nice guy couldn't handle rejection?”

“It’s not like we meant to,” Smolder said displeased.

“Back to my question see, how do we stop her?” Gallus said louder this time.

“It's not a matter of stopping her really it just seems like she wants to be free from this curse that's on her.” The vision that I saw with Timber Halls came back to me. “The problem is we don't really know if she's an innocent victim who was preyed upon and selfishly murdered or if she really is the murderer that they claim her to be.”

“Okay, then how do we get her to leave us alone?”

“If I'm reading this right,” Spike gestured to the book .”All we would need to do is close the door that you opened.”

“Meaning what?” Yona asked.

“Destroy the symbol that opens the door for her and reverse the spell that you guys placed on yourself. Doing so will make it where she can't leave the house and thus won’t be able to get to you,” Spike said with a heavy sight.

“You sure?” Ocellus asked.

“Yes.”

“That sounds way too easy,” Cozy wasn’t convinced.

“In the sense of getting her away from you all, yes it is easy. Be glad that it is,” Sike said annoyingly. “Not everything has to be difficult.”

“Wouldn't that be a nice change for once?” Discord laughed and nudged my shoulder.

“What's difficult is what do we do about Savannah. Do we keep her in the house or do we try to release her?” I knew Spike was saying this to Discord and me more than the students.

“As long as she leaves us alone I don't care what happens to her,” Smolder growled and crossed her arms.

“Yeah, same here,” Gallus agreed.

“What if she was wrongfully executed? Don't you feel a little bad for her?” Cozy Glow asked her friends who stared at her stunned.

“She hurt our friends wrongfully,” Smolder said madly.

“Maybe she doesn’t know,” Cozy Glow defended.

“Didn’t know what?!” Gallus snapped. “That she was attacking random children? Killed those ponies that went missing?”

Cozy Glow didn’t answer and put her head down.

“We don't know if she did,” Spike reminded them.

“Well considering one of them was talking to Silver stream, it seems like she did.” Smolder kicked some of the photos with her foot out of anger.

“Well, you don't have to worry about that.”Discord stepped in. “That's something we will figure out. For now, let’s worry about what we can do.” Discord sat the book down. He snapped his paw toward Spike. “What do we need to do?”

“Like I said we just destroyed the symbol that opens the door for her then you guys,” he motioned towards the students, “Will have to recite what you guys said but this time make it where she can't leave then everything should reverse.”

“We all have to return to the house?” Ocellus's voice began to sound shaky.


“Everyone who recited the spell and drew the symbols must be there to reverse it,” Spike confirmed.

“Even Sandbar?” Silver Stream whispered.

“If he said it, yes.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem for us,” I said.

“What now?” Yona and Cozy Glow said in unison.

“I'll send you guys back to Ponyville with Spike so you can get everything ready.”

Spike blinked unexpectedly at that response “What will you be doing?” Discord gave him a knowingly look. Spike gasped seeming like he understood what discord meant. “Okay, we see you in a bit.”

“We won’t be long,” Discord smirked at me.

I stepped back away from him. “We?” I didn’t like the sound of that.

Nothing more could be said as Discord snapped his fingers and the students and Spike were sent back to Ponyville.

“Savannah is maintaining her innocent?” Discord snapped his fingers again and photos on the floor began floating off the ground and started folding up into different shapes of origami. This was Discord's way of cleaning I guessed.

“It would appear to be so.” The photos flew around me, singing in some language that I don't understand and was pretty sure Discord didn't know either. “Is she a murderer or not?”

“I could tell you.” He flew in front of me, his back facing the other way from me. He then made a sharp turn. “But would be the fun in that if I could just show you?” He took two large steps and placed his paw on my cheek.

“What are you doing? We don’t have time for this.” I hit his paw away from my face.

“No need to be rude.” He put his hands at his hips. “I want to try a little something I been working on. Now stay still.” He put his paw on my cheek again. “Wouldn't wants to spoil the ending for you. I know how much you hate spoilers.”

“Discord, this really isn’t the time?” I wasn’t up in the mood to put up with his jokes. If you could even call them that. We were wasting time and we needed to focus on helping the children.

“Trust me. You are going to want to see this.” I felt his paw grab a piece of my now shorts mane. He rubbed his fingers together with the piece of my mane he was holding onto for a moment. “It feels different.”

“That is because it’s not wavy.”

“Interesting choice.” He resumed his paw on my cheek.

I stood there not really sure what I was supposed to be doing. I waited for him to say something but nothing came out. I was getting impatient and was about to say something when I noticed he was smiling brightly at me.

“There we go.”

I scoffed in disgust. I hate it when he would act like this. Especially in a time like this where we needed to be serious. I was about to shoot him out when I Stole something from the corner of my eye. It was me. It was Discord and I standing In a similar position that we were standing at some moments ago.

“Don’t worry. I thought the same the first time Spike did it on me.” I heard Discord laugh.

“W-what is this?”

Discord walked into the other Discord and walked right through him as if nothing was there. “The Closest you'll ever get to the Nethers. You can only get the glimpse from the outside and I can see from the inside.” He skipped up to me, grabbed my hoof, and started pulling me along with him to the door that led outside to his weird chaotic dimension. “This tricked, makes it where you can see it along with me. But unlike Spike, you are not just seeing it through a window. You are actually walking along with me through the door.”

There weren't any words I could form by what I was hearing. I knew some of the things that I was able to do but I never thought about what he could do. And even so, I didn’t think this would be one of them.

“You can only do this with me?”

Discord, still holding my hoof used his other hand to grab the doorknob. “Yes. Spike doesn't have a link to this world like you do. You have a connection between the living and the dead just as I do. It's just the connection we share.”

“I’m going to see what you saw?”

“Now you’re getting it,” Discord gleefully said. I looked at ourselves that were standing still. “Don't worry about us. Time works differently here. What feels like years here is only seconds out there to them. We will be fine.” He turned the doorknob. “You ready?”

Unable to say anything I just nodded at him. He smirked and slowly opened the door behind him. He then began to walk backward still holding my hoof. I felt my heart beating with every step as I got closer to it. There was no going back now.

I wasn’t sure where we were going to end up but where we did wasn’t where I was excepting. We were back in front of Savannah’s house. But this time it wasn't in ruins as when I first saw it. It looked like a normal house all patched up freshly built.

There she was. Savannah singing to herself as she was packing a small bag. She trotted past us and out the door.

Without saying anything, we followed her. Discord seemed to know where to go. I just kept behind him. She trotted up to what appeared to be a village. I saw this once before. This was part of the vision I saw the night of the attack.

She kept on trotting saying hello to some she passed by until she ended up at a house. It was then I realized that the sun was going down.

It was slowly coming to me what Discord was showing me. And when we entered the house the answer would be known.

I was just really hoping it wasn't the answer everyone else believed it to be.

End Of Part One

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Discord and I entered the hospital to join up with the others. As planned, they were all in Sandbar’s room. I was thinking about everything that I have learned in the last couple of days. Everything was slowly unfolding in making sent however there was still one little thing that didn't feel right. If everything I saw with Discord was true then there were a few things that just didn't line up.

When Spike saw us, he got up from his spot and ran up to us. “So? What did you find out?”

“She's innocent. She was there that night but she didn't kill him. He was just sick.” I believe I might have been smiling a little bit too brightly than I should have. But it was a nice feeling that I wasn't blindly trusting someone.

“Oh?” Spike asked, shocked. “And Timber Hall?”

“We don’t know. We didn't see anything with him,” Discord answered. “But we shouldn't let it be past us yet. We’ll help the kids do this then we can worried about her.”

“Just out of curiosity how do we reverse the curse she has,” I asked.

“ I read up on it,” Spike began.” it's not as simple as it may seem. When you do a curse like that sometimes a simple spell or magic isn't enough. You need a place to contain that sort of magic or need something more stronger to cast the spell.” He hesitantly pointed at me. “ You should know this when it came to using the elements to send you to the moon. It's the same thing here. Timber Wing would have needed to use something very powerful.”

“If was Savannah said to me was true, my bed would be something like a relic. Sort of like the Phoenix,” I suggested to them. “They both seem to know dark magic so they would both know how to make one.”

“The only question would be what to use as a relic and where is it now?” Discord said.

“And those are questions we can answer after we're done helping the kids,” Spike said.

After that, everyone else was talking about the next step of the plan and what each of them would need to do. I stood by the doorway watching everyone carefully listen to Spike's instructions.

“This won’t stop anything.” I knew it was Savannah’s voice.

I stared out into the hallway. She was standing in the doorway, motioning me to follow. Against my better judgment, I slowly trotted out hoping no one noticed. I let a few of the nurses and doctors trot past us and let the hallway clear a little bit before speaking; didn't need anyone to see me talking to anything.

“This won’t stop anything,” Savannah repeated herself.

“I don’t understand.”

“I know what you're trying to do. Even if are successful, he will still come after though. He needs them to stop me.”

I took a glance at the students before resuming my stare at her. “Who?”

“Timber Wing,” she said annoyingly as if she expected me to already know that.

“Savannah, I don't know how to tell you this but I've never seen him,” I confess to her. It was true I hadn't ever seen him once through this whole ordeal. It was always Timber Hall.

she looked at me completely stunned. I delete it if she believed me. “That's impossible. He's been talking to that little girl. How have you not seen him?”

“Silver Stream?” That wasn’t right. “How do you know it was him?”

She scoffed at that question. “He's the only one that wants to stop me. He also knew where the house was. Who else could it have been?”

that was when I was convinced that she didn't know who Timber Hall was. but that still didn't add up. If she didn't know who he was then did she kill him. Then it hit me.

“Give me a moment.” Without waiting for a response I went back into the hospital room.

“Cozy Glow, when did you cast that spell?” I asked drawing all of their attention to me.

“The spell would have been casted when we all recited it not when all the symbols were written?” cozy glow wanted to clarify with Spike.

“That's right,” Spike answered.

“Then it would have been the night Sandbar was attacked. So about two weeks ago now.”

“There was no way that that happened two weeks ago. It feels so much longer,” Sandbar said. He was right about that. Unfortunately little did he know.

“That was what was off to me. Timber Hall and his friends went missing two months ago. And if Savannah wasn't able to leave the house before the spell with cast--”

“There's no way she could have been able to kill Timber Hall,” Cozy Glow finished for me.

The realization slowly swept through the entire group.

“But she did Kill the entire Village,” Gallus pointed out.

“The entire Village practically killed her,” Cozy Glow snapped.

“It wasn't right what she did to them but they did wrong to her first. I guess it is a very tricky situation but we should always try to be better than our enemies instead of worse,” Ocellus calmly said to them. “The point is she didn't kill Timber Hall…”

“That’s right,” Yona agreed.

“We said we'll deal with this later, Luna,” Spike said.

“I know, sorry. I need a think.” I stormed out of the hospital room and trotted down the hall.

Something wasn't right. Why would Timber Hall lie to me? Was he that devoted to his grandfather or something? I was so close to figuring this out. I just need it. Last missing piece…

“You okay?”

I turned around and saw Cozy Glow standing there.

“I’m fine. Just thinking. Actually, you said you believed you saw him before coming to me. what did she say to you again?”

She was quiet for a moment as she thought to herself. “Something’s wrong. Find me. Something is wrong. He told me he would fix this. He kept this from me. I needed her to see this. She can help me with it. She can find me.” She shrugged. “Honestly assumed he was talking about you. You were so invested in finding him.”

It made sense then I figured that she was correct on that assumption. “For the moment let's just say that he was. What would he have needed me to see?”

“I guess whatever was on the camera.”

“And who kept it from him?” I asked.

“I don't know.” She shrugged again. “All he said was that someone was going to help him fix it.”

“He was supposed to.” That wasn’t Cozy’s voice. “He said that it was the best stop seeing you that the girl would be able to help me find my body. He said he was going to talk to her and if needed you. I had something on me that could help us or that was what he said. It was the watch that I gave you. He wanted that for some reason. That was all he cared about... I thought that he was trying to help us.”

Consciously I slowly began to face him listening to every word that he was saying. I wasn't sure how to respond to it but the more he spoke, the more it all started to come to me and make sense. I wanted to ask him how did he get the watch but I didn't want to speak up with cozy glow behind me.

Luckily though he seemed to have already known this as he then answered it. “ I received a letter a month before….” his voice trailed off. “ I was told to meet up with someone. They said that in my grandfather’s will I was to receive something and it was the watch. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. I just wanted to be found. I wanted my friends to be found I don't want everyone else to think that they'll never find us.” His body was fading again as he was crying now until there was nothing left.

I was breathing heavily as I was trying my best not to cry. I bit my lips as I felt a lump in my throat. this really did seem to be one huge misunderstanding and even after everything, there was still no way to track him and his friends down. However, there was still one thing but I was able to figure out.

“I need my bag.” I started trotting back to the others.

“What?” Cozy Glow followed.

“My bag.”

“I know where your bag is. You left it at the castle after that night we were attacked. I was going to give it back to you but I forgot to bring it with me. It's in my room now.”

I stopped where I was at and turned back at her. ”Well then take me back to your room.”

I followed her as we headed back to the school. It didn't take long for us to walk down the hallways and up to a door. the second she opened the door I immediately ran in there looking for my bag. I saw it lying right by her bed as I used my magic to quickly open up and dump all of the content that was in there onto the floor.

I scramble through all of the things until I got the one thing I was looking for. With my magic, I held up the watch. The watch that I was received the night before any of this happened. The night when it's simply seemed like a ghost was just missing and needed to be found. Of the night when I really didn't understand what he was really a part of. Or at least unintentionally a part of.

Savannah mentioned how Timber Wing always carried it around, I was told by what I thought to be Timber Hall to never let her have it. and after learning about how to reverse the curse I now knew exactly what this watch really was worth and it was a lot more than what Spike had told me.

“I know what we need to do. I know what this is.”

Cozy glow looked obviously confused at me as she didn't know half of what was really going on. “It's a watch.”

“Maybe but it's also what we need to stop everything.” Still holding it with my magic, the watch floated right beside me.

There was a sudden knock on the door. The slowly opened, revealing that it was silver stream.

“The others were looking for you and I saw you guys coming in,” she simply said. her voice seemed dark and empty.”

“We were just about to head back now,” I answered.

“Princess Luna thinks that she might have figured it out,” Cozy Glow said with excitement.

“That's great,” Silver stream said with a smile but it seemed fake and her voice didn't match it. She walked past Cozy Glow and went up to me. “I'm really happy that you're helping us.”

“It's what I do.”

“I'm just saying I really appreciate it. You helped me more than I think you realize so thank you for that.”

“Silver Stream you really--” She hugged me quite tightly before I could even finish. I just simply put a hoof around her not wanting to be rude. “You're welcome.”

“Princess Luna?!!” Cozy Glow shouted.

I jumped at outbursts and was about to ask what was wrong when I felt myself being pushed back a couple of steps. I looked up and saw that Silver Stream now had the watch in her hand. Her eyes then begin to glow red as the watch begins to light up. My first instinct was to light up my own horn but of course, it didn't work. It quickly came upon me what actually had happened.

“I must admit I am impressed.” It was still Silver Stream’s voice but I knew that it was not her. Flashbacks from when I was at the Crystal Empire with Cadence started coming back to me. I have prayed that I would never have to witness that again. “But of course, you always figure things out too late. I didn't know about my grandson giving this to you; would have saved me a lot of time but none the less I got what I wanted and I'm not letting you stop me.”

“Silver Stream” pointed the watch at me as it grew brighter. I stood still breathing heavily unsure what to do. My heart was beating it my mind tried to come up with anything to stop this.

“Silver Stream, I know it's not you. You can fight this. Please.” I knew we were doing nothing.

“Get me that!” I heard Cozy Glow scream as she lunged at silver stream taking her hand that was holding the watch and began struggling to take it away from her.

“Let go you, bitch!”

The two of them continue the struggle over the watch when suddenly silver stream screamed as cozy glow bit her on the arm.

“Luna, get the watch!” Cozy cried out.

I saw the watch drop onto the floor and whether intentionally or not Cozy Glow kicked it and caused it to skid across the room. I quickly ran and grabbed the watch which was still glowing and pointed it over at the two of them. The lights shining on their face and they stop tackling each other and stared up at me. Silver Stream simply smirked and stepped away from Cozy Glow.

“Release her, Timber Wing. She has done nothing wrong to you,” I warned as I pointed the watch at her.

“Or else what?” Her smirk somehow grew bigger. “You can't hurt me. You hurt me you hurt her.”

That was the unfortunate truth that I had already dealt with once and was forced to face again but with a child. Luckily though, I felt a presence that was all too familiar. I stayed quiet hoping it was who I thought it was.

“Why don’t you leaver her alone?!” Cozy yelled.

“Now why would I do that? Face it. There is nothing you can do.” She started laughing loudly when she was suddenly cut off the end with a quick gasp passed out onto the floor. There was a loud thump as she fell dropping the watch. The watch then dimmed and no longer was lighting up.

Discord stood behind the now unconscious Silver stream. “Maybe she can’t but I can. Unlike Rosetta, you are very weak. Pity.”

I let out a small breath of relief. It wasn't over but at least at the moment, she was safe.

“W-what j-just happened?” Cozy Glow asked. Confusion wasn't even the right word to describe the look on her face.

“Now care to explained to me what is going on?” Discord smiled at me. Standing right next to him was no other than Savannah.


“You want to what?” Spike asked in disbelief.

We had all gathered outside of the hospital. Thankfully, Sandbar was feeling well enough to trot. Though I did stay close to him just in case.

“We need to release Savannah.” I pretended not to notice her smile at that.

“Is that a good idea?” Yona ask frightened.

“After everything she has done?” Smolder scoffed.

“Yes,” I nodded.

“So we’re just choosing the lesser of the two evils, then?” Gallus asked harshly.

“Guys, let her finish,” Sandbar jumped in on them.

“Yes, maybe, I don’t know” I snapped at them. “The point is is that she can stop him. She didn't know that you guys warrant against her. Because Timber Wing was talking to Silver stream she thought that you were working for him and not being used by him. But now she knows so if we free her she can fight him and help Silver Stream.” Discord was holding Silver Stream in his arm.

“I know that I'm no longer the mare I once was,” Savannah signed heavily. “ I'm never going to be here again and I'm not going to pretend that I am; the least I can do is help you guys and make sure that he can't hurt anyone else as he has hurt me.” She took a deep breath as her eyes watered. She quickly wipe them as they rolled down her face.

“What's the plan then? Weren't we supposed to just reverse dispel?” Ocellus asked.
“We don't need to if we free her,” Spike said.

“The only thing is how do we make sure “he”, “ Cozy Glow gestured at Silver, “Doesn't get away.”

Spike held up the book that Cozy Glow and Smolder used. “I've been reading through this and there's a lot of interesting things in here. I will admit I did kind of struggle since I'm still practicing on my pony Latin but there is no doubt a lot in here.”

He continued. “There is a spell that might be able to help. It's a spell meant to temporarily trap spirits. kinda like the curse ohn Savannah but very minuscule. It won't last long but it might by us some time.”

“All I need is five minutes with the bastard,” Savannah said with a low harsh voice.

“I don't think she will need very long,” I chuckled. “Now with all of that being said, I think I might have a plan.”

It didn't take long for all of us to get to the house. The plan was already in motion. Spike had explained the spell to the kids and exactly what they needed to do. Very similarly to the symbols in the house, we're going to be placed around it. That way Timber Wing wouldn't be able to leave. Each of them had a symbol that they would mark on a certain part around the house.

The only thing was that we needed to make sure he went into the house. Then buy them enough time to finish the spell by distracting him. Though that part was actually going to be easy. Discord laid Silver Stream down on the floor. It was only a matter of time before she would wake up and I already knew that most likely Timber Wings still had his hold on her. Hopefully, we would be able to release Savannah before she would woke up.

Now all that was left to do was wait. The watch in my hoof, eyeing the symbols that started all of this. I felt a hand on my back.

“All things considered this wasn't too bad compared to things we faced before,” Discord tried to lighten the mood.

“Yeah, I guess,” I nodded. “Let’s just finish this.”

“Okay. I’m going to check on the others.” Discord walked to the door.

I was going to follow him when we both heard a loud bang from above. We both stared up at the ceiling and stared at each other with the saying confusing glare. Before any one of us could actually question it there was a creaking sound coming from the floor. I figured out too late that it was coming from beneath me And screamed as I felt myself free falling into a void below me.

I cried out loudly and in pain as I make and pack onto the ground below me. I groaned as I try to find the strength to get up. That was when I heard a chuckle that send chills up my spine.

“You really thought it was going to be that easy,” Timber Wing said as he came upon me. That's when I noticed the watch on the floor stop. He picked it up and it started glowing again.

Whatever pain I was feeling instantly went away with the adrenalin that flew through my body that got me to get up. He fired a blast of fire, I rolled to the side, dodging it. He began to fire blasts repeatedly, and I kept dodging them, just barely.

I got up and continued running down this void that I found myself in. Everything was dark so I had no idea where I actually was. My only exception was in the basement that we found the last time we were here. But I wasn't really sure it just felt like I was running down one long hallway.

I could feel him behind me as he constantly kept trying to blast me. All I could do was just keep running and dodging and hoping that the others could finish the spell.

Eventually, though I, unfortunately, hit a wall where there was no longer a way to keep running forward. I turned around and start only a few feet in front of me.

I stood there ever silently, shivering in fear. The only thing I could think of was trying to get the weird powers that Shredder told me about. I lifted my hoof trying to get it to light up but no avail. There was nothing I could do.

“You just had to help him.” He shook his head, disappointedly. “You couldn't just say no and went on with your life.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, preparing to get burned.

“Luna!” I turned to my right and saw Discord. “Move!”

I jumped out of the way as Discord shot a blast at Timber Wing. He deflected the blast with his own and shot out another one at Discord. Discord formed a shield allowing the blast to hit it causing him to stumble a few feet back.

I stood and watched the two as they brawled with each other. I wanted to do more to help him but I was powerless.

I felt the gust of wind beside me. Savannah looked at me with a very similar helpless look as I had.

“This is how I've been feeling for the last 60 years.” She looked down on her own hoof.

“Where are we? This doesn't look like it's part of the house.”

“It isn't,” she said. “I call it the void. Think of it as a little pocket dimension. A little small place where you can go and hide. This was where I would go to test out my experiments. All you have to do is fly up and you would be out of here. It's not really that big. But the only way out is up.”

“How powerful are you?!” I asked.

“I had a lot of power,” She crossed her arms. “And very little to fight him now. You seem to have quite a lot of power in you. I sense it but you don't have enough control over it.”

My body tensed up as I was beginning to see where this was leading to.

“I know I'm the last pony you would want to trust,” I wouldn’t say the last but not the first. “but if you want to help them, you're going to have to put in a little faith in me as I did with you. Just long enough for them to release me.”

I wasn't sure what to do but she was right. My mind went back to What shredder has told me. The powers I can have by using the powers that the spirits could give me. But I didn't know if I could trust her to use my body and let her take over my mind. The thought of possession already scared me socially after what happened to Cadence. But I could already see that Discord was struggling.

Maybe not all ghosts are bad...

“Okay,” I whispered.

What happened next is really hard to explain. All I felt was like a weird pressure in my body. It was like Nightmare Moon but so much stronger; feeling this power, this adrenaline, presence in my mind. I could see but I couldn't feel. I couldn't move anything. I couldn’t speak. The only thing I could do was think. I could hear my thoughts but everything else was not in my control.

I was nothing more but a thought in my own body at that moment. That should have scared me, terrified me, and make me question everything that I did and agreed to.

But I wasn't. This adrenaline that I felt was so addicting that I had to witness what I could now do. Even though I wasn't able to do it myself, I wanted to see and feel it. It didn't matter if I was in control or not just as long as I kept feeling it.

Discord put another shield of a magic sphere. He was pushed back a few feet upon blocking the blast, before he fired a powerful beam at Timber Wing, causing him to fall onto his back. Discord Teleported behind him and Shout out another blasted him. Timber Wings then jumped up dodging the blast and shooting one of his own back at Discord.

This time it hit Discord and he cried out as he was sent into the nearby wall cracking it on impact and groaning as he fell to the ground.

“Nice try.” Timber Wing turned back to finish me off but I no longer was there.

Open your eyes.
It's time to see the morning sun
Don’t cry.
Don’t run.
Let’s see what the day becomes.


The words came out of my mouth but I wasn't the one saying them. It was my voice, but it wasn't me. We stood a couple of feet behind him. Timber Wing turned around and simply scoffed.

“What is this?” He laughed.

Both of my hooves lit up a very bright blue orb. “It's sad that she lacks so much control. Because I can feel so much power in her.” She fired a beam at him, hitting him in the face and stunning him.

“L-luna?” It was Discord.

“Go!. Finish the spell,” I heard myself say to him.

“Luna, what--”

“Just finish the spell!!” I shouted at him. Discord didn’t say anymore. He got and teleported away.

“Now shall we continue?” She turned back at her target and shot a blast at Timer Wing.

He dodged another beam from us and bucked us in the face, throwing us on our back. I heard my voice as I cried out in pain but I felt nothing. The Cry of pain than the last long as it started to turn into laughter. I felt myself stand up, hooves still lighting up. Magic then wrapped around him. He struggled to get away from the grip but wasn't able to.

She lifted one of my hooves to the air. As she did so he began to follow then she slammed him hard onto the ground. And then slammed into the ground again. Then did that again a couple more times.

She released him from my grip, letting him drop to the ground. His eyes widened in fear as we trotted up to him. He shielded himself, but we easily broke through them and gave him a mighty uppercut, sending him flying high in the air. She then shot upwards and fired an extra thick beam of magic, hitting him with a rocking explosion.

He landed on the ground bleeding, grunting, unintentionally letting the watch go right beside him.

“I'll be taking that,” I said cheerfully as I saw myself pick it up from the ground with my powers.

“Luna?”

She smiled when she heard that voice. I saw Discord standing there, looking at us in shock. I knew he had most likely seen what I just did. “Is it ready?”

“Yes, We just need you to bring the watch back to the other so Spike can---”

“Don't bother,” I heard myself interrupt him. “I already know the spell.”

We held the watch up to our face and I heard myself begin to whisper. I couldn't make out everything that she was saying but I could tell that most of it were in pony Latin. What I did hear though was how it ended.

I wait for the time when the sun will truly rise. See now spirit from the depth of the night, come forth now into the absence of light.

“I wait for the time when the sun will truly rise. See now spirit from the depth of the night, come forth now into the absence of light. I wait for the time when the sun will truly rise. See now spirit from the depth of the night, come forth now into the absence of light.”

Magic infused my body. A bright light surrounded us as we lit up the void that might have even been brighter than the sun itself. The light then began to die out slowly and slowly so we were back on the main floor of the house

But something else was different too. The house no longer was wrecked nor seemed abandoned. It looked just like the vision Discord and I saw. It was back to its glory back when Savannah left there all those years ago.

“I’m free…I’m free…Thank you. Thank you.”

And just like that all of that energy and adrenaline that I fell went away. My body felt drained. I fell weak as if for once I age of the number of years I was. My legs were shaky wobbly as it was getting harder to stand. I was light-headed and I began to fall to the ground. However before I landed, Discord grabbed me and held me in his arms.

Timber Wing lay in the center of the room. Savannah landed beside him. She noticed him shaking weakly in an attempt to stand on his hooves and she immediately stamped her right foreleg at his back, forcing him to lay on the ground again.

“You know, I almost gave you a chance. I almost considered loving you.” she looked back at us. “I suggest you head out and your sakes don't come back.”

Discord helped me up, keeping ahold of me. “You won't have to worry about that.”

That was the last thing I remembered before I was finally blackout.

Nothing much had happened. I woke up later back in my room and Discord had explained to me what had happened. They took Sandbar back to the hospital before anyone noticed he was gone. They had all agreed that it was best to never mention this to anyone. The students had no problem agreeing with.

I spend the next few days in my room feeling sick. Celestia was worried about me but was told by a doctor that it was just the feather flu. I knew what it was though but I wasn't going to correct anyone. The only real good news was that nothing else seemed to be happening to the students and silver stream was also feeling better as well. She didn't remember what happened but cozy glow and I decided not to tell her.

With everything that she was already put through it was best not to let her know that she almost hurt some of her friends. I didn't like keeping secrets from a child but it was what was best. Hopefully one day they could offer to get this had happened altogether.

Today though Discord, Capper, Spike, and I over to the hospital to see Trixie. I had to admit that I wasn't as focused on her as I felt like I should have been. I still didn't understand what part she has a play in all of this. Something attacked her and Timber Hall but it wasn't Savannah. Part of me wondered if it was Timber Wing but it didn't seem like it was him though. Spike was set on just believing it was some of the Fallen that escaped. I, unfortunately, had to force myself to believe that as well. At least for now.

“Is she going to be okay?” Spike asks concerned.

“The doctor said that she should make a full recovery,” Capper said with a little doubt in his voice.

I stood at the doorway of the hospital room. She was laying on the hospital bed asleep. she had surprisingly recovered from her wounds fairly quickly according to the doctors but mentally she seemed very off. That was why she was still at the hospital. I was just hoping that she would get better.

“So what did you guys do with the watch in the book?” Capper asked. After the night Cozy Glow and I were attacked by Savannah, Capper has spend most of his time keeping an eye out on Trixie so Spike was catching him up.

“The watch is just being added to the collection of other cursed items we have been started with,” bike answered. “The book, however, I have decided to keep a hold of... I have a feeling it might be able to help us.”

The two of them continue to talk back and forth. I wasn't paying attention much. I feel a tap on my shoulder from Discord and I looked up at him.

“Luna?”

“Yes?”

“I've been wanting to bring this stuff but--” he paused for a moment. I already knew what he was going to say. “ I Know What You Did down there.- I know--”

“Not now, Discord,” I stopped him. “We can talk about it later with Shredder I promise.”

“Really?” I knew he didn’t believe that.

“Yes.” I trotted into the room and sat next to Capper who was still looking over at Trixie.

“So what now?” Discord asked.

“We wait for the next time something tries to kill us,” Spike jokingly answered with a chuckle. “Boy do we have one heck of a story to tell Big Mac at our next guy's night.”

“Yeah. Bet he'll feel really lucky that he chose to help out Granny Smith make that big delivery,” Discord laughed back. He then looked over to Capper. “Hey Capper, ever thought about joining guy's night?.”

“I know what you guys do and no offense but I'm not really into role-playing games.”

“If we can get Discord to love it we can get you,” Sike said to him.

“I'm not really into it myself but honestly I could use a nice break from our little reality,” I said.

“Does that mean we're doing it?” Discord asked hopefully.

“Like now? Capper asked
“Yeah, now. Let’s go.”

“Well I'm not going to say no to that,” Spike cheered.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing as Spike followed Discord out of the room. Most likely to head over to the castle to play some more ogres & Oubliettes.

I looked at Capper. “Shall we? Don’t worry we can check on her later.”

He signed heavily and got up. “Why not?”

We both went out of the room to join the others. When we got into the waiting room I saw that Cozy Glow was sitting in one of the chairs. The second she saw me she got up and tried it up to me. I noticed that she was wearing a saddlebag.

“I'll just catch up with the others and you can meet up with us,” Capper said and then head out the door.

“Hello, Cozy Glow.”

“Hello, Princess Luna.”

“ I just wanted to say thank you for everything.”

“ there's no need for that. It's part of the job,” I smiled and nodded at her.

“I know but it still means a lot to me.” She shared a smile back with me. “But also,” She began going through her saddle. “I wanted to give you this.” She pulled out the camcorder that she had shown me the day she started telling me everything that have happened with her and her friends.

“We never really had the chance to look into this and I believe it's important.” She was right about that. That was something that was left alone. the camera itself was still in terrible condition but maybe it could be fixed. But I didn't know much about fixing camcorders.

I took the camcorder from her “Don’t worry. I’ll look into this.”

“Did you ever find him?” Cozy Glow then asked. She was talking about Timber Hall.

“Sadly, I have not but I won't give up,” I said determinedly. ”It's just going to take a little bit more time is all.”

“Well, I believe you will find him.”

“Thank you.” We both started making our way out of the Hospital.

“I have to head back to the school but I hope I see you again.”

I leaned forward to her and gave her a small tap on her head. “I hope so too but under different circumstances. See you around Cozy Glow.”

I looked out in the distance and I saw Timber Hall staring back at me. He was still pale but I have sworn I could see just a little hope in his eyes even if for a second. I promised him and I was promising myself that I was going to find him. That was my next mission.

However, for now, I was going to enjoy a couple of hours with my friends. Even if it was going to be watching or playing such a rather silly game, it was going to be a nice break from everything else we've done. At this point, it was just routine to face these things but now I knew and was more confident than ever before that no matter what happened, I wasn't going to have to face it alone.

Now our mission began to help those that were. Thinking back to it all, it was interesting to see all of the stories of these lives that we have helped and changed. It was weird thinking about all of these different people that we have met living and dead. But their stories were also a part of our own. Stories that would have been left untold if it weren't for the abilities that I was gifted with. It was kind of ironic when I thought about it.

In order to really share my story, I first had to share theirs.

Epilogue

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Nothing makes sense to her anymore. Her mind just kept spinning and the world around her felt like it was melting. She knew that everybody else thought she was going crazy. Maybe she was because she was starting to believe it. what happened to her that night? Why Was she feeling like this? She was feeling both extremely weak and worn but also more strong than she ever had before. her whole body was so sore and burning up as if it was on fire. Something wasn't right with her but no one else believed her. The doctors and nurse said that she was most likely her in shock but she knew otherwise.

But what was it?

Eris watched with pure joy within the shadows at Trixie as she slowly descend into her own madness. Canight stood by her getting impatient.

“I don't see the point of this. Why don't we just finish her off?” He already had his paw light up with dark smoke. “ it'll be easy. They won't even know.”

“You poor little fool. Always in a rush,” She spoke quietly. “As much as I would love to watch the light in her eyes drain as with the others, unfortunately, I do see some used with her."

She looked over back at Trixie as she was tilting her head one side then to the other.

“It's happening more quickly than I expected it. At this rate maybe even a couple of days,” Canight observed.

“They have always have been unpredictable. But for now, let's just wait. We need the Guardian's magic. Our own won't be enough to open the gate and with her being one of them, we can let Luna and her friends deal with them. Then we can clean up the mess.”

"You better know what you're doing."

Eirs let out a small chuckle. "I do. And it is going better than I had first planned."