> Shifted Crusaders
>  by Poisonberry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The creature quickly glanced around, the Elements of Harmony would surely realize where it was headed within a few hours. Three times now the Elements had defeated her. Once when the Elements were wielded by Celestia over a thousand years ago. On the longest day of the thousandth year she returned, captured Celestia, and was defeated by the new wielders of the Elements of Harmony. The last time she had taken control of one these new Elements, the one representing Generosity, but was still defeated. She thought for sure that without all of their ‘special’ Elements of Harmony on their side she would be undefeated. 
She let out an agitated growl, and she remembered that even without the Elements, those who represented them still defeated her. She was once again banished, this time to the darkest shadows, but unbeknownst to Equestria’s heroes she began to gain more power. Soon enough she was out of the shadows, but she still hid in their darkness. It had taken several years to reach this point, where she could finally use enough magic to take on Celestia once again. 
First however, she wanted to upset Equestria’s balance and invoke fear in the hearts of all of Celestia’s precious little ponies. Whilst she was biding her time she had studied more magic, much darker magic. Magic that not even King Sombra nor Discord had cast before. Although both were able to change a pony’s form, Sombra could only do it to a certain degree and Discord didn’t ever want to actually harm the ponies. She had neither of their pathetic weaknesses and had found one that not even Discord could reverse easily. This spell could alter a pony’s form, and perhaps even part of their mind, so it was forbidden. It would cost too much magic to use more than once every few moons, and she didn’t care to spend even more of her strength directing it to change certain aspects. It was so much more powerful than the highly advanced, but temporary, species changing spell, as it was made by the changelings thousands of years ago. It was so old and well hidden, known by only the changeling queen and her most elite guards, that it would take ages before Equestria could even start working on the reversal spell. It would show the ponies who their true ruler clearly was. 
She was almost to the Tree of Harmony. She breathed out a sigh of relief as she stepped into the comforting, familiar darkness. Her eyes widened in shock, slits getting almost as thin as a blade of grass. 
There was no faint glow coming from the magical, crystal tree. All of the Elements were gone, but that wasn’t what was groundbreaking to her. 
The Tree of Harmony itself was gone. 

She pondered as she slowly walked to the Castle of the Two Sisters, would it be even better for her plans if the tree was gone? She still needed a place of great power, and the most obvious choice would be to start the eternal night there. Even though it had been destroyed quite a bit when she had tried to get rid of the remaining princess of Equestria, Celestia, it was still a place of great power. There would be enough power to amplify her magic to allow her to have the same abilities she had when controlling Princess Luna. She imagined how much power she would have when she took one of the princesses as her host. 
She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that a crystal treehouse had emerged in the castle ruins. It was very clearly the same crystal that the Tree of Harmony was made out of. Then she heard voices coming from inside. 
“When do y’all think they’ll get here?” Came a voice that sounded to be rather young, it also had a certain country accent that reminded her of somepony, but she couldn’t place it. 
“I hope it’s soon! I can hardly wait another minute! This is going to be the most awesome Nightmare Night party ever!” A rather energetic, yet also young, voice sounded. 
“Nightmare Night Eve party Scoots. Don’t worry, the School of Friendship lets out in another 30 sum minutes, then everycreature will be rushing over,” A third voice squeaked. 
She knew she recognized that voice, and she was confused why these ponies said everycreature instead of everypony, who were they inviting? Yaks? Griffons? Neither of those options sounded great for a party. None of that mattered now, it was the perfect time to test her powers. Most of Ponyville was wary of the Everfree Forest even more than usual because of her tampering. No pony in their right mind would have let three fillies into the Everfree let alone this deep. That could have only meant they snuck off, how perfect. 
She quickly approached the door, and burst through it. She immediately recognized a white filly with emerald eyes and a pink and purple mane. The pony in front of her was none other than the Element of Generosity’s sister, she couldn’t remember the filly’s name. 
The filly crouched down, ears folded back, a look of pure terror on her face. Sweetie Belle couldn’t begin to imagine why she was back. Apple Bloom took a protective stance next to Sweetie, and Scootaloo neared closer to them eyes wide. 

Nightmare began to laugh, she would not only use the spell she’d been dying to for weeks, but would also get her revenge on this pony for weakening her hold on Rarity. 
Nightmare charged up the spell, and fired it upon Sweetie Belle. She left before her target had been hit to prepare the next part of her plan without getting caught. These little ponies would soon learn what would happen if anypony defied her. 


	~~~


The blast had been powerful enough to knock all three crusaders out of the treehouse, not very hard considering they were standing next to an open window. Scootaloo screamed as she felt a burning pain throughout her body. She could feel a horn sprouting, and her stomach twisted. Her wings felt like they were being pulled far enough to reach her cutie mark. ‘Maybe I’ll be able to fly now,’ she thought as her muzzle seemed to sharpen. She could hardly tell what else was happening, but she thought she could hear screaming through her now burning ears. 
Finally, the pain faded away, and Scootaloo carefully got up and opened her eyes. Sweetie was rubbing her eyes and Apple Bloom was laying on her side, facing away from Scootaloo. “Sweetie, snap out of it! Apple Bloom needs our help!” She shouted, racing past Sweetie Belle over to Apple Bloom. Scootaloo wasn’t actually sure if Apple Bloom needed help, or if she was even hurt at all, but it did make Sweetie follow her. “Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo nudged her friend. 
“Huh?” Apple Bloom stirred, rubbing her eyes. 
Sweetie Belle noticed something once she reached them, the normally pale yellow filly was much darker in color, whilst her mane and tail were more pale. Her bow didn’t seem to change, probably because it wasn’t alive. It also appeared that she was soaking in the sunlight, though nopony would be able to tell unless they were skilled in magic, which Sweetie wasn’t but that hardly made a difference. It was almost as if her vision was better than it used to be, much better. Scootaloo meanwhile, was most definitely a changeling. Sweetie Belle had seen Ocellus before, she was coming to their party, so she knew the difference between an evil changeling and a reformed one. Scootaloo was definitely a reformed changeling, but she still had her cutie mark. Apple Bloom had hers too, Sweetie turned to check her own flank and let out a sigh of relief. 
Apple Bloom lifted her head up, rubbing one eye with her hoof. Scootaloo froze in place, and Sweetie continued trying to figure out what had happened to Apple Bloom. “What Scoots?” She put her hoof down, revealing her other eye. 
Scootaloo took a tentative step back, “Aa-apple Bloom?” Apple Bloom stared at her quizzically, “Why are, are your eyes, red?” Apple Bloom’s eyes were a black with deep reddish orange glowing in them. 
“What?” Apple Bloom whispered. 
“Why are you a changeling?” Sweetie countered, confused by both of them. 
Scootaloo stopped and looked at in shock Sweetie, before examining herself. “I think we might need a mirror.” The trio looked at themselves in the crystal’s reflection. “I do look like a changeling,” Scootaloo remarked, “WAIT! Can I fly now?” She screeched, clearly excited at the prospect of flying. She tried, but it was quite clear that changeling wings were more like a bug’s than a bird’s. However, Scootaloo had always only been able to use her wings like that of a hummingbird, so she made it a few feet in the air before slowly coming back down. “That was AWESOME! I can fly!” 
Scootaloo was overjoyed, and the other crusaders cheered for her before settling down and focusing on Apple Bloom because Sweetie couldn’t find anything that had changed about herself and Scootaloo was still unnerved by Apple Bloom’s eyes. 
“Wait, shouldn’t the Young Six get here soon?” Sweetie prompted. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom exchanged a worried glance, neither of them looked like their normal selves. Scootaloo focused really hard, hoping that would cause her to change back into a pony somehow. It seemed to work, and Scootaloo once again looked like her normal self. 
“What about me?” Apple Bloom breathed heavily, she definitely didn’t look like a normal pony. “What can Ah do?” 
“Calm down Bloom,” Sweetie said, grabbing Apple Bloom’s shoulders to force her to look directly at Sweetie. 
“We’ll figure this out together!” Scootaloo reassured her, putting her head in between them before stretching out her arms so they were all in the circle together. “You’re pretty cold Bloom,” she said once her foreleg had touched Apple Bloom’s. 
“Really?” Sweetie asked, completely oblivious to the temperature difference between Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. She received two questioning stares. 

Shortly thereafter, the crusaders could hear Yona’s hooves approaching them. They had relocated inside the treehouse, unsure of what they were going to say about Apple Bloom’s appearance. “Nightmare Night costume?” Sweetie suggested. 
“Yeah, we’ll go with that,” Apple Bloom replied. The trio got ready to jump out from behind a table. The tell-tale sound of hooves, claws, paws, along with their chatter told the CMC to jump out in 20 seconds. They looked at each other, each mentally counting down the same time in unison. All at once the trio jumped into the air and yelled, “SURPRISE! Nightmare Night Party!” This would be the Young Six’s second Nightmare Night party, though this one was the night before. 
Gallus launched himself into the air in surprise, Ocellus changed herself into a mouse, Smolder chuckled at Gallus’ surprised flight, Edith sprang off of Silverstream and almost froze Yona, but ended up turning Sandbar to stone instead, and Silverstream had hardly noticed as she was bursted with delight. 
“Definitely, uh, surprising,” Gallus huffed, smoothing his feathers and trying to hide his embarrassment, Smolder’s grin grew even wider. 
“Silverstream, Yona thinks you tell Edith to help Sandbar,” Yona said. Edith turned back Sandbar before Silverstream could reply. He hardly seemed phased. 
“Good girl,” Silverstream stroked Edith under her chin. The Crusaders weren’t expecting that to be their immediate concern. Apple Bloom stared at her reflection in the crystal as the others nervously glanced over. Apple Bloom looked completely normal, her eyes were their usual orange, and her coat was back to being pale with her mane having darkened. 
“Wha-” Apple Bloom stuttered before Scootaloo cut her off. 
“This party is gonna be awesome!” She shouted. 
“Yona happy to party with best friends!” Yona cheered. 
Ocellus morphed back, “That does sound rather fun.” 
“Well what are we waiting for?” Smolder joined in, her loud raspy voice being a strange shift from Ocellus’ quiet and soft one. 
“Let’s get this party started!” Pinkie Pie shouted, floating up to one of the windows with several balloons tied around her waist. No creature decided to question this, it was actually quite normal for Pinkie to conveniently appear when a party was mentioned several times in a couple of minutes. Pinkie then set several trays of various deserts out on the table before zooming away, “Sorry I can’t stay, I gotta help Mayor Mare set up for Nightmare Night tomorrow! Cheese Sandwich is going to be helping me!” She giggled in a singsong voice, within mere seconds the mare was out of sight. 
“We didn’t plan that,” Sweetie Belle said. 
“No creature can ever plan where Pinkie may be,” Sandbar calmly chuckled. Smolder hungrily eyed the open box of a dozen gemstone cupcakes that Pinkie had brought. Gallus took a Griffon Scone that definitely had baking soda, it was clearly made by none other than Gilda, but there shouldn’t have been any possible way to get to Griffonstone and back in time to keep the scones still warm. Against all logical sense the scone was still indeed warm, 
The crusaders had calmed down since there seemed to be no way for the Young Six to see whatever Apple Bloom had become. This made explaining how Apple Bloom looked much easier, there was no need to. The question of ‘how’ was lingering in the back of their minds, but they put it off and joined in the fun. 
Everycreature was having a blast, currently they were doing a small game of charades with Nightmare Night being the theme. It was Yona’s turn, she pretended to howl, taking the common posture that would depict a wolf. 
“Timberwolf!” Apple Bloom shouted, Yona shook her head, then raised her forelegs in the air. She tried to balance on her hind hooves, but toppled over within seconds. 
“Nightmare Moon?” Smolder guessed, but Yona gave a small shake of her head. 
“Statue,” Edith clucked, only being understood by Silverstream, Ocellus, and, strangely enough, Scootaloo. Ocellus opened her mouth to translate what Edith had said, as she had been doing during the entire game. 
“Edi-” 
“I GUESS MOON!” Silverstream excitedly shouted overtop of the quiet changeling. 
“Yes, Yona’s word was moon,” Yona declared, causing Silverstream to practically explode with happiness. 
The Cutie Mark Crusaders left the game, everycreature was enjoying it so much that they wouldn’t notice the fillies leave. “So what Ah wanna know is what the hay’s going on with me?” Apple Bloom basically voiced all of their thoughts. “Ah mean, everything goes back to normal when Ah get scared about any creature seeing me like Ah was?” 
“I don’t think so,” Sweetie Belle whispered. “Earlier when you looked, different,” she hesitated, “you almost seemed to be soaking in a small amount of sunlight.” 
“Then you turned back to normal to stay safe,” Scootaloo assumed. 
“Okay, Ah guess that makes sense,” Apple Bloom said. “It would be kinda like an instinct.” 
“Yeah, probably,” Scootaloo stated. 
The trio went back to the Nightmare Night activities until it started to get late. The sun had gone down only a few minutes before the group decided to play the ultimate game of Capture the Flag. The only rules against magic were that it couldn’t be harmful, or turn a creature into stone. 
The teams were Yona, Sandbar, Silverstream, Edith, and Sweetie Belle with the green flag; and Smolder, Gallus, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Ocellus with the blue flag. The game was taking place right outside the treehouse, close enough to it that most of the creatures in the Everfree Forest would stay away. 
“Go!” Yona shouted, not caring for a countdown. Apple Bloom watched as Ocellus disguised herself as Silverstream and rushed over to grab the flag. Edith quickly got confused, Sandbar and Yona focused on which Silverstream was real, and both Silverstreams were either trying to tag each other or run away. Bloom snuck over to the flag, hoping that Ocellus was providing enough of a distraction. 
“Not so fast!” Sweetie’s voice squeaked as she pinned her to the ground, Apple Bloom wasn’t near the flag yet, and she had moved too far away from the line to easily be spotted by her team. “Now you have to wait for somecreature to rescue you.” Sweetie let go, Apple Bloom saw her freeze as fear showed on her face. 
“Sweetie, ya good?” 
“Bloom, your eyes, they’re turning red!” Sweetie exclaimed in a hushed tone. The whites of Apple Bloom’s eyes had started to darken, along with her irises, whilst her pupils began to shine a bright reddish orange. Her coat was growing darker, and her mane and tail seemed more ragged and paler. “It must be because you only stored up a little bit of sunlight before transforming, and now the sun is down. We gotta get you out of here.” 
“Cutie Mark Crusaders Secret Guardians?” Apple Bloom asked, smiling knowingly. 
> Chapter Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Get Scoots and tell ‘er ‘bout this, if any other creature asks just tell them Ah got tired and left.” Apple Bloom made up a lie, her sister wouldn’t be proud. 
Sweetie Belle nodded before running off, she came back a moment later to find Apple Bloom in the bushes. “We decided that Scootaloo is going to stay and I’m coming with you. I have a reputation for getting quite scared unlike you who’s got one for coming here all the time just to see Zecora. Our story will seem more likely if they believe you are with me to make sure I stay safe.” 
“So Scoots is gonna say to all the others that Ah left to help you ‘cause I’ve been in the Everfree alone before,” Apple Bloom followed. “Let’s get a move on then.” 
Scootaloo glanced back over her shoulder as two dark shapes moved further into the bushes, a glint of silver shone brightly from the moonlight as the second crept in. ‘I don’t know how Sweetie was able to hide just as well as me and Apple Bloom, surely her alabaster coat would’ve given her away when it wasn’t winter. Bah, listen to me, I sound like a dictionary. Seriously? Alabaster? How long have I been around Twilight and Starlight?’ 
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were making their way to Sweet Apple Acres, as it was adjacent to the Everfree Forest, and housed their clubhouse. Sweetie decided the first thing she would do in the morning after brushing her mane was go to the library and find books relating to what the Cutie Mark Crusaders had become, and tell Starlight, Twilight, and Spike she was borrowing them for Nightmare Night. Then, she would probably meet up with her fellow crusaders before heading to school, hopefully this year’s Nightmare Night lesson would be of some use to her. Every Nightmare Night that fell on a school day Cheerilee would teach the class about all sorts of monsters and set up activities for them, if it didn’t fall on a school day Cheerilee would prepare activities and lesson for them a few days before. Most monsters that she talked about were make believe or didn’t live anymore, and Cheerilee told all the students the week before what they would be learning about, just in case they were scared. 
Last year had been Timberwolves, Manticores, and Chimeras, the only year she remembered that had monsters that actually existed. The year before that it had been Vamponies, not to be confused with Bat Ponies, which were basically a slightly different type of pony that was rarer because, while their genes tended to be dominant there weren’t that many of them. Sweetie recalled Fluttershy turning into a Vampire Pony once, though Rarity told her that it had been twice, but that didn’t count, she only had the desire to drink the juice out of fruit, mainly apples. The year before that was about magical stories that would suck creatures into their pages, trapping them until they finished the story, like that was real. Another year had been about some ancient guardian of some temple in the jungle, apparently this creature was also the main villain in the Daring Do series, as Scootaloo had told her, so it was probably not real. 
This year would be zom-ponies, but they were known to only be legends, unlike the dangerous creatures in the Everfree. Sweetie Belle glanced around nervously, anything could be watching them from those dark and shadowy trees. The forest was scary enough during the daytime. 
Sweetie Belle continued to glance around anxiously, she had a sneaking suspicion that they were being watched. She shivered as she felt invisible eyes follow her, she wanted this creature to go away. The wind suddenly kicked up, and ash swirled into the air before the breeze faded. Sweetie could smell a faint trace of smoke, and something else that was terrible. The feeling of being watched didn’t diminish, nor did it increase. 
“Hey Apple Bloom? Are we going to tell anycreature about this?” 
Apple Bloom glanced over her shoulder at Sweetie Belle, her reddish eyes glowing eerily, “Ah think Ah’ll tell Applejack and Big Macintosh, and probably Granny.” 
“I bet Scootaloo won’t tell anyone for a while, unless she’d be trying to defend you by claiming Nightmare’s magic affected her too. She’ll want to impress Rainbow Dash first, and I don’t think I’ll tell Rarity anything right now, I still don’t know what might’ve happened to me,” Sweetie Belle finished. She looked at Apple Bloom’s eyes, “Your eyes are kinda creepy.” 
“Well how come Scoots freaked out and you didn’t?” Apple Bloom countered. 
“I guess I saw that Scootaloo was a changeling and assumed something must have happened.” 
“Hmmm.” 

The feeling of being watched grew even more, something heavy sounded far off, something was staring at them, Sweetie could feel it. “Do you think we’re being watched?” She squeaked, green eyes darting around. 
“Ah don’t know,” Apple Bloom whispered, slightly lowering her ears. 
They continued in silence, unsure if there was something watching them. The sound of dripping water and heavy footsteps immediately drew their attention. Sweetie whimpered as the bushes in front of them were flattened. Within seconds a cragadile was upon them. Its tail hit both of the fillies, sending them crashing to the ground. 
The cragadile lunged forwards, snapping its jaws at them. Apple Bloom ran to the left, away from both Sweetie Belle and the cragadile. Terror gripped her as she felt sharp teeth in her leg, she screamed. 
“Apple Bloom!” Sweetie yelled, and the cragadile shook her violently before lifting its head so she’d fall in its gaping mouth. Apple Bloom heard an explosion and the cragadile fell over suddenly, releasing her before it scurried away. A chunk of its stony hide was clearly missing, revealing much softer scales underneath. 
Apple Bloom didn’t feel any pain in her leg, strangely enough. She scrambled to her hooves, looking over to where the explosion had come from. Sweetie Belle stood there, ears down, staring wide eyed at where the cragadile had been a moment ago. Apple Bloom started running towards her, gash in her leg not slowing her down. 
“Don’t come near me! Stay away!” Sweetie Belle shouted, taking a step back, her eyes locked onto Apple Bloom. 
“Ya just saved mah life Sweetie, and now yer telling me to stay away? Ya sent that cragadile running.” Sweetie didn’t move, unblinking eyes staring at Apple Bloom, she decided to take a tentative step forward. 
“Stay back!” Sweetie squeaked. 
“Why?” Apple Bloom asked, taking another step towards Sweetie Belle, who was breathing heavily. 
“I might hurt you!” 
“Ah know you wouldn’t hurt me Sweetie,” Apple Bloom tried to reassure her. 
“STAY BACK!” Sweetie Belle screamed at her. Her left eye flickered a warm, yet freezing harsh, yellow for a split second, and her head jerked. She took another step back. 
“Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom took a hasty step back, seeing the flash of her, in Apple Bloom’s perspective right, eye and her abrupt twitching of her head. Sweetie continued to stare at her. 
Sweetie Belle had panicked, the cragadile had grabbed Apple Bloom’s leg, and she had no idea what to do. The cragadile was a THREAT to both of them, and she knew she had to do something. 
 She felt something else take over. She didn’t choose to hurt the cragadile.
She felt her head jerk as Apple Bloom was marked as a THREAT. She took another step backwards, trying to calm the fear of her accidentally harming her friend. 
“Breathe in, breathe out,” Sweetie mumbled, barely moving her mouth. Apple Bloom studied her hind leg, there was a deep gash on it, though now blood leaked out, and she wondered when it would heal. “Okay,” Sweetie Belle breathed, walking back over to Apple Bloom, ears still folded down. 
“Are ya good now?” Bloom asked. 
“Better,” Sweetie sighed. “Your leg looks pretty bad.” 
“Whadda ya think I should do ‘bout it?” Apple Bloom deadpanned. 
“I don’t know,” Sweetie mumbled, still trying to comprehend what she was. Apple Bloom focused on her leg, willing it to heal itself. The gash suddenly faded, and the only signs of the attack would be the cragadile, the imprint it left, and the little bit of its blood that smeared the ground. “What. How?” Sweetie questioned. 
“So why did yer eye flash yellow, Ah thought glowing eyes were my thing,” Apple Bloom teased. 
“I, I don’t really know. I just got scared, and I thought I was going to hurt you,” Sweetie explained. 
“So have ya figured out what ya are?” 
“Maybe.” Sweetie lowered her gaze. 

The two fillies continued their trek, Sweetie Belle was having an inner existential crisis.  Scootaloo, meanwhile, was busy playing Capture the Flag, and she could feel where everycreature was from their emotions. “No wonder Ocellus is a hide and seek champion, she can hide anywhere and feel where anycreature is hiding within a close enough range.” Scootaloo didn’t know who she was going to tell she was a changeling, obviously Rainbow Dash would be first, unless she told Starlight or Twilight. Within a few hours most of the creatures were ready to go home, or back to their dorms. Scootaloo walked with Ocellus as the group made their way through the Everfree Forest. 
“Hey, Ocellus,” she said. “Can I ask you a few things about changelings?” 
“Sure, what do you want to know?” Ocellus replied in her usual quiet voice. 
“This time, I was wondering if changelings can get cutie marks.” 
“No,” Ocellus answered. “Unless the changeling feels a connection to that cutie mark, like some will do with a specific form, they won’t earn a cutie mark.” 
“I must still have mine because it’s connected to me and the other two crusaders.” “So how large can you make your form?” 
“We can only keep a form that's a bit bigger than ourselves for a little while before it drains us. If the form isn’t much bigger than ourselves we can maintain it indefinitely, so long as we aren’t starving. That is, unless something disrupts too much of the form or of our focus,” Ocellus responded. 
“Okay, just curious,” Scootaloo confirmed, “I should be fine.” 
“You three are always curious.” 

They continued walking, making small talk until Silverstream screamed. “Guys, there’s bl- bl- over here,” she trembled, pointing her claw at a small streak of blood on the ground. Scootaloo’s heart leapt into her throat. 
“What if Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle had gotten hurt, or worse,” she thought. Scootaloo shook her head to clear the disturbing thought, Gallus must have noticed her because he spoke up. 
“Don’t worry, I’m sure they’re fine,” his eyes darted around nervously at the trees that seemed to be closing in. 
“Gallus is probably right, something much larger than them must have broken the trees, and the ground near it is missing its foliage,” Ocellus reassured them. 
“This looks like a cragadile footprint,” Sandbar called them over to it. 
“But what’s strong enough to throw a cragadile without disturbing hardly anything else, even a full grown dragon would have knocked over a few trees of its own,” Smolder questioned. 
“What if it’s Nightmare?” Scootaloo burst out. 
“Wasn’t she banished to the darkest shadows of Equestria?” Gallus asked, “You know, once she was separated from Luna.” 
“And Professor Rarity,” Ocellus added. Scootaloo was quite sure Nightmare wasn’t still stuck in the shadows anymore, after all she had been the one to lay this new curse on the Crusaders. Scootaloo really hoped it wasn’t Nightmare that had been over here. 
The group continued their journey, without anything disrupting them. They split up once they got back to Ponyville, each believing the victim was some unfortunate creature of the Everfree Forest. Scootaloo eventually found sleep, preparing to meet up with her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders before school. 

Scootaloo rushed over to Sweet Apple Acres early in the morning of Nightmare Night. When she got to the Clubhouse, she was slightly surprised to see both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle there. Sweetie was looking down at a book titled, Monsters and their Myths whilst Apple Bloom wasn’t transformed and was examining her leg. 
“Hey Scoots!” Sweetie squeaked. 
“Hey! There was a bit of blood that we saw in the Everfree Forest last night, and I got slightly worried it might have something to do with Nightmare,” Scootaloo explained. 
“Ah didn’t lose any blood, but tha’ cragadile did,” Apple Bloom replied, a smug look plastered on her face. 
“I know I broke through its stone scales! You don’t have to remind me every ten minutes,” Sweetie huffed. 
“You did what?” Scootaloo stared at her friend, disbelief filling her eyes, and Sweetie facehoofed. 
“Sweetie sent that cragadile runnin’,” Apple Bloom looked at Scootaloo as a mischievous grin swept across her face. 
“Why’s she smiling like that?” Scootaloo whispered, asking Sweetie. She didn’t respond, instead only sighing. 
“Scoots, come help me lift, uh,” Apple Bloom’s eyes swept across the room, “Sweetie Belle.” 
“Why me?” Sweetie asked. 
“‘Cause Applejack’s gonna be mad at me if we need a new desk for the second time this week,” Apple Bloom whispered into her ear. 
“Okay?” Scootaloo replied, confused. She got into position to prop up Sweetie’s left front and hind hooves. Apple Bloom did the same, and they successfully carried an annoyed Sweetie Belle to the other side of the Clubhouse. 
“I don’t see what the point was,” Scootaloo stated. 
“We moved Sweetie tah the other side of the room,” Apple Bloom said as Sweetie Belle got up and moved back over to her book. Apple Bloom then lifted her hoof in the air for Scootaloo to bump it, Scootaloo did unenthusiastically. 
As soon as their hooves touched Apple Bloom’s gave a snap and bent backwards before falling off. Apple Bloom made a big show of screaming in pain, pretending like the fact that half of her leg had fallen off hurt. “Mah leg! It fell off!” She screamed. 
“What?” Scootaloo asked, mildly concerned. Sweetie Belle flicked Apple Bloom with her magic. 
“Ow,” Apple Bloom complained as Sweetie’s magic actually hurt, unlike her leg. 
“I told you, you can’t just do that. Somecreature might be watching,” Sweetie scolded. 
“Ah already told Applejack, Big Mac, and Granny! Big Mac will probably tell Sugar Belle, and Applejack’s bound to get Starlight to try an’ fix this. Oh, and Applejack said the Elements of Harmony had begun tracing some dark magic over to the Everfree, but they weren’t done.” 
“Hey girls, isn’t school starting soon?” Scootaloo interrupted. 
“We gotta hurry!” Sweetie squeaked, words for a song they once sang immediately popping into her mind. Apple Bloom reached her hoof and reverted to her normal form. They fled the Clubhouse and ran over to school. 

The CMC arrived at school less than a minute early, and filed into the classroom along with the other students. “By the way, me an’ Pipsqueak are gonna leave right after school to get to Zecora’s before sundown,” Apple Bloom told them. 
“Okay,” Scootaloo replied. 
“We both know how much the two of you want to see her, you two were both practically fighting until Mayor Mare allowed both of you to go with Twilight later today. You know how close Twilight and Zecora are too, I’m not surprised she decided to volunteer even with her royal duties,” Sweetie Belle added before reopening her book. The class bell rang as Cheerilee began to take attendance, Sweetie slid her book back into her saddle bags, which she had set on the ground. She had just gotten to reading a part in the “Legends of the Non-Living” which had something about a cursed town. She had barely started that entry, but was eager to finish it. 

“Good morning class!” Cheerilee greeted them. 
“Good morning Ms. Cheerilee,” the class replied. 
“Today we are going to learn about zomponies! The first thing to know about them is that they haven’t been seen for hundreds of years, so they most likely don’t exist anymore.” 
This caused several students to pay attention to the fact that zomponies had existed, and might still. Sweetie glanced at Apple Bloom, wondering. 
“Zomponies are also known to have glowing red eyes, sometimes mixed in with their original eye color. They can also disguise themselves as regular ponies with the sunlight,” Cheerilee told them. 
Apple Bloom felt both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo’s eyes on her. “Ms. Cheerilee, how do you tell if somepony is a disguised zompony?” Ruby Pinch asked. 
“That’s a great question Ruby! With certain spells, potions, magical artifacts, and certain plants, you could find out. Now this flower,” she held up a dark red flower, that seemed to be darker on the edges, with faint, almost blurry, black streaks running along its petals, “will reveal if anypony is any type of undead once they touch it for a short amount of time. It’s called a Breathing Veil, would anypony like to volunteer to touch it?” 
The students glanced around, Scootaloo caught Diamond Tiara giving Silver Spoon a secret look, and Silver Spoon returned it with a twitch of her ear and pushed up her glasses. “What’s that all about?” she thought. Rumble raised his hoof in the air. 
“Rumble, you’ll be the first to try, then we’ll see if any other pony wants to,” Cheerilee called him up. “Now, touch one of those petals.” 

> Chapter Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rumble tapped the flower with his hoof, and a dark red glow suddenly enveloped him before shining a much lighter red. “That’s the color it shows when you aren’t undead,” Cheerilee confirmed. Rumble took his hoof away, and within seconds the glow faded away. “Who wants to go next?” Nopony raised their hoof, “Okay, how about, Sil-” 
“I’ll go Ms. Cheerilee,” Diamond Tiara quickly interrupted her. She strutted up to the flower, and Apple Bloom heard somepony sigh in relief, but she couldn’t identify who. Diamond touched the petal and she was outlined in dark red before it shifted into a lighter shade. 
“Anypony else want to try? Button Mash? Ruby Pinch? Sweetie Belle?” 
“Sure,” Ruby said, Button followed her with a groan, and Sweetie quickly followed him. They all touched the flower. 
“That’s- that’s strange, Sweetie are you even touching the flower?” Sweetie nodded. “I’ll have to ask Starlight why it didn’t even glow at all around you. I mean, you aren’t undead because if you were a black glow would’ve appeared.” It was quite clear that Cheerilee was very confused. The entire class was confused, but all of that added together couldn’t top Cheerilee’s confusion. Sweetie herself wasn’t confused, at least, not about that. 
They all returned to their seats, and Cheerilee continued to talk about zomponies. By the time the bell for recess had rung, she had gone through basically every known and proven fact. Zomponies, when not disguised, could usually survive most situations, and could only be killed by fire, magic, or their own dark magic failing, most likely due to strain or dispelling. Changelings and zomponies were completely different. Most zomponies, like most other forms of undead, attack every living thing and are driven primarily by instinct. However, in special circumstances, zomponies were in control of themselves until they were starved, which caused them to go animalistic. Zomponies could survive on pony food, but only for so long. 
Apple Bloom decided this wouldn’t be a problem if she was able to eat an egg or two from her family’s chickens occasionally. If it was necessary they could get some other creature’s food for her new diet. That wouldn’t be too hard now with how many different creatures were in Ponyville on a daily basis. 
Sweetie Belle continued to read whilst Scootaloo did tricks on her scooter, attracting a small crowd. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom and Pipsqueak were eagerly pacing around, waiting for Twilight right outside the Everfree Forest. Dinky ran up to meet them, “Do you guys think I could join you? I’m not really doing anything until nightfall, and I’m kinda bored.” 
“Ah don’t see why not,” Apple Bloom replied. 
“We can convince Twilight to get to Zecora’s even faster with three ponies instead of two!” Pipsqueak added. 


	~~~


Twilight finally arrived at the edge of the Everfree Forest, but she hesitated. She was about to lead three young ponies into the Everfree. Two of them might make this trip often, but that didn’t help calm Twilight’s nerves. She had been on edge ever since traces of dark magic were found leading into the forest. Twilight eventually budged once she saw their pleading faces. She started along the path, three eager ponies behind her. 
The group made their way through the Everfree Forest, nothing stopping their way until they heard a loud crack. Apple Bloom smelled the ash and other scent she had smelled the night before. Last time she’d almost got eaten by a cragadile. With another crack that reminded Apple Bloom of the sound of bucking a dead tree, a huge, leafy, tree fell down blocking their path back. “That has never happened,” Pipsqueak observed. 
“It feels unnatural, I can sense some strange magic,” Dinky replied. 
“I can sense dark magic,” Twilight concluded, fear suddenly gripping a hold of her. Plants suddenly shot forward separating them. Thick roots and vines swiftly crept towards them, as if they were being controlled by something. Twilight tilted her head in confusion as the green, not Plunderseed, vines tried to ensnare her. 
“Twilight?” Pipsqueak shouted frantically. 
“Stay right where you are!” Twilight shouted back. The ponies gathered close to each other, looking around fearfully. Twilight flew into the air, only to have vines trap her hooves. 
Dinky was the first to notice something emerging, and she promptly shrieked. This grabbed the others attention to the horrifying creature. Glowing red eyes were attached to a pitch black skeletal frame, stumbled forward, letting out an eerie moan. Twilight tried to clear the foliage to reach them, but it seemed to be growing even thicker the more she tore away at it. She shot a beam of magic from her horn, and the zompony crumpled to the ground, only for more to take its place. 
“Run!” Twilight screamed as she unsuccessfully pried the stubborn vines away. The ponies ran, but the zomponies were right on their tails. Twilight fired a SOS spell, before desperately battering the now slowing Everfree. 
The zomponies were closing in on them, and the Everfree was blocking every path that wasn’t straight ahead. Vines reached for them, almost tripping them several times. More vines sprung up in front of them, trapping them. The only way to run was backwards, right into the zomponies’ hooves. 


	~~~


A blast of purple magic burst above the Everfree Forest. Sweetie Belle immediately looked up from her book, whilst Scootaloo stopped her trick, finally realizing that nocreature was watching her anymore. “They’re in trouble!” Scootaloo cried out. 
“We’ve got to go help them!” Sweetie dropped her saddlebags and began running towards the forest. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but she had an idea about what was going to happen. She hoped they would make it there in time. Scootaloo ran after her, but a better idea came flying to her. Purplish flames enveloped her as her wingspan increased, new, much larger, feathers appeared as well. She wrapped her forehooves around Sweetie and flew. 


	~~~


“The zomponies! They’re real, and after us!” Dinky cried, trying to hold the closest one back with her magic, but there were too many. The zomponies continued advancing towards them, and Apple Bloom heard what they were saying. They were speaking of a curse, a terrible sickness, and now the poor pony wouldn’t be able to have their protection. 
She didn’t know what to do, so she did the only thing that might be able to save her friends. She ran directly to the nearest zompony and bucked it with all her might. 
It fell back, but only for a moment, and two others pounced on her, pinning her to the ground. She couldn’t move her hindlegs, twist around to hit with her forelegs. The zomponies firmly held her back down, and there didn’t seem to be any escape. 


	~~~


Twilight finally unblocked the barrier and broke the vines on her hooves. She galloped as fast as she could, fearing for the worst, following hooveprints on the ground. She propelled herself forward with her wings, there wasn't any use flying if she couldn’t see the trail from up in the sky. A shadow passed overhead as an orange blur dived down to meet her. Twilight starred in bewilderment at the two fillies that had just, quite literally, dropped out of the sky in front of her. 
Scootaloo’s wings appeared to be bigger than normal, but she wasn’t sure if the light was playing tricks on her eyes. “That was awesome!” She shouted. 
“Girls!” Twilight sputtered, “You- you can’t just come here by yourselves! I’ve already put three young ponies in danger!” 
“We’re here to rescue them!” Scootaloo announced proudly. 
“No! I can’t lose any of you! Get back to town before something terrible happens to you two!” 
“Too late for that,” Sweetie whispered into Scootaloo’s ear before darting away, following the hoofprints. 
“We don’t leave each other hanging,” Scootaloo declared before dashing after Sweetie Belle. 
“Don’t get hurt, please,” Twilight pleaded as she hurried after them. 


	~~~


An idea popped into Apple Bloom’s head, it was probably their last resort. Hopefully it would work how she hopped. “Dinky! Pull me out!” She shouted as the zompony prepared to crush her head. Dinky’s magic tugged her forward, allowing her to disconnect her back. Her body tore in half, looking like part of a magician’s act, and she pushed off with her forehooves. The zompony’s hooves landed on the ground, it took only a moment before it charged after her front half. 
The zompony outstretched its hooves, and exploded. It shrieked as it fell to the ground, and a heavy cloud of smoke obscured her view of all the other ponies. Apple Bloom barely saw Twilight and Scootaloo through the haze. She felt the weight pressing down on her back suddenly cease as another loud explosion sounded. With the smoke hiding her, Apple Bloom decided to move her back half over to her front. 
Sweetie Belle’s eyes glowed a fierce yellow as they pierced through the smoke, she looked around, watching the destruction. Scootaloo had started rushing over to Apple Bloom, who was just reattaching her other half of her body. Twilight had lost track of the girls, but had spotted Pipsqueak and Dinky, running over to make sure they were okay. Sweetie took a step towards them, eyes no longer glowing. Sweetie was afraid, something had its hoof hovering over her, she just knew it. 
The smoke had started to disperse as Sweetie stepped out of it, attracting Twilight’s attention. “Sweetie?” She questioned, the filly’s eyes were on her hooves, and her ears were folded down. Fear grabbed hold of her, “Apple Bloom? Scootaloo?” 
“We’re over here,” Scootaloo answered, Apple Bloom had successfully put herself back together. The smoke still partly blocked their view of each other, 
“You’re okay!” Twilight sighed in relief, and began to trot over to them. Dinky and Pipsqueak ran over. “I’m so glad you’re all safe! If any of those zomponies converted you, you probably wouldn’t be in control of yourselves.” 
“Aren’t we glad that we were in the Everfree all alone yesterday?” Scootaloo laughed, quiet enough that Twilight wouldn’t hear. She quickly looked at Pipsqueak and Dinky who had overheard, “Keep it a secret.” They nodded. 
“I’m not glad…” 
“Do any of you know why Sweetie seems so distraught?” Twilight asked them, but much to her disappointment there wasn’t any answer. Meanwhile Sweetie Belle was busying herself by staring at her hooves. Sweetie couldn’t shake that feeling of being watched. She was being watched, she was sure of it, though something felt off. 
“I’m the reason they’re being watched,” she thought. Her fear was overwhelming. 
 There seemed to be something else in her, Sweetie felt it.


	~~~


“Sweetie, are you okay?” Twilight stared at her. Sweetie nodded, and they all left for Zecora’s hut once again. Nothing else attacked them physically, but their thoughts were assaulting them to the point of near submission with more questions than answers. 
“What happened to me? There’s something else here…” 
“I almost got them all hurt. It’s my fault that they were out here.” 
“Ah don’t want to ever be like them.” 
“What was up between Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon earlier?” 
“Watching…” 
“I think I should improve my magic, that was scary.” 
“I can’t wait to get to Zecora’s! Nothing else is out here, right? Right?” 
“What’ll happen if Twilight finds out ‘bout this?” 
“I hope nopony asks about my wings.” 
“I should make sure none of them got infected.” 
“Can I reveal anything? I can’t…” 
Twilight charged up a spell, one that would show her who was undead, and released it. Instantly Apple Bloom’s disguise was dropped, her coat darkened, her mane and tail became pale and faded. Her eyes burned with a fierce reddish fire, and she let out a startled gasp. Everypony noticed the change immediately, and all of them looked nervously at Twilight. 
Twilight froze in place. “Ah swear, Ah was gonna see Starlight after we got Zecora!” Apple Bloom burst out. 
“No. No, no. You’re undead now, be- because of me,” Twilight sobbed hysterically. 
“Now?” Scootaloo laughed. 
“What? Twilight looked up at her, tears in her eyes. 
“You tell ‘er,” Apple Bloom nudged Scootaloo. 
“No you!” She bumped her back. 
“One of you tell me!” Twilight demanded. 
“I’ll tell,” Sweetie sighed, eyes no longer on her hooves. Sweetie proceeded to tell all three of the ponies how Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and her set up a surprise party in the crystal treehouse. How Nightmare had hit them all with a spell, and that the spell changed something about them. She revealed nothing else. 


	~~~


“All three of you got hit by an extremely powerful spell that can’t be reversed by any magic that we have?” Twilight angrily burst out as soon as Sweetie had told her the effects of the spell. “Based on what you told me about the spell, I know which one it is, and there is no known cure for anything it does! So, let me get your transformations straight. Apple Bloom’s undead, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle?” She looked at the two fillies for an answer. 
“I’m a changeling now,” Scootaloo complied. Sweetie quickly threw her gaze back to her hooves. 
“Sweetie Belle?” Twilight prompted. “Do you know what happened to you?” Sweetie gave a faint nod in reply before speaking. 
“Maybe, I’m not entirely sure,” she squeaked.  It was a lie, Sweetie knew that.  
“Alright, when we get back to Ponyville you’re all going to Starlight,” Twilight decided. 
“Already was,” Apple Bloom groaned under her breath. 


	~~~


“Who’s watching? I can feel something else here, watching. No. Not just watching…” Sweetie’s eyes turned yellow. Nopony noticed this shift because she kept her head down as they continued walking to Ponyville, now accompanied by Zecora. The sun was setting, Twilight made sure of it. She was in charge of it, and so she lifted the moon up too. Twilight hoped Celstia and Luna could come visit her soon now that they were retired. 
“Finally!” Scootaloo huffed as Ponyville came into sight and the Everfree Forest ended. 
“Soon it will be night, what a fright!” Zecora laughed, nopony had told her about their horrifying encounter. 
Dinky and Pipsqueak ran to their houses, and the crusaders ran to Twilight’s Castle, where Starlight lived. Sweetie Belle’s eyes stopped glowing and returned to their original green. 
“I know you’re there, and I know who you are. What have you done to me?” 


	~~~


“This is working much better than I could’ve imagined…” The sun set, final golden rays lingering on the autumn trees for mere moments before darkness took over. The moon began to rise, its cool light illuminating the ruined castle. “Did they forget who the target was? It wasn’t meant for three, just one. Alter three forms physically, and one me…” 
The darkness attempted to burn out the light once again. 


	~~~


The crusaders had arrived at the castle, night had just started. Apple Bloom knocked, and a light purple mare opened the door. Sweetie’s eyes were once again green, they didn’t become yellow. “I won’t let you…” 
> Chapter Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Apple Bloom, you’re finally here! Applejack told me everything she knew,” Starlight greeted them. “I want to run some tests on you, for various reasons. I have to check and make sure it is actually you, you know? Anyway, come on in.” The crusaders complied, unsure of what was about to take place. Starlight led them into a large room with several small tables, books lined the far wall, stretching all the way to a large, circular, stained glass window that showed a tree. Smaller windows with trees wrapped until the purple crystal pillars. 
“What do you think she is going to test?” Sweetie Belle whispered to them. 
 	“I don’t know,” Scootaloo whispered back whilst Apple Bloom simply shrugged. 
Starlight walked to one of the tables and motioned the crusaders over to her, notably, it was the only table with anything on it. “First off, I want you to revert to your new form,” Starlight commanded, looking directly at Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom let her form change, her coat darkened slightly. Her eyes glowed fiercely with an eerie orangish fire. “Okay, so all I need to do is cast this spell, and that will help me che-” 
“Wait!” Scootaloo interrupted her, “we got hit with the spell too!” 
“What?” Starlight choked out, clearly not prepared for this. 
“Yeah!” Scootaloo replied, and at that moment a purple flame surrounded her as she dropped her disguise. Within seconds an orange changeling also stood in front of her, staring up at her with what seemed to be curiosity and a little bit of pride in her pupil-less eyes. 
“Okay, so this was bigger than I thought it was, that’s fine. Sweetie Belle, did anything happen to you?” 
“Yeah, I think something happened,” Sweetie replied, eyes on the ground. 
Starlight opened her mouth to speak, but just then the door swung open. “Hey Starlight, I got that flower you asked for.” Spike walked into the room carrying a dark red flower in his claws. “Oh. Now I understand why you asked for this,” he said as he saw Apple Bloom. 
“That’s a Breathing Veil, like the one Miss Cheerilee showed us earlier today!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “Spike, why aren’t you glowing at all?” 
“Oh, dragon scales are specialized to protect us from extreme heat, and some minor magic. I would glow if I ate it though,” Spike answered, before giving the Breathing Veil to Starlight. 
“Sweetie Belle, are you secretly a dragon?” Scootaloo asked. 
“Ah don’t think so, that wouldn’t make much sense,” Apple Bloom replied. 
“What if I am?” Sweetie countered. 
“Sweetie, I don’t think you’re a dragon, but that’s why we’re here!” Starlight assured them. She then walked over to the table, put the Breathing Veil down, and read something on one of the books. “Okay, this spell might feel a little funny,” Starlight warned them, and then casted a spell. Three images circled above Starlight’s head, they were almost ghostly in appearance. 
The images floating above Starlight were cutie marks, but not just any cutie marks. The cutie marks were Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle’s respectively. With a subtle magical pulse the cutie marks flew over to their owners. “What’s that fer?” Apple Bloom asked as her cutie mark landed on her. 
“That spell can be used to find anycreature, so long as you search using a special connection. I used your cutie marks because they are specifically connected to you three, and through them they connect you to each other,” Starlight answered. “Now, before we start the testing, is there anything else you three can tell me?” 
“Do you wanna hear the whole story?” Scootaloo asked. 
Starlight’s horn lit up, and with a small flash five buckets of popcorn appeared in her magical grasp. “Yes, yes I do.” 


	~~~


The crusaders told everything that had happened to Starlight, but Starlight felt like something was missing. It just didn’t all add up, Sweetie Belle fearing for hurting anycreature who was near her when her eyes turned yellow. The fog that had appeared both times Sweetie had saved somepony, yet she still feared herself hurting them and wouldn’t talk to Starlight about her transformation. How much Sweetie Belle seemed to stare at her hooves when they were talking about the transformations. That she hadn’t apparently glowed any color when touching the Breathing Veil, Starlight was going to double check that for sure. When they were first changed by the spell, Apple Bloom was the only one that didn’t scream, but she was also knocked unconscious, and, according to Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle was just sitting there rubbing her eyes. 
With all this information, Starlight came to a logical conclusion that something had happened to Sweetie Belle’s eyes. “Sweetie Belle?” Starlight called, grabbing the crusaders’ attention away from the popcorn. “May I ask what happened to you once that spell hit?” 
“Um, I, I, uh, screamed,” Sweetie stammered. 
“Do you know what changed?” 
“I, I can hear, um, hear somecreature,” Sweetie squeaked, her left eye suddenly flickered a warm, yet eerily cold, yellow. “They, they’re trying to convince me to, to…” Sweetie Belle stopped talking, and all her attention was once again on her hooves. Her eyes reverted back to their usual green, and then she screamed. 


	~~~


The light suddenly died as an inky darkness covered the windows, the candlelight was extinguished. Starlight’s horn flared up in protest, and Scootaloo quickly followed suit. “Spike! Get help!” Starlight shouted, green fire blazed in response. 
“I can’t get a message out!” Spike yelled, “I’ll be back!” Spike charged through the door, getting out right before it slammed shut. 
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom backed closer to Starlight, but their light seemed to diminish as the darkness grew. “Sweetie Belle!” Starlight called out, terrified at what might’ve happened to the young filly. No pony responded, but the dark blue mist had cornered them. 
Nightmare advanced toward her prey eagerly, enjoying how much fear she was causing. That fear would allow her to grow even stronger, and soon she would once again be able to take control of a host. This time it would be complete control, there wasn’t any room for error. Nightmare saw the pitiful ponies, looking desperately for a way out. Stars glittered as her shadowy form, growing more like the night sky, neared the hopeless creatures. 
Starlight fired up her horn, and blasted the blackish mist. Nightmare was barely pushed back, and she slithered closer. Terror filled the ponies in front of her, but Starlight ignored her rising fear and attacked again. The attacks pushed Nightmare back, but not far back enough. 
“Stay back!” Scootaloo shouted, charging up her own horn with magic. She fired at Nightmare, but, with little understanding of magical attacks, her attack barely even hit. 
“What did you do tah Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom demanded. 
Nightmare chuckled, the ponies believed they could fight her, it was amusing. Didn’t they know? Her power had grown, and there was nothing they could do with how little power they had. She was dragged out of her thoughts as a particularly powerful blast of magic knocked most of her quite a few feet backwards. 
“You’re the one who did this to them! Why?” Starlight screamed. She charged up her horn again, blasting Nightmare a couple more feet back. She immediately prepared to cast another spell, determined to push Nightmare up against the wall. 
This wasn’t good, she couldn’t lose again. She would never lose, that wasn’t possible. It was time to stop playing games. Nightmare shot across the room, aiming to impale the pathetic purple unicorn that had tried to stand up to her. She stopped short, crashing into a teal force field. 
Starlight stood her ground, preparing to use another spell. Nightmare charged again, and split apart. Tendrils of star filled shadows grabbed for the crusaders, pulling them both away from Starlight. “Let go!” Scootaloo screamed, struggling against the mist. 
Nightmare pulled the fillies away, forcing Starlight to choose which one to save. Nightmare pounced, ready to kill both if Starlight couldn’t even save one. She formed jaws, big enough to tear a pony in half. She would aim to kill the changeling first, even untrained, magic still could be dangerous. 
Scootaloo’s eyes grew wide as she saw the shadowy jaws prepare to crush her. They were inches away from her now, and were already closing. She tried to turn into something smaller, but a thick tendril of mist choked her. She fired up her horn, hoping it would do something as she struggled harder. The magical blast didn’t stop the jaws, and Starlight’s magic failed to push the jaws back far enough for Scootaloo to get out. 
Nightmare closed her jaws, and an explosion sounded. The mist dispersed, replaced by a thick, grey cloud. Scootaloo fell to the ground, breathing heavily. She was uninjured, and she breathed a sigh of relief before running back to Starlight. It was getting harder to think, and harder to defend. 
Nightmare didn’t have much time left before more enemies arrived, she knew that. She still had one pony in her grasp, she formed herself again. Nightmare flew through the air, dropping the filly, and rushed under the door. Ponies were coming to the castle, they were about to enter. Nightmare burst through the window, charging straight into the Everfree. Several ponies came right after her, and a few rushed inside. 
This was fine, all she needed to do was keep spreading fear. They would keep fearing her as long as they couldn’t defeat her. They were hopeless. 
Apple Bloom felt herself separate, again. Starlight gasped as she felt a rush of air above her. The smoke didn’t clear very fast, but they could still see through it. “She- She’s gone, she left!” Scootaloo cried. Apple Bloom struggled to put herself together, and Sweetie Belle came to help her. 
“You’re okay!” Apple Bloom cried, suddenly flinging herself into the filly. Sweetie Belle tumbled backwards as part of Apple Bloom hugged her. 
“Get off!” Sweetie squeaked in protest, “Why wouldn’t I be?” 
The door burst open, and several ponies ran into the swirling smoke. “Is everyone okay?” Twilight shouted. 
Scootaloo changed back, and Sweetie Belle dragged Apple Bloom. “I think we’re alright now,” Scootaloo confirmed, running over to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. One of her eyes still glowed yellow, but she didn’t seem to even notice. Apple Bloom reattached part of her, and smoke almost completely cleared. 
“Everyone is completely fine?” Starlight gasped, breathing heavily. 
“Ah think we’re now,” Apple Bloom said. 


	~~~


The sun set, and many of the ponies who had come to help left, they didn’t really understand what was going on anyway. Fluttershy had also left, needing to tend to her animals, but Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Twilight all remained. 
“You didn’t even think of saying anything to me? You just, just…” Rarity huffed, then screamed in rage, and left the room. Sweetie Belle folded her ears down, and Apple Bloom was extremely glad she told her family. 
“If everything’s settled, we should figure out as much as we can right now,” Starlight pointed out. 
“You’re right, let’s all meet up again tomorrow,” Twilight suggested. They all nodded and got up to leave. 
“See ya tomorrow,” Applejack said. 
“You’re gonna have to show me your new power!” Rainbow Dash yelled to Scootaloo, flying out of the room. 
“Farewell, I will see you later, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity practically scolded, and then turned back around. 


	~~~


“Okay, now we can hopefully get somewhere,” Starlight sighed, levitating a scroll of paper over to her. She wrote something on it with a quill before turning back to the crusaders. “Now, I’m going to perform a few more spells, and expose you three to certain magical herbs to see what effect they may have on you.” 
The first spell was to find new or more powerful points of magic. Apple Bloom had more powerful magic everywhere, so her magic increased in general. Scootaloo’s magic had strengthened in her wings and new horn, and was just a little bit more powerful in other places. Sweetie Belle’s magic seemed rather powerful, but upon further examination this was just the result of her using magic as a grown pony before reverting back to her actual age. There was nothing unusual about her magic, but it did seem stronger than other unicorns, but this could have easily been caused by a number of other factors. 
Starlight then touched all three crusaders with the Breathing Veil. A dark red glow enveloped Apple Bloom before darkening to a black. Sweetie Belle didn’t glow at all when she touched the flower, and Scootaloo glowed a light red. “Okay, just in case, Sweetie, eat this.” Starlight gave her the Breathing Veil. Sweetie took a petal off of the flower and ate it, but she didn’t glow. “Interesting,” Starlight observed. 
The second spell Starlight cast would help her understand more about the new forms of the crusaders. The spell would relay some information depending on what or who it was aimed at. Apple Bloom, clearly undead, but also not a zompony like one would assume. Scootaloo, clearly a reformed changeling, but it seemed as though her main form was altering its true state slowly. Sweetie Belle, her eyes were clearly altered, but there was something strange that Starlight couldn’t comprehend about them. Starlight wondered if her vision had changed. 
Another few spells were cast, revealing a strange extra curve on Scootaloo’s horn, Nightmare was no longer hiding inside Sweetie Belle, and the fact that Apple Bloom wasn’t rotting at all. Starlight then took a few different herbs, revealing that Sweetie was not a dragon, and that Spike was rather annoyed by the dragon sneeze branches in the castle. 
Starlight grabbed the final herb, Poison Joke, and touched each of the crusaders with it. She made sure to get the antidote from Zecora beforehand, just in case. They waited for an hour by playing games in order to let the Poison Joke take effect. 
Apple Bloom ran across the room, hurrying away from Scootaloo. Scootaloo dashed after her, reaching out her hoof to tap the young farmpony. Sweetie Belle sat, frozen in place, waiting for Apple Bloom to tag her. Scootaloo was mere inches away from Apple Bloom, until she sneezed. 
Scootaloo transformed into a different creature, before sneezing and reverting back to her new form. She sneezed again, her form changing each time she sneezed. “I think the Poison Joke works!” Scootaloo yelled before sneezing again. 
Starlight gave her the antidote, and waited to see if the other two crusaders would be affected in any way. Time passed quickly and the Poison Joke didn’t do anything to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. With plenty of notes and midnight nearing, Starlight sent the crusaders home. 
“I’m still missing a piece of the puzzle, no, I’m missing lots of pieces. I’m missing one big piece, and a couple of small ones. This just doesn’t make sense, something else is going on with all three of them, but I can hardly understand what happened to Sweetie. How did neither the Breathing Veil or the Poison Joke affect her? She ate the Breathing Veil and nothing happened, I don’t understand,” Starlight grumbled to herself. 
 “What am I missing? Could I be close? How does she make those explosions, and why is there always so much smoke?"
> Chapter Five
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scootaloo stared at the ceiling, there had to be at least a million thoughts in her head, she was sure of it. She couldn’t help reliving everything that had happened that day, it had just been so much. She wondered why she had an extra curve in her new horn, and she wondered if that made her a different species that wasn’t a changeling or a pony? She seemed to be a changeling in every other way though, it just didn’t make sense to her. 
She rolled over, facing her bedside window. Soft moonlight shone through, illuminating her horn. Nopony ever came into her room during the night, so there wouldn’t be any pony shocked to see her like this. The light made her wings appear to be made of silver, just like she had seen Rarity and Sweetie Belle’s coats. 
She was able to impress Rainbow Dash by flying, because, as Rainbow herself had said, “You weren’t able to fly until recently? You just flew better than every filly I’ve ever heard of.” Unfortunately Pinkie Pie had to remind Rainbow Dash about several fillies that flew better when they were even younger, including the alicorn foal Flurry Heart. 
Scootaloo gave a sigh, she was finally catching up, but there were so many ponies so far ahead of her. It seemed impossible to even get close to their level. Bits of clouds slowly drifted past her window as the night dragged on. She had to wonder, would sleep ever come? 


	~~~


A dark maroon ribbon wrapped around a base of light lavender. A familiar hum started up again, and purple thread tied the piece together. Miniature amethyst gems flowed along the sides, then were set in place as well. Rarity placed the finished dress on an empty mannequin, and promptly took it off, sewing another ribbon into place. The dress looked off, but it would be perfect for the costume Pinkie wanted, no matter how strange it looked. 
A bell rang, sounding Sweetie Belle’s return. The door clicked back into place, and the familiar tapping of little hooves clacked against the floor. They seemed a little louder than usual, but that was probably just because Sweetie was exhausted. “Sweetie, have you decided your Nightmare Night costume?” Rarity called. 
“Yeah, we got something planned.” She replied, walking upstairs to her room at Rarity’s Boutique. “ It’s actually Apple Bloom’s idea more than Scootaloo’s or mine,” She continued, just loud enough for Rarity to hear. 
“Just wanted to know if you wanted me to make you three one, darling,” Rarity assured her. She turned back to her work, it looked quite strange. The entire dress looked like it was carved from crystal, and somehow ribbons seemed to make the dress seem even more like it was a crystal. She sewed the final jewel onto the dress, and snipped the thread. Not even a second went by before Pinkie Pie burst through the front door. 
“Hi Rarity!” Pinkie shouted, hopping over to her, and somehow not disturbing any of the sewing supplies and fabrics scattered around Rarity’s Inspiration Room. “Did you finish the crystallized crystal dress that looks similar to the crystal castle, the crystal empire, or the crystal Tree of Harmony before it was destroyed by Sombra’s dark crystals because he wanted to destroy our crystal elements of Harmony but couldn’t, yet it’s more like the inside of the castle?” Pinkie asked. 
“Uhh, I finished the purple crystal dress you asked me for, darling,” Rarity stammered, picking up the dress with her magic. 
“I can’t wait to prank Rainbow with this! She’ll be so confused!” Pinkie chirped, grabbing the dress whilst tossing a bag of bits to Rarity. 
“I think I’m already confused,” Rarity muttered as Pinkie galloped out the door. She carefully navigated through her organized chaos, and shut off the light. She cracked Sweetie’s door, which used to be another room for additional organized chaos, not that it had changed much due to the crusaders’ tendency to make catastrophic messes. Sweetie was lying on her bed, sound asleep, and her blankets had fallen to the floor. 
Rarity pulled them back over Sweetie Belle, a faint blue glow illuminating Sweetie a little more than the moonlight did. “Good night Sweetie,” Rarity whispered, heading to her room for the night. Opal followed right behind her, a little bell jingling as the tired fashionista finally relaxed. There would be no more orders because of the holiday, and Rarity was once again pleased with her work this year. 
However, she couldn’t seem to sleep. A soft clicking noise kept her awake, chiming at perfectly equal intervals. Rarity couldn’t tell if it was her imagination, or just some noise from some creature outside. The harder she strained to listen, the more clear it became. 
The clicking was a sound she had heard many times before, though it never sounded quite like this. It was a clicking that her sewing machine would make as it was running. Most creatures wouldn’t have even been able to hear this clicking, and very few would have been able to match it to its correct location. It was always a very faint sound, easily drowned out by the humming of the sewing machine, so much so that one might, if they ever heard it, mistake it for being part of the humming. 
The clicking wasn’t part of the humming though, the sound would be achieved each time the sewing machine moved, but the humming would only sound once the pedal foot was pressed. By turning the hoof-held wheel one could achieve the clicking sound, but there was no one to turn the wheel. 
Rarity could hear the noise, even more quiet than a lone leaf rustling. It was slowing down now, happening every half minute, but it didn’t slow down any farther than that. Eventually she drifted off into sleep, the strange noise never ceasing. It didn’t try to follow her into her dreams, but continued its never ending chorus. “Was it truly never ending?” Rarity wondered, drifting off into sleep. 


	~~~


A dark blue shape swiftly approached the castle, it had been quite a bit of flying once she was called to Twilight’s castle, but this devastating news would surely be worth it. Starlight had sent a letter informing her of the horrifying discoveries. The three fillies known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been all hit by a powerful spell, and it was Nightmare’s doing. Luna wished Celestia a quick farewell, promising to return as soon as possible to continue their game of make believe. After all, who would move the clouds out of the way for the crops to get their sunlight? 
Luna landed, and knocked on the door, a purple mare was quick to open it. “Oh, good you’re here! I was hoping that you might be able to help me with what’s going on, because of your, um, connection,” Starlight smiled sheepishly. 
“Unfortunately no, we have not known that Nightmare was still out there. The power she has gained, if she were to claim a powerful host then we would have no chance of defeating her. Forsooth, all it would take is a single pony to fall to her temptation, but she has yet to take one. It worries me that she will try to take one as powerful as thou, to do so would be devastating for Equestria and the many lands beyond our borders,” Luna answered. 
“Well, do you have any idea of what we should do?” Starlight asked. 
“We are not sure, ‘tis possible that thee could prepare against Nightmare, perhaps increasing magical defenses and willpower.” 
“If that’s all we can work on until we get more information, then let’s work on that,” Starlight declared. 
“Didn’t thou say in thou’s letter,” Luna stopped for a moment, “Didn’t you say in your letter that the crusaders were affected?” 
“Yes, I can’t seem to figure out exactly how they all changed. I know I’m close, but I still feel like I’m missing a big piece of the puzzle. I took lots of notes about them earlier, right after Nightmare attacked us,” Starlight said. 
“Let’s see what you have come up with then,” Luna replied. Starlight led Luna into a large room, books and scrolls were scattered around. A young dragon was organizing a table full of research near the center. 
“I’m gonna go to bed now,” Spike yawned, “Goodnight Starlight.” 
“Night Spike!” Starlight replied, trotting over to the table of research that Spike had carefully organized. “So this is everything we know about what happened to Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.” 


	~~~


All was silent, everything was dark. A spotlight shined on an orange face, her mouth moved, but no sound came out. Seconds later a yellow face also joined her, along with a pale white one. They were all dressed like rockstars, as they had done for their performance. The noise flooded back, and Scootaloo was nearing their screaming part. “-our story, I’m gonna sing it,” 
Sweetie couldn’t open her mouth, she couldn’t move. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo continued without her, “Very loud!” Her hooves wouldn’t move, nothing moved but her eyes. She looked fearfully over to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who were giving her strange looks. This was the part where she needed to run backstage to raise the sun, but it was impossible. 
Apple Bloom decided to gallop over to the rope and pulled hard, raising much too high way too fast. Scootaloo continued her line, looking worriedly at Sweetie out of the corner of her eye. Sweetie realized she was smiling, but she didn’t feel happy, instead she felt scared. She was trapped on stage, inside her own body, yet unable to move. 
Sweetie suddenly danced, but she couldn’t do anything. She was being moved by invisible strings like one would move a puppet. Loud blaring alarms blocked out all of the sound, yet the sound they made was simply the sound of hoofsteps, trotting away. Nopony in the crowd moved a muscle, they all watched her with glittering eyes, yet the sound of ponies running only increased. 
They were running from her, but not yet. They would run, there was no doubt that they would run. Two wooden props fell, but Sweetie couldn’t do anything. Scootaloo pushed them back, unable to balance them, Apple Bloom rushed over to help her. The song ended, the background fell on top of them. Sweetie didn’t stop dancing, her friends climbed out of the rubble, and bowed. Apple Bloom dragged Sweetie by her tail backstage, there was no question what would happen next. 
The crowd started to turn away, and then more started to run as she smiled at them. “Sweetie Belle, are ya okay?” Apple Bloom asked, both crusaders were giving her worried looks. 
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Sweetie lied, it was an obvious lie, made even less reassuring by her fake smile. 
“You didn’t do anything that we’ve been practicing on,” Scootaloo countered. 
“Sorry, I didn’t remember,” Sweetie lied, wearing an even bigger grin. 
“Sweetie, darling, something seems to be on your mind, do you want to tell me what it is?” Rarity asked, those were the same words from the morning of Nightmare Night. It was the same exact tone, same exact warm eyes staring down at her lovingly. 
“There is something I need to tell you,” Sweetie replied, yet none of it came out. Instead she repeated the same lie she had said earlier that day, “Nope, it’s nothing, really.” 
“Okay, but if you ever need to tell me something I’ll be right here,” Rarity assured her. Sweetie didn’t know why she lied, why she didn’t just tell her sister that something had happened, that had changed her and the other crusaders. She just wasn’t sure how it changed her exactly, but it was becoming much clearer. 
She was a puppet, somepony was just pulling the strings, so that she couldn’t reveal anything. She had tried to cut some of the strings earlier, but it had only been a temporary fix. The strings only fell when Nightmare came out, she was no longer a puppet, but something was still missing. 
Puppets weren’t able to resist their masters, yet she was able to keep Nightmare from completely taking over, forcing her to come out to attack. She wasn’t a puppet, she was only controlled temporarily, but no longer. It was time for the truth. 
The nightmare ended as the warm sun began to rise. Golden beams filtered in through her windows, shining upon her, urging her to wake. Sweetie climbed out of bed, and slowly walked down the hall. The door was in front of her, and there was no other pony pulling the strings this time. She pushed open the door, waking her sister up, and preparing to tell her what she had been meaning to for a day now. 
“Sweetie Belle, why did you wake me?” Rarity asked, moving herself into a sitting position. 
“I can finally tell you the truth, I’ve been trying, but I couldn’t,” Sweetie responded, curling her tail around her. She prepared to tell Rarity everything she knew, but hadn’t been able to say.
> Chapter Six
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I wasn’t able to do anything, and I didn’t even realize it. I tried to tell you what happened, but the second I did she made me stop and forget. It was awful, I don’t remember what I did when she came out at the castle,” Sweetie Belle cried. “I remember that I was able to fight her for a bit when we were walking back to town, but I could barely focus on anything else.” 
“It’s okay,” Rarity cooed, letting the little filly snuggle closer to her. “I didn’t mean to get so angry with you, darling, I’ve just been so busy that I wasn’t spending any time with you. I was getting worked up all over again because of Nightmare Night, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t ignore you. It’s my fault much more than yours that you weren’t able to tell me.” 
“I kept you in the dark,” Sweetie mumbled, “I’m sorry.” 
“Sweetie Belle, you have nothing to be sorry for. I’m the one who neglected you when you needed me most, and I’m the one who got mad at you for a pointless reason. You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just like before our first Sisterhooves Social,” Rarity reminded her. “I got mad at you for just trying to help out then, rejecting you when you tried to show me how much you loved me. I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you then, and I’m going to stop being mad at you now. I hope you can forgive me Sweetie.” 
Sweetie hugged her, feeling the comforting warmth of her fur. “I forgive you,” Sweetie Belle whispered in a sweet, soft voice, her breath barely stirred Rarity’s fur. Rarity fully embraced the moment, she had almost lost her sister, due to her own fault. The wound wouldn’t heal completely yet, it was her punishment. It would remain for a while, but Sweetie Belle forgiving her eased the burden of it. 
A melody rang out, it was clear and quiet. The subtle chiming rang out continuously, though neither pony was bothered by it. Both were not paying any attention to it, their grief and guilt were too strong. The world seemed to be at peace. There was nothing to interfere with the peace, even though there was plenty more work to be done. The infinite clicking didn’t cease, it was a perfect harmony. 


	~~~


“Is it just me, or has Starlight been more and more distracted every time we see her?” Smolder asked, tossing an unlit candle to Silverstream. 
“Two days ago she started to act strange, as if she was contemplating something,” Ocellus added. 
“Does anycreature know what she’s thinking about?” Sandbar asked, all of them shook their heads. “Has anycreature asked her?” They all shook their heads again. 
“She isn’t the only one acting weird, Sweetie Belle wasn’t as cheerful as she usually is yesterday,” Gallus pointed out. 
“I detected a sudden trace of fear coming from Apple Bloom right before she and Sweetie left the party,” Ocellus mentioned. 
“Yona saw Scootaloo fly,” Yona said. Everycreature turned to look at her. 
“You saw Scootaloo fly?” Gallus questioned, Yona nodded. 
“Scootaloo flew above Everfree Forest. Scootaloo carried other pony.” 
“So, something is definitely going on. There’s no way she would be able to fly while carrying another pony if she’s never done it before,” Smolder stated. 
“She has been practicing flying almost her whole life, right? It isn’t too far-fetched that her wings grew enough to enable her to fly,” Silverstream countered. 
“Some pegasi have been able to carry their parents, but their strength will usually decrease as they get older. Their strength is because of sudden magical bursts that become much less frequent the older they get,” Ocellus said. 
“The same thing happens to unicorns, too. You should ask Pinkie Pie about it, she said she was flown around by Pound Cake, and that Pumpkin Cake was using her magic like crazy,” Sandbar added. 
“So, Scootaloo fly because of magic burst?” Yona asked. 
“I doubt it,” Smolder answered, “I’m sure that something else is going on, there’ve been too many strange things happening lately.” Everycreature looked at one another, and one after another nodded. 
“Well, what should we do?” Silverstream asked, dumping out a bag of chicken feed. 
“Friends ask crusaders?” Yona suggested. 
“It’s either them or Starlight, so let’s go ask them,” Gallus decided. 


	~~~


“So you an’ Rarity already made up for it?” Apple Bloom asked, clearly confused. “She was screaming at ya last night, and all ya have to tell us is that you two made up this morning?” 
“Yes,” Sweetie Belle replied, “I told her about what happened to us. I, I wasn’t able to tell her before, I think Nightmare was controlling me.” 
“She controlled you?” Scootaloo stared at Sweetie, head poking out from their small attic. 
“Yes, she did, or I think she did. I couldn’t do the things I wanted to, like talk to Rarity, but she’s gone now,” Sweetie confirmed. 
“No wonder ya weren’t talking about what happened to you,” Apple Bloom said. 
“Do you know if you changed now?” Scootaloo asked, experimenting with her new changeling ability. 
“No, I don’t, and don’t change your form right now! The curtains are open and somepony could just walk in!” Sweetie Belle demanded, reaching for the curtains with her magic. 
“Sweetie Belle, your eyes are glowing,” Scootaloo exclaimed, dropping from the attic as Sweetie Belle blocked one window. 
“Huh?” Sweetie Belle turned to face them, eyes quickly dimming. 
“Your eyes were glowing, just now!” Scootaloo declared, practically jumping at her. “This has to mean that you changed too, right?” 
“My, my eyes were, glowing?” Sweetie Belle stuttered. 
“Yeah, they were glowing a bright green,” Scootaloo said. 
“Sweetie Belle, try closing that other curtain with your magic,” Apple Bloom instructed. Sweetie reached for the other curtains with her magic, and her eyes once again turned a bright green. 
“They did it again!” Scootaloo shouted, lighting their lantern. 
“Ah remember that yer eyes were glowing yellow everytime that smoke appeared,” Apple Bloom stated, “and everytime that smoke appeared we were in trouble. Do your eyes glow yellow when there’s danger?” 
“And green when you use your magic?” Scootaloo blurted out. 
“I, I don’t know. I didn’t know that my eyes were glowing, but I had used magic before, and my eyes didn’t glow. I think the first time my eyes should’ve turned a brighter green was when I flicked Apple Bloom with magic after she pulled that prank on you, Scoots,” Sweetie Belle concluded. 
“So, whatever’s changed in ya is growing?” Apple Bloom questioned. 
“I think so,” Sweetie replied. 
“I think the same thing has started to happen to me,” Scootaloo added, changing back into a changeling. “My horn is starting to form a second curve.” Sweetie and Apple Bloom both stared at Scootaloo’s horn, it seemed larger, and the tip of it had stopped curving inward, and was pointing a bit more outward. 
“That’s weird, so something is definitely cha-” Sweetie Belle started, and was interrupted by somepony knocking on the door. Scootaloo quickly changed back as Apple Bloom opened the door. 
“Will you three tell us what’s been going on?” Smolder confronted them. 
“We know that something is up, so don’t try avoiding the question,” Sandbar added. The crusaders quickly glanced at each other, fearing what would happen next.
> Chapter Seven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Tell us why you’ve been acting so strange,” Smolder demanded, stepping forward. 
“Nothing strange has been going on, what are you talking about?” Scootaloo lied. 
“We know you lying, stop lying!” Yona declared. 
“Please tell us what’s been going on,” Sandbar begged. 
“What, what’s been going on,” Apple Bloom repeated slowly, unsure of what to say. 
“Yeah, explain why you three have been acting so weird,” Smolder commanded. 
“Acting weird?” Scootaloo repeated, fear welling up in her throat. 
“Yes, why have you three been acting strange lately,” Ocellus confirmed calmly. 
“We can help you through whatever it is you know,” Smolder said, barely lowering her voice. 
“I was possessed!” Sweetie Belle screamed, stopping the conflict immediately. Everycreature stared at Sweetie in total shock, the other two crusaders were sure of what they were doing now. 
“We just learned about this right before ya came,” Apple Bloom added. 
“You were possessed?” Silverstream asked, stepping forward to get a closer look at Sweetie. 
“I think so,” Sweetie replied. 
“By who?” Gallus questioned. 
“Nightmare,” Scootaloo responded, finally calming down. 
“How is that even possible?” Sandbar asked. 
“I’m not sure, but I know that she was controlling me,” Sweetie answered. 
“Does Starlight know of this?” Ocellus asked. 
“Not ‘bout Sweetie being possessed,” Apple Bloom revealed. 
“How about we go talk to her, and do our own research?” Ocellus suggested. 
“Let’s do it!” Scootaloo shouted, she stuck her hoof in the air. 
“Cutie Mark Crusaders, yay!” 


	~~~


The harmony was quiet and calm, yet it sent out waves of distress. There was something wrong, but it was perfection. It was flawless, only it was clearly flawed. Was it somehow better this way? No, it wasn’t, or at least that’s what they said. One mistake, and they would all strike, they said. Everyone would turn against them, against her. Would they turn against themselves, they said they might. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to not turn against them. The silent storm was growing in size, and more of them were figuring out part of the story. There wasn’t any way for her to stop it. 


	~~~


“Have you found anything yet?” Starlight asked, several books hovering around her. 
“Yes, I believe I did. I also sent a letter to Thorax, asking him if he knows anything about strange changelings, hopefully he can help us with whatever Scootaloo may be dealing with.” Luna replied. 
“Good, now what did you find?” 
“I have found that this spell is formed from very dark magic, a kind so powerful that not even us have seen it before. It is more powerful than me, my sister, and Discord working with the Elements of Harmony,” Luna warned. “I know not how Nightmare has managed to acquire such power, and I fear we may all be doomed if we cannot find a weakness of her’s.” 
“Okay, that sounds bad,” Starlight said, “but can I ask why you refer to Nightmare as ‘her’ because she doesn’t have her own gender, she’s just a bunch of sentient dark magic, right?” 
“You named your plant,” Luna deadpanned. 
“Well, that’s none of your business!” Starlight yelled. 
Luna sighed, “Would they even be happy going back to their normal lives after these changes, and is it even possible to change them back?” Luna questioned. 
“I, I don’t know. I haven’t talked to them about if we can’t change them back, so far we’re still trying to figure out what Nightmare’s plan is.” 
“I agree, we must find out her plan, otherwise Equestria will be thrown into darkness,” Luna said. She flew down next to Starlight, looking at Starlight’s book. 
“Perhaps we should bring the crusaders in again, see if any new changes have occurred,” Luna suggested. The time passed swiftly, neither pony slept through the night. 
The front doors burst open, and nine creatures stepped into the room. Luna and Starlight turned to face the Crusaders and the Young Six. “We want to know what’s going on,” Smolder demanded. 
“What is going on?” Starlight asked, facing the crusaders. 
“I was possessed, and they figured that out,” Sweetie Belle said. 
“You were possessed?” Starlight repeated. 
“If that is true, then it is much worse than I feared. Nightmare may have possessed another pony already, anypony in Ponyville could be possessed. If she got on a train, she could be anywhere in Equestria by now, taking control of anypony. I’ll send word immediately to all the rulers about this new threat,” Luna said. 
“Is it possible we could detect where Nightmare is?” Ocellus asked. 
“Perhapes, I’ll work on a spell for that. Let’s hope it won’t be too late.” 
“It would probably be best to stay together, with this information you’re all major targets. You should also go somewhere Nightmare wouldn’t immediately suspect,” Luna informed. 
“Well, we still need to hear everything else that’s happened,” Gallus said. 
“The crusader’s clubhouse is too small,” Scootaloo replied. 
“We probably shouldn’t go through the Everfree Forest right now either,” Silverstream added. 
“Sweetie Belle, is your room at Rarity’s place big enough for all of us?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“It might be,” Sweetie replied. 
“It’s probably one of our best options right now, so let’s go!” Sandbar decided. 


	~~~


Rarity sewed another outfit, hardly paying any attention to the dress, she was lost in thought. 
Click. 
“Sweetie Belle had brought the crusaders over, along with the young six, so there wasn’t much else to do in her home,” Rarity thought. 
Click. 
“They we’re going to have a sleepover.” 
Click. 
“Sweetie Belle was growing up, and she already had her own job.” 
Click. 
“She would be a mare soon.” 
Click. 
“Could she handle that? Sweetie Belle was growing up, she might not even have time to visit her anymore.” 
Click. 
“She might not want to visit her anymore.” 
Click. 
“Sweetie might hate her,” Rarity realized. 
Click. 
“Where was that noise coming from? It wouldn’t stop mocking her since…” 
Click. 
“Sweetie had come back to her house, possessed,” Rarity panicked. 
Click. 
Rarity ran up the stairs, fearing for the worst. 


	~~~


“Nightmare cast a bunch of dark magic on all three of you?” Silverstream resounded. 
“Yeah, and it changed us, like I’m pretty sure I am a changeling now. Ocellus?” Scootaloo asked, turning back into a changeling. 
“You look like a changeling, but how did Nightmare even survive for this long? This is the same Nightmare that was Luna’s Anger, the same one that took control of Rarity?” Ocellus asked. 
“When did that even happen?” Sandbar asked. 
“I’m not sure, ah remember it happening, but I can’t remember when,” Apple Bloom answered. 
“Yona want know more,” Yona said. 
“Okay, basically, Apple Bloom’s eyes glow red and Sweetie’s glow green,” Scootaloo supplied. 
“They aren’t glowing right now,” Gallus observed. 
“So, Starlight’s pretty sure Ah’m undead now,” Apple Bloom replied, letting her changes show. Her coat darkened, her mane and tail became more pale, and her eyes burned with a reddish orange fire. 
“Now that’s pretty scary,” Silverstream said, stepping backwards and then forwards. Apple Bloom returned to her usual form. 
“Okay, so what happened to you, except for getting possessed. Scootaloo said your eyes also glow,” Smolder asked. 
“Yes, we found out my eyes now glow bright green when I do magic, and we think they glow yellow when danger is around. Every time my eyes turn yellow there is also a lot of smoke, but they haven’t turned yellow since I was possessed,” Sweetie replied, flicking her ear. “We also know that the Breathing Veil didn’t have any effect on me, I didn’t glow at all, Starlight even had me eat a petal, and I didn’t glow,” Sweetie Belle finished, flicking her ear again. 
“What Breathing Veil Sweetie Belle ate do?” Yona inquired. 
“The Breathing Veil is a flower which will show if a creature is undead by glowing black, if not it will glow a light red. It will glow red before switching over to one of those two colors, but some creatures have to ingest it to see it’s effects because the flower cannot get through things like thick scales,” Ocellus stated. 
“Like mine,” Smolder provided, showing her arm to Yona. 
“So how did you not glow at all?” Gallus asked. 
“We don’t know,” Scootaloo responded. 
“We should look into this, it could help us,” Sandbar declared. 
“Does any other creature hear that strange clicking noise?” Silverstream asked. They all became as quiet as possible, listening for the sound of clicking. 
The clicking echoed in the eerie silence. The only other noises that could be heard were hushed breathing, singing birds, and a muffled sewing machine downstairs. It was a ceaseless clicking, ringing in their ears. 
They knew they couldn’t stop it, yet they didn’t even understand what it was. A feeling of dread washed over them, it was even deeper for her. 


	~~~


Click. 
Rarity grabbed the handle and turned. 
Click. 
“Why would it not stop?” Rarity asked. 
Click. 

“The storm is growing,” she thought. 
Click. 
“There is nothing they can do,” she thought, a new fear flooding through her. 
Click. 
“Nothing I can do,” she realized. 
Click. 

“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity opened the door. 
 “Why?” She asked once more, knowing she wouldn't receive her answer here.   
> Chapter Eight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The door swung open, revealing a terrified looking Rarity. “Sweetie Belle?” Her voice wavered as she tried to hide her fearful expression. 
“Rarity?” Sweetie Belle looked at Rarity, wondering what had made her look so terrified. 
“I just want to know if you’re okay, darling,” Rarity said, breathing heavily. 
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Sweetie asked. 
“It’s just,” Rarity paused, “a few things, would you mind joining me in the hallway, darling?” Rarity uttered. 
“Okay,” Sweetie agreed as she got up and walked over to Rarity. “I’ll be back in just a minute,” she said as Rarity shut the door behind them. 

“What do you think that was all about?” Silverstream asked. 
“Who knows?” Gallus replied. 
“I’ll bet that Rarity’s been worried ‘bout Sweetie,” Apple Bloom guessed. 
“That makes sense, she’s probably been busy and drained that she didn’t realize something was wrong before. Both she and Sweetie know that, so Sweetie might not have wanted to distract her,” Ocellus added. 

“She always has been kinda overprotective, in a weird way. It makes m-, augh!” Scootaloo screamed, as a sharp pain shot through her head. She collapsed on the ground as the stabbing sensation became more painful. She heard muffled voices gasping around her. 
 It makes me feel sad sometimes… 

Scootaloo opened her eyes, but everything was blurry. She moved her hoof to her head as pain rushed through her skull. She struggled as she felt darkness threatening to overtake her. Even more pain overwhelmed her, and her sight gave out almost completely. Everything blurred together, and she reluctantly submitted to the darkness. 


	~~~


“Sweetie Belle, darling. I have to know, are you okay?” Rarity asked, fearing her sister’s answer. 
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Sweetie asked. 
“Um, well, you see darling, I keep hearing this dreadful clicking sound. It won’t stop, and the first time I heard it was when you were possessed,” Rarity replied. 
Sweetie froze. “Did you say, clicking?” 
“Yes, is there something wrong with that?” Rarity started to panic. 
“Everycreature just started talking about a clicking, and we started listening to it. It wouldn’t stop. 
“What is this clicking, we have to find out where it’s coming from! Who knows what it actually is?” Rarity decided. 
“I’m not sure what it is,” Sweetie revealed. 

A sudden scream along with multiple gaspssounded from the other side of the door, and it burst open. “Scootaloo just passed out!” Smolder informed them. 
“Yona think Scootaloo in pain!” Yona shouted from right behind her. 
“What?” Rarity ran into the room, the fear that she had just let go of came rushing back. 

She examined Scootaloo, checking that she had a pulse and was breathing. Rarity let out a small relieved sigh, Scootaloo seemed to be fine. She looked over her for any signs of injury, but she didn’t find any. “Scootaloo seems fine right now; I would like to know what happened.” 
“It all happened so fast! We were talking about how you and Sweetie were getting along,” Silverstream started. 
“Then Scootaloo said how you had always been overprotective in a weird way, and she said that, it makes?” Sandbar informed her. 
“After that she screamed, fell on the floor, and struggled to get up for a few seconds,” Gallus finished. 
“Do you guys think it was a magic spell?” Smolder asked. 
The clicking seemed to grow louder, causing the fear to rise even more. 

“I, think, I feel, funny,” Sweetie Belle whispered, breaking the eerie silence as she fell to the floor. 
“Sweetie?” Apple Bloom questioned. 


	~~~


Every second, something changed. A shadow continued to spread. It wouldn’t stop growing, it didn’t want to, but she knew it had no feelings. Why was it looming over her? She didn’t want to open her eyes. What would she see? What had been changed? 
Again, over and over, it was a never ending cycle of changing. 


	~~~


Shocked gasps echoed around the room as Sweetie Belle fell. “What’s going on?” Silverstream panicked. 
“It could be a magical connection,” Ocellus suggested. 
“What’s that?” Smolder asked. 
“Well, certain individuals may have special magic connections to other individuals. So, a magical link between Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle could have caused Sweetie to pass out if whatever caused Scootaloo to pass out is magical,” Ocellus informed them. 
“So what if it’s a magical connection, how do we help them?” Gallus asked. 
“The safest way for us to help could be to finish the connection, that would end it.” 

“So ya want me to go to sleep?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“Yes,” Ocellus said. 
“There’s a good chance that’ll work,” Sandbar said. 
“Chance to save friends!” Yona shouted. 
“Okay, I’ll try,” Apple Bloom laid down, wrapped her tail around her, and waited for sleep. 
“Be careful, we don’t know what they’re experiencing,” Ocellus warned. 

The seconds went by too fast, a breath or a blink, and everything was gone. Everything twisting, eager to cause suffering. They were eager to cause suffering, she didn’t want that. She knew it was hiding, she was hiding. She knew she would never stop hiding it. 


	~~~


She could see clearly, it felt so different. Everything looked closer to normal, changes still there, but much less noticeable. It felt amazing. 
 She felt…  


	~~~


Apple Bloom opened her eyes, squinting into the bright misty void that seemed to surround her. “Apple Bloom!” A voice squeaked behind her. She turned around, with surprisingly little effort. A familiar filly stood there, inches away from her muzzle. Her ruffled coat was white and her purple and pink mane looked slightly messy. A familiar orange pegasus stood next to her, she had a maroon mane and purple eyes. 
“Girls!” Apple Bloom jumped, “I just saw you both pass out.” 
“Yeah, that felt so weird. I thought I was dying,” Scootaloo said. 
“I felt weird too!” Sweetie giggled. 
“Yeah, well, mine was painful.” 
“You’re bragging about your pain?” Sweetie questioned, amusement sparkling in her eyes. 
“Yes I am, miss I won’t stop laughing!” Scootaloo boasted. 
“Girls?” Apple Bloom said. 
“I can’t help it!” Sweetie giggled. 
“Girls?” 
“What is it, Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo asked. 
“Do either of you know why we’re here?” 
“To figure out everything we can!” Sweetie exclaimed. 
“That works for me, let’s go!” Scootaloo said. 
“I guess we don’t have much else to go on,” Apple Bloom sighed. They followed Sweetie as she jumped through the mist, dispersing it easily. 

They kept walking, endless void seeming to only expand around them. “Sweetie Belle, do you know where we’re going?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“It feels, right,” she replied, losing her tone of humor. 
“Well, I guess there isn’t any better choice,” Scootaloo groaned, a slight bit of annoyance creeping into her voice. 
They continued walking until Sweetie suddenly stopped. She lit up her horn, trying to find the source of the strange, feeling. 
“Sweetie, your eyes aren’t glowing,” Scootaloo informed her. 
“Huh?” Sweetie looked at her, horn still alight, “they aren’t?” 
“No, wait. Do you think this means we’re back to normal?” Apple Bloom asked. Scootaloo changed in response, “It doesn’t look like it.” She glanced back at her wings, they looked like a changeling’s, but feathers lined the edge. “At least not fully,” she remarked, confusion flooding her. 
“Well that’s okay! There’s a trapdoor right here!” Sweetie squeaked, grabbing it in a magical flame, pulling it open. 
“Wha- why? This doesn’t make any sense,” Apple Bloom exclaimed. 
“Maybe it’s not supposed to?” Sweetie replied. 
“What else are we gonna do? There isn’t anything else here,” Scootaloo asked, changing back. 
“Come on!” Sweetie laughed, jumping down the hole. 
“Okay,” Apple Bloom sighed, climbing down. Scootaloo followed right behind her. Sweetie illuminated the room with her magic. 

The room they stood in was littered with papers and a few open books. “Do you girls think that Twilight used to live here?” Scootaloo asked. 
“Either her or one of the other bookworms we know,” Apple Bloom responded. Sweetie read one of the papers. 
‘Run, run, run, they’ll run after you.’ 
“Hey, girls, come look at this,” Sweetie said. 
“What is it?” Scootaloo asked, Apple Bloom right behind her, Sweetie pointed her hoof towards the paper. 
“Who do you think wrote this?” Apple Bloom questioned. 
“It looks like whoever they were, they were trying to hunt somepony down,” Sweetie Belle mentioned. 
“But who? Who can’t run?” Scootaloo asked. 
“Maybe it’s hidden somewhere in here.” Apple Bloom waved her hoof at the scattered papers. 
“Okay, let’s look,” Sweetie squeaked. They read the papers out loud, one at a time, still none of them making any sense. 
“Run now.” 
“Why? What happened?” 
“We’ll never leave your side! You should know that!” 
“Come on, we’ll help you with whatever it is.” 
“Come back!” 
“We won’t let you!” 
“STOP!” 
(I can’t.)
“You, what?” 
“NO!” 
“No!” 
“We won’t stop, you wanted this.” 
“I didn’t… are hurting… I’ll stop… you myself. No matter what… die.” 

“That one sounded different,” Scootaloo said. 
“It has a lot of stuff scribbled out, I read what I could make out,” Sweetie replied. 
“None of these make any sense,” Apple Bloom complained. 
“Maybe we should look somewhere else?” Scootaloo suggested. 
“Where?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“How about in there?” Sweetie Belle pointed towards a door that hung on only one hinge. A faint grey light throbbed inside it. 
“When did that get there?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“When did the broken mirror get there?” Scootaloo asked. 
“Broken mirror?” Apple Bloom questioned. She looked at Scootaloo, who was examining a shattered mirror a little ways away. 
“Apple Bloom, you shouldn’t be worrying so much,” Sweetie Belle said, now in front of Apple Bloom. 
“When did you get in front of me?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“Just now, I told you that you shouldn’t be worrying,” Sweetie replied, giving her a quizzical stare. 


	~~~


The pain came back, but it wasn’t much. Just a little stinging, she wondered why. She decided she had to look. The flames danced around her, and the stinging seemed to calm. Something was changing, something inside of her. 
> Shadowed Sanctuary
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I s’pose there isn’t any harm in looking inside the room,” Apple Bloom huffed as Sweetie prepared to push the door completely open. Apple Bloom told herself that she was worrying over her friends, not the several things that weren’t making sense. 
The door nearly fell off its remaining hinge as the source of the light was revealed. A full moon about the size of them was glowing brightly in the center of the stone room. Dark blue and purple magic speckled with dim flecks swirled tightly around it. Barely any of the magic was being dragged away by the red and black centaur trying to consume it. 
“Tirek?” Scootaloo shouted, causing Tirek to jump and stop his feast. 
“Chr-, wait, ponies! How did you get herer?” Tirek demanded, towering over them even more than full grown ponies did. 
“We could ask you the same question,” Apple Bloom raised her muzzle up to his. 
“Well, uh,” Tirek stuttered. “Ever since you puny ponies used your friendship magic, we got stuck here,” Tirek huffed, forcing each word out. 
“You mean Chrysalis and Cozy Glow are here too?” Sweetie questioned. 
“Um, no. They were here, but then Cozy vanished. Chrysalis got a little upset and cracked the stone. I’m not really sure how, we had already tried to break it before with all our forces combined. After that this thing appeared,” Tirek informed them, pointing his clawed hand at the moon in the middle of the room. “She told me that something had used some special forbidden changeling magic, and that who ever used it could bring about the end of the world. Then she told me to steal the magic from it,” Tirek explained. 
“Then where is Chrysalis now?” Scootaloo asked. 
“And are you harming that thing?” Sweetie pointed towards the moon. 
Tirek consumed more magic as he muttered, “No, its too much magic, and it replenishes too fast.” Tirek wiped his mouth before continuing, “Chrysalis said that she was trying to guide the changelings so they wouldn’t be wiped out. It was a lot to take in, but I remember she said something about a certain type of changeling magic that only she had access to.” 
“How can y’all leave? I thought ya were stuck in the statue,” Apple Bloom inquired. 
“Oh, we are, did I not mention that Chrysalis cracked the stone?” Tirek snorted. “Then she started looking for other ways to get out, and she hasn’t been back for a while now. Okay, I’ve given my information, I want you to return the favor.” 
“What do you want to know?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“How you ponies got in,” Tirek demanded. 
“We fell asleep and woke up here,” Scootaloo responded. 
“That shouldn’t be possible,” Tirek muttered. 
“There was nothing around until we found th-” Sweetie began. 
“There was a trapdoor!” Scootaloo interrupted her. 
“A trapdoor, where?” Tirek asked. 
“Over here!” Sweetie jumped away, leading through the other room to the trapdoor in the ceiling. Tirek reached up to open it, and eagerly climbed through. 
“This looks like what Chrysalis told me about, an endless cloud.” He dispersed some of the fog, and kneeled down. A blurry image of a throne appeared in the opening, a pink blob seated upon it. “I can’t get it to show me exactly what I want,” he huffed, dispersing the fog again. “I trust now that Chrysalis was right, I need to drain that magic. We must get more powerful if we are ever able to stand a chance at beating this other evil to the throne.” He glanced at the fillies behind him, “I, uh, mean save everycreature.” 
“Uh-huh.” Apple Bloom slowly nodded. 
“I’m serious, I need ponies alive to bow d-, I mean teach me the ways of friendship,” Tirek laughed. 
There was an awkward moment of silence before Scootaloo stepped forward. “So how do we get out of here?” 
“Try singing a song about how good of friends you are,” Tirek joked. 
“I’ll start!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “The st-.” Tirek covered Sweetie’s mouth, cutting her off. 
“I was being sarcastic," he snorted. 
“We could still try,” Sweetie replied, locking gentle eyes with Tirek. 
“All you ponies have to do is want to leave,” hissed the creature that emerged from the fog. 
“Chrysalis, you’re o-, er, what took you so long?” Tirek asked. 
“Preparing my kingdom for this new threat without direct contact is not the eas-.” 
“Wait just a second, did you say we only had to want tah leave?” Apple Bloom questioned. 
“Yes,” she practically sneered, through no hard feelings were behind it. “You three haven’t been sealed away, you’re just using magic to get here. You can leave anytime you want, and come back to our, delight, whenever you wish,” Chrysalis replied, her voice changing pitch on the word delight. 
“Well then let’s get back!” Scootaloo grabbed both of them and dove into the mist, forcing it to let her leave. The three fillies disappeared, no trace of where they were left behind. 
“So,” Tirek said, leaning forward with a smug smile plastered on his face, “what will you do if you can’t find Cozy?” 


	~~~


“Apple Bloom, hey Apple Bloom?” Apple Bloom opened her eyes, recognizing Smoulder talking to her. 
“Wha?” Apple Bloom yawned. 
“You guys were out for several hours,” Gallus replied. 
“So what did you see?” Silverstream asked. 
“Silverstream, Scootaloo already told us. They went to a void and found something with powerful magic inside,” Ocellus mentioned. 
Apple Bloom was just about to tell them that they had also found Chrysalis and Tirek when Scootaloo called her out into the hallway. “Yona sleep longer,” Yona muttered sleepily at the sound as Apple Bloom left the room. As soon as she was out Scootaloo shut the door. 
“We might have a small issue,” Scootaloo informed her. 
“What? What happened?” 
“Sweetie Belle, might be, somehow, missing,” she whispered under her breath. 
“What? How? Where would she have gone? Why didn’t anyone else say anything? Did you check everywhere? Why can’t I get a break today?” Apple Bloom frantically questioned. 
“I may have lied and said she went to the bathroom,” Scootaloo said. 
“But where would she go?” 
“I don’t know!” Scootaloo replied. 

“Did you check downstairs?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“Yes,” Scootaloo confirmed. 
“How about Rarity’s room?” 
“I looked.” 
“Did you look in the closet?” Apple Bloom questioned. 
“No, I didn’t look in the closet that’s twice as big as her bed,” Scootaloo said sarcastically. 
“Did you try looking under Rarity’s fainting couch?” Sweetie asked. 
“Of course!” 
“Did you try looking in the kitchen?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“Yes, I looked everywhere!” Scootaloo huffed. 
“What are we looking for anyway?” Sweetie Belle asked. 
“Swe- Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom stuttered. 
“Um, yes?” Sweetie responded. 
“We were looking for you,” Scootaloo deadpanned. 
“Why?” Sweetie asked. 
“You weren’t anywhere!” Scootaloo told her. 
“I was right here?” Sweetie replied. 
“Where were you before that?” Scootaloo asked her. 
“I was- I don’t remember,” Sweetie replied. 
“What do ya mean?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“Sweetie stared at her for a moment, eyes piercing through her, before responding. “I do not remember.” Sweetie flicked her left ear as she heard that awful clicking noise again. 
“Great, another mystery, cause we don’t have enough on our plate already,” Scootaloo groaned, heading back into Sweetie’s room. 
“Sorry,” Sweetie sighed as she passed by Apple Bloom, the door half closed behind her. 

“Okay,” Apple Bloom said to herself.” We will figure this all out, because everything is going to make sense. I just need to sleep,” Apple Bloom encouraged herself and turned to the face on the door. 
“Did somepony say ‘make cents’?” Discord asked her, reaching out of the door to show her a bit in his paw. 
“Discord! Why are you here?” Apple Bloom demanded, the last thing she needed was more chaos added to her day. 
“Because, you said make sense, silly!” Pinkie Pie shouted joyfully from a large vase that might’ve not been there before. 
“Of course, I could just be here to check on my most adventurous, mischievous, and kind trio,” Discord replied, snapping his claw to teleport her right next to Silverstream. “I’m rather found of watching your crusades,” Discord continued from the ceiling, sitting at a table with Pinkie Pie. The table had one of their old crusading maps on it, but new options kept appearing until the parchment was a blend of colors. 
“Discord!” Silverstream squealed in delight. 
“Do something funny!” Gallus urged him. 
“No, something awesome!” Scootaloo recommended. 
“Prank Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie added enthusiastically. 
Discord took the paper, folded it in half, and opened it again, revealing a sky blue pegasus. Rainbow Dash was wearing half a suit of royal armor, and she was missing half her body. “What just happened?” Rainbow asked, dashing over to Sweetie’s mirror to examine her lack of hindquarters. 
“We want to see something funny, awesome, and also you getting pranked,” Smolder supplied. 
“Well, this is awesome, like, I’m missing half of my body! So, I think you got all of them,” Dash decided. 
‘Can this make any less sense?’ Apple Bloom thought. 
“I have an idea! Rarity!” Pinkie called. 
“Yes?” Rarity opened the door, and then fainted upon her couch from seeing Dash. She jumped back up within seconds. “Rainbow Dash dear, I do believe your rump has vanished,” Rarity told her before promptly fainting again. 
“I think this armor is worth it!” Rainbow replied. 
“Why, it cost you practically an arm and a leg!” Discord chuckled. Almost everycreature burst out into laughter, leaving Apple Bloom trying to return order. She tried to think, but no creature was letting her solve this, let alone helping her piece everything that had happened together! 
Rarity awoke from the noise, “You are all going to wake up the entire town!” She huffed. 
“Ack! It is already late? I better get going.” Silverstream flew out the door, quickly saying her goodbyes. 
“Oh, I’m afraid she’s right,” Discord pouted, “ we’ll have to resume this discussion another day.” Discord teleported away, fixing Dash and removing the table, leaving Pinkie Pie standing alone on the ceiling. 
“I guess that’s my queue,” Pinkie said, dropping to the ground and jumping out the window. Everycreature said their goodbyes and filed out the door until the crusaders, Rainbow, and Rarity were the only ones left. 
Rarity looked between them for a moment, before glancing back at Sweetie. “If Rainbow allows it, and you fillies don’t get me in trouble with Applejack, you can stay the night with Sweetie.” 
“Don’t go on a late night crusade,” Dash added, gaze penetrating through them. The mares both walked out, but Rainbow quickly turned back. “Unless you invite me of course.” A mischievous glint shone in her eyes as she silently sped off. 

“Okay girls,” Apple Bloom started, hearing the door click, “we need to find out what the hay is going on!” 
“I don’t know Apple Bloom, I’m getting really tired,” Scootaloo said, pulling another one of Sweetie’s spare sleeping bags into her pile. 
“But, what about figuring out how to stop Nightmare?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“We can do that in the morning,” Scootaloo replied, “Sweetie, why do you have so many sleeping bags?” 
“No, I’m busy sleeping,” Sweetie said, her back to Scootaloo. 
“Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom protested. “I thought that you would help me, you were so excited when we were in that fog!” 
“Well, I’m not really energetic right now,” Sweetie grumbled. 
“You did seem a lot more like normal in there though,” Scootaloo mumbled, already drifting off to sleep. 
“What is that supposed to mean?” Sweetie asked, but Scootaloo was fast asleep. 
“I guess we’ll have to wait until morning fer her to get up,” Apple Bloom huffed, and laid down, sleep taking over. 


	~~~


Shadows swirled around Apple Bloom, the previously bright cloud had been reduced to a dark grey. A figure on her left darted away, but it was too dark to see who they were. “Wait!” Apple Bloom shouted, charging after it. The figure gave no reply, unwilling to reveal itself. Apple Bloom pushed herself harder, catching up with the figure, a cloak hid it from view. Apple Bloom grabbed the creature’s cloak, yanking the figure down. “Who are you?” Apple Bloom asked, holding the creature down. It was about the size of her, but she wasn’t going to trust that it was her age. 
“Some sort of ghost,” it said in a high-pitched, distorted voice, kicking Apple Bloom off. 
“What do you mean?” Apple Bloom yelled, recovering quickly. She yanked the figure’s cloak again, still not tearing it off. 
“Shattered, because of her,” The figure told Apple Bloom. 
“Who?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“Her, she controls, she clicks, she doesn’t care about anything except herself, except us.” 
“Who is she?” 
“Me,” the figure chorused, the same repeating voice blending together. Apple Bloom reached for the figure’s hood, yanking it off. The cloak fell down in a heap, revealing no creature. “I can't help you yet, Apple Bloom,” the voice whispered. 
“Wait!” Apple Bloom yelled, running in the direction of the sound. “How do you know my name? Who are you? Who is she?” The voice did not reply. 

Apple Bloom stopped. No wind was blowing here, the shadows stretched forever. The air was freezing, and her fur stood on end, but not from the cold. She felt something else coming towards her. A powerful creature, shrouded in the shadow. “Who are you?” Apple Bloom asked, pushing her fear away. 
“I should be asking you, I haven’t seen another wielder of dark magic for, centuries,” the large creature replied in a gruff voice. 
“I’m Apple Bloom, and I can’t wiel’ dark magic,” Apple Bloom replied, confusion filling her. 
“Oh, yes you can, little filly. Here, I’ll teach you,” the silhouette offered. 
“If you want to, I don’t suppose it could hurt,” Apple Bloom reasoned. 
“Just one rule,” the creature slinked around her, putting its face close enough to be seen. “Don’t tell anyone.” 
The creature’s face was one Apple Bloom had seen before, although never this close. She had despised him, though, she supposed, anycreature could change; and she was going to need all the help she could get. “I promise I won’t tell anycreature-” The creature grinned upon hearing its own name.