> Nightmares Over Equestria
>  by Ignimbrite
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Gathering
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the beginning of Nightmare Night, right after sunset, and six ponies gathered in a clearing in the Everfree Forest.   A cold wind stirred up some leaves from the ground, and a haze of clouds drifted over the moon, diffusing its light.  In the center of the clearing was a complex pattern of lines, arcs, and sinusoids that radiated outwards like a crop circle.  The clearing was illuminated by a ring of torches just outside the pattern, and near a tree just outside the ring of torches, the ponies set down their bags of supplies.

"Why are were doing this tonight again?  I'm missing the festivities."

"I know.  I heard the town was doing a contest this year.  Hey, come to think of it, could this wait for another night?  It's been years.  It's not like another day would make a difference.  Why don't we live a little?"

"We need all the dream magic we can get in order for this to work.  That either means doing this right after a mass nightmare or doing it on a night dedicated to nightmares.  Which of those two is more predictable?"

"But we've tried this in a different spot every year and it hasn't worked yet.  I'm starting to think the whole 'dedicated to nightmares' thing doesn't supply enough magic."

"Deep Scar, enough.  We're doing it anyway.  Any questions?"

No one responded, so the leader pulled out his notes.

"Alright, let's make sure we have everything."  The pegasus looked over his checklist again.

"Thaumically neutralized unicorn horn powder?"

One of the other pegasi held up a plastic container.  "Right here."

He scratched it off.  

"Ropes?"

"Got 'em."

"Stakes?"

"Next to the rope."

"Ceremonial knife?  Oh right, I've got that one.  Clock?"

"Yup."

"Rose Quartz?"

"Fresh grown."

"Five lemons?"

"You brought those."

He checked his saddlebags, then marked it down on the list.

"Compass?"

"I've got it, but I don't get why we need it when the pattern's already drawn."

The leader rolled his eyes.  "You ask about that every year.  We need to make sure she's facing the right way or it won't work."

"Oh," he chuckled, slightly embarrassed.  "Right."

The leader went back to his list.  "Life crystal?"

A unicorn levitated the lid off a sturdy wooden box on the back of a cart.  "Not a scratch."

He scratched off each item.  "Considering how long it took to find one that large, I should hope not."

He looked at the next item on the list.

"Sacrificial host body?"

"Right here."  The earth pony gestured to a bound, gagged, and magically suppressed unicorn mare beside him.  "I still think we should have put a bag over her head."

One of the unicorns looked her over.

"Who even is that?"

"Tartarus if I know..."

"Well, I don't think she needs a bag.  Who's she gonna tell?  Seriously, why do you think we're calling her a sacrifice?"

"It's basic security, if you kidnap somepony, you put a bag on their head.  Anypony knows that."

"But why do we need security in the middle of the night, in the middle of a forest, with everypony else out in the middle of the village throwing a party.  There's literally nopony around except us."

There was a slight rustling in the bushes.

The pony who believed that they did need a bag looked over at his ideological opponent.

"You were saying?"

"It's probably just a small animal or something."

The bushes rustled again.

All six of them pulled out their knives and slowly approached the bush from which the noise had come.  Just as they reached it, a bush on the other side of the clearing rustled.  

All six turned to look back at that one.  Seeing nothing, they turned back to the first one again.  

High above it, outlined by the full moon, a black pony hovered on quiet wings.  

A black pony with blue slit-pupil eyes, a crescent moon cutie mark, and a horn hovered above the bush on quiet wings.  

The pony grinned, exposing a fang.

All six backed up into the clearing, only stopping when they heard the wingbeats of another pony behind them.  

They turned around to see a hovering white alicorn with slitted red eyes and another fanged grin.

They all backed up into the tree where their sacrifice was tied up, as the two flying abominations slowly approached.

"My my my, what do we have here?"   The voice came from above.  All of them, including the sacrifice, looked at each other, then slowly looked up.

Queen Chrysalis lazed on a branch high above their heads.  

"You're seriously trying to be evil out here in our forest, on our night?"  She gave them a fanged smirk.  "You're cute."  

As she said that, the other two perched on a couple branches behind her, also smirking.

The six looked at each other again.  This was not going according to plan at all.

Chrysalis watched them.  Finally, one of them looked back up.

"What do you want?"

She smiled and threw her head back to the sky.  

"You will set up your Queens.  And we shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the morning and the night!  Fair as the sea and the sun and the snow upon the mountain!  Dreadful as the storm and the lightning!  Stronger than the foundations of the earth.  

"All shall love us and despair!”

She whipped her head down and glared at them with a gaze to burn through their eyes, and she gestured with a hoof.  "Go.  Your being here only interferes with our plans.  Drop your play acting and leave the real evil to the experts."

The six looked at each other for a moment, then scattered, bolting in every different direction.  Several of them ran across the pattern in the ground, rendering it even less decipherable than before.  The only things they left behind were the torches, now blown out by the sudden burst of winds from the pegasi's wings, and the bound unicorn, who was still under the tree.

To call today unlucky for that unicorn was something of an understatement.  What had started as a trip to take a shipment of fabric to the owner of the local boutique had turned into a kidnapping, only for the kidnappers to be supplanted by two corrupted alicorns and a changeling queen who were now perched above her and poised to strike.

The mare was sure of it.  She was going to die.
> The Night Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh come on, you'll be perfect for the role.  All you need is a bit of dye for your wings and some new contacts.  I already have the right type right here."

"Oh, of course.  It's not like I'm something that would completely mess up the idea like, I don't know, a colt."

"We'll call it artistic license.  Come on, Feldspar already has her costume ready."

It was the Stone family's first Nightmare Night in Ponyville, and Kind Face was particularly excited to help Obsidian and Feldspar with their costumes.  She was especially excited upon hearing that the town was making a group contest.  Whichever group had the best set of costumes would win the prize so long as everypony in the group followed a recognizable theme.  What that theme was was up to each group to decide.

Feldspar had already dyed her mane and tail a mix of yellow, orange, and red; and she styled them to make them look like they were on fire.  She was also wearing one of Kind Face's stick-on horns and a pair of red slit-pupil contacts, and her flank had been painted with a cutie mark of a blazing sun.

"Okay, fine.  I'll do it."

Obsidian grabbed a brush and painted out his cutie mark, replacing it with a crescent moon.  He then proceeded to dye his wings and fur black and put in the contacts that Kind Face had given him.

"Mua ha ha ha ha," he said in an exaggerated deadpan as if reading lines from a script, "the night shall last forever."  He smirked at her.  "There, happy?"

Feldspar giggled.  "Yup!"

"Don't forget," Kind Face added, "the whole point is to dress up as something you're not, and considering how often you keep insisting that you're not an alicorn, tonight's the perfect night to be one.  Besides, how many ponies would be able to play a role like that without using props?"

She smirked as Obsidian shook his head, smiling a little in defeat.  

"Fine.  You've got me there.  So if Feldspar and I are going in matching costumes, what are you going as?"

Kind Face just smirked again.

"Observe..."

With that, she trotted back into her house.  A little while later she came back with a rather peculiar costume.

She was wearing what looked like shiny, black plastic plate armor all over her body and had stuck a crooked horn into her head and transparent wings on her back.  Just like Obsidian and Feldspar, she had put in slitted contacts, except hers were green.

On top of her armor, she wore a wedding dress, and she wore a circle of flowers on her head, making her look like...

"That is the second most insensitive costume I've ever seen."

"Well as long as nopony from the Crystal Empire sees us, we'll be fine.  Besides, you should have seen what my Aunt Masquerade dressed up as last year."

"What did she dress up as?"

Kind Face almost explained, but she tumbled to the ground and burst out laughing before she could.  After she caught her breath, she tried again with the same results.

"Okay, I'll just show you a picture later."  She wiped a tear from her eye.  "I think I still have one somewhere.

"Come on, guys.  This night is going to be perfect."

They all headed out into the streets.  Ponies were already milling about in costume.  There were several superheroes and a few pirates, of course.  One pony was, for some reason, walking around under a cardboard box calling himself "Metal Snake," and another had dressed himself in brown paper, claiming to be a "cattle rustler."  The Crusaders had dressed up as a robot, an orange changeling, and some sort of zombie-like creature.  Most of everypony else was setting up booths and games.

As they walked back to their usual idea-planning spot by the creek, Feldspar snuck behind some pegasus colts who were dressed up as members of the Royal Guard and hissed at them, showing off her plastic fangs.

They both flew all the way to the top of the tree beside them, yelling the whole way up.

"Is this the respect you show your queen?  Abandoning your posts while screaming like fillies?  Behold, you shall now be banished to... the SUN!!!  AH HA HA HA HA!!!!"

"What?"  They looked at each other, then back at the laughing miniature Daybreaker.  "Wait, Feldspar, is that you?"

"Yup!"

"What are those?  Contacts?"

"Of course, they are."  

That voice did not come from Feldspar, but rather from someone behind them in the tree.  They both turned around to see Chrysalis grinning at them.

They screamed the whole way down as Kind Face and Feldspar laughed.

"That's not even fair."

"Tell me about it."

They turned around to the source of that voice.  They promptly jumped back upon seeing who was hovering behind them.

"Hey Kind Face, I think these costumes work a little too well," Obsidian yelled up at the pony on top of the tree.

"Nah, I think they're just right."

"Yeah, well, we're gonna go meet up with the others," one of the pegasi got back up.  "We've got enough ponies to form a whole division of day guards, which means we're guaranteed to win the costume contest."

"Not if two corrupted alicorns and a changeling imposter steal the prize away right out from under your noses," Kind Face taunted.  

One of the pegasi stuck out his tongue.  "We'll see about that."  

As they walked through the town, they passed a couple ponies dressed as bedsheet ghosts.  The two ghosts gave their customary greeting, as required by tradition.

"BoooOOOOoooooOOOOOoooo..."

"Hi Mom, Hi Dad."

"Hi kids."

Gneiss turned to Kind Face while gesturing to her kids.  "Is this your handiwork?"

Kind Face grinned.  "Sure is.  Like it?"

"It's very nice," she chuckled."

Quartz looked to Gneiss.

"I'm starting to think we should have gone to her for help with our costumes too."

"Well, you could always ask my aunt.  She taught me everything I know."

They both chuckled.  "Maybe next year.  We're already an old classic."

They parted ways, Gneiss and Quartz heading further into town to help set up booths, and Obsidian, Feldspar, and Kind Face heading off to make their final plans for the night.





In a restaurant in Baltimare, a mare dropped to the ground.  The staff and a couple patrons immediately ran over to her and attempted everything they knew from CPR to mouth-to-mouth.  

Nothing worked.
> Into the Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obsidian, Feldspar, and Kind Face were by the creek again, dumping their saddlebags onto the ground.  There were a lot of groups entering the contest, so in order to win, they would have to do something beyond realistic costumes.  They would have to go for pizzazz.

First on the list was a bucket of water and a cooler full of dry ice.  Feldspar had brought those along for fog making.  

She extracted a single piece from the cooler using tongs and dropped it into the bucket.  Instantly, the water bubbled up into a thick cloud above it.

Gingerly, she poked the cloud with her hoof, then flapped up on top of it.  She managed to balance, but slipped through a few times.

"We're gonna need to make it thicker if we're gonna walk on it."  

With that she dropped in another piece of dry ice and tried again.  Obsidian stepped up onto the cloud as well.  It had spread out enough for Kind Face to try it too, so Obsidian lit up his horn and encompassed her in a green glow.  She stepped up and balanced between them.

Feldspar snickered.  

Kind Face gave her a confused look.  "What's so funny."

"Your dressed as a changeling, and you're glowing green right now, just like whenever they're about to change into somepony else."

Obsidian noticed and started laughing as well, while Kind Face looked at her hoof and chuckled.

They all stepped off the cloud of fog and looked through the other things they had on hoof.

They considered using electric fans to make their manes blow around, but had to scrap the idea when they couldn't figure out a way to do that without dissipating the fog cloud.  

Feldspar had borrowed a couple laser pointers from Twilight in hopes that they could get some cool effects by shooting them through the dry ice.

Obsidian had brought along a cassette recorder that he and Feldspar had bought shortly after their time being grounded for the Canterlot incident ended.

"How about this?  I recorded some background tracks to play while we make our entrance."

Kind Face picked it up.  "What's on here?"

"Mostly stuff about normal ponies turning into monsters or revealing themselves as monsters.  Let's see, I've got 'The Demon' by Setting Star, 'Dark Secret' by Crimson... oh, here we go, 'Monstrous' by the Panheads.  I think this one's our best bet."

Kind Face plugged in a set of earbuds and fast-forwarded to the time written on the cassette.  "You know, I'm still surprised this is the kind of stuff you two listen to."

"Why?"  Obsidian tilted his head slightly.

"I don't know, it just doesn't seem like... you."

Obsidian and Feldspar looked at each other, then back at her.  

Feldspar finally asked, "so, what does?"

"I don't know.  I just thought you were more upbeat than that."  She shook her head.  "Anyway, let's see, we've got the cloudwalking trick, a couple lasers, and an bad-guy-sounding rock song.  Anything else for making our grand entrance?"

Obsidian and Feldspar shrugged.  "Nothing I can think of.  You?"

Feldspar shook her head.

"In that case, what do we do while we wait?  It's barely getting dark."

They all thought a moment.  Finally, Kind Face looked up with a gleam in her eye.

"I've got an idea."





"I thought the forest out here was supposed to be dangerous."

"Not if we stick to the path.  All we have to do is follow it as far as we can.  The one who makes it the farthest without getting scared wins."  

"Wins what?"

Kind Face turned to Feldspar.  "The two losers carry the winner wherever she..."

"Ahem..."

"Fine.  Wherever he or she wants for the rest of the night."

Obsidian raised an eyebrow.  "Let me guess, no turning back and no screaming, or you're out?"

Kind Face nodded.  "Yup."

"Alright.  Let's do it."

Together, they marched down the path to Zecora's hut.

They maintained their professional march for precisely two seconds.

"oooOOOOooooo..."

"Quit that, I think I heard something."

"I heard it too.  I think that's Nightmare Moon coming to eat you."

snap

"What was that?"

"Something touched my tail!"

"That's me.  You backed up into my nose."

"Oops.  Sorry."

Thus went most of their journey through the forest.

They had made it almost all the way there when they heard voices.

"Is somepony else out here?"

"It's probably just some other kids who got the same idea as us."  Kind Face got a gleam in her eye.  "Hey, what do you say we go scare 'em, then all three of us win."

"Yeah."

"Oh, this will be fun."

They crept closer to the voices and peeked out from around a tree.

"Ah man, it's just a bunch of adults."

"A bunch of adults making a grocery list."

"Well, that's a shame.  Should we head back to... What did he just say?"

Obsidian swiveled his ears.  "Something about a sacrifice... and a... host body?  What's that supposed to mean?"

They all looked around the tree again.  This time, they noticed a unicorn tied up next to a tree nearby.  They also noticed one of the other ponies carrying an ornate knife.

Obsidian fell back onto his haunches.  "Oh man, oh man... what are we gonna do?  Call the police?"

Kind Face shook her head.  "It'll be too late by the time they get here.  We have to get rid of these guys ourselves."

"How?"

"It's the creepiest night of the year, and we look like some of the most dangerous bad guys around.  We could at least try to intimidate them."

"But we're still foals.  They'll know we're fake."

"Not if you fly.  Both of you stay high enough that they can only see the stars behind you and keep your distance from 'em.  It'll make it harder to tell how big you really are.

"And don't talk.  Your voices are a dead giveaway.  Just hover and look mean."

"But you can't fly."

Kind Face was already taking off the dress and the flowers.  "I'll improvise.  Come on, let's go."

Kind Face took off to the tree where the unicorn was tied up while Feldspar ran the other direction.  Obsidian watched the strange ponies approach the unicorn.  

Oh no.  Not good, not good...

He reached out and shook the bush in front of him.  All the ponies looked up and away from the tree that Kind Face was climbing.  Then they started approaching.  Fortunately, before they could get to him, Feldspar got the same idea and shook her bush.

Alright.  It's now or never.

Obsidian leapt into the air and put on his best evil-looking glare.

It was showtime.
> Showtime
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The unicorn watched as Chrysalis climbed down by jumping from branch to branch and the other two flew down.  

As soon as they touched the ground, they looked off in the direction that the leader of the group had run.

They then collapsed to the ground and started laughing like maniacs.

That was when she noticed something that had been hard to spot due to the way they had been hovering and sitting in the tree earlier.

They were all foals.

"Okay, you were right.  That was a good idea."

When they finally finished laughing, they realized that they had done nothing to help the last mare.  Nightmare Moon got up first and started pulling the ropes with a blue magic field.  Meanwhile, Chrysalis removed her fangs and started pulling at the knot in the gag with her teeth, and Daybreaker pulled the magic suppression ring from her horn.

"Think we should call the police?"  The colt asked.

"Mmph.  Rogagly..."  The changeling queen spit out the rope.  "Probably.  Whatever those ponies were doing didn't look good.  Not that they'll be able to do much of anything.  Those ponies took all their stuff when they left."

"Well, maybe they'll at least be able to check the hoofprints or something."  

The insect queen nodded, then went back to loosening the gag, finally pulling it off as the other two got the last knot out of the ropes.

"Well thank you for that," the unicorn sighed in relief.  "Who are you, anyway?"

The white one stepped forward and spoke with a voice that tried, and failed, to sound foreboding.

"We are the Trio of Terror, here to scare everpony else into giving up their candy..."

"To explore the spookiest forest in Equestria..." the changeling added.

"And to get back at Rainbow and Pinkie for planting glitter bombs all over our street!"

The former hostage snickered.  "Well then, my name's Red Shirt."  She did the hoof gesture from the Space Trip books.  "May the Force be ever in your favor."

Before they left, the changeling pulled a dress and some flowers out of the bushes.

"Almost forgot about these."

They all walked back to town together.  As they approached the Nightmare Moon statue, they saw a good chunk of the town gathering for the story.  The trio broke off and joined the group, while Red Shirt headed off to the police station to report her own foalnapping.





After Zecora had finished telling the story of Nightmare Night and Luna had scared the tails off everypony by posing as her own statue, the trio headed off to get ready for the contest.

"Hey, Kind Face, I was wondering something."

Kind Face looked over to Obsidian, who was busy attaching his tape recorder to a spare microphone that he had swiped.

"How did you manage to sound like Chrysalis?"

She smirked at him.  "There's more to being a good actor than just looking the part.  I can do almost as many voices as Bon Bon."

"Really?  And you never thought to tell us that earlier?"

"Well we were kinda in a hurry."

"Why didn't you use that in Canterlot?"

"Didn't need to."

Feldspar looked up from the water buckets she was hiding behind the curtains.  "Can you do anypony else?"

"Eeyup!"

Obsidian and Feldspar both stared at her.

"Okay.  That was weird."

"Come to think of it," Feldspar asked, "how'd you come up with big bad-guy speech?"

"Oh, that was from a J. R. R. Trottien book I read a while ago.  Anyway, how are you two doing?"

"I've got the sound rigged up."

"I've got the fog ready."

Feldspar and Kind Face had rigged the buckets with a line of trap doors all connected to a string, and on top of each one they set small cups of dry ice with loosely fitted lids.  When their time came, Obsidian would hit play on the recorder, and the other two would pull the strings and set off all the dry ice buckets at once.

This show was gonna be epic.





Apparently, the Trio of Terror wasn't the only group to try adding pizzazz to the performance.

The first group to go out was the division of those "day guards" they had met earlier.  What the two pegasi hadn't told them was that a couple of their friends knew how to play the trumpet and that they had Alula Erroria dressed up as Celestia making a grand entrance in the midst of them.  Evidently, she must have borrowed a horn from Masquerade.

The trio had to admit, they were impressive.

Meanwhile, the "Founders of Modern Equestrian Science" pulled some outside help from some pegasus friends who weren't competing in costume.  The pegasi surreptitiously pushed clouds into the area behind where the contestants were walking.  As Allessandro Colta, Benjamin Flanklin, and Nicolta Tesla stepped out of the curtains, the pegasi kicked lightning out of the clouds behind them, making a dramatic background for the inventors.

Obsidian and Feldspar both wished that they knew how to do that.





The pegasus looked behind him.  Thankfully, the alicorns and changeling hadn't followed him.  He circled into a descending spiral and landed just outside the town.  The first thing he had to do was warn them.  Not that he cared about their safety, but these three would ruin his plans.  If he warned the town, they would see to the defeat of his attackers, and he could get back to said plans.  After all, there was not point in risking his own neck needlessly.

As he touched down, he saw a group gathered along the edges of a street.  At one end of the street was a curtain hanging from a rope that had been stretched between two lampposts.  At the other end, three ponies sat behind a table facing the curtain.  By the looks of things, they included a clown, a purple glitter-covered vampire, and... Nightmare Moon herself...

She looked different this time.  He couldn't quite put a hoof on it, but for some reason she seemed more... real.

"Okay," the purple unicorn looked at a list and spoke into a microphone.  "The next one up in the costume contest is the Trio of Terror."

With that, a loud distorted guitar riff played over the speaker system and startled half the crowd, while clouds of fog rolled across the street.  Lights flashed through the dense cloud from behind the curtain.  Suddenly, the curtains parted and and three ponies stepped out onto the cloud.  

The first was Daybreaker, wearing the same wicked grin she had worn in the forest.  She was followed by a different Nightmare Moon from the one behind the table, who was in turn followed by Chrysalis, glowing green and dressed in a paper-thin disguise as Princess Cadance.  

He fumed.  His night, his perfect night, had been ruined by a bunch of foals in costume.

He stormed off, forcing himself to calm down.  

It was just a setback.  A setback to something that had taken decades of planning, but a setback nonetheless.  He could get whatever petty revenge he wanted later.  For now, he had some adjustments to make.
> After the Show
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Aww man, I was certain we'd win."

Obsidian draped a wing over Feldspar.

"Yeah, so was I, but the royal guard team did put on a good show."

"Besides," Kind Face added, "second place isn't that bad, and we did make your dad's paper."  

She held up the paper, which showed a picture of the winning team flanked by the two runners up.  

Considering the third team was a zompony apocalypse, the combined group had turned just taking the picture into a story of its own.  The final photo, and the only one good enough to print with the story, showed half the royal guards and most of the zombie hunters holding back a hoard of zomponies with spears and chainsaws while Celestia and the other half of the guards fought the Trio of Terror.  Everypony on the three teams had a good laugh at that one.

"So, who do you think those ponies in the forest were anyway?"

Feldspar and Kind Face both shrugged.  

"I dunno."

"Beats me."

Obsidian looked towards the forest for a moment.

"Well, I hope the police find them.  To think, all that was happening right here, and nopony even knew it."

Kind Face nodded.  "Yeah, so do I, but on the bright side, they at least know to look, and Red Shirt is back on her way to Canterlot, so we probably won't have to worry about them again."

As they made their way back to the creek, they passed one of the judges from last night.

"Hi Twilight!"

"Hi kids."

"Hey, come to think of it, everypony else said you were going as some sort of old wizard again.  What happened to that costume?"

Twilight folded her ears as a hint of glitter fell from her mane.

"I lost a bet with Spike."

"Oh.  Is that why Spike was grinning like that all night?"

Twilight nodded.  "Yep.  Also, word of advice, never place bets on anything that has to do with Pinkie."

With that, they said their goodbyes and left for the creek.

Finally, they were back at their usual hangout spot, ready to find a use for the leftover dry ice from last night.

"So what did you two have in mind anyway."

Obsidian just grinned.  "You know how we were able to walk on the clouds from this stuff, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, we figured as long as walking worked on those, we'd see what else does."

As he said this, Feldspar dumped some of the ice into the creek, releasing another cloud of fog.  She then immediately hopped up on top and started jumping.

Kind Face was puzzled.  "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to make it rain.  I saw some other ponies do that over Applejack's farm."

Obsidian looked over at Kind Face.  "Yeah, I saw them doing that too."

"So did I, but those were professionally made rainclouds, not dry ice fog."

"Yeah, but even so, I think Feldspar did discover one good use for the rest of this stuff."

Feldspar tilted her head while still bouncing.  "What?"

"Cloud trampolines!"  He turned to Kind Face.  "Come on, I'll give you a boost."  

With that, he shot her with his magic, and they both joined Feldspar in bouncing on the cloud of fog.

It was all fun and games until Kind Face landed a backflip on all four hooves.

KRACK!!!

All three of them looked at the burn mark on the bank of the creek.

"Woah!  How'd you do that?"

Kind Face looked at her hoof, then stomped on the cloud.  Nothing happened, so she tried stomping with both front hooves.  A few sparks shot out of the cloud, but not anything close to the bolt of lightning from a moment ago.  Feldspar and Obsidian tried it too, Feldspar getting a few sparks as well and Obsidian getting nothing at all.

"Well that's weird.  Why do you think it's not working now?"

"How should I know?  I'm not even a pegasus."

"Maybe it's 'cause we were all bouncing on it.  Hey!  That gives me an idea!"

Feldspar started turning in a slow circle, shuffling her hooves across the top of the cloud the whole way.  At the end of the circle, she stomped, sending a bolt of lightning straight into Obsidian's rump.

"Ow!"

In the shock of having just been shot in the tail by his own sister, Obsidian accidentally let go of the magic field around Kind Face, causing her to drop straight through the cloud and into the creek below.

"Hey!"  She climbed out and shook off, sending a spray of water at the other two.

"Hey!"

"Watch it!"

They all laughed.  

As Feldspar stepped off the cloud, Obsidian started shuffling his hooves himself.  He stomped just like the other two did, but nothing happened.  He tried again a few more times, even shuffling in a circle and bouncing with all four hooves, but nothing happened.

"Oh come on!  It worked for you two."

"Maybe you're just not pegasus enough," Kind Face teased.

He grumped down off the cloud, glared at it, and shot it with his horn.

KRACK!!!

"YEOWCH!!!!!"

For the second time that day, he was shot in the rump by a bolt of lightning.  Kind Face and Feldspar rolled on the ground laughing as he fluttered back down to the ground and rubbed the sore spot with his wing.





"It was what?"

"Costumes.  Our entire plan was ruined by foals in costumes."

"Of all the..."  The earth pony growled and stamped his hoof.  He then turned back with a snort.  "What now?"

"Simple.  We gather the supplies, regroup, and hope fortune turns in our favor.  Ever since that night I've been feeling a strange magic in the air.  We may yet have another opportunity."





"What happened to you two?"

Obsidian and Feldspar stood in the doorway to their house, their manes and tails standing even more on end than the time they touched that Winnyhurst generator at the science museum.

"You look like you got struck by lightning."

Feldspar giggled.  "We were."

Gneiss stepped into the conversation.  "How?  There aren't any storms scheduled for today."

Feldspar flapped a couple feet into the air.  "We learned how to shoot lightning outta clouds!"

Obsidian, meanwhile, looked away.  "And we might have spent the rest of the afternoon zapping each other afterwards."

"You... did what?  I thought you said you were going to hang out with Kind Face this afternoon."

"We did!  She zapped us too."

"How?"

Obsidian just lit up his horn with a green glow.  "Same way she walked out on top of the fog last night."

As they went up to their rooms, Quartz gave a questioning glance to his wife.  

"So, they and their friend all spent the afternoon shooting lighting at each other.  Should I be worried?"

"All it means, dear, is that they take after you."

"Me?"

She smirked.  "Which one of us used to stage 'zap wars' with his brothers again?"

"That's unicorn magic.  It's different."

"Not from what they told me last Hearth's Warming."

He frowned as she used her wing to pull him closer.

"Oh relax, it's just a little lightning.  They've got pegasus blood; they can handle it.  Besides, every pegasus shocks themselves at some point growing up.  It's how we learn to be careful around the storm clouds."

"What about their friend?"

"Hmm...  I suppose we will have to remind them to be careful around her, although from the sound of things, she seemed fine with it."

He looked back in the direction of the kids' rooms.  "Great.  My parents kept telling me they hoped I'd have a kid that was just like me, and now I have two who are."

Gneiss just smiled at him.
> Children of Dreams
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinky Pie pulled a lottery ticket and looked at the name.  She then began gathering the ingredients for some cupcake batter.





"Excuse me, are you Obsidian Crystal?"

Obsidian slowly nodded to the two grim looking guards standing in front of him.

"We have a warrant for your arrest."

"WHAT?!?"

His outburst nearly blew the helmet off one of them, and it had a strange tinny echo to it.

"That confirms it.  It's him."

They proceeded to put chains on his hooves.

"Come on kid.  Before you go to jail for treason, I'm sure your mother has some words for you..."





Twilight Sparkle looked over her notes.  The cadavers had been useful, but finding useful information about how a pony's body worked would require a live subject.  

As she headed down into the lab, she found her newest subject regaining consciousness on the operating table.  

"Good to see you're awake.  The process will provide much more information now."

"Sparkle?  Twilight Sparkle?  What are you doing here?  Where am I?"

"This is my basement.  Like it?"

The subject tried to move, only to find herself strapped down securely.  Sweat dripped down her face.  "What's going on?  What are you doing?"

"Don't worry, this is just an experiment to see how the Elements of Harmony work."

"I don't even have an element!"

Twilight began preparing a variety of scalpels, syringes, and other instruments.

"I know that, but every experiment needs a baseline.  You're just a control sample.  

"Now please, hold still..."





Celestia looked out over the crowds of ponies, their chains and labored breathing making sweet music in her ears, with percussion provided by the cracks of whips.  

"Yes, keep working, my little slaves.  Bring glory to our empire.  And be joyful.  You must all be joyful.  It is our way, and it is our law!"

The laborers chanted back, "it is our way, and it is our law!"

She smiled as a pegasus commander flew in.

"Our siege of the Crystal Empire is still holding, but they are putting up more resistance than we had initially thought.  It will probably be a month before it falls, but we can outlast them by several times that if need be."

"Good.  When it falls, we will not only lose a potential rival, but we will gain access to the territories beyond."  She turned to the dungeon keeper.  "How are the current element bearers?"

The dark unicorn nodded slowly, "alive, as commanded.  Shall their execution be soon?"

"Not yet.  They will be punished in due time for attempting to banish us.  For now, they will return under guard to their hometown.  I want them to watch it burn."





Three foals charged through the forest, not heeding what lay ahead, only what followed behind.  None of them could see the creature, but they could all hear it.  Somehow it was following them perfectly, staying just out of sight while constantly getting closer.  

Whatever it was, it wanted them.

A ravine appeared ahead.  Immediately, the two pegasi spread their wings.  Something slimy shot out of the forest, however, and glued down the wings of one of them.

He and the unicorn jumped across while the other pegasus flew.  The unicorn barely landed on the edge, but the darker pegasus, who had been expecting to be able to fly, only managed to jump far enough to grab the edge of the ravine.

As Feldspar landed, she saw the unicorn light up his horn, trying to pull the downed pegasus up to the edge.  His weight was too much though, and he slipped further down.

Feldspar tried to run to the edge to help, but the air felt thick, like trying to move through water.  She called out to him.  

"Obsidian!"

The unicorn strained, but only managed to slide closer to the edge himself.  

In a moment, they both slipped over the edge.

Feldspar didn't know how she knew the unicorn colt's name, but she called out anyway.

"Sandy!"

She made it to the edge just in time to see the river at the bottom consume them both.





Rainbow Dash stood over the failures.

"The machine works better when your wings and ribs are already broken..."





"THIS NIGHT WILL LAST FOREVER!!!!"





Rarity dragged another body into the Everfree forest.  The town now has one less extortion problem.  The mare had been quite rude anyway, although she did keep her hooves remarkably well cared for...





"You aren't welcome here!"

"Get out!"

"Go away!"

Kind Face only cried, as Aunt Masquerade tried to shield her.

"But why?"

Instead of answering, the unicorns picked up stones, tools, and whatever else was around, holding them aloft menacingly.

"Come on Kind," her aunt urged.  "Things have changed here.  I'll explain later, but for now, we have to go."





Applejack adjusted her goggles and picked up her crossbow.  Before she could fire, the monster she was hunting spoke.

"Please leave.  I do not wish to hurt you.  Leave while you still can."

She took aim.  "Say yer prayers, monster."





Luna opened her eyes and sighed.  

"Not again..."





Fluttershy whimpered in her bed, curled up in a ball.

"Nothing happened.  Nothing at all.  It didn't.  It's just a dream.  It's just a dream..."





Kind Face opened her eyes and looked around the dark room.  She sniffled a little, but she didn't cry.

Not for another minute or two, at least...





Pinkie Pie woke up in a cold sweat.  Seeing a cupcake on the nightstand, she instinctively grabbed it and threw it out the window.  

Slowly, her reason returned to her.  Knowing she wouldn't go back to sleep, she got out of bed, and began cleaning up the shattered glass from the window.





Rainbow Dash bolted upright.

"SCOOTALOO!"





Sweetie Belle heard a strange noise.  Following it, she found that it was coming from the bathroom.  Beside the door was her sister's fainting couch, upside-down and propped against the wall as if it had been summoned, only to be discarded in haste before it could arrive.  

Sweetie found her sister curled up on the floor crying.





Spike was awakened by a scream from downstairs.  Running down, he found Twilight sitting at her desk, eyes wide and  glassy.

"Fell asleep while studying again?"

She slowly looked in his direction and blinked a few times.  Wordlessly and swiftly, she moved over to him and picked him up in a hug.  A steady stream of her tears rolled down his back.





Apple Bloom was shaking her sister.

"Wake up!  It's just a dream.  It's just a dream!"

Applejack woke up with a start.  "What happened?"

"You were screamin' about hurtin' Fluttershy!  You kept callin' her a monster."

Applejack thought a moment.  Then, she remembered...  

"Thanks sis."





Obsidian rolled over.  

"Well that was weird."

It was illogical, in retrospect.  Being the child of the Daybreaker made even less sense than the things those two guys that his dad fired had claimed.  Yet, at the time, it all seemed like it made perfect sense.

Dreams are weird.

Before he could try to go back to sleep, his door opened a crack.

"Obsidian?  Can I come in?"

He rolled out of bed and stepped towards her.

"What's the matter?  Bad dream or something?"

Feldspar slowly nodded.

"Same here."

Obsidian opened the window, and they flew to the roof together.  He draped a wing around her as they both looked into the night sky.





RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Celestia picked up her alarm clock and kissed it.
> Shadows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A continuous blue flame lined the interior edges of a shack past the edge of the city.   From the outside, the shack was little more than a dilapidated shed.  It probably would have been torn apart and used for firewood if it wasn't so boring that ponies who saw it forgot it existed.  

This trait made it a perfect meeting place for the six ponies who now sat in a circle, illuminated by the unnatural light.

The six ponies breathed in the atmosphere, which had been thoroughly infused with strange magic.  As they did, they could feel the changes taking place, just as they did every month.  Each one became a little stronger, a bit better rested, a step further from death.     

A little over one month of old age was pulled away, drained into the crystals in front of them, and as they breathed out, they could feel themselves becoming younger.  

This coming night would be the night.  The dreams around them confirmed that the air was primed for her return.  It seemed a shame that the time had not come sooner, but in a way, the wait made their satisfaction even more tantalizing.  Now the time was nigh, and they did not have much of it.  It would take at least a day to prepare everything, and the magic that had influenced their dreams would barely last much longer than that.

In a day, the Mother would come.

The Moon was but a shadow born of envy.  The Sun, a flare of pride that would almost certainly never show itself after what had happened to the Moon.  Two entities of anger that would unleash untold power if they bothered to show themselves.

The Mother, on the other hoof, was power, the raw manifestation of power combined with the desire to rule properly.  When the Mother came, she would bring back every glory they once knew.  Their land, their wealth, and their own power would return to them.

At one time, they had been nobles.  They had power, riches, fame.  They were untouchable to the common pony.  A command from one of them could spell life or death to the ponies under their charge, and the ponies respected them for it.  

Then, their glorious leaders went soft.  

Conquered lands were returned overnight.  With them went the need for regional governors to rule them.  Thus they had gone from untouchable greats to inconsequential nobodies in just as little time.  

Using the life extension spell, they had bided their time for centuries, waiting for their leaders to realize their mistake or for another leader to rise and overthrow them.  

There were candidates of course, but none bothered to conquer the land.  Those that tried were swiftly driven off by the two princesses.  Millennia passed, kingdoms around them rose and fell, but the land in which they stayed remained unchanging.

The time had come for vengeance, for honor, for the return of their former glory.  For that, they needed their old leader back.  The spell that kept them young through the centuries would not bring back their leader on its own.  They needed a host, a new body for the Mother to inhabit.

They needed a new sacrifice.

After another hour, the spell was completed, and they were all a month and a few days younger.





"Long night?"

Luna simply groaned in response.  She walked over to the spot beside the table, sat down, and dropped her head, groaning again.  

"So many nightmares..."

Celestia looked up at her sister, who somehow managed to look more tired now than she did last night. 

"You too?"

Luna lifted her head, removed the pancakes that were now skewered on her horn, and turned groggily to her sister.

"Nay.  I had one, but I didn't have time to pay any attention to it.  Everypony else, on the other hoof, has been having nightmares of their own."

Celestia was puzzled.  "That many?"

"Strewth.  This was just from taking care of the foals here in Canterlot.  I didn't even have time to help any others.  I could see them though, and not just in the foals.  Everypony from the youngest to the eldest had nightmares last night.

"They were strong as well.  Normally, I could banish them with little more than a thought.  Most of the time, I only need to remind the ponies that they could overcome their fears on their own, but tonight was different.  I could barely interact with most of them.  Strewth there were some that I could not even enter.

"Tia?  What wouldst this mean?"

"I don't know.  You say everypony had nightmares like that last night?"

Luna nodded.  

"Luna, the last time that happened was when we were foals."

"I know.  Something else perplexes me as well.  The magic in the dreams felt different from the magic that usually fills them.  It was more alien, more primal, more base.  The only magic I have felt that comes anywhere close is that of Discord himself."





One of the unicorns looked over to their leader.

"There is one other thing.  The life crystal discharged a little during the attempt."

"In that case, you two recharge it while the rest of us find the host."

The unicorns nodded.





Luna paused a moment and turned to her sister.  "I saw thine."

There was no point in denying it.  Celestia was worried ever since last night.  

Her facade fell.

"It has been five months.  Five...  I thought those dreams had finally stopped, but just last night..."

She was interrupted by her sister nuzzling her.

"Thou art not the monster of thy dreams.  I assure thee, thou hast no reason to fear."





Far away, in the city of Las Pegasus, a mare gave birth to a stillborn foal.
> The Time of Darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Alright youngin's, it's time to go to bed."

"But Grampa, we wanna hear another story."

"Sorry, but it's gettin' late."

"Awwwwww..."

The old stallion chuckled.  "Well, don't forget.  Your grandma's makin' pancakes in the mornin', and the mornin' won't come if you don't go to bed."

The foals all looked around at each other, a single question echoing in their minds.

Gramma's pancakes, or Grampa's stories?

"How about this?  Since we've got all mornin' before your parents all come back to pick you up, I'll tell you a bunch of my stories instead of just one."

"I thought we were goin' fishin' by the lake."

"Ahhh, but that's the thing, young filly."  He poked her on the nose.  "The best time for stories is while fishin' by the lake."

"Really?"

"Really.  In fact, I might just tell you the story of the first time your folks caught a fish.  It happened right at the same lake we're goin' to tomorrow."

Their grandma came in and looked over at the colts.

"Or he could tell of how your father first kissed your mother out by that creek."

All four foals provided some rather amusing facial expressions.

"Eeeewwwwwwwww..."

The stallion looked back to the fillies.

"Well then, I just might have to describe the time your father just about fell into the creek tryin' to reel in a big one instead."

He turned to the colts again.

"Or maybe I might describe the time yours caught the biggest catch of his life when it bit his nose."

That was when their grandma jumped in again.  "Or I could tell you of the time your dads both tricked your grandpa into thinkin' he caught the biggest one of his life when it was really only this big."  

She held her hooves an inch apart.

"Hey... it was this big!"

He held his hooves two inches apart.

The foals looked at each other, then raced off to their rooms.

That was a story they for sure weren't gonna miss.





In Manehatten, a young colt sat upright in his bed as his parents came in.  

"Hey champ, how are you doin' today?"

"I'm fine.  Doc just left.  He told me he wanted to try something new."

"I know," his dad replied, "we saw him on the way up."

"Think it might work?"

His parents looked at each other.  Finally, they turned back to him.  "We think so.  He said you could start tomorrow if you're up to it."

Before he could respond, there was a knock at the door.  It slowly opened, and a masked thestral walked in, speaking in a gruff voice.

"Any of you seen a pony in clown makeup?  I've got word that he has something big planned for tonight, and I can't let him get away with it."

The colt's eyes became wide as saucers.  

"Woah.  Batstallion!"

The thestral stepped over to his bed.

"Hello there kid.  You haven't seen the Prankster by any chance, have you?"

As the colt shook his head, Batstallion fished a small flashlight out of his utility belt, turning his head to hide a small smile.  

"Well if you do, shine this out the window, so I'll know where to come.  Okay?"

The colt gaped as he took the flashlight.  Somewhat curious, he pointed it at the wall and turned it on, projecting Batstallion's logo onto the surface.

"Whoaaaa..."  He looked up to the masked thestral.  "Thank you.  I will."

"And in the name of justice, thank you.  Now, I must be off."

The two parents grinned.  

"Well, that's not something you see every day."

They continued talking until the visiting hours were expended.  

"See you in the morning, champ."





"Honey.  Something's wrong."

The stallion raced to the hospital as quickly as he could, carrying his wife on his back the entire way there.  

He burst through the doors to the ER and called out for help.  The workers immediately removed his wife from his back and took her away, asking questions the entire time.  

He didn't remember what the questions were about.  He didn't even remember the answers he gave.  

All he remembered was sitting alone waiting for them to bring her back out.  

At least, it seemed he was alone.  The room might have been empty, or it might have been filled with ponies, but he wouldn't have noticed.

Eventually, another pony came in and sat down next to him.

"Your wife is safe now."

He looked up, and saw the doctor beside him.

"You brought her here just in time.  She's stable, and she should be able to go home again in about an hour."

"What... what about her foal?"

The doctor looked down and exhaled.

"I've never seen anything like it before.  Nothing on any of the tests showed anything wrong.  There is no discernible cause for this..."  He steadied himself before continuing.  "She's gone sir.  I suspect she was before you even made it out your door."





"How is your part coming?"

"Almost there sir.  The crystal's about halfway charged."





The colt slipped away that night, still holding on to the flashlight.





He looked at the crystal.  It was so close to perfection that he could practically feel the energy buzzing through it, but it just wasn't quite enough.





Gramma stood outside her room, pale and shaking.

"Shadow Fax!"

The colt galloped up and skidded to a stop in front of her.  

"Get Doctor Neighsier.  You remember where she lives, right?"

The colt nodded.

"Good.  Tell her to come.  Grampa's sick."

The colt dashed out the front door faster than he ever had in his life.

As the door slammed behind him, two fillies and another colt watched, then turned to the mare.

"Is something wrong?"

"Yes youngin's, I'm afraid there is."





The pony packaged the crystal into a box with the other equipment.  

Now that the crystal was charged and ready, all they needed was the host.





Red Shirt had finally gotten over her fears of getting kidnapped again and was out picking up groceries.  She had picked up everything on her list and was now walking through the market on her way home.

Out of nowhere, a dart lodged in her neck.  She pulled it out, examined it, and fled.  More darts filled the air, but the rest of them missed.  

She was almost to her home when lightheadedness overtook her.  She tripped, she stumbled, she got back up.  

If I could just reach the door...

Thirty feet...  









Twenty feet... 



















Ten...  



























She passed out.





























Red Shirt Dies
> The Return
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Red Shirt's hooves were tied securely to four different stakes, each one in a different direction so that she couldn't move if she tried.  Her captors had already carved an image of a spiral galaxy over her cutie mark using the ceremonial knife, and they were now drawing pictures in the dirt.  From her vantage point, it was impossible to tell what they were.  

Once the drawings were complete, the lines of the drawings were filled with carefully sprinkled powder.  

They then set up a large clock near the circle directly in front of her face.  On top of the clock, they placed a glowing white crystal.  After that, the entire group waited in silence for about an hour.  She had no idea what they were waiting for.  

Finally, the leader spoke.  

"The time has come.  The time to expand Equestria until there are no nations left to conquer.  To bring fire upon our enemies and peace upon the world.  To bring her forth from the glorious empire of the past, and finish the task that our leaders left incomplete."

Turning, he faced Red Shirt and knelt down until his head was almost level with hers.  To her, he merely whispered a single word.

"Rise."

As he said this, the horns glowed, and the powder within the drawings began to burn with a blue flame.  Red felt the heat as they came closer, slowly, surely, guided by the magic in the air.  

Suddenly, she felt an unbearable pain in her flank.  Craning her neck, she saw that her cutie mark had caught fire.  She opened her mouth, but there was no scream.  The magic in the air had silenced her voice.  

Now all four of her legs were in agony.  

The ropes had caught fire as well.  She squirmed.  Maybe they would break.  

They frayed.  They loosened.  They broke.  

Her freedom from the ropes was but a false gift, however, as she found that the same magic that silenced her voice had also held her down like a weight that only became heavier when she tried to lift it.

The flames crept up her skin and engulfed her.  Suddenly, a new sensation occurred in her back.  Her flank, her legs, and her skin, she no longer felt, because whatever was tearing out of her back was so much worse that she could no longer feel anything else.  

The power of her screams overcame the power of the restraining spell, and if it wasn't for the secondary concealment spells, her voice would have been heard all the way to Canterlot.  

Then it ended.  Something, no, somepony had invaded her mind.  Whatever it was slowly burned her away until her world faded into silence.

A pony stood up in the center of the circle.  She was still on fire, but the flames seemed natural now.  She rose up above the six, and spread her wings as the flames finally died away to nothing. 

She was bright yellow, almost white at a glance, but her mane and tail were dark purple, like clouds just after the sunset.  Her eyes burned red with a glare that would wilt anything that fixed gaze with her for more than a few seconds.







Solaria had come.
> The Worldseeker
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Solaria stood in front of the former nobles before her.  They had spread out in a half circle to await the first orders of their queen.

"There is a nexus of magical energy near here."  She spread her wings and hovered above the ponies.  "We had built a device on top of it long ago, but that has most likely been lost to time.  The device must be rebuilt so that we could use it to fight well."

She beckoned a unicorn forward, then descended in front of him and touched her horn to his.  There was a spark between their horns, and he winced slightly.

"This spell will help you track it down.  Lead the others there, and send me a signal when you find it."

As the unicorns went searching for the magic nexus, Solaria applied a simple disguise to herself, concealing her wings under an illusion spell.  





"Oh hello there.  Welcome to Golden Oaks."

The new visitor looked around at the shelves before her gaze stopped to rest on the mare who greeted her.

"Quite a place here.  When I asked where the library was, I didn't think it would be inside a tree."

"Thanks.  This is one of the more unique libraries in Equestria because of that.  I'm Twilight Sparkle, the librarian here.  Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yes.  I was wondering what information you had on the Elements of Harmony and their bearers."

"Oh, of course!  Do you want the history of the Elements?  I've got a book on that, but if you want to know more directly, you can just ask me and my friends."

The visitor stepped a bit closer.

"You?"

"Of course.  I'm the bearer of Magic.  If you want to know about Loyalty, we'd have to catch Rainbow Dash.  Fluttershy lives in a cottage over that way."  Twilight pointed off in that direction.  "She's the embodiment of Kindness.  Applejack's probably still at the market selling apples, and if she isn't, she's probably back on the farm harvesting them.  Rarity runs the Carousel Boutique, and she'll probably try to give you a new dress if you visit; her element is Generosity, after all.  And if I had to guess, Pinkie's probably working at Sugarcube Corner, but nopony can really predict anything she does."

"Does she regularly coat new visitors with confetti and cake batter?"

Twilight chuckled.  "Sounds like her."

"Element of Laughter?"

Twilight nodded.

"In that case, thank you."

"Oh you're wel-"

Before Twilight could finish, the visitor touched her horn with her own, causing her to drop to the floor, asleep.





Solaria entered the cavern, finally able to stretch her neck upwards after ducking under the low ceiling of the tunnel.  As she entered, she set down the bags she was wearing and removed her disguise spell. 

It was here.  Clearly, it had been broken once, but it could be repaired in little time.  The most important items, the stone tablet and the power enhancement crystals in the walls, were still intact.  The materials required to build those had not come easily the first time it was built.  The stones with the concentration runes merely needed to be engraved again and put back in place.

Immediately, they set to work.  Construction was slow, and the ancient nobles were not particularly pleased to be reduced to menial laborers.  They only needed to remind themselves, however, that their plight was only temporary, and that this would only serve to restore their power.

Finally, the work was complete.  In the center of the floor was a stone ring, each stone engraved with arcane runes beyond the understanding of any in the room save Solaria herself.

She looked at all of them, pleased with their work.

"Very few mortals have rested their eyes on this device," she announced.  "The energy of the realms that you used to bring me back still hangs in the air.  This" -she rested a hoof against the stone tablet beside her- "will bring your nightmares to life."

"Your majesty, if I may ask... what is that thing?"

She smiled as if she had been waiting for just such a question.  

"It was said that Alexcanter the Great once looked on the world and wept, for there was no territory left to conquer."  

She laughed.  It began as a chuckle, but evolved into a mocking roar of laughter reserved only for those who had witnessed something utterly foolish.

"He barely conquered a fraction of the land.  

"Nevertheless, his pitiful results are beside the point.  My children and I knew that we would eventually reach such a fate ourselves.  One day, we truly would look across the world and find that there was none left to claim.  After all, what else would one expect from such lifespans as ours?  

"With this, however," she gestured towards the the ring in the middle of the floor, "we could conquer world after world without end.  We could truly be the rulers over everything.  With this, we were prepared to subjugate creation itself.  

"Behold-"

She twisted a knob under the tablet, causing the newly restored runes around the ring to glow -

"The Worldseeker."

She paused, although whether it was for dramatic effect or simply to catch her breath, the others couldn't tell.

"Did you think you experienced a nightmare the night before I was reawakened?  You felt realms colliding with each other.  What you saw was rare indeed, only experienced once every few millennia.  A hundred worlds, perhaps even a thousand, passed through each other that night.  For a moment, in your dreams, you experienced the horror of being another form of yourself.  For only a few hours that night, your mind and your nearest alternate self's mind were one and the same.

"You are faithful, but you are few.  Tonight we shall draw warriors from the wells of time and space itself.  We shall bring forth the very nightmares of this people."

One of the unicorns stepped forwards.

"We can do that?"

"Indeed.  Alas, there is but enough energy to seek out only a few.  Fortunately, I've been getting to know the locals in the town nearby.  Thanks to them, I now know the most powerful and dangerous ponies in this world, and I know exactly who it is they fear."

With that, her horn glowed, and the crystals in the tablet rearranged themselves.  A sphere of translucent light opened above the ring, and with a cold wind and the hiss of the void, out stepped... 

...

...the Bearer of the Element of Laughter...

The nobles glanced back and forth between Solaria and the party mare.  She said she wanted power.  She couldn't possibly have made a mistake, could she? 

The alicorn, however, was completely unfazed by this strange occurrence.  She nodded, then turned to one of her followers.  "Give me the saddlebags I brought."

From the bag, she retrieved what appeared to be a lottery ticket and gave it to the Element Bearer.  While the followers exchanged confused glances, Pinkie simply nodded, and began pulling knives out of her mane and tail.  

Her excited smile never changed.

With the glow of her horn, the Mother summoned the remaining Element Bearers, one by one.  To each she have some object or instruction.  

Finally, the nobles realized what she had done.  She had summoned the ponies who would know exactly what would be necessary to defeat the element bearers of this world.

Some of them rubbed their hooves together, while others looked cautiously to the newcomers.

The time had come.
> The Nightmare Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Solaria stepped into the city and smelled the air.  

Canterlot.  

It was most certainly a suitable place from which to rule.  The architecture of the palace was a nice touch as well.





Several foals were in the library looking through topics for their homework assignments.  Meanwhile, Twilight and her friends were visiting each other, trying to decipher what had knocked them out the other day.

"Um, Twilight?"  She looked over to see Kind Face holding up a book.  "Do you have any sources on changelings other than this one?  Half the stuff in it's incorrect."

Twilight raised an eyebrow.  "Incorrect?  But Educated Guess is the most established scholar there is on the subject.  He's even seen the remnants of some of their old hives.  

"And wait a second.  How would you even know that?"

Kind Face's eyes looked around the room just briefly.  "I used to know somepony... back in Canterlot... and he met a few changelings from where he was from... 

"Is there another book?"

Twilight shook her head.  "Sorry.  There aren't many books on changelings in the first place.  Besides, if you know somepony with firsthoof knowledge of changelings, why so you need a book?"

"Miss Cheerilee said we have to cite at least one outside source."

Twilight thought a moment.  "Well, I guess I could ask Spike to help you look around to see if there is something else.  Until then, just cite the information in it that is correct."

Just then, there were several urgent knocks at the door, and a voice that called out loudly for Twilight.  She opened the door to find a royal pegasus guard.

"Twilight.  We need you and the other element bearers back at the castle at once.  There's an insane alicorn in the palace."  

Twilight, her friends, and everyone else in the library answered at once.

"What?!?"

Twilight moved in an inch from the guard's face.

"What do you mean an insane alicorn?"

Before the guard could answer, he was tackled by a familiar blue streak.

Everyone gasped.  "Rainbow?!?"

Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, charged at the copy of herself that was fighting the guard.  The two fought each other until Twilight magically separated them.  

"Alright.  What are you doin' pretending to be me, and why are you beating up guards?"

The other Dash spat.  "I'm tearing an unworthy pegasus into spectra for treason against the queen."  She pointed to the first Rainbow.  "You're next."

"Spectra doesn't even come from ponies you moron!  What did you do, hit the ground with your head?"

Unfortunately, the new Dash had hit the guard on the head during the fight, leaving him on the ground unconscious.

Applejack lassoed the other Rainbow, tying her up as quickly as she could.

"Oh no, oh no..."  Twilight looked to the others.  "Come on girls, get close"- She lit her horn- "and brace yourselves.  It's a long jump, so it might get rough."

They all disappeared in a ball of light.





A flash of teleport magic brought everypony in the group to the Canterlot palace, where they were immediately surrounded by guards.

"Okay...  Not what I was expecting."

"Well now, this is interesting.  I thought the princesses would show up here first."

The voice behind them sounded surprised and vaguely disappointed.  She also sounded familiar, but not enough to figure out why.

All of them turned around to see an unknown alicorn standing above them.

Two more flashes appeared in the center of the group, revealing Celestia and Luna.

"...on our way to visit our niece when we hear of a..."  

She looked up to see what had brought about such an emergency that they would both have to return to the palace.

The alicorn smiled upon seeing them.

"Ah, there you are."

On sight of the speaker, Celestia's and Luna's mouths hung open, but no sound came.  The raw impossibility of the situation stole all words from them.

By her side was a group of ponies that somehow appeared old and young at the same time.

Their leader spoke.

"Behold the Mother of Nightmares, the Conqueror of Worlds, the Terror of the Skies.  Behold... the Queen of Equestria."

Celestia, meanwhile, turned to the guards.  "Seize her!"  

None of them moved.  

"Did you really think I would order the guards around without taking measures to ensure their loyalty?"

All the spears and crossbows in the room leveled at the ponies in the center.

Celestia charged her horn.  

"Everypony brace yourselves."

In a flash of teleportation magic, the entire group was...

...

... standing in the exact same place.  The only change was that the grin on the usurper's face had grown.

"A port trap..." Twilight muttered, noticing the runes that had been carved on the surrounding walls.  It was an old trick for imprisoning unicorns that nopony had bothered to use in centuries due to the invention of the horn suppressor ring.  Any teleport starting or ending anywhere near the castle would invariably get pulled back to the center of the circle of runes.  

Luna noticed the same thing.  Since teleporting was no longer an option, she decided on her own course of action.  With her horn, she shot out three of the guards with a combination of a sleeping spell and a shield, blasting a path towards an exit.  

"Everypony run!"

None of them had to be told twice.





They all ran into the dungeons beneath the castle.  Past them lay the old caves that wound their way below the city itself.  The earliest caves they encountered had been converted into storage rooms or solitary cells, but the later ones took on the rough shape of the abandoned mines they once were.

The group closed every door along the way, including those that they did not use, to confuse the pursuers and buy some time.  Eventually, the sounds of the pursuers finally died away to nothing.

"What was that?"

Everypony turned to the voice.  Behind them stood the three foals studying in the library.

Twilight stepped closer.  "What are you three doing here?"

Feldspar answered.  "We all stepped out to see what was going on, then there was this flash of purple light, and we were all suddenly surrounded by a bunch of angry looking guards, then the princess said to run..."

Twilight groaned and bright a hoof to her forehead.  "You must have gotten too close when I teleported.  Now what are we going to do?  I can't send you back because of the port trap, and I..."

Luna put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder.  "Have them descend further into the tunnels.  It is the safest option they have right now."

Twilight nodded.  She was still so caught up in thinking of how the teleport spell had misfired that she couldn't think of a better plan anyway.

"Okay.  Now that that's settled, and now we ain't bein' chased anymore, who in tarnation was that?"

Celestia and Luna looked at each other, then at the ponies before them.  

"That's our mom."
> In Ancient Days
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"WHAT?!?!?!?"

The simultaneous inquiry of all the ponies in the room probably risked blowing their hiding place, but fortunately, the direction of the sound was quickly lost in the labyrinthine tunnels.

"Tis true, she is indeed Solaria, the conqueror of worlds," Luna stated.  "I would recognize our mother anywhere.

"She had left for her old homeland in the west millennia ago, leaving us to rule this territory.  Rumor has it her original subjects found a way to kill her, but we never investigated for fear that they would do the same to us.  We ruled here together and took turns maintaining our satellite territories."

After a pause, Twilight looked up.  "What happened?"

Celestia sighed.  "It is a long story, but in short, it was ages ago, centuries before even the time of Discord."  

She paused a long time before she spoke again.  No one interrupted her.  

"It all happened shortly after the events now known as Hearth's Warming.  Solaria had left to check on the old kingdom only a few decades ago, leaving us in her place.  

"We were young then, and we followed in her hoofsteps like foals.  The Heroes of Harmony had met while we were away maintaining other territories.  When we got back, the ponies here were not only reunified, but had also gained a patience with us that allowed us to rule them a little longer."

She hung her head.

"I wish I could tell you that I've always been a perfect ruler, but... but I can't."

While the confession was producing the first inklings of relief for the princess, it did little to help her student.  

"Celestia, if all that's true, what happened?"





The guards had finished escorting the laborers back to their district and were about to head off to find some escorts of their own when a stallion came wandering unsteadily out of the forest.  They smelled him long before they saw him; the very air in his presence reeked of vomit.

The stallion was unlike any they had seen before.  He had no fur except in tufts and patches scattered across his body.  One of his ears was cut short, and his skin was scarred white with acid burns.  There was no doubt that he had, at one time, looked like any of them would, but now he would never be the same again.  

There was a miracle in his presence, but the miracle was not that he was walking among them.  The true miracle was that he was alive in the first place.  

"Take me to the city.  I have an urgent message, and time is of the uttermost essence."

The guards were too dumbfounded to argue.  They were near the outskirts of the city already.  As soon as they reached the interior of the city, he announced his message for all to hear. 

"Forty days, and then this land will be overturned, and shall perish in fire and water!  This is the order of the Tau Sunflare, who reigns from beyond the stars."

The guards were, needless to say, stunned.  That is the only reason why they didn't arrest him on the spot.

He repeated this message throughout the day, and it was not long before echos of his message spread throughout the city, whispered on the street corners and in the alleys.  After they had nearly been overturned in ice, threats of floods and fires had gotten everypony's attention.

Nopony wanted to be caught sharing such rumors, but they couldn't help but tell.  They were spread even among the guards and the royal servants, until finally, they reached Queen Celestia herself.

"WHAT IS THIS?!?!?!?!?"

She was not happy.

"BRING HIM HERE AT ONCE!!!!"

The stallion came without complaint.  He was escorted to the throne room and instructed to wait.  Celestia was not there, of course.  The first step to dealing with troublemakers was to remind them just who was in power and who was not.  With peals of thunder and flashes of lightning, she teleported into the room in front of him.

"WHO DARES SOW DISSENT AMONG..."

She stopped upon seeing the pony in front of her.  She was about to speak again, but upon breathing in, she nearly gagged on his smell.

"Who (ack) art thou?"

The scarred, weak, putrid thing looked up at her with the eyes of a servant, but spoke with the voice of an equal.

"I am Firm Sign, sent by the one who reigns from beyond the stars, to warn of disaster against this land."

His voice carried no malice, although he clearly did not enjoy her presence.  She analyzed the stranger before she spoke.

"Dost thou wish to see us destroyed?"

"Indeed.  I almost refused to send your people this message, in hopes that you would not find it until too late.  I found, through many trials, that such messages are impossible to not send.  As thou can see, the method by which I was brought here was extreme."

Celestia tried to hide her surprise, but despite years of practice, she could not help if some emotion had leaked through.

He obtained those injuries just coming here?  How could anything be that urgent?  Why wouldst he try to destroy us by not giving us a divisive message?  Is it possible...?

She motioned to two of her guards.  "He is free to go.  Give him a mark of my immunity so that the other guards will know he is free to do as he will.  I must give this matter some thought."

She paced towards the library, giving instructions to the guards to leave her alone.  As she approached, a disturbing series of thoughts filled her mind, trickling in at first, but slowly increasing until they were all that remained.

The windigos had not been the first disaster to fall on the land.  They merely had been the most dangerous and the most recent.  Before them came the out-of-control storms that had ignored every pegasus that tried to tame them.  Before that was the invasion of Everfree beasts that had forced them to move their capital.  And before that was the scarlet plague that had killed young and old alike...

As she neared the library, she stopped to write a letter to her sister, asking her to come posthaste from the new territory to aid in the matter.  She then pulled out the ancient scrolls and began to read.


<•>:<•>:<•>


Luna teleported into the throne room, confused to not see her sister there.  She searched the castle for some time, finally finding her sister behind the servant's quarters, sitting in the dirt and covering herself with a blanket fit for a pauper, a pile of scrolls in scattered around her.   

Her sister looked up from the ground.  "I believe we have made a terrible mistake," she finally said, "and I don't know what to do."


<•>:<•>:<•>


The next day, the following sign was posted in each square:

There is an ancient law given by one in authority over us.  We have refused this authority, and now face destruction as a consequence.

A copy of this law has been found in the library archives, and copies of it are being made.

By order of their highnesses, Queens Celestia and Luna, the copies of the law shall be made available to all who request them.  Should anything be found to contradict our own law, the ancient law shall supersede our own, and our own shall be changed to match.

This is a time of mourning.  No pony, herd, or flock is to taste anything.  They are not to eat or drink water.  Everyone is to cover themselves in sackcloth and to call on her Majesty, and they are to turn, each from his evil way, and from the violence which is in their hooves.  Perhaps she may relent, and turn from her anger, so that we will not perish.





"We spent the next few years studying the ancient texts.  The heroes of Heartwarming, Clover, Pansy, and Puddinghead, ruled in our stead during that time.  We learned much from them and still employ their lessons to this day.

"We fear that our mother has come to reestablish the kingdom as it once was, when it was under her rule."

There was silence in the cave for a long time.
> Plan of Attack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone looked ahead to the two princesses.

"What happened next?"

"Well, as you can see, we weren't overturned," Celestia stated flatly.

Luna added on, "the Ancient law has been our own ever since that time, although the degree to which we followed it has wavered over the years."

"Wait, what happened to Firm Sign?"

Celestia and Luna looked at each other.  "Nopony knows," Celestia finally admitted.

"Strewth, while there are rumors that he was heard on a nearby mountain ranting that he should have been permitted to refuse his call to warn us, he was never seen again."

They all looked around at each other. 

"If she is your mother," Fluttershy finally asked, "what do we do?"

Celestia turned to Luna, who stepped forwards.

"Our mother has not returned from the homelands of old.  She shows no signs of having teleported any more than the distance to Ponyville from here, nor does she show signs of having walked, flown, or come here by any conventional means.  

"Besides that, the magic in her is different from the way it should be.  It is not part of her, but rather it is holding her together, like glue to papier-mâché."

"So she's..."  Celestia tried to finish the sentence, but couldn't.

"Indeed," Luna continued, "she is dead, and what we saw is being animated by a malevolent spell, most likely cast by those surrounding her.  Her mind has been forced into that body at the cost of the life of whoever that once was, and her body has been transformed to resemble her old self."

Luna paused a moment before continuing. 

"Her life is bound to some object, although we know not what.  We need to capture the conspirators and make them confess its location.  Only then can she be defeated."

"The object wouldn't happen to look like a huge white crystal that glowed green, would it?"

Everypony turned to Feldspar.

"That sounds like an apt description of vitalium crystals, but where wouldst thou have seen them?"

"We saw those ponies in the forest on Nightmare Night.  They pulled it out of a huge box."

Obsidian nodded.  "We watched them run off when something flying overhead spooked 'em.  The ones who brought the box made sure to take it with them."

"And the crystal wasn't just stuck in there either," Kind Face added.  "I saw it from on top of a tree.  It was in a smaller box stuffed with hay, like the ponies were afraid to break it ."

Luna nodded slowly.  "So that is indeed what they used.  At least now we know what it is we seek.  Thank you three for that.

She turned to her sister, who was sitting down on her haunches and staring into space.

"Is it possible?..."  Celestia's voice was barely above a whisper.  "If her mind is controlling that body, is it possible that she might change as well?  Just as we did?"

Luna stepped over to her sister and nuzzled her.  "Perhaps.  Perhaps she might, but I fear she may yet be as unyielding as she was when we were but foals."

A single tear fell to the ground, but no one besides the two princesses could tell which one had shed it.





"Take out the two unicorns first, and put a priority on the purple one.  She is especially dangerous."

"Yes your majesty."

"Come to think of it..."  She turned and gestured to her element bearers.  "You find them and take care of them.  Surely you would know their weaknesses."

The bearers nodded, then headed out into the dungeons.  As soon as they left, the Duke spoke up again.

"What of the two alicorns, your Highness?"

"They will come to me."  She smirked.  "Just as they always did when they were younger."





Cautiously, they all crept back out of hiding.  The three foals, as instructed, made their way deeper into the mines while all the others headed back up towards the castle.

Celestia and Luna made their way to the lower dungeons.  From there, they would teleport straight into the port trap to confront Solaria directly. 

All the others spread out to search for members who might know where Solaria's crystal was, or perhaps to find the crystal itself.





"Art thou ready, sister?"

Celestia bit her lip and nodded.

The two fired up their teleportation spell and disappeared.  They didn't bother to pick a spot.  They could feel the trap pulling them back.

In a flash of light, they stood before their mother.





"I wish we could help."  Feldspar kicked a loose pebble.  "We got pulled all the way here, and now we're told to just hide."

"Well it is for our own safety," Obsidian reminded her.  "This isn't like last time.  These ponies aren't just out trying to get petty revenge like those other ponies.  You heard the princesses.  They killed somepony just so they could pretend they have their leader back.  They'll probably kill anypony else who gets in the way too."

"I still want to do something."

"How?  We don't even have anything to help with."

Kind Face stopped a moment and closed her eyes.  She pondered the statement before opening them again.

"We do have something.  Come on, further in.  We can get out through the original shaft."

With that, she charged forwards.

"Wait a second," Obsidian flapped his wings to keep up.  "What do we have?"

Kind Face looked behind her.  

"Allies."
> Allies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Near the bottom of the tunnels was a twenty foot deep pit with steeper-than-vertical walls that rounded out near the bottom like a giant Erlenmeyer flask.  

All three ponies looked over the edge.  

A small tunnel led out from the bottom of the pit.  The only other way out was to go back the way they came.

"Now what?"

Kind Face paled.  "I forgot about this part."

After a couple moments, the faint sound of hoofsteps echoed out of the tunnel.  All three of them ducked down, peeking over the ledge.  The echos became clearer, and a shaggy blue stallion in a bowler hat stepped out of the tunnel and peeked around.

Kind Face jumped up almost immediately.

"Hat Trick?  Is that you?"

The stallion looked up to where she was standing.  

"Kind Face?  What are you doing back here?"

"Long story.  Mind helping us down?"

"Sure thing."  He turned head back to the tunnel and gave a sharp whistle.  "Hey Clumsy, you'll never guess who's here!"

There was some shuffling, then a light green pegasus emerged from the shadows.  

"Kind Face?"

"Yup."

She flew up to the ledge and embraced her.  "It's been so long."  She looked up.  "Who are these?"

"They're my friends."

"Friends?"  She hugged Kind Face again.  "I knew it.  I knew somepony outside the Circle would call you a friend."  

She gestured to the other two.  "Come, join us.  Any friend of hers is a friend of ours."

Obsidian and Feldspar glided down while Kind Face rode down on Clumsy's back.  As they all fluttered to a landing, Hat Trick spoke up again.

"Well, welcome to..."  He looked at the newcomers, then stammered and clumsily tried to bow.  Clumsy looked back and forth between him and the others, then followed suit.

"What are you doing?"  Obsidian and Feldspar looked at Kind Face, who was just as confused as they were.  She looked at the couple, then back at her other friends.  Finally, she realized what was going on.

"It's your horn."

"My..."  Obsidian crossed his eyes to look up at his horn, then facehooved upon realizing that he had just flown down from the ledge.

"Guys stop that, I'm not... seriously, I'm not even an alicorn, stop that."

As the couple got back up, Kind Face turned back to Obsidian.  "Sorry about that.  News from the outside comes a bit slow down here sometimes, especially since the incident." 

Feldspar tilted her head.  "What incident?"

Hat Trick looked sad for a moment.  "It was quite some time ago, but the short form of a long story is that the town became paranoid after it was all over.  Most of us left or hid to avoid being thrown out.

"Speaking of which," he turned to Kind Face, "as glad as I am to see you again, you still returned too soon.  The air here is still too hostile, especially for a young filly like yourself."

Kind Face nodded.  "Yeah.  Kinda guessed..."

Hat Trick nodded, then turned to the others.  "Well, as you've heard, my name's Hat Trick."  He extended a hoof to Feldspar, but just before she could shake it, he twirled the hoof, producing a fan of cards.  She was instantly mesmerized.

"Go ahead pick one."

She did, then, at his bidding, memorized it and returned it to the fan.  He waved his hooves, weaving the deck through an impressive display of cardistry before popping a card out of the middle of the deck, catching it in his other hoof, and turning it to her.  

"Is this your card?"

She shook her head.  He looked at the card, vaguely disappointed, then popped another card out of the deck.

"Is this your card?"

"Nope."

"Hmmmmm..."  He held his hoof to his chin, then reached behind him and pulled something out of his saddlebags.

"Is this your tape recorder?"

"WHAT?"  Obsidian checked his saddlebags.  Hat Trick, meanwhile, tossed the recorder to Feldspar.

"Oh don't worry.  It's just a recorder."  He smiled and reached back into his bags.  "It's not like I took your camera, or your bits, or your schoolbooks..."  

Each item he named, he tossed back to Obsidian.  As Obsidian frantically searched his saddlebags for any other missing items, Feldspar excitedly held up the recorder.

"Hey Obsidian, check it out!"

Inside the cassette slot was her card.

Kind Face, meanwhile, snickered and poked Hat Trick.  "Alright, I think he's had enough."  She turned to Obsidian and Feldspar.  "That is one thing to watch for.  He can pick your pockets at twenty paces."

"How?"

Hat Trick grinned, then lifted his bowler hat, revealing a horn.

Clumsy extended a hoof to the others.  "Clumsyfeather, but you can call me Clumsy if you want.  If you need a pratfall, a fake fight, or anything else with a bit more risk than usual, I'm your stuntmare."  As they shook it, she continued.  "Come on.  Let's go inside."

The tunnel was short and straight, and it soon opened up into a series of small caverns that had been set up for use as rooms.  Other ponies were gathered in the rooms, milling about or doing various chores.  Hat Trick and Clumsy introduced all of them as they passed by.

"This is Rafiki, a fellow expert in sleight of hoof."  The zebra shook hooves with the others.

"Charmed."

"Silver Wing here is one of the best living statues in Equestria."  

The pegasus said, and did, absolutely nothing in response.

"And over there's Silent Knight, all the way from Prance."

The earth pony stepped forward and reached out to shake hooves, only to be blocked by an invisible wall.  He then spent several minutes trying to find a way around it.

"And Punny Name over there is our resident ventriloquist."

The milk carton next to the unicorn mare politely greeted them.

When most of the ponies had been introduced, the trio set off to explore the caves.  Kind Face already knew the layout, so she mostly visited with old friends.  As she did, the other two found a side tunnel that looked different from the others.

They stepped into the small cavern to find a large stone column in the center of the room and a few glowing pods hanging near the corner.  

"Are those things..?"

"Oh, hey.  This, uh, this is my room."

They turned around to see a blue earth pony stepping into the room behind them.

"Name's Daryl."  He held out a hoof.  "Quick change artist."

Obsidian gave a quizzical look.  "Quick change?"

"I'm a costume performer who plays multiple characters in the same show."

"Oh, like Kind Face and her aunt?"

"You know Kind Face?"  He smiled as they both nodded.  "We grew up together!  She's practically my sister."

"Really?"

"Yeah!  Hey, come to think of it, you want to see the fastest change in Equestria?"

"Sure."

Daryl grinned, then walked around the column in the center of the room.  As he did, a yellow unicorn stepped around the other side.

"Wow!"

"Yeah that's nice!  You even did it without any saddlebags."

"Wait,"  Daryl looked at them, "saddlebags?"

"Yeah," Obsidian continued, "Kind Face always keeps bottles of fur dye and spare horns in her bags, but you did that without any place to... store...... them..........."  

He looked at Daryl, then at the pod hanging from the wall.  "Ohhh no..."

Daryl looked at the pods, then at Obsidian and Feldspar, who were backing away from him.  Noticing that he was between them and the exit, he grinned, then disappeared in a flash of fire.

A black creature emerged from the flames.

"Welcome to the hive!" he rasped.

Obsidian and Feldspar screamed.  

That was when a voice called out through the entrance.

"Daryl!  Quit scaring my friends!"

He changed back into an earth pony and dropped the rasp as Kind Face stepped into the room.  "Sorry sis."

Kind Face just shook her head.

"Obsidian, Feldspar, this is my honorary brother, Daryl the changeling."
> The Circle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You're a changeling?!"

"Umm..."  Daryl looked at his hoof, then back up at them.  "Yeah..."

Obsidian stared at them.  "And she's your sister...?"

"Well kinda, we did grow up together since we were foals."

He turned to Kind Face.

"And you knew he was a changeling the whole time?"

Kind Face nodded while Daryl answered.  "Yeah.  There used to be more of us here, but the ponies who found us started running us off after the incident.  They even ran off a few non-'ling members 'cause they hung out with us.  That's why the whole Circle of Street Artists went from being a tourist attraction for the city to hiding in the abandoned mines down here."

Feldspar approached him slowly.  "What about the whole 'eating love' thing?"

"Back when we went out, we all got plenty of that from the audience.  I still get some from the rest of the Circle...  Annnnnd I might have snuck out a few times dressed as a stray dog to get a bit extra."

Obsidian stepped closer, now more curious than cautious.  "And the invasion?"

Daryl stuck out his tongue.  "All I can say to that is anypony who can't manage a resource that the other ponies give away for free isn't fit to lead the hive, regardless of how much royal jelly she's had.

"Besides, we started the Circle of Street Artists just to avoid situations like that.  Why invade and steal love when you can put on a show and let ponies give it to you?"

"What about afterwards?  I thought all the changelings got thrown out of Canterlot by that shield spell."

He winced at that memory.  "We did.  Most of us got flung clear past the Everfree.  I was down here, so I was flattened against that wall for several minutes instead."  The others all winced as he gestured to the wall in question.

"I'm not sure what happened to the rest of them.  This used to be one of the biggest hives in Equestria.  Now there's more non-'ling members than there are changelings, and you've already met most of our members."





These dungeons are so musty.  They could use some freshening up.  Maybe some new tapestries as well, and perhaps nice wall sconces...

Yes, Rarity was definitely going to talk with Celestia and Luna about their decor when this was all over.  

She lit up her horn and opened yet another door, only to find an empty room again.  Strangely, her gem finding spell kept pulling her in the same direction every time, but all the doors in that direction only led to empty rooms.  The crystal must have been farther into the dungeons than she'd first thought.

She tried the spell again.  Once again, it pulled her the same direction.  She looked down the hallway to see how far she had traveled.

If I've come this far and it's still the same direction, that crystal would have to be almost a mile from here.  It's almost as if it's...

Just as she was realizing the implications, she felt a needle plunge into her side.  Her pupils shrunk to pinpricks, and she opened her mouth, only to be silenced by a voice behind her.

"Oh, try to relax darling, you know how stress ages ponies.  You look like you could use some rest."

Her world faded to black.





"Get some rest.  It's too late to do anything."

"But we want to help!"

Hat Trick smiled grimly.  That girl was just like her mother was at that age.

"I'm glad you want to help, but you won't do much good if you're not ready to go."

"But..."

"Sorry, but no.  The patrols out there increased when this 'Solaria' first arrived, and the whole town is under a curfew now anyway.  If you try to sneak out now, you'll have even more ponies than usual looking for you, and you'll be too tired to dodge them, even with your disguises.  We're heading out in the morning."

The three trudged out of the assembly room.  Kind Face headed off to her old room, while Obsidian and Feldspar followed behind, curious about what life was like in these caves.  

It turned out, she used to share Daryl's room.  He was already there in his native form, opening up one of the pods that hung from the ceiling.  They watched as he climbed inside and sealed it up again.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm sleeping.  What's it look like I'm doing?"

"That's what those are for?  I thought they were for imprisoning ponies."

Daryl looked at them, confused.  "Why would we use them for that?  These  are sleeping bags, not prisons."  He put a hoof on his chin and thought a moment- "I suppose some 'ling could decide to glue 'em shut with somepony inside, but only a really sick 'ling would want to do something like that."

He gestured to one of the other pods.  "You can try it out if you want.  They're pretty comfortable when you get used to them."

Obsidian looked decidedly uncomfortable.  "I think I'll pass.  Hat Trick and Clumsy said we could stay with them."

The upside-down changeling shrugged.  "Suit yourself."

As Obsidian and Feldspar left, Kind Face climbed into a pod of her own.  

"Good night, Daryl."

"Good night, Kind."





Just as Twilight had finished making her checklist of likely locations for the artifact, something shocked her from behind.  Her leg muscles spasmed, causing her to collapse to the ground.  

The unicorn guard slipped a magic suppression ring onto her horn.

"You got her."

"Yes."  The purple unicorn looked down at Twilight.  "It's just like I told you.  There is only one place you can shoot an advanced magic user that's guaranteed to work..."

She magically picked up the sleeping student.

"...the back."





The next morning, everypony was in the assembly room.

"Okay.  From what these three have said, we're looking for a white crystal with a faint green glow.  For all we know, they could have hidden them in the castle itself, which means we'll have to hope that the Princesses or the Element Bearers find it.  The other possibility is that they hid it somewhere in the city.  That's where we come in.  If we find it, we have to get it to the Princesses or the Bearers.  Only they will know for certain what to do."

Everypony nodded, then set out on their routes.  The plan was simple enough.  They would travel the city performing their old routines, but they had organized their paths in such a way as to ensure that they would be able to see the entire city.  They also made sure that every team had at least one set of Hat Trick's magic saddlebags so that they could hide anything they found without significant risk.  

Obsidian and Feldspar headed off with Hat Trick, with Obsidian wearing a pair of modified saddlebags to hide his wings again, along with a top hat and a pair of Kind Face's red contacts.  Besides helping him hide from the security patrols, hiding his wings would turn his native pegasus magic into street magic, and hiding his horn would make it look less likely that he was merely a unicorn casting cloudwalking spells on himself.  At Kind Face's insistence, he also dyed his fur green and painted on a fake cutie mark of five cards and a wand.

Feldspar was the plant of the team, hiding among the crowds to simultaneously act along with the magicians and keep an eye out for wandering patrols or suspicious glowing crystals.  At her own insistence, she had blue fur and a red mane, with matching red wings and a cutie mark of her own face blowing a raspberry.

As they headed out through the abandoned mine entrance and split off onto their routes, Daryl sneaked back into the mines and headed towards the tunnel that led to the dungeons under the castle.  As he made it to the room under the ledge, a voice called from behind him.  

"Daryl.  What are you doing?"

He turned around to see Kind Face.

"I think we're trusting too much that everything's fine just because everypony important is up there.  Something else is going on, and I don't like it."

"So what are you doing then?"  

"I'm an infiltrator drone.  I'm doing exactly what I do best" -he disappeared in a flash of fire, reemerging as a royal pegasus guard- "infiltrating."

He flew to the top of the ledge and started his way into the labyrinth.  After he passed a few turns, the sound of hoofsteps echoed behind him.  Turning around, he saw another pegasus guard approach.

"Not without me."
> Confrontation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It is so nice to see you again after all these millennia."

"I wish I could say the same, mother."

Solaria circled them.  "Interesting manner of ruling you have devised here.  I still can't believe you pay your slaves..."

"They're called servants."

"... And you seem quite content to let ponies run free doing whatever it is they like.  It's almost as if you weren't ruling at all."

Luna rolled her eyes.  "And yet, somehow, it has worked for over twenty centuries.  Imagine that."

Solaria snorted and turned back to Celestia.

"Are you seriously considering releasing an entity that nearly destroyed your country in the hopes that he would make friends with somepony?"

"It's called mercy, mother.  Something you seem to lack."

"It's called weakness, and it always has been."

She closed her eyes and marched around them again, stopping next to a filing box.

"I wish you treated your own kin half as well as you treat everypony not related to you.  Really?  Banishing your own sister?"

"We are right here.  Perhaps thou should also remember that we nearly destroyed the kingdom."

"You were merely seeking vengeance for a wrong you suffered from the common ponies.  They deserved the punishment."

"And we most vehemently disagree."

Solaria looked at her younger daughter for a moment, then turned back to the elder.

"Either way, I doubt you have an excuse for your treatment of your progeny."

"My what?!?!?"

Solaria picked up a paper from out of the filing box.

"I looked through your archives and records to catch up on recent events."

She held the paper aloft in a levitation field.


SON REJECTED BY THE SUN


"A fire escape?  Really?  And you call me heartless."

"Mother, I don't have a foal.  The press was making that up to sell more papers."

"Ah, I see, so you drove out Luna's..."

"No, I don't have a foal either.  My sister and we have even met the colt's parents.  They're good ponies."

"So these papers lie about you two, and you allow it.  As if I wasn't disappointed in you enough..."

"Oh, ponies made up things about you when we were younger.  They were just a lot better at hiding it then."

Solaria's expression soured considerably.  

"Nonetheless, since it seems neither of you are inclined to speak politely with your mother, perhaps we should get down to business."

She clapped her hooves twice.  Immediately, the doors opened, and six ponies stepped in, escorted by day guards.

"Welcome, princesses of the day and night."  The leader of the group grinned.  "Welcome to your dethroning."

"Who even are you?"

"You don't remember?  It's only been a couple thousand years.  Surely your memory hasn't deteriorated that badly over the centuries, right, my queen?"

Celestia looked at him more closely.  He was certainly familiar, but he couldn't be serious.  A couple thousand years?

Queen... he called me queen...

Luna searched her own memory.  It was before her banishment, so it should be easy to...

Her eyes went wide.

"Cutthroat?"

The ancient pony nodded.  "Lord Cutthroat.  My title was never legally removed."

Luna snorted.  "We shall rectify that posthaste."

Celestia stepped closer.  "How did you remain alive so long in the first place?"

Lord Cutthroat grinned.  "I used the ritual of Ortiv, as did the others."

Celestia's jaw fell to the floor.  

From behind, a voice spoke up.  "What's that ritual?  I've never heard of that one before."

"Twilight?"  Celestia turned around.  Behind her was her pupil, strapped to a metal table with a suppression ring on her horn.

She gave a sad smile.  "Hi Celestia..."

Solaria called from behind.  "Come daughters.  We have much to discuss."

"Wouldst thou employ such cheap tomfoolery as a hostage for an advantage?"

Solaria smiled at Luna.  "Of course, especially seeing how much you and your sister love her.  Besides, I'm sure you already know what I want.  Considering the miserable job you two at doing ruling this kingdom, I'm taking it back."  She turned her attention to Celestia with a slight smirk.  

"Go ahead, answer your pupil."

The instruction broke Celestia's shock.  She answered slowly.

"Starswirl's successor, Master Ortiv.  He was obsessed with living longer.  We allowed him to continue after Solaria left because we thought his research might prove good for our ponies, but..."

She stopped and closed her eyes, as the memory returned of finding his laboratory and seeing everything within.  The words that came next came slowly.

"Master Ortiv's one spell, the only one he ever competed... it... it grants life to one... by stealing it from another.  The theft may be random or chosen... but the pony on the other side always dies."  

She turned to Lord Cutthroat.  " How did you even learn that?"

"My Queen taught me.  We kept in touch by mail all the way up until the Farseein Revolution that eventually claimed her life.  It was her last letter that detailed the modified ritual that would bring her back."

Celestia looked to Solaria again, then turned back to Cutthroat.

"How many did you kill?"

He shrugged.  "Does it matter?  Most of them were were going to die anyway or weren't really alive yet.  We're not complete monsters."

Celestia stared at the creature before her.  Slowly, she became unnaturally serene.  Those who know her instinctively took a step back.  

Those who knew her well took two.





Celestia lowered her horn and fired, but the bolt of magic reflected off a shield Solaria had constructed and hit her, leaving her stunned.  

Luna tried to attack more directly with a charge to the side, but was brought down by a bolt of magic from Solaria.

"You really should learn to respect your mother.  I'd suggest we talk this out, but I can't help the feeling you two need proper motivation."  She turned to Cutthroat and his troops.  The rest of you are dismissed.  Go find the others."

Meanwhile, Twilight tried to free herself, but the iron ring on her horn siphoned away the magic.  Physically escaping the bonds was out of the question; they were far too tight for that.

Solaria called out to the door on the other end of the room, near Twilight's table.

"Sparkle, you said you wanted to know how the Elements worked.  Why don't you start with magic?"

Twilight's doppelgänger appeared out of the shadows and grinned.  "An excellent idea."  She turned to the real one on the table and used her magic to pull up a cart loaded with surgical instruments.  

"Now please, hold still."

The two princesses couldn't take any more.  

"STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!!!!!"

Solaria merely smirked.  "Do you concede the kingdom then?"

"Not yet."

Celestia's eyes narrowed, and flames erupted across her body, slowly spreading until she was completely engulfed.  Luna, meanwhile, was similarly engulfed in shadows and mists that crawled in from the corners of the room.

Twilight's eyes went wide, as the flames diminished and the mists dissipated.  In front of her, the princesses had changed.  Celestia's eyes had become a flaming red, while Luna's eyes had turned teal.  Both now had dragon-like slitted pupils, and both had fangs protruding from their mouths.

Before Twilight could finish processing her shock, their mother chuckled.

"Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker, I'm so glad you could join us."  

She grinned, exposing fangs of her own.  "This will most certainly be interesting."
> Battle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The alicorns charged each other, shields ready, and clashed in the center of room, throwing lightning, flames, and shadows in every direction.  One of them, it was impossible to tell who in the midst of the confusion, bucked another into the next room and pursued, with the remaining alicorn following close behind.  The noise of their battle continued to echo throughout the castle, even as they moved farther away.





As Twilight struggled to free herself from the restraints, Twilight approached the table with a scalpel.  Before she could get there, Twilight jumped out of the shadows and tackled her, much to Twilight's shock.

"Let her go, ya fake!"

As the evil Twilight used her magic to get rid of the newcomer, another Twilight ran in and body-checked her, slamming her into the ground.  Another flash of the horn sent that newcomer flying as well.  

"Jack.  Pie.  We've got company."  

As the the other element bearers stepped out of the shadows, Twilight got cocky.

"We all look the same.  How are you supposed to know who to attack?"

Pinkie just cackled, "our Twilight has the evil sneer, silly.  You, two don't have one, so you two, we can kill."

Twilight and Twilight looked at each other.  

Pinkie logic...

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.  

They immediately jumped the other Twilight, turning into a ball or wrestling purple ponies.

Pinkie was about to swan dive into the fray, when Applejack held her back with a hoof.

"Hold it sugercube.  Can ya tell which one's which anymore?"  

"Ummmm..."  She pointed at one with her hoof, then switched to a different one, then switched a few more times before giving up.

They both watched the three Twilights fight each other, unsure which one to assist.  After about a minute, Twilight kicked Twilight and Twilight away from her.

All three shouted at once, pointing.

"Get them!!!"

The other two just stood there.  They looked at each other in confusion, then back at the three ponies.

"What are you waiting for?" one of them shouted.

"Um, sugarcube...  We can't tell which one of y'all is which anymore."

The Twilight in the middle rolled her eyes, then bucked the one on the left.  She immediately punched the other one in the face.  Both dropped to the ground.

"Well now that that's out of the way, I can finally get back to my experiment."  She looked to the other two.  "You two sure helped.  If you aren't going to do anything here, make yourselves useful and find the others."  

As the other two left, she approached the Twilight on the table and picked up a scalpel.

That was when the Twilight who had gotten punched picked herself up off the floor and approached them.

"You should really get with Clumsy on your stage punching.  You nearly took my jaw off."

"Sorry."  The one with the scalpel started cutting the bonds while the other one took off the real Twilight's suppressor ring.

"So, what did you think of our impressions of you?  Was I better?"

"No, you couldn't have been.  I did it better cause I'm already a girl."

"You're a girl who insists on using fur dye for all of your disguises.  Shapeshifting beats fur dye any day."

"At least my voice sounds like hers.  You sound like a talking flying squirrel."

"No, I don't!"

"Quit arguing; somepony'll hear you."

"HEY, WHAT'S GOIN' ON THERE?"

Somepony'd heard.

Applejack returned to see Twilight being freed by two of the doppelgängers.  She lined up a kick in less than a second, aiming to buck her away into the wall.  Just before she could, the other ran in and shoved her target out of the way, taking the brunt of the kick instead.  

Applejack looked in confusion at the odd behavior.  She knew changelings were monsters, so why would one do something like that.  Then she noticed the first one grabbing a scalpel off the table and pointing it at her.  She flicked the knives out of the bracers she was wearing on her front hooves and readied an attack stance.  Before she could strike, though, the real Twilight picked her up with her horn and threw her into the wall.  

They both ran over to the Twilight clone beside the cracked wall on the other side of the room.

As they approached, he shifted back into himself and looked up at them.

His barrel was bleeding.

"Daryl!"

"I'll be fine.  Seriously."

Twilight looked him over, then tore a curtain off the wall with her magic and started wrapping it around his barrel as tightly as she could.  She barely had time to process the fact that one of her rescuers was the same creature that had invaded this city not long ago.

"No you won't.  Not if you don't get this treated."  She finished wrapping him up and set him back down.  "What happened to you?"

"That mare's wearing switchblades on her hooves.  She bucked me across the room with both of 'em."

He tried to get up, stumbling the whole way, then collapsed back to the floor.

He sighed, then looked up to them.  "I'll last.  You two go before they come back."

Twilight looked at him.  He was little more than a nymph.  He'd probably be in school if he was a regular pony.

"GO!"

With that, he turned himself into a potted plant on a marble table, looking indistinguishable from the decorations around the rest of the castle.

She fumed.  Changeling or not, he was still a foal.  Nopony was hurting foals on her watch.

She could almost hear a voice in the back of her mind.

Do it.  Give into your anger.  Let the hate flow through you.

Twilight took another look at the potted plant, then at Applejack's and her own unconscious doppelgängers.

Sounds good to me...





Rainbow Dash and Applejack were arguing over the best way to find the crystals, only to run across Pinkie Pie and Rarity arguing over the best way to kill Rarity.  The two duos stared at each other a moment.  

They stared at each other another moment.

They stared at each other for a very awkward moment.

Finally, Rarity's voice echoed from the other room.

"Is somepony out there?"

That snapped all of them out of their trance.  Applejack charged Pinkie while Rarity telekinetically flicked a swarm of knives at Rainbow Dash.  

Applejack turned around to buck the imposter like an overripe tree, but only hit empty air.  Somehow, Pinkie was now standing in front of her, and she was  holding a running chainsaw.

"I love cartoon logic," she grinned.  "This is gonna be fun."

Applejack pulled out her spare lasso.  It looked like she was gonna have to hog tie this one again.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash spun through the air, just barely avoiding the knives.  She flipped over to kick the false Rarity in the face, only for Rarity to sidestep her at the last minute.  Thankfully, Rainbow's stunt practice had prepared her, and she landed on all four hooves.  It was just in time too, as Rarity was winding up for another volley.

Just a few feet away, Applejack barely dodged Pinkie's chainsaw, flicking the rope at Pinkie's head.  Pinkie twisted her head under it and swiped with her chainsaw, forcing Applejack to jump over the blade.  They continued their strikes, gauging each other for any opening they could get until finally, Applejack was able to slip her lasso under one of Pinkie's rear hooves.  She jerked her head, pulling Pinkie's hoof out from under her.  In a flash, she wrapped the rope around three of the legs and tied it, rendering the pony immobile.

Applejack immediately ran over to where Rarity was strapped to a table.  She pulled the knots, loosening most of them.  Just before she got to the last one, a knife twirled through the air and sliced it, cutting through a lock of Rarity's hair and sticking to the board less than an inch from her ear.  They both looked over to where Rainbow was hovering, having just dodged said knife while winding up for another strike.  

The newly freed Rarity shrieked.

"You RUFFIANS!"

Both fighters paused at the outburst.

"You RUINED MY MANE!!!"





Fluttershy and Fluttershy stood nose to nose, staring at each other with glares that would have sent Tirek crawling back to his mother.





Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon continued fighting the entity, streams of lightning and flame flooding every room through which they crashed.  As the battle continued, neither side gained an edge.

"Don't bother anymore."  CRACK  "I am greater than both your nightmare forms."  SMASH  "I taught you to use them."  BOOM   "I am the complete strength of you both at once."  CRASH   "You will only tire yourselves out."  KRA-KOOM  "After all, after the resurrection ritual was complete" -DEFENESTRATION- "I became more than a thousand years younger than you both as well."

Unfortunately, they could both tell that she was right.  As long as the battle remained evenly matched, it was little more than a test of endurance, and there was no telling how long they would endure.  They needed something to turn the tide, even a little in their favor.

It was at that moment that something burst through the door, wreathed in flame and glowing white.  It vaguely resembled a pony, but where there should have been fur, there was only rippling heat; and where there should have been a mane and tail, dragonfire flowed.

"THAT'S IT!"  The thing approached, eyes burning with pure fury.  The three alicorns stopped fighting to watch.  "Ponies in history have tried to overthrow Equestria more times than I would care to count.  Ponies have been fighting my mentor since before I was born, but you," she leveled a hoof at Solaria, "how many ponies died just to bring you back?  How many foals?"  

The entity stared straight through the Queen's eyes.  

"You.  Are.  DEAD."

A burning Twilight charged.
> Street Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Now, if you don't believe me, wave your hoof through through the fog.  Prove to me it's not real."

The earth pony gestured towards the small dry ice cloud that hovered next to him.  On top of it sat a grinning colt who acted as if there was absolutely nothing unnatural about a non-pegasus sitting on top of a cloud.

"That trick's easy.  Somepony just stuck a cloudwalking spell on him."

"Well in that case," the colt scooted over and patted a spot beside him, "why don't you come up and sit down next to me?"

The unicorn stallion snorted, but somepony in the crowd started egging him on.  Soon the entire crowd was into it cheering for him to climb onto the hanging mist.

He gingerly placed a hoof on the cloud and pressed down.  It swept straight through.

"Aw, come on, you can do better than that.  You got to believe you can do it.  Come on everypony.  You believe he can do it?"

The crowed cheered again for him.  He once again lifted his hoof.  This time, as he pushed down, the cloud pushed back.  He jerked his hoof back in shock, then placed it on the cloud again.

"That's the spirit, sir!  Come on!  Join me!"

The stallion jumped up onto the cloud and stepped around, then finally sat down as ponies in the crowd took pictures.

Obsidian, meanwhile, had to concentrate.  As long as the pegasus magic remained concentrated at the stallions hooves and rear legs, the green glow would be hidden by the cloud.  He had been careful so far, but one slip would ruin the illusion completely.

Fortunately, the stallion leapt off, laughing as he did.  He turned to Hat Trick and smiled.

"I don't know how you did that one, but I loved it."

Hat Trick thanked him, then announced to the crowd.  "Well if anypony wants to see us again, come wander the streets of Canterlot.  You never know where you might find a new surprise."

With that, he and the colt disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

In the alley right next to the street, they met up with Feldspar again.

"Find anything, little one?"

"Not much.  Just a bunch of old decorations and stuff.  But I did see an cool old outhouse."

"Feldspar, what is cool about an outhouse?"

"It's weird, you know?  Don't you wanna at least check it out?"

Hat Trick sighed and checked his map.  "I'm sorry, young lady, but we need to look for those crystals.  Any other day, I'd love to explore this city's general curiosities, but today we've got bigger priorities."

"But it's an outhouse!"

Obsidian was now thoroughly confused.  "Why are you so obsessed with outhouses all of a sudden?"

"Obsidian.  We're in Canterlot."

The other two stared at her.

"Almost entirely unicorn city...  One of the richest cities in Equestria...  Palace right over there...  The one place where nopony would have any reason to build an outhouse..."

A lightbulb finally went off.





"It. Is. ON.

Rarity glared at her poorly dressed copy of herself and assumed an attack stance.  Her copy levitated a storm of syringes and knives.  





They all stepped over to the dilapidated wooden shed outside the edge of the city.

All three of them looked at each other, then one of them cautiously pushed open the door.  The darkness inside was practically tangible, so Hat Trick took off his hat and lit up his horn.  Obsidian did the same.

"Woah..."

"No way..."

"In all my years..."

They looked at each other again, then slowly stepped through the doorway.

"It's bigger on the inside."





Four mares charged into each other in the center of the room, spells formed at the tips of their horns.

Twilight leveled a shield spell around her head and charged forward like a battering ram.  Daybreaker released a torrent of fire from her horn.  Nightmare Moon vanished into mist, splitting into three Shadowbolts who fanned out and attacked from a different direction each.

Solaria stomped her hoof into the floor, releasing a wave of pure magic that rippled outwards.  The ripple tripped Twilight, who crashed and slid across the floor behind Solaria.  Daybreaker was forced to break off the attack to dodge the wave, lest her fire spell destroy more of the castle around her.  That only left the Shadowbolts, who she repelled with a shield spell of her own.  

"Enough of this!  At what point will you realize it's hopeless?  When will you just give up?"

Twilight had gotten up.  She was already analyzing the situation.  This was just like some of those books she had read on magical combat theory.  

"You may be my daughters, but that won't stop me from reducing you to dust if I have to.  Do you want to end up like your..."

She was interrupted by a sharp prolonged whinny of pain... her own.

She turned her head around to see the still-burning Twilight, with fanged mouth clamped firmly onto her rear leg.  

Nightmare Moon immediately rammed Solaria from the side, knocking her to the floor, and Daybreaker fired a spell of deep but troubled sleep.

The three stood, panting heavily, and slowly, they returned to normal.  Celestia's and Twilights flames diminished, Luna's shadows dissipated, and finally, there was peace again.

"I shall carry her to the dungeons," Luna volunteered.  "You two help the others.  I doubt they would admit defeat yet."





"Okay, what now?"

The edges of the room were lined with troughs filled with a strange black powder.  Some objects sat in the back corner: a box of small gems, come camping gear, a few seat cushions, and a bowl of rotten lemons.  Across the back wall was a series of shelves with jars and cans on it.  They moved deeper into the darkness.  As they did, Obsidian got an idea.  He stepped back to the door and closed it, making the darkness nearly complete.

"Hat Trick, you mind dousing your horn?"

Hat Trick gave a confused glance to Obsidian, then extinguished the light.  Obsidian extinguished his as well, allowing the darkness to envelop him.  Slowly, all three ponies' eyes adjusted, until Feldspar squeaked.

"There!  I see it!"

In the corner was the faintest glimmer of light.  They lit their horns back up and moved in.  It was a wooden box, shoved into the corner next to several identical ones.

Hat Trick pulled away the empties and lifted the lid.  In the box was four individual compartments, One of which had a book and a few additional supplies in it.  Two were simply empty.  The remaining one was packed with hay, and in the center was a single, large, glowing white crystal.  

Hat Trick gingerly removed one and put it into the hidden pouch inside his saddlebags.

"Think this is it?"  They both nodded.  "Good.  We'll need to..."

A thump landed outside.

"Open up in the name of Queen Solaria."

"Horseapples...  Obsidian, I need you to turn your saddlebags inside-out."

"What?  Why?"

"Just do it."

Obsidian obliged and was rewarded by a pair of pegasus-style saddlebags.

"How'd you do that?"

"Magic.  Look, there's no point in hiding your wings anymore.  As soon as that door opens, you two need to take off as fast as you can.  Whether you run or fly is up to you, just choose whichever is faster."

"What about you?"

"I'll be right behind you."

"This is the Her Majesty's Royal Day Guard.  Open up or we will use force."

"What about the crystal?"

"I'll handle it."

Hat Trick lowered his horn and blew a hole through the wall beside him.

"GO!"
> The Chase
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The guard charged around the corner to find two foals and a stallion bolting away from the building.  He extended both wingblades and flew up and over them, landing directly in their path.  All three skidded to a stop.

Hat Trick jumped between the guard and the foals.

"Run!"

"But what about?..."

"I'll hold him off.  Just go!"

The guard was already swinging his wingblades.  Hat Trick reared up, the blades just barely passing under his hooves where his neck had been only a moment ago.  He turned around and whipped a smoke bomb at the guard's face.  Just as he turned again to run, another pegasus guard landed in front of him.

Thankfully, the two kids had already disappeared.





Luna set down her mother and stepped out of the cell.  She turned to pick up a suppression ring from the cabinet on the wall, when she felt an aura of magic charging up.  

Just as she turned back, her mother smirked.

"You two fell for that far too easily."  

With that, she disappeared.





Obsidian and Feldspar ran through the streets, keeping their eyes out for guards.

"What do we do now?"

"We head to the castle.  That's what he said."

"What good would that do?  We don't have the crystal with us."

"But we know where they are.  Let's go."

Before they could continue, a pair of unicorn guards stopped them in the square right next to a silver statue.

"Halt."  The commander eyed them suspiciously.  "What would you know about crystals and the castle."

Before they could fabricate a good answer, a record player in the shop window answered instead.

"What is this with you, abandoning your princesses?"

They looked to the record player, but  the passersby near it were only looking at it in confusion.  A windup toy in the shop across the street spoke to them.

"You are traitors to Equestria.  You are dishonored.  By Equestrian law, banishment would be an act of mercy towards you."

The soldier blasted the toy, but it kept speaking.

"Truth lives..."

They turned back to the foals, but the foals had already taken off.

"Stop!"  

Just as they had the foals cornered, purple flames erupted from the street between them and their target.  In an instant, they died away, revealing a zebra with ancient tribal markings across his face.  The zebra waved a hoof, causing a brief arc of flames to isolate himself from the guards.  He then turned to the foals.

"I just got the signal from Hat Trick, but the castle's too heavily guarded to get in.  Go back to the hideout.  You'll have to use the mines."

With that, he turned back to the guard and swung his right front leg to the side, causing a sword to appear out of nowhere, already attached to his hoof.

Before the guards could draw their own blades, the statue turned around the corner and bucked one of them into the other.

Obsidian and Feldspar flew back towards the hideout.





"We haven't found anything yet.  It's all just random junk."

"Hey!  I made most of that 'junk' myself."

The pegasus guards were going through Hat Trick's saddlebags while Hat Trick himself sat hoofcuffed beside them.

Between them lay four smoke bombs, five decks of cards, two magic wands, a book, a candle, and enough other assorted junk to fill a garage sale.  They did not find the missing crystal anywhere.

One of the guards dug around deeper, then pulled his nose up and grinned.  

"A traveling stagepony, you said?"  As Hat Trick nodded, the guard reached into the bag in triumph.  "Well how do you explain this?"

Hat Trick raised an eyebrow.

"A cuckoo clock?"

The guard looked at the contraption he was holding aloft.  "No.  Not that, but there is a secret compartment in here."

He started pulling out other items from the hidden pouch inside the bag. 

"A camera, a water bottle, a rubber chicken, two more sets of cards...  Wha...  What in Tartarus?  My wingblades?"

He extended his wing and looked at it.  Sure enough, he was disarmed.

"How?"

"I already told you, they're magic saddlebags.  Magic.  I assume you're familiar with the concept."

"Watch your tone."  The other one started nosing though the hidden compartment.

"What else is?...  Wh?...  My HELMET?"





Just before Obsidian and Feldspar could reach the hideout, something tackled Obsidian out of the air.  Feldspar looked down to see another Day Guard wrestling with her brother.

She sorely wished she had a horn to zap him with.  Lacking one, she did the next best thing she could think of.  She tucked in her wings and pulled into a nosedive, knocking the wind out of him with her front hooves.

The guard got up as Obsidian scrambled away.  He extended a wingblade.

"We've all had just about enough of this.  Now tell us where the missing crystal is."

"It's back at the outhouse.  We didn't have time to take it."

"Enough lies."

"IT'S THE TRUTH!"

As the guard clamped his hooves over his ears and the two turned to run away, Feldspar turned to her brother.

"Are you sure you're not an alicorn?"

Obsidian shot her a sour look.  "Don't you start that."

"So what was that then?"

"I was screaming.  Crimson Red and Broken Microphone do that trick in their songs all the time."

"You didn't sound like them at all."

"I'm still practicing, okay."

Before they got to the end of the alley, the guard recovered and blocked their path.

This time, Feldspar provided the acoustic defense, albeit now with pitch to match the volume.

As they stepped around the guard, who was curled up in a ball with his hooves and wings over his ears, and Obsidian rubbed his ears with his wings, she grinned.

"That was screaming."

They stepped into an old apartment building and climbed down into the basement, where the entrance to the cave was hidden behind a large wardrobe.  Clumsy greeted them.

"I heard you screaming back there.  Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, at least it will be when my ears recover.  I feel sorry for that guard though.  He got it right in the face."

They all walked through the tunnels together.

"I could have sworn I heard a male pony using the royal Canterlot voice just before that all started.  Are you sure you're not?..."

"I'm not an alicorn, alright," he interrupted.  

"He's just really bad at screaming."

As Obsidian gave an unamused look to his sister, Clumsy nodded.  "So what happened back there?"

"We found 'em, but they got Hat Trick.  Rafiki and some of the others helped us get away."  He kicked a pebble.  "I don't even know why they were chasing us.  It's not like we had the crystal.  Hat Trick put it in his bag."

"Uhhh... Obsidian?  Are you sure about that?"

Obsidian gave a confused glance to his sister, then lifted his wing and opened the bag underneath.

Inside the bag was a glowing crystal.
> The Nightmare's Fear
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obsidian, Feldspar, and Clumsy flew up to the ledge and bolted through the caves as soon as they landed.  Clumsy led the way through the labyrinth to the dungeons.  Just as they reached the caves that some guards had converted into storerooms, a pegasus day guard appeared.  Clumsy immediately extended a hidden wingblade.

"Wait!  Wait!  It's me!  It's me!"

She took off her helmet, thus reverting the disguise spell that all the helmets had applied to them.

"Kind Face?"

Clumsy retracted her blade and hugged her.

"I suppose you are a bit short to be a guard.  What are you doing up here?"

"Daryl thought something was wrong, so we went up here together.  There's an evil Twilight now.  And an evil Applejack.  And the evil Applejack bucked him across the room... long story, but anyway, everypony's going nuts up here."

Everypony's eyes were a lot wider after hearing her story.

"Well, we need to get to the princesses.  We found the crystal."

"Come on, then."  She turned around and put the helmet back on.  "Last I saw, they were fighting their mom."





Luna teleported immediately, landing in the middle of the port trap next to Solaria.

"We will not let thou escape so easily."  

"Considering how long it took three of you to come anywhere near restraining me, how do you expect to..."

"TIA!  TWILIGHT!  SHE'S BACK!"

Evidently, Solaria had completely forgotten the raw power of the Royal Canterlot Voice.  She slid backwards several feet on the polished floor.

Luna glared at her as the other two ran in.  Her horn glowed a dark purple.

"Surrender."

"What?"

"Surrender.  Now."

Solaria rubbed her ear with her hoof.  "I can barely hear what  hear what you're saying."

"SURRENDER, NOW."

Solaria grinned.

Luna rolled her eyes and lit up her horn again, broadcasting the message directly into Solaria's mind.  Solaria laughed.

"Oh I heard you that last time.  There was no need for that trick.  

"You know, I had heard reports of you bearing the element of laughter for a while.  No wonder it chose you."

With that, she leapt into the air and dove, her horn aimed straight at Luna's chest.





A hoof slammed into Rarity's face.  She countered by throwing a syringe at Rarity, who just barely dodged it.  

"Enough, you ruffian!"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other, wondering how both versions of their friend managed to say that in perfect sync.  Rainbow jumped back in, attempting a flying tackle, but had to dodge a flying knife.  Applejack, meanwhile, tried for a running buck, but got turned back by a syringe.

The two fashionistas paused and stared each other down for a moment, then resumed the fray, both resorting to bare hooves.  They grappled each other, turning and struggling until neither of the others could tell which one was which.  Rarity then used a takedown on Rarity and trapped almost all of her legs to keep her from getting free.

"Any last words?"

The Rarity on the ground grinned as her horn glowed.

"You could use some rest."

With that, picked up one of the syringes off the ground and slammed it into the other Rarity's side, depressing the plunger as far as it would go.  





"When.  Will.  You.  Give.  UP?"

As Solaria vented her frustration, Lord Cutthroat and the other ancient nobles watched patiently.  Any moment now, the princesses would be stripped of their power, and authority would return to the Queen, to whom it belonged.

Cutthroat turned to the Princesses.

"You don't understand, do you?  Even if you weren't outnumbered by our guards, you couldn't defeat us.  As long as our magic remains sealed, none of us are capable of being defeated, and there's nothing you have that can unseal it."

That was when galloping hoofsteps came echoing through the halls and a strange voice called out.

"Princesses!  We've got it!"

Four ponies galloped forwards, only to be blocked by two of the guards.  Cutthroat turned to look at them.  

A guard that his mind spell must have missed was escorting two foals and their mother, and they had come to stop Solaria herself.  

How cute.

They looked rather vaguely familiar though, and come to think of it, the guard was a bit short.  Besides that, the foals' fur had streaks through it almost resembling sweat stains.  It was almost as if they'd... dyed their fur.

Son of Celestia, it was that colt from the archive picture... and from the Nightmare Night contest... and the filly from Nightmare Night... oh dear, that guard was the last filly from Nightmare Night, wasn't she?

He suddenly got the distinct impression that those three were about to throw yet another spanner into his finely tuned works.

The colt had lifted a wing and was digging something out of a bag under it with his horn.  Upon finding it, he dropped it into his front hooves and wound up as if he was about to launch a hoofball back into bounds.

"Princess!  Catch!"

The object arced over their heads and landed in Celestia's levitation field.

Everypony in the room got a good long look at the floating crystal.

And that was the first time Solaria's eyes displayed fear.
> Conclusion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Please... you wouldn't..."

Solaria, for the first time in her life, backed away slowly.

"Why shall we not?  The life within this gem is not thine own, but was robbed unjustly from another."

"But taking it wouldn't do any good.  It wouldn't bring him back.  It wouldn't bring anypony back."

"But it would be just."

"Is there anything I can do to convince you not to break that crystal?"

Celestia and Luna both looked at her.  Then Celestia marched up to her face, holding the crystal just out of reach.

When she finally spoke, her voice was quiet, not like a whisper, but rather like the calm of the air under the looming threat of a storm.

"Mercy."

Solaria looked up to her daughter.

"What you ask is called mercy.  You called it weakness, right?"

She waited for Solaria to respond, but when no response came, she continued.

"You tried to kill my sister and me.  You tried to enslave my little ponies.  You tried to kill my pupil, whom I love like a daughter."  She looked Solaria straight in the eye.  "Do you deserve mercy?"

There was a pitiful irony to Celestia's question.  Back in the old days, Solaria would ask the same questions of her subjects whenever they stood accused before her.  Like her subjects, there was but one answer she could honestly give.

"No"

Celestia reached out with her hoof and lifted her mother's hanging head so that she could look into her eyes.  

Solaria looked into eyes of several millennia's worth of anger and grief.

Celestia then released her and turned around.

"You shall receive it."





Applejack held the crystal in her hooves while standing on the highest rung of a stepladder.  On the other side of the room, Solaria sat, a suppression ring over her horn.  She wouldn't dare attack Applejack.  If she succeeded, Applejack would drop the crystal, and it would break on the floor.  If she failed, nothing could stop the mare from deliberately dropping the crystal to the same effect.

If it broke...

She shuddered.

If that crystal broke, she would not just die.

She would feel the death of every pony that had been used to charge it.





The Princesses had finally managed to separate the two versions of Fluttershy from each other and to determine which one was which.  It didn't help that not even the two Fluttershys could remember which one was which.  Thankfully, one of them remembered who she was and was kind enough to turn herself in as soon as she did.  She apologized, of course, to the other one.

All that remained was finding out what had happened to most of the royal guards.  The ones out on the streets of Canterlot would be easy enough to track down, but the palace guards seemed to have disappeared without a trace shortly after they had all escaped the room where the port trap was.  The best solution left was for everypony to split up.  Applejack and Rainbow Dash remained behind, guarding the tied up doppelgängers and nobles.  The rest paired up and took various corridors to find the missing guards.  The only one not in the search party or on guard duty, was Pinkie, who had mysteriously vanished around the same time as the palace guards.

Twilight and her mentor took the eastern part of the palace.  Besides the utility of being able to take turns magically scanning the rooms, it was an opportunity for them to catch up without having to send letters back and forth.

Turning the corner, they heard what sounded like dance music coming from the barracks.  Celestia nudged open the door with her magic, and they both looked inside.

All the missing guards were passing around plates of cake, visiting, and otherwise milling around.  At the very back of the room, a mare sat behind a giant DJ table wearing an enormous pair of headphones.

"Pinkie?  What is the meaning of this?"

"Hi Celestia!  I was out looking for those crystal thingies, but then I ran into a bunch of the your guards, only they were real meanies this time.  I tried saying hi to them, but they just wanted to arrest me, so then I tried to sing a song to cheer them up, and then they tried to kill me, and then I found out it was Silver Spear's birthday..."

The stallion to whom she pointed blew his paper noisemaker most unenthusiastically, his mood contrasting greatly with Pinkie's mood, the music, and the party hat just behind his horn.

"...and so I had to throw him a birthday party!"

"I... see...  And how did you break them out of their brainwashing?"

One of the guards looked at her.  "Oh, we're still brainwashed, ma'am, and we'll probably try to arrest or kill you two as soon as the party is over.  We'd do it now, but that pony is extremely..." -Pinkie Pie was now bouncing up and down directly behind him, a huge grin plastered across her face- "...convincing."

He leaned over to Celestia and whispered in her ear.  "Please help."

Celestia called out to the room.  "So, none of you can leave this party?"  As a variety of responses in the affirmative filtered back, she continued, "and you're all still brainwashed?"

They all nodded.

She turned to Pinkie, who was now bouncing in the middle of the room.  "Pinkie, don't let this party end until I tell you so.  Okay?"

Pinkie stood on her hind legs and saluted, then disappeared into the crowd, inexplicably reappearing behind the DJ table.

"Twilight, would you help me find out what kind of spells were used to brainwash them?"

"Of course."

Celestia thanked her, then stepped into the barracks, heading directly towards the table by the wall.

"What are you doing?"

Celestia looked back to her student.

"My sister and I just fought the reanimated remains of our own mother, you burst into flames a moment ago and told me just in the hallway that it wasn't your first time, my best guards are all brainwashed into wanting to arrest and kill me, and they are all at this very moment being held hostage at a birthday party."

She sighed and turned back around.

"I'm getting some cake."





The brainwashing spell had finally been removed from all the guards, and all the ponies involved sat silently in the great hall.  By one side sat the alternates, some of whom discussed their circumstances with each other, some of whom glared silently at the guards, and one of whom was bound to a furniture dolly and given two extra guards to monitor her personally.  In a corner on the other side lay the former nobles, stripped of their titles.  

In the farthest corner lay Solaria, her ring replaced with a new one that was sealed so that it could not be removed without the authority of both princesses.

"Why?"

Celestia and Luna turned around to the quiet voice.

"You are literally holding my life in your hooves, and you refuse to take it.  Why?"

Celestia took a step forward, but Luna stopped her, shaking her head.  She then stepped forward herself.

"Nopony who is offered mercy deserves it, mother.  If thou deserved to not be punished for thine actions, thy lack of punishment would instead be justice.  

"I was offered mercy once.  As soon as I was released from my prison, I tried to enact the very evil that had sent me there in the first place.  By all rights, I should have been sent back to the moon again.  Instead, I was given mercy.

"'Twas mercy that saved me, mother.  My sister and I offer it to thee in hope that it would save thee as well.

"We love thee, mother... 

"I love thee."
> Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As two guards walked down the hall, they were absolutely certain they heard something move.  

Looking back, they saw nothing of importance.  All that stood behind them was a few decorative tables.  

They turned back and continued their patrol, only to hear the noise again.  This time, they both drew their swords as they turned.  Another guard walked up from the intersecting hall behind them.  He saluted, then continued down his path.

Despite the mundane explanation, they still felt uneasy.  They scanned the room, searching for anything out of place.  Finally, one of them noticed something off.

"Somepony stole one of Celestia's ferns.  Why would somepony even do that?"





"The court finds you guilty, Mr. Cutthroat and company, of necromancy, magically assisted murder of more ponies than we have the capacity to record, life theft of the same number of ponies, treason, conspiracy to commit treason, attempted regicide, use of mind-altering spells without a psychiatric license..."

The bottom of the scroll slipped out of Blind Justice's hooves and rolled down the center of the aisle, stopping when it hit the closed door.  He was still gripping the top section.

"Princesses, if you don't mind, may I just give this to Dot Matrix for copying instead of reading it all?"





"Sorry about that.  She said she needed help fightin' monsters and that they all looked just like ya.  I thought I was protecting everypony."

"She has deceived many ponies in her time.  Do not fault yourself for being among them."

"But that's just it."  She stomped her hoof.  "My friend lied to me, I think the monster hunter's guild's been lyin' to me, everypony I know's been lyin' to me."

Luna stepped forward and wrapped Applejack in her wing.  

"From what thou described, thy friend had no choice in the matter.  Perhaps, thou should give her another chance."

Applejack nodded.  "I can try that, I guess.  I don't like it though."

Luna tightened her hug.  

"Thou art the embodiment of honesty, but an important part to honesty is trust.  Wilt thou be willing to trust her?  At least for me?"

Applejack didn't answer, but a tear did roll down the side of her nose as Luna released her.  

Behind her, the flash of the void told her that her time had come.  She looked back for a moment, then stepped through the portal.

As soon as she had stepped through the sphere of light, Twilight closed the portal.  

"That just leaves one more."

Behind her, Pinkie Pie was tied to a furniture dolly and watched by two guards.

"I have to blink sir."

"Do it.  I can still watch her."

The guard blinked.

"Thank you sir."

Twilight, meanwhile, was already arranging the crystals in the tablet and turning the knobs that locked them in place.

"Five engaged... six engaged..."  She set the last one into place and twisted the last knob on the pedestal.  Nothing happened.  She tried again, even pulling the crystal out and putting it back in a couple times.

"Uhh... Princess?  The last one failed to engage."

Several ponies clustered around the pedestal to see what went wrong.

"Oh yeah, there was something I forgot to mention.  My home universe got destroyed by a different author right after I left, so I was wondering, could I stay here?  Pretty pretty please?  There are so many ponies here that I haven't seen alive in a long time, and I can help your version of Pinkie throw the best parties, and..."

Everypony except both Pinkies stood frozen in absolute horror.





Celestia held up six scrolls, each one filled with official criminal records and the judgements of Blind Justice and all the higher justices who reviewed his decision.

"You have two options.  You can either remain in your old ways, or you could turn.  I have the full authority to pardon you, even of these."

Cutthroat spat.  "And live knowing you stripped everything from us.  What would you ask of us, that we become your servants?"

Before she could answer, one of the unicorns spoke up.  

"Why not?  You saw how she treats her servants.  Would you rather be banished?"

"Better to be banished than live with her."

The unicorn looked at the pegasus, dumbfounded.  He then turned to Celestia.

"Why?  You know what we did.  You have the records right there.  Why are you offering us this in the first place?"

"For the same reason I pardoned Solaria.  I wish to show mercy, even to you."

"You wish to rub our failure in our faces the rest of our lives."

"Cutthroat, enough!  Are you blind?  She should be banishing us past the sun for all we did.  The fact that we're even still alive should be considered mercy at this point."

He turned to her.  "I accept."

"You'll just be her servant the rest of your life."

He turned back to face Cutthroat.  "So be it!"

He then looked back at Celestia.  "Even if what he said is true, I still accept."

Celestia smiled just slightly and picked up the scrolls.

"What is your name?"

"Scar, your highness.  Deep Scar.  And if you truly are offering pardon, I will serve you."

She looked at the tops of the scrolls, then selected one.  She pulled it out and set it aside, stacking the rest back in the pile from which they came.  

Deep Scar could see his name written across the top in red ink, like blood.  Just below was the beginning of his list of crimes.

"You truly desire to turn from your old ways?  Your desires for power and wealth?  Your lust for control?"

He gulped, then nodded.

"Yes, your highness.  I do."

"Are you willing to sacrifice these things?"

He nodded again, shaking, but slightly more confident.

"Yes."  

Her horn ignited, and in a moment, the scroll bearing his name and his crimes was little more than a pile of ash.

"You may leave, if you wish, although I do wish to speak with you again later."

He nodded, then left through the large doors.  As soon as they closed, Celestia turned to the others.

"Does anypony else wish to go free, as he has?"

The remaining ponies expressed their disapproval.

"He isn't free, he's your slave now."

"And give up everything we worked for?"

"We'll rule in Tartarus before we bow to you."

Celestia nodded grimly.  She then held up the scrolls containing their charges.  

"The judges gave me several lists of recommendations for punishments.  I don't suppose you can guess what was at the top of each one."

The six former nobles looked at each other and gulped.  The princess was calm, all things considered... unnaturally calm.  

"This is your last opportunity to accept.  You may walk out those doors, or you may sign the scrolls bearing your names, and thus take the full punishment for all the crimes listed."

"Give me my scroll."

Celestia gave a weary sigh, then levitated Cutthroat's scroll over to him.  He signed his name underneath.  The others soon followed suit.

"Very well then.  In that case, how would the rest of you like to live forever?"

All of them locked wide eyes with hers.

"What?!?!"

"You heard me.  Live forever.  No more crystallized vitalium, no more siphoning away the lives of others, no more sitting in a dark shed once a month.  Just life extended indefinitely."

"Is this a trick?"

"This was the topmost recommendation by all the judges who reviewed your case, and I'm quite inclined to agree with their decision."

"Our punishment is to live forever?  I don't buy that."

"Well, it's mostly a practical matter.  It will prevent you from stealing more lives away.  Besides, now that your titles are stripped and you have criminal records that are literally a mile long, you're less than powerless anyway.

"Besides that, you won't be living here.  You will be, as some of you guessed, banished, for the entirety of your lives."

They looked at each other again.  

Cautiously, the others nodded, one by one, towards Cutthroat.  He then turned to face Celestia.

"We accept."

She nodded.

"So be it."

Her horn lit up, burning brighter and brighter until it was completely blinding.

Then it stopped.  

As the former nobles' eyes adjusted, they saw iron bars in front of their faces and past those bars, fire and smoke.

In front of them, just outside the bars stood Celestia.

"Welcome to Tartarus," she stated.  

"Enjoy your new home."





Obsidian and Feldspar sighed in relief.

"So you're not mad?"

"No we're not.  We were worried again, but Twilight explained everything.  It was an accident, so there's nothing to be mad about."

When they had gotten off the train in Ponyville, they immediately flew home, only to find nopony there.  They checked everywhere they could think of, eventually finding their dad at the police station giving the officers every detail he could about them.

"Yes, they look exactly like these two.  My son even has wings and a horn just like this colt and...  Wait, what?  Kids?"

He immediately embraced them.

It took longer for them to see their mother again.  She suspected what had happened after she found a royal guard outside the library next to a tied-up Rainbow Dash with a note reading, "Not the real me, please don't untie,"  and she got confirmation from both of them.

In lieu of waiting for the police or for the train, she had decided to fly all the way to Canterlot.

Thankfully, when she got to that police station there, Hat Trick was inside, giving an account of what had happened at the shed.  Upon hearing her describe her kids, he turned around.

"Wings and a horn?  Obsidian?"

She looked at him in shock.  "You know him?"

"The niece of an old friend... tell me, do you know a filly named Kind Face?"

As she nodded, he continued.  "She brought him and his sister into our home to stay during the mess that was going on down here.  They all just left for Ponyville on the train."

What immediately followed as another flight, ending with her embracing the two foals as well.

Now they were all together again, safe, secure, and very much not grounded this time.

"Hey, race you to the creek!"

"You're on."

The two bolted out the door.

"No shooting lightning at each other this time!"  Quartz turned to Gneiss.  "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine.  Now would you please stop asking?"

"I'm just worried about you."

"I'm fine."

Gneiss smiled at her husband.

"When do you think we should tell them?"

"Oh, I don't know.  Maybe if we wait a few months, they'll notice and start asking on their own."

She whacked him in the back of the head with her wing.





A night guard approached the throne room.  

"Your highnesses, your mother wishes to see you."

They made their way quietly to the room that had been prepared.  It was a simple one, for a room in the palace at least, comparable with that of Prince Blueblood.  Unlike the prince, who had decked the room in whatever gaudy opulence he could find, she had barely furnished it, and what furnishings she had were in a simple, elegant style similar to the pre-Equestrian kingdoms of old.

The mare inside was different than she had been only a day ago.  She had been in the room for a week, and she had met with her daughters several times.  Today, however, her mane was gray near the ends, and her face was lined.

"Hello girls."  She smiled slightly.

"Mother?  What happened?"

"The power of the crystal is leaking away.  I knew it would happen eventually."

"There must be..."

Solaria put her hoof over Celestia's mouth.  

"There is but one way to prevent this, and I will not allow it."

Luna stepped forward, hesitating with each hooffall.  She then embraced her in her wings and lay her neck across hers.

"I...  I had hoped...   I had hoped we could save you."

"Luna..."  Using her own wings, she lifted her daughter's head off her back and held it up so she could look into her eyes.

"You already have."





Kind Face was reading in her room, when she heard a knock on the window.  She stepped over to open it.

"Hi Kind.  Your aunt was out, and the only mail I've got is for you anyway."

The pegasus passed a muffin with a letter tied to it through the second-floor window.

"Thanks Derpy."

After the mailmare left, she opened up the letter.

Hey sis!  
It was good to see you again.  Glad to hear you made it back alright.

Things have quieted down again since you left.  We've been going out on the streets again, and a lot of ponies are starting to love us again, but we still get wary looks from time to time.  It's like they can tell some of us are different.

Also, Clumsy's been teaching me proper stuntwork, including punching without actually hitting anypony.  She also taught me how to take a hit.  Turns out shifting your insides around makes it a lot harder to get injured.  I wish I knew that when we were in the castle.  

Don't worry about that part, by the way.  My barrel's healing up just fine, but my chitin's probably gonna have a couple scars for the rest of my life.  On the bright side, I don't go out in my natural form a lot anyway, so it's not like anypony's gonna see them.

Anyway, just wanted to say I'm glad I got to see you again.

Tell Aunt Masquerade hi for me.
Your honorary brother,
Daryl





Night had fallen over the castle.   As soon as Luna had finished raising the moon, she heard a pair of wings behind her.

She turned around to see her sister landing on the balcony.

"Lulu...  Did you see the flames too?"  

Luna nodded.

"Indeed, and from her tales, this is not the first time she took on that form."

"I thought she was just exaggerating in that letter."  She shook her head, trying to make sense of it all.  "I can't believe she already has a rage form.  Do you think she'll be able to control it?  Will she turn out..."

Luna nuzzled her sister, quieting her.  "All I know is that she is much closer to ascending than we had previously believed."  

She stepped back and looked her in the eye.  "Rest assured, she takes thy lessons to heart, and hath already shown far more restraint than either of us have."

"Do... do you think she'll be ready?"

Luna embraced her sister again.

"Thou hast taught her well, dear sister.  I know she will be ready."