Part 1: Chapter 1 ~ Everyday I Wake Up In A World Without Magic (V2)

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As her eyes opened, only pieces of the dream remained. She remembered herself standing by the side of five ponies. All of them had been trembling violently and sweat ran down their foreheads as they all stared at the thing before them. Amidst smoking ruins, it had risen from the ground, torn from the boundaries of reality. Bright lights flickered across the dark, and in the far off distance there was the sound of a thousand laughing children.

They sounded happy, but all their glee did was send shivers down her spine and her heartbeat into a frenzy. Inklings of her sanity dripped away as she‘d gazed into the eye of madness itself.

And then a mouth filled with a thousand teeth swallowed her whole.

Even now she was shivering and covered herself as much as possible with the blanket. In the dream she had stood together with five others, ponies unknown to her, and that nightmarish tear breaking into her dream had been risen up before them.

She could still remember destruction and the hints of laughter, but they didn‘t stick. Only one image remained in her head.

The thing, whatever it had been, hadn‘t looked like anything from this world, that much she could say. She wondered what manner of beast would haunt her otherwise sweet dream like this?

Twilight Sparkle wasn‘t scared of nightmares; she was a big filly and knew that they weren‘t real. Still, she shook beneath her blanket and her eyes remained fixated on the small light that passed beneath her door. If there was light, then no monsters would come. It was safe, she told herself. She was safe.

What seemed like an eternity passed by before she finally managed to calm down enough to come out from beneath her fluffy shield. She lay down properly, resting her head on the pillow, and stared at the white void above her. Twilight remained there, her eyes opened, and her breath slowly calming down, but her heart was still racing.

The doctors had said that she should keep away from things that excited her; they had told her the pain would return if she got too excited. She didn‘t think it was possible to adhere to that, to not fear what she dreamt of, even if she knew these dreams weren‘t real.

Suddenly she felt a sting in her chest, and then a pain in her stomach. She knew what it meant, yet couldn‘t stop the tears from welling up. She didn‘t want to be in pain again; in fact, she hated it. Twilight rolled herself into a ball, hoping it would somehow ease the pain, but it didn‘t.

A wail escaped her as the pain grew.

Feeling hot and cold simultaneously, her stomach began to revolt. The small filly felt her dinner returning, something the doctors had described as physically impossible for anypony without the same condition. Then she coughed, and immediately the room went from a pale gray to a velvety black, as the pain only grew until she passed out.

In the second dream, Twilight saw both of her parents. They stood in some kind of hall with green walls, large enough to fill with hundreds of ponies. Looking down she found herself standing on a floor checkered black and white, and it alone was more elegant than anything the filly had ever seen. Not only was it large, no, there were also rows after rows of seats, all turned towards where she stood, or rather the chalkboard behind Twilight.

The filly was standing in front of some kind of cart filled with straw.

She looked at it, her curiosity peaking, and tried to stand up on her hind legs to look inside it. Her eyes immediately caught on what laid on the straw: a purple-dotted egg – a dragon‘s egg.

Twilight, feeling herself tremble, looked to her parents. They looked different than usual, however.

Her mother‘s mane had the most impossible color, purple with white streaks, and her father was completely blue, but even stranger, it didn‘t seem that important to her.

What was important to the small filly, who was suddenly able to stand on her own, and who was so smart that she was being admired by everypony in the room, was that her parents were both smiling and nodding in silent encouragement. She turned around to the egg. She knew what to do and closed her eyes as she began focusing intently on it.

A purple glow emitted from her horn as she thought of a chicken keeping her eggs nice and warm. Despite the concentration she had to summon, there was also a pleasant fuzziness within her. Then, she felt it surge through her as the egg cracked. She saw five small ponies walking through the darkness and heard a mystical voice ringing with strange power call out to her.

Take the dive.

When Twilight woke up the next morning she saw a familiar nurse standing over her.

“Hello, little Sparkle,” the mare affectionately whispered to her.

She had a blackish grey mane along her flea-bitten grey coat, with eyes as bright as the sky that allowed Twilight to recognize her immediately. She mustered her brightest smile for nurse Redheart, but the filly was tired and showed less affection than she wanted to. Between the sound of the roaring factories and the sun‘s pleasantly warm waves, she felt extremely weak. Still, the mare returned the smile.

She must’ve noticed when the pain came back, she must’ve come for me and made sure there’d be no more bad dreams, little Twilight Sparkle thought. She needed to thank her, needed to appreciate her, since she was always here for her.

“Hello, Miss Red–” Twilight spoke up, but before she could finish the nurse‘s name the filly broke out in heavy coughs.

Twilight closed her eyes as a sting of pain ran through her throat, but she felt a hoof against her forehead, and then heard Redheart mutter under her breath, “It‘s getting worse.”

Despite the pain and her own noises, Twilight heard that, because she had been here long enough to notice the small things. Not only nurse Redheart’s worry, but the disapproving glances, the comments made behind ponies‘ backs and even the threats the doctors passed each other.

She had learned that from reading detective stories. Details always were the most important thing and so they always stood out in the books. When she watched the staff she noticed that Nurse Redheart seemed to split the hospital.

Some seemed to like her, but some gazes reminded Twilight too much of her father and how he got when he was with his marefriends. Most doctors, however, didn’t appreciate her way, and some of the nurses were worried for her health. They thought nurse Redheart got too emotionally involved with her patients, that it took a toll on her.

Twilight never saw that, though. Every time nurse Redheart stepped through the door of her room, she was all sugar and smiles, bringing Twilight a happiness she tended to only find in books.

The nurse was her best friend, and so Twilight hoped that she could answer her a question.

“Miss Redheart?” she asked, “is Papa coming to visit me?”

An uncomfortable smile formed on the older mare‘s face. “I don‘t know, last I heard he and your brother were busy."

“What about Mama?” Twilight immediately followed up, but all she got for an answer was a look of pity.

It was that look that made her remember, even through her grogginess, that her mother had died a long time ago, and the only way Twilight could see her was in her dreams.

This was the truth. Twilight’s mother always stood there with a strange coat, encouraging her daughter with nothing more than a look and a smile. She always seemed so familiar in the world of sleep, but Twilight only knew what her mother looked like from pictures on the wall at home. She had died giving birth to the filly.

The thought only made her feel colder. Papa’s not busy, Papa doesn’t want to see me. He’s still mad at me, she thought. Except nurse Redheart, nobody ever wanted to see her.

Sometimes the doctors came, but only for check-ups, and even nurse Redheart visited only twice a day. She visited as much as she could, but there were also days where other patients needed her services. There were many ponies in the hospital who needed a nurse.

“I‘m too scared to be alone.”

She did not want to sit there, in pain, her body shaking, without somepony there to hold her hoof. The nurses only appeared when her cries were too loud, and the doctors only came when her coughs were staining the blankets red with blood.

Nurse Redheart glanced at the filly, concern and pity reflecting in her eyes. “You know what, Twily–” Twilight liked the nicknames, because each of them felt like a bright spot in her dreary day, and that particular one always came with good news. “There‘s another filly in this ward, your age, all alone in a big room, and in need of a roommate. Would you like her company?”

Twilight brightened up immediately and as much as she could manage. She still felt tired, of course, and the shaking just started up again, but this was good news. It was getting colder again and she kept the blanket close, but her smile grew nonetheless, showing off the yellowish teeth her father had likened to a whore’s, whatever that was.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” Ignoring the pain, she shouted her excitement as loudly as she could.

“Alright,” Redheart said, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. “I‘ll talk to the head doctor about getting you two together. But, first things first. You need some breakfast.”

She sighed as she turned away from Twilight, one lazy lock of hair falling to cover her eye. Nurse Redheart didn’t seem to care. She left to get some food, muttering something to herself. Twilight noticed how the mare shook, and how small she seemed.

Some doctors and nurses didn‘t like Miss Redheart, but Twilight figured that was only because they hadn‘t been patients in the hospital before.

She couldn‘t really figure out any bad traits to the pony, Miss Redheart cared about her work and the ponies she was working with. Not once had Twilight seen her without a smile, and when she promised something she always kept her word. It was easy for Twilight to admit that she loved that mare.

Twilight Sparkle loved her like a mother. Nurse Redheart was the closes thing she had to one, too.

The filly had spent most of her life in the Canterlot hospital. The doctors had urged her father to move to Ponyville or Appleloosa, somewhere with fresh air. Everypony knew Twilight‘s condition wasn‘t going to heal, but they still insisted, nurse Redheart even more than the others. Papa‘s marefriends were here in Canterlot however, so they had to stay put.

And nurse Redheart had taken care of her from the first day too. They both had been distant in the beginning, but nurse Redheart had taught her letters, read with her and played with her. Every time she left, Twilight always felt like she wanted to cry.

But that wouldn’t do and so, while she was alone, she reflected on her newest dream. She looked down thinking about it, first at the blanket and then at her legs. Twilight had a black mane and eyes like amethysts, or so nurse Redheart had told her; they were like her mother’s, if the dreams were anything to go by. Her coat was a light brown, and her extremities were only skin and bones, which made her so weak that Twilight was barely able to hold herself on them.

Yet in her dreams, both standing and walking came easy to her and both her parents were alive. Her coat was the finest lavender in the dreams too. Everything is so wonderful there, Twilight thought. I could even use magic.

One time Shining had shown her how to teleport cookies out of a jar right into their hooves, and another time she had watched her parents push winter away like dust on a carpet, with nothing more than a simple spell. All those wonderful memories were really only dreams, though.

None of them were true. Her coat was brown, not lavender. Her mother was dead, her father never smiled at her. Shining had never stolen any cookies with her and winter wasn‘t something a pony could just wish away.

“Everyday I wake up in a world without magic,” she muttered, touching the decorative bone on her forehead with her left hoof.

It was what had given her species the name “unicorn”, and while it was beautiful, it didn‘t serve any other purpose. She had tried to read a book about it, but it had been way more complicated than what she usually read. The ones with adventures and pictures of enchanting places were what she enjoyed.

Sitting in bed Twilight wondered, Why doesn‘t magic exist? The world would be so much happier and better.

The filly turned her eyes towards the window. The sun was slowly creeping across the sky, as gray-and-black clouds moved towards Canterlot. They were probably storm clouds, and soon their thunder would drown out the beat of the distant machinery, and the rain would stain iron and wash the filth off of the streets. She liked rain, however; it managed to make a place like Canterlot seem beautiful.

The city had been a marvel a long time ago, when the legendary princesses had ruled. It had housed every form of art and had been known as the greatest achievement of pony architecture in history.

Nowadays, all Twilight saw when she looked at the city was the smoke from the furnaces, the dirt on the streets, and the angry, stressed looks on everypony‘s faces.

When her food arrived, nurse Redheart gave it to her with a smile. Twilight noticed how much there was of it. There was a couple flowers, some sauce with a straw, and clean water. The nurse sat down beside Twilight and watched over her for the whole meal.

As Twilight started to take bite after bite, nurse Redheart watched over her. Eating was a slow process, one Twilight hated as much as she delighted in it. Every time she ate, there was a chance the food wouldn’t stay in her stomach and she hated that. But the taste of every new meal was so divine, like she had gone without for any food for months.

Nurse Redheart sat by her side, as she usually did. Twilight noticed that she had a bandage wrapped around her left front hoof, stained red, and her eyes were teary. Nevertheless, the smile she wore was a victorious one.

Twilight knew the head doctor loved to make other mares cry and little fillies too. She hated her for it, but every time nurse Redheart went to her, Twilight found another reason.

She gulped down her medicine afterwards, silently praying to Luna that she might gobble up her sickness in the night. It was a futile hope, she knew, but she wanted to be strong again, to have nurse Redheart’s work pay off and to have her Papa be proud of her.

The nurse took the tablet off her and asked her if she wanted to read one of her books.

Twilight nodded. She had a lot of books and the nurse always brought her new ones.

Though few ponies cared for it, Twilight was smart. She had learned to read as quickly as she could, and her first jump into literature had been with the story of an adventurer named Daring Do.

It had been long, true, but it was by far her favorite and, like today, she had read it with the nurse by her side and then alone again.

Nurse Redheart often left her when she read, but by then Twilight always was too engrossed in her own little world to notice.

As with most days, she read short stories until the sun reached its peak. The tales inspired and entranced her equally, the thoughts of adventures running through her mind. Within the confines of her head, she was the one exploring old temples and recovering ancient artifacts.

A weak, small thing like her loved to dream about adventures and dragons, magic, and princesses, but she knew they were all things she herself would never see. Things she would never be able to touch or do. Even knowing this she delved into the books, digging through them before laying her head against the pillow. Laying in her cage of a room, never to see the world in all its hidden beauty.

“What are you in for?” Twilight was startled out of her daydream and turned to the source of the voice, on the other bed sat a young piebald unicorn with violet eyes. Between her half-brown, half-white fur and half-black, half-sandy colored mane, Twilight found her rather odd looking.

“Wha–” was all Twilight managed at that moment, clutching her book and wondering when the other pony had arrived. She inwardly groaned, having gotten so wrapped up in the story that she hadn‘t noticed the new arrival.

The other filly sat on her bed, her forelegs and head covered in bandages. She also had a black eye, and she was clutching some kind of box in her hooves.

“I asked why you‘re here,” the strange filly said, her voice impatient and her expression seemed to be filled with annoyance at being ignored.

“I-I‘m … ” Twilight stuttered. The other pony scared her. Where was nurse Redheart? She felt her heartbeat picking up speed again.

The filly gazed at Twilight before her eyes and and mouth widened, a silent eureka moment happening within the confines of her tiny head.

“You‘re one of the regulars, aren‘t you? I‘ve seen you a few times over the year.”

Twilight nodded; she didn‘t remember seeing the unicorn before now. In fact, she was getting even more afraid of the apparently agitated filly.

Then, the other filly then started to smile. “I‘m Trixie,” she said, “Trixie Lulamoon.”

“Twilight Sparkle,” she answered meekly. She felt weak, but exhilarated; she could feel her heart crashing against her chest, again and again. The pain was coming back, even worse than before. Fearing the approaching stabs, she started shaking.

Trixie didn‘t seem to notice however. “That‘s an awesome name!” she said with a slightly noticeable lisp. “Hey, what do you you have there?”

Twilight looked at her. The filly seemed genuinely interested, but the odd shine of her dark green eyes made Twilight rethink her opinion of the young unicorn sitting across from her.

The filly‘s opinion, from her first glance, had painted Trixie as menacing and slightly insane. She would have thought the unicorn filly had it out for her, but the bright, honest smile on Trixie‘s face told Twilight Sparkle everything she needed to know about her new roommate.

“A book,” she answered only with slight hesistance.

“Woah ... You can read?”

Twilight nodded, but then broke off. “What?"

“I don‘t know many ponies who can read. That‘s so cool!" Trixie gushed excitedly.

As Twilight watched her roommate‘s energetic moment from her bed, she realized the filly seemed genuinely happy to have somepony to talk to and was, for some reason, even more excited about talking to somepony that could read. Twilight didn‘t understand why Trixie grinned the way she did, but since she had never talked to somepony her age before, a smile quickly spread across her face.

“Thanks.”

When Trixie laughed, Twilight noticed a few of her teeth were missing. So that‘s where the lisp is coming from, but there‘s an awful lot of holes.

“Wow,” Trixie said, “I totally can‘t do that.”

Twilight didn‘t know how to answer, but the pain was gone and she was free to look more closely at the young unicorn. When she looked at the box in Trixie‘s arms, she wondered, Could there be books in there? Maybe, but Trixie had just said she couldn‘t read, right? Maybe I could ask?

Struggling to decide, Twilight felt her eyes pacing across the room, but she had to make up her mind. She‘s somepony to talk to, she thought and resolved her inner dilemma.

“What‘re you holding, then?” she inquired, pointing at the strange box.

Trixie‘s smile grew more wry, as she tapped the box with her left hoof. “Do you really want to know?”

A quick nod was what she could muster. Twilight, she rarely saw anything from the outside, and whatever it was could be completely new to her tiny, secluded world.

Trixie surprised her by pulling off her blanket. Twilight didn‘t have time to react before the other unicorn had jumped to the ground, yelping and lifting one hoof up. She was clearly hurt, but other than the yelp she seemed like it didn‘t get to her.

“I can show you,” Trixie said, wincing. “But only when we‘re outside.”

Twilight was shocked. “Why would you want to leave? Nurse Redheart is here. There‘s warm pillows, our families might be coming, and there‘s medicine that can make any of our pains go away.”

Since the filly was clearly hurt, Twilight couldn‘t even begin to understand why she would want to leave. Besides, what if their families stopped by to visit? She was worried, but a part of her couldn‘t help but perk up at the promise, the part that knew her family wasn‘t going to visit.

They looked at each other, Twilight not quite grasping why the other unicorn wanted to leave, while Trixie moved towards the window. The filly opened it up, letting the reeking air of the city in. Balancing the package on her back, she turned to look at Twilight.

“I‘ve seen you a few times is the truth,” she said, “and you‘re always looking off into the distance. I don‘t think you‘ve seen much, if anything of Canterlot. So, I want to take you somewhere wonderful and maybe show you a thing or two. I‘ll even bring you back whenever you want, okay?”

Twilight looked at the other filly in wonder. Trixie was her age, but unlike Twilight, she was strong and her face showed a warm smile beneath all her cuts and bruises. The box remained on Trixie‘s back and Twilight‘s curiosity had reached its peak. She had dreamt of something like this, that somepony would take her away and show her the world outside. The only problem was that she hadn‘t expected it to happen so quickly.

Her papa and brother hadn‘t come over the last several months, they had probably given up on her, just like the doctors. Only Nurse Redheart remained, but eventually even she would leave and even if she didn‘t, Twilight knew she herself would. Her heart was pounding as she took the blanket off her tiny body and stepped onto the ground for the first time since she had collapsed back at home.

She could feel her heart bouncing against her chest. She felt the pain starting up once again as she walked a few steps, clumsily. Then, too weak to stay upright, she fell.

Trixie caught her mid-fall and looked at her. Twilight noted how the filly‘s eyes widened in shock. “Whoa, are you alright?”

“I want to see Canterlot, more than anything else,” Twilight whispered as she used Trixie as a crutch. After a few seconds while Trixie tried to figure out what to say, she finally nodded.

“Don‘t worry, you‘ll see it."

Even though Twilight knew she would leave this world soon, that one sentence gave her hope. By this point it was midday and the rain clouds hung above Canterlot, ready to cleanse the city once more. It was then that two fillies who had just met climbed through the window and towards freedom. Nothing stood between them and Canterlot.

They greeted their world with childish laughter, not yet worrying about when dusk would fall.

Chapter 2 ~ Trixie Will Perform The Greatestest Tricks Today! (V2)

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Twilight was born with a devastating illness found only in unicorns. She knew that it had played its role in the downfall of the race and it was why she always had to be careful, why she always needed to watch herself. The sickness kept her body on the brink of collapsing, and every time she took a step, anypony nearby would look at her worriedly.

This illness had been the reason why she withdrew into her books. Each held a world and a life she would have loved to be a part of. However, it wasn’t like she was complaining about her lot. Her papa had told her that smart ponies didn‘t complain, and Twilight was a smart pony.

But even a filly as intelligent as her wanted more out of the world than looking out of the window, than seeing letters and pictures. Truthfully, even the little pieces of the outside world she had seen felt more engaging even than the most interesting of books.

She knew the way from home to the hospital, but that was as far as she‘d ever traveled. One big street with many crossings, leading to places she would never see.

To Twilight, Canterlot was the buildings along the road, such as Cadenza‘s Sweets. It was a lovely place, one she thought of fondly.

A portrait of the Princess of Love hung above it, with the her name engraved in it, and it was owned by a kind and pretty mare with warm, green eyes. She had been very close to Shining Armor, and would always greet them with a warm smile and sometimes gave them candy for free.

There were more houses of course, for the big road went by the new city hall. It was a large building, its stones covered in black paint, and a blue roof atop of it, and gargoyles looking down on the city below, trophies from the first invasion into the griffon lands.

Guards were posted in front of it, wearing the blue coats and hats of the republican guard, carrying the traditional shootsticks with bayonets.

The filly also knew of the burgundy houses, and the alleys in between them. She even knew the pubs and other places her papa went to forget that Mama had died, and that his dear son hadn‘t wanted to go to the military school.

That was the Canterlot she knew, and she had never thought she‘d be seeing any more of it.

Yet there she was, behind that odd filly with the beat-up face and the confident smile.

They crawled beneath the ruined branches of the bushes and over the paling grass of the hospital‘s garden. It might have been a lovely green once, but all it did nowadays was wither away, dying bit by bit, season by season.

Only a few flowers hadn’t died. Their colors were stale, but as Twilight passed by them, she found them quite enthralling. Six of them were even blooming side by side in the bracken. Twilight allowed herself to linger for a moment, but Trixie gestured that they should move quickly.

Trixie balanced her package well, even while she provided support to Twilight, who stumbled over her own hooves now and then, threatening to fall on her nose every few meters.

Her breaths were fast, but every single time she was about to fall her new friend caught her. For Twilight, that lifted any remaining suspicions she had about the other unicorn. Nopony besides Redheart had ever cared so much about her.

As they hurried through the garden, Twilight noticed some ponies sitting on a bench close to the entrance. They could have easily spotted the two, but if they did, they chose to ignore them.

Lucky us, Twilight thought. If nopony noticed them, Nurse Redheart wouldn‘t find out that they had fled.

She didn‘t want Redheart to be upset. The other nurses seemed to always be upset with her, so she really, really wanted to keep at least one of them happy. That alone almost made her turn around, not wanting to lose the only pony in this place who came when she needed her.

But, she did not go back, and instead followed closely behind Trixie. This would be the only time she broke the rules, and Nurse Redheart was nice, she would forgive her. All those smiles, the extra food, and every time she had held the filly‘s hoof to tell her that everything would be alright – all that wouldn‘t be erased so easily. At least, Twilight hoped so.

I just want to see Canterlot, just once.

When they reached the garden‘s front gate, the small brown filly looked back again. The hospital’s grey walls were cracked and some of the windows broken or barred with wood. It looked strangely abandoned, but Twilight bid it farewell nonetheless. She could have easily called it her second home, after all.

The world awaited them, and she felt a strange melancholy with that thought. Maybe I’ll meet Papa, maybe he’ll take me back home, she thought, hoping that he would give her a big hug and smile, just like in the dreams.

Trixie gave a casual nod to the guard that was placed at the gate, his only response being a dull gaze in their direction, telling them how little he cared about his work here, or even the safety of the two fillies leaving without their parents.

It reminded her of one of the detective stories she had read, only that he had escaped an asylum, at night, in a storm, with a princess in tow, and of course he had done that so that he could prove that the alicorn’s uncle had taken the throne unrightfully, having stolen the crown jewels himself.

Twilight had read that story six times now, and was proud of herself for understanding that, as nurse Redheart had called it, convulu-something plot. But as they stepped out and the city unfolded before them, Twilight’s attention was drawn to it.

Bristling with life, ponies moved seamlessly back and forth, and for a moment Twilight felt overwhelmed. There must’ve been hundreds there, just walking somewhere, and though she had seen it through the windows of carriages and the hospital, standing right in front of the bustling city felt, well, great. Twilight couldn’t help but smile a bit, though she felt herself shaking.

So the filly shuffled closer to Trixie, seeking comfort in being close to a pony that she could call a friend.

“We‘re going to the meeting point,” Trixie announced then, looking at the street before them.

Twilight couldn‘t help but tilt her head and asked, “Meeting point?”

“Mmhm,” Trixie replied, not breaking stride. “It‘s our super special secret place. It‘ll be awesome, and you‘re probably going to see the others, too. I mean, they’re awesome. Octy is a bit stuck-up, and Derpy looks weird, and Raindrops is too quiet, but they’re cool. Not Lyra though, Lyra is stupid.”

Twilight had to strain to hear Trixie as the sounds of the city buffered her. She could see the mouth of the other filly still moving, but couldn‘t make out anything she said. Was she explaining something important? Twilight didn‘t know, but also didn‘t say anything, since walking around town like that was too exhilarating to be worried. Whatever Trixie was saying couldn’t be more important than being in the middle of “life”.

The only way it could‘ve been better was if her mother was there smiling and helping her walk, ruffling her daughter’s mane with her hoof before pulling her into a hug.

The filly swallowed and shook her head. She wasn’t in the hospital anymore, she didn’t need to do nothing anymore. She could just move, see the world. Twilight stood outside now, and she needed to keep close to Trixie, because if she lost her. ...

Just imagining being lost in the crowd sent tendrils of cold terror down her spine and Twilight forced herself to take deep breaths as her heart resumed its frantic beat.

She needed to calm down and try to keep up with Trixie. Within the crowd however, that proved more and more difficult by the moment. Every step held a new wonder, something she had missed when she had looked out from her window. A pony sitting by a fence, holding out a hat, begging for money; an old mare with one eye, sitting on a bench with a young filly who tried to fight back tears. So much life. Twilight thought.

Her eyes swept the buildings, drinking in the sights. While they walked, Twilight forgot the ill, lonely, bed-bound filly surrounded by books.

Marveling at the city, she mentally noted down everything. From the stallions with their top hats, and the mares with their fancy headdresses trotting around on the sidewalks; the carriages, both motorized and pulled manually by deer that filled the street and created the sound of traffic at high-noon.

It truly was a dazzling display, especially the deer. Her father had told her that long ago they had got in a war with Equestria, and lost their lands before being enslaved. At least, until Cadenza had freed them, and given them a chance to live in peace and harmony with the ponies.

Canterlot was a dazzling city, Twilight noted. The buildings were old and ugly, but the ponies, the deer, the few donkeys, they were all just so fair, and while Twilight stumbled forward clumsily, everypony else had an elegance to their movements. None of them are as weak as I am.

Trixie gave her a nudge.

“Come on,” she said cheerfully, a grin with missing teeth adorning her face.

Trixie quickly led them across the street, but not before dodging a motorized carriage and having a deer pause to let them past, the pony in the carriage shouted in outrage, but it didn‘t matter to them. The two had already disappeared into the crowd of ponies. They trotted across the sidewalk until they reached an alley.

There was a pegasus nearby – he seemed to be comforting a filly that could‘ve been his daughter. Twilight paused for a moment as she catched a hint of their conversation, and curiosity dictated that she listened to all of it.

“Daddy‘ll go to kick some griffon flank soon! Really, RD, there‘s nothing to worry about. Daddy‘s the strongest warrior there is.”

While he spoke, Twilight realized that he wore black uniform with golden buttons, matched those of a high-ranking Cloudsdalian officer. Twilight only recognized it from a picture book her father had given Shining. It contained all the military ranks he could earn by joining up with the guard. Still, as shiny as the uniform was, it didn‘t hold her attention for long.

No, she found herself looking at the filly that seemed like it was about to to weep in the arms of a mare that might‘ve been her mother. Twilight didn‘t know why she drew her attention to the filly, except that “RD‘s” mane had six colors, ranging from black to pale blonde.

Pony manes could range from the palest blonde, to the richest brown, to even the deepest black, but never before had Twilight seen a pony with so many colors in her hair. Trixie‘s coloring didn‘t look half as weird now.

It was one of the many sights she was sure to not forget when she went back to the hospital. Nurse Redheart would surely be able to explain some of the things to her.

Turning away, Twilight spotted Trixie in the alley, having stopped and looking eager. The piebald foal waved with her hoof. Their way would apparently lead through the dark corners of the city, the places Shining Armor had described as a maze hundreds of fillies got lost in every day. Twilight was a bit nervous about going in there, but Trixie knew the way, she was sure of it.

Another burst of excitement got her smile to widen and the brown unicorn moved forward, her frail legs carrying her away from the loud streets and deeper into the brown alley, which was filled with bags of trash and the rotten smell of vomit, an odor she knew far too well.

However, she ignored it and continued on. She kept her eyes on Trixie, making sure to not lose her. There was no way she was going to get lost. Despite that bit of anxiety, she felt good, and very strong. Truth be spoken, her first trip to the outside went better than she had expected.

Trixie turned around again. “You know–”

Then Twilight’s legs gave in, the strength leaving them without so much as a hint.

She fell into a puddle in the middle of the small alley, surrounded by trash, with the small rats turning their eyes towards her for a moment, before they resumed their business. It was the moment she had been dreading, and she began to gag and cough. Her heart hammered against her chest, her stomach began to throb in tandem with her heart. The pain was coming back and Twilight wrapped her forelegs around her stomach, tears falling to the ground. She knew what was about to happen, and soon enough she began to hurl.

“Breathe, Twilight, breathe!” the voice cut through the pain, and suddenly Twilight was looking at a new filly – no, a mare with a wagon, fighting a gigantic bear that was made of stars.

With a blink, the mare vanished, and she saw Trixie standing over her. The unicorn had a fearful expression, and seemed ready to panic. Yet she took a deep breath and fixed her gaze on Twilight, being as brave as a hero from one of the stories Twilight loved so much.

“Calm down,” she soothed. “Look at me, watch me! Look at Trixie! Look at her! You need to breathe like Trixie! Come on! In ... and out ... In ... and out.”

Twilight watched the now pale filly who was breathing in and out, playing it up as much as she could for her friend’s benefit. It was mostly instinct that made Twilight copy her.

“In,” Trixie said and they both breathed in.

“And out,” Trixie said and they both exhaled.

Over and over again they repeated, and, strangely enough, Twilight felt the pain receding. Twilight kept her focus on Trixie however, on imitating her.

With her mess of a face, her missing teeth, and now the over-the-top facial expressions, Trixie looked very funny to Twilight. Yet she didn’t laugh, instead she just followed the instructions, and soon the stomach pains left her and even her heart calmed down, yet she herself felt almost like she was only watching the scene unfurl.

Twilight was only a bystander as she fell into unconsciousness.

But Trixie stood by her the entire time, watching her recover. The stink of city was enveloping them, and Twilight still felt awful, but all of a sudden, Trixie pulled her close, hugging her with all her strength. Between sobs, she whispered reassuring words into Twilight‘s ear; that she wouldn‘t let anything bad happen to her, that she was her friend, that she‘d never leave anypony alone, that Twilight could trust her, because Trixie was honest, because Trixie was a good filly, and the best wizard in the world.

Twilight noticed in her delirium that the other filly had suddenly started talking in the third person. It was very strange, she dazedly thought, but it faded quite quickly. Her relaxed, her eyes went shut, and all the remaining pain vanished.

Once more, the world she dreamt of welcomed her warmly.

Twilight woke up under a spotted, woolen blanket, with an unicorn filly leaning over her. Trixie was watching her with her brows drawn together, biting her lip, but her mouth immediately turned into a smile as she saw her friend open her eyes.

She quickly threw her arms around Twilight’s neck, not even bothering to make sure whether the weaker unicorn had recognized her.

For the first seconds, Twilight felt her breath stop, but as she felt the warmth of the hug and grew more aware of her surroundings, she also remembered what had happened. Yet she couldn’t say anything, and for a few moments there was no sound and even her heart beat only slowly. This was broken after what Twilight would’ve described as a blissful eternity.

“Oh, thank Celestia, you‘re awake,” Trixie whispered.

“Y-yeah,” Twilight said, lifting her arms to return the hug. It didn‘t matter how weak she felt, she wanted her friend to know she was okay.

Loosening her grip after a moment of lingering, Twilight took a look at her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was where she lay.

She was on a sofa that was colored in the most atrocious green, and full of holes, yet oddly enough it felt more comfortable than any bed she had ever slept in. They seemed to be in a large hall. The walls were made out of red stone blocks, with wooden planks hammered into them to help support the frame.

However, the best feature of the hall was the assortment of items – there were old toasters, tables, and even a couple beds haphazardly lying about. Not to mention the spotted carpets filled with holes, moth-eaten drapes, small packages filled with clothes, and so much more. Yet, the longer she looked around, the older and more damaged everything appeared.

Spotting a window, she saw Canterlot‘s sky was filled with storm clouds, the implication of the sight made her feel slightly more nervous. Turning back to Trixie, who still hadn‘t released her, she gave a light push so they could talk properly.

“How long have I been out?”

“Maybe an hour, tops,” Trixie answered after a moment, her brows furrowing again.

“When I break down, I usually sleep a lot longer,” Twilight said with a small giggle.

It might‘ve been Trixie‘s presence that made everything feel brighter and filled her with a bit of joy, but there was that strange feeling that within her that must’ve been the real cause.

Twilight lifted her right hoof to her horn, trying to remember, she had dreamt of something, something she knew in her bones was very important, but couldn‘t remember what. Sensing an approaching headache, she tried to change the topic. “We‘re not back in the hospital.”

Trixie looked away from her for a second, and she seemed unable to grasp any word, but then they started to tumble out of her mouth and over each other for a second. “T-Trixie panicked and when Trixie panics she always goes here first ... but! Trixie knows this place is the best for resting up. Nopony can find us here, so everything is always awesome. You can trust Trixie on that. Nopony else is more trustworthy; Trixie can always keep a promise or a secret.”

Twilight blinked. Trixie rushed through her sentences, and she was fidgeting as she spoke, but before Twilight could say something about that, Trixie had jumped off the sofa.

She then picked four different bottles off the ground. The bottles had names printed on them in Elder Equestrian and beneath in New Equestrian detailing the contents.

Twilight only needed a glance to realize they were her medications. She couldn’t quite figure out why they were here, but then it came to her. Trixie had gotten them for her, to make sure she was safe. The filly was more reliable than her papa, and almost as nice as Nurse Redheart. Twilight wanted to pull her into another hug and give her a kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you,” she said, a bright but slightly strained smile on her face as she took the bottles and opened them.

Twilight was proud to be able to remember how many the nurses would give her, and she quickly swallowed some, hoping that Nightmare Moon would gobble her ailment up.

“Trixie didn‘t know you suffered from that sickness,” Trixie said, with her eyes studying her hooves.

So she knows, Twilight thought, saddened.

Trixie knew of it, but then again, she had been at the hospital, and the nurses and doctors always liked to talk about how awful unicorns and unicorn illnesses were.

Despite that, however, Trixie had helped her and Twilight knew that she would be just fine. The only important thing right now was that she was finally outside in Canterlot.

“It doesn‘t matter,” she said reassuringly, and then decided to aim for the reason why they had come this far to begin with. “Hey, what‘s it you wanted to show me?”

Twilight was still intent on making this trip count, especially after what happened in the alleyway. Trixie seemed thankful for Twilight’s upbeat attitude, and returned the smile with her own, ugly smile. “Right!” She spoke, her voice reaching the highest pitch of excitement.

Trixie grabbed the box of her back and kicked open her tiny box with her gray hoof, and with a theatrical swirl she pulled out a purple, star-spangled cloak, and a matching hat.

She rapidly fastened the cloak around her neck while Twilight watched the glittering stars on it in awe. Trixie then placed the hat atop her head, and stood up on her hind legs.

“Now watch in awe, while Trixie performs the greatestest tricks today!” she exclaimed, raising her front hooves above her head. Again, a smile adorned her face, but it was different now.

Charming, charismatic, Twilight thought as she saw the beaten up filly stand there, her hat slipping down her face. This will be fun.

She had never been to a magician‘s show before. Twilight giddily clapped her hooves together. No matter what happened next, it would be the greatest thing she‘d ever see. Papa and Shining couldn‘t see it, but that didn‘t matter, this was her moment, hers alone.

Her ears perked up, and her heart beat against her chest, but for the first time she didn‘t care. Trixie was about to show here the best tricks in the world – what more could she ask for?

Yet, what happened wasn‘t quite what she expected. Instead of marvelous tricks, a voice sounded off from the hall. It was very quiet, but steadfast, full of of innocent beliefs and childish dreams. A voice that filled Twilight with wonder, but made Trixie furrow her brows and twist her mouth. The voice only asked one question, for the filly cared only about one thing whenever she saw a wizard or magician performing.

“Could you grow me hands?” Lyra asked.

Chapter 3 ~ Think Of Me As The Ghost Of Canterlot

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A white earth pony with a pale blond mane wandered into the room. She was looking at Trixie with her golden eyes–a normal looking filly, but then not really, for two other things marked this pony, one of them quite literally.

White and red and black were the burns plastered on her front, her chest and her upper front legs, while the right side of her face had more scars than fur. The area above her front hooves wasn’t a sight Twilight could bear to watch, yet she couldn’t bring herself to look away.

Not only that, but this earth pony’s lips were drawn into a smile so wide, Twilight wondered if it did not hurt even more than the marks. It was like this new filly was forcing herself to laugh at an unfunny joke that she’d told herself in the back of her head.

Twilight had no idea what to make of her.

However, it wasn’t hard to guess Trixie’s feelings about the newcomer, considering she was glaring daggers at the earth pony. “Thanks for ruining the show, Lyra,” she said with so much venom in her voice that Twilight shrank instinctually.

She might have been enjoying the fluffy blanket more than was necessary, yes, but the bigger reason was the fear from seeing how Trixie's face contorted at the sight of the newcomer.

“Can you do it, though? Can you? Can you? Can you?” The filly rambled, bouncing closer and closer towards Trixie.

Her grin was the most spectacular thing, mostly because, unlike Trixie, and despite the burns, she had at least teeth of clean, white color. They made the smile almost beautiful, yet Twilight couldn't tell whether or not this “Lyra” was merely insane or playing her own mood up for reasons that escaped her grasp.

Not only that, but whatever Trixie read into it mustn’t have been very flattering either. A filly with such an ugly face looked truly horrifying when she was angry like this.

The "mightiest" magician slowly managed to calm down, breath by breath, before she spoke up again.

“No, Lyra,” it was amazing, Twilight thought, just how much spite Trixie squeezed into that one name, and how much disappointment went into the two words that followed; “I can‘t.”

She sounded truly downtrodden as she said that and it was obvious to Twilight, because those three tiny words did hurt the caped foal. Her shoulders fell visibly and she looked at the ground. It was actually really weird how much the admission took out of her.

Twilight was a smart filly though, and she had read that there was no magic in the world. She knew that, so she needn’t be sad.

The smile didn‘t even waver on Lyra‘s face even after Trixie's denial. Instead, she literally hopped over to Trixie.

“Well, don‘t you worry. Maybe one day you‘ll be able to do it,” she told the unicorn with a bright smile, which Twilight took for encouragement. “I mean, you‘re still a fully functia-, funtio- … working unicorn, right?”

She gave Trixie a nudge, the blissful smile still plastered on her face. Yet, with the big hat falling down her face, and the cape with the stars resting on her shoulders, Trixie just looked at her, eyes teary. From one second to the next sadness swayed to anger and she pushed the earth pony away.

Strands of pale blond hair fell atop Lyra’s right eye, covering the worst of her burns as she stumbled back. As quick as it started it also ended, as Lyra only stood there for a second, mouth open, staring at Trixie. Then, she started to laugh.

Trixie fumed, but instead of letting her rage out in a more violent manner, she decided to just take a very long, very, deep breath before speaking again.

Thank goodness, Twilight thought as she looked from one to the other.

“Anyway, Lyra-” Really, Twilight couldn't understand how Trixie was able to fit so much hatred into one word.

Equally astonishing was Lyra's ability to just ignore the obvious distaste Trixie had for her; or she didn’t even notice, plain and simple. Before the “fully functional” unicorn could even finish her sentence, the white newcomer spotted Twilight.

Just for a moment they caught each others’ eyes and what Twilight saw sent a shiver down her spine. The filly’s smile was so wide, yet her eyes seemed so cold and distant. It was only for a moment that she saw through the facade, for then the silence was broken.

“WOAH!” Lyra shouted and pointed at Twilight, “Who‘s she?”

Trixie glanced back at Twilight, but she did not say another word. She grumbled, clearly upset how Lyra had interrupted her.

With both the fillies' full attention focused on her, Twilight began to feel more and more aware of how she looked. She was ragged and small, covered by a blanket that must’ve made her look pathetic.

Even the armchair became itchy and uncomfortable, making her fidget in the passing seconds. She felt cold and yet sweat started to run down her forehead, she tried to avert her eyes, to find something on the ground in hopes that the others would just go ahead and ignore her. She didn’t anything, and for another moment, only the sound of her heart hammering against her chest disturbed her silence. Oh, alicorns, give me strength, she prayed.

She found some relief as she remembered that Trixie had spoken about meeting others, so this might well become a good thing. Yet despite the knowledge of Trixie's support, she couldn’t help but feel a strange sensation, one she couldn’t quite pin down. She had rarely ever talked to strangers before, and, despite her outward joy this new pony wasn’t easily to be judged. She might've appeared quite engaging, but there was just something so forced about her. It was for the best when Trixie answered in Twilight’s stead, apparently noticing how she nervously shifted in her blankets.

“That‘s Twilight Sparkle, I met her in the hospital.”

Twilight and Lyra gave each other an appraising look while Trixie spoke. Twilight couldn’t understand why she was unable to speak up, unable to try and befriend the earth pony. Since she hadn’t really had friends before, she should be enthusiastic. After all, there was only so much time she could spend with them.

When Trixie fell silent, Twilight tried her best to look welcoming for the two of them. Weirdly enough, Lyra’s expression changed a little, showing fewer teeth for a split-second, but otherwise, there was no reaction. Lyra looked at her and then at Trixie, while Twilight didn’t quite get what was going on. She realized a couple seconds later that an awkward silence had befallen them. It seemed as if none of them knew where to go with their conversation. Twilight wondered if she could continue the talk.

But how? How could she pick it up? Maybe she should take initiative, but she could still feel the beating of the drums in her chest. She didn’t want to break down just after waking up again, so instead of risking it, she stayed silent. Twilight felt angry with herself, or more specifically, with the miserable state of her body.

Whose cruel idea was it to make it dangerous to simply open ones mouth, and speak some words? Why couldn't she say, 'Let's explore this place!' without fear? Why couldn’t she just become healthy right there and then?

Because some things just aren't meant to be.

To calm her rising heart, Twilight breathed deeply again. If she couldn’t win against it, she decided, she would still live her life as best she could.

Returning to the silent fillies, Twilight tried to think of something to break the ice. What interests could we share? Should I ask about their past? She thought about the times she had talked to her brother, her father and nurse Redheart, all those conversations that had gone so easily, naturally even. She thought about her books and how the characters spoke to each other in them, but she still wasn't sure how to proceed. Then, she looked at Trixie, and all her bruises and her bandages.

That was something.

“So … Why were you at the hospital?” Twilight asked.

Instead of answering, Trixie immediately looked at her hooves. Twilight tilted her head in confusion, wondering whether Trixie had understood the question, or if she had just stepped on a landmine. It took a moment, but she thought that Trixie visibly shook for a moment, and maybe she even tried to speak, but only a whimper reached Twilight’s ears. That was indication enough that she had just asked the wrong question, but there was nothing she could say then, even though she was smart. Luckily for both unicorns, the earth pony took charge of the situation before it could get worse.

“So you‘re Twilight,” she said stepping up to her, still smiling bright and welcoming, almost as if she hadn’t noticed Trixie’s behaviour, once again. “I‘m Lyra, Lyra Heartstrings and no, I can‘t play any kind of instrument, even if my name might suggest so.”

“Oh,” was all Twilight could manage, still worried about Trixie, and despite the joking tone that carried through Lyra’s speech.

“Yeah, I know, everypony reacts the same. You should‘ve seen Tavi when we first met, she was like ‘wow, you make music?‘ and I was like ‘No I totally don‘t even know what music is,‘ and she was like ‘Whaaa-‘ and I was like ‘yeah, I am totally unaware of what music is, what I do know however is, that you look like you might know how I get hands,‘ to which she replied-”

Twilight glanced over Lyra‘s shoulder, at the small filly with her cape and hat, who had recovered only moments after Lyra had opened her mouth. The innate sadness had faded, and was instead replaced with a seething hatred, a feeling Twilight could understand less and less, as the earth pony carried on.

Lyra told her own, irrelevant tale, and she did so with a wide smile. It was actually pretty funny to watch, especially since it seemed like her sentences never stopped either, and all while she kept her enormous grin up the entire time. Pretty soon, Twilight had forgotten about her question and how it had caused Trixie to break down, if only for a short moment.

She quickly decided that Trixie only looked weird and Lyra was all-around weird, but not in a bad way.

While the words that came out of the earth pony’s mouth held little meaning, the voice itself was beautiful, too. There seemed to be something about Lyra, something naturally melodious, it was in her voice, and in her movements. The way she articulated and intoned her words led Twilight to the assumption that Lyra was, well, musical, in her own, weird way, even if it didn’t involve instruments.

She forgot all about her frail heart during these moments, and she completely forgot about the excitement and the stress she had felt. But she still listened to the strange filly in front of her and noticed everything about her. Lyra‘s mane for example, was a tangled, wild mess of hair that looked like it had never seen a comb before. Twilight only considered it because it just drove the point further in, that Lyra was different, even when compared to Trixie. The unicorn had a not-so-good looking face but her mane was well cared for. Now that Twilight thought about it, she saw how Lyra was constantly moving, never standing still for more than a second, even her eyes were constant shifting around. The only constant being the smile.

While Lyra talked, Twilight noticed more and more about her with every word. She started to feel like she was learning the filly's core personality through her extremely long monologue.

As the lull of her voice drifted over them, Trixie turned away, probably angry that nopony was paying attention to her, but Twilight closed her eyes and gave in to the voice, finding it relaxing. The sound reminded her of something, a distant field, the smell of apples, and all the other things she often dreamt of. Why that was, she couldn’t tell, but it resounded with her, melodious and dreamlike.

And within that imagination of hers, she found a second sound, a small whisper in the wind, a tiny voice preaching on without the words truly reaching her. For a moment she wondered why she thought about another voice, but let it not bother her. Then, the tiny voice became bigger, and suddenly, it started talking to her.

Tell me, little filly. What do ponies dream of?

Her eyes flung open, “What?”

Lyra had her hoof raised to the sky and seemed like she was about to make some kind of world-shaking speech when Twilight posed her question loudly. “What?” she asked in return.

“There-” Twilight began, looking around in confusion, “there was a voice.”

“What are you talking about, Twi?” Trixie asked as she stepped towards them both, dropping her sullen, angry mood instantly.

“There was a voice, like from an old stallion. Is one here?” Twilight asked, looking around frantically. Both ponies looked first left, then right, and then shook their heads in unison. Twilight felt slightly frazzled. “But I heard it.”

Had she been day-dreaming? No, she couldn‘t have, she wasn't all that tired, and she-

Well, well, well. I didn’t expect for you to hear me. I mean, I’ve been talking for a while. Did you ignore me? That would be a bit sad, but I have to admit, actually pretty funny too. Really, it is. You‘re the first in quite a while to hear my voice.

Twilight‘s eyes widened, her heart began to pound. “Wh-what?”

Trixie and Lyra looked at each other, clearly weirded out. Twilight didn‘t know what to say, what to tell them. There was a voice in her head. Her eyes moved across the room, looking for a source of the voice, something that might help, while her heartbeat grew faster and faster once more, just as her breath grew quicker. She felt a drop of sweat on her forehead and really wanted to start panicking.

Such a talent, so young and already having such a connection with magic that she can actually hear my voice. Well, not that that’s really helping you, right, my little pony? Don‘t fret, I‘m a friend.

“Where are you?” she asked loudly.

“Who?” asked Lyra

Sad to say I am everywhere. Think of me as the ghost of Canterlot and you‘re the only one I can talk to ... So please, don‘t stop breathing.

The voice was still talking calmly to her and that, surprisingly, was the weirdest thing. She didn‘t know how to respond. She didn‘t even know what exactly was going on. Twilight just looked at Trixie and Lyra. Maybe she should tell them.

“There‘s a ghost here.”

I doubt they will believe that, the voice stated, sounding amused.

“What? Does that mean Trixie‘s ritual from three weeks ago worked?” Trixie asked, suddenly all signs of negativity exchanged by a smile as she jumped up thrice, “Praised be Trixie!”

At the same time, Lyra answered with her big smile, seeming even faker than before; “Wow! Really? I didn‘t know you could talk to ghosts, that is so exciting. Tell him ‘hi‘ from me!”

And I stand corrected. Kids these days ...

For a moment only silence remained, Twilight didn‘t know what to say.

Wait, we can make this work, we can get you all in on this conversation. You‘ve got a lot of raw talent and you three are unicorns. Put your horns together and … believe? … That’s a bit cheesy, but, yeah, believe, that‘s the right thing to do. That way we maybe can make them hear me too.

Twilight frowned, the only unicorns here were Trixie and herself, Lyra was … Wait, hadn’t her father said something to her before? Something important, what had it been? She frowned, but then she remembered his words, how he had once told her brother that he would’ve had better chances at finding work and a decent wife if he just got rid of his horn

She looked at Lyra. The filly looked scrawny, yes, but earth ponies weren’t just pure muscle mass, some could be thin too, some could be weaker than others, especially among kids.

“Uhm, he wants us to do something unicorn-y, but you’re an earth pony, right?” Twilight decided to ask her.

And so Lyra simply grinned as she was asked that question and shook her head. “Nope, my uncle just didn‘t want a freak of nature to run around their house.”

Magic didn’t exist. It was a truth she had been raised to know. Some stories said it may have existed when alicorns still roamed the world, but even then it was gone and it would never come back again. The stories were just that, and no matter what Trixie said, she wasn’t a real magician, and Twilight was a smart enough filly to get that.

It's why, when nurse Spot Syringe had told her that the horn on her forehead was a sign of her impurity and worthlessness, she had taken it for granted.

Ah, right, I forgot, things changed a bit since I was still alive. Well, damn. No, wait, before that … I just remembered, even if you have the talent you can’t do magic anymore. Just having found one pony I can talk to is a miracle enough.

“There has never been such a thing as magic” Twilight said, continuing to the others: "He didn‘t know unicorn horns are merely decorative.”

Lyra smiled, that was all she ever seemed to do, but didn’t disagree. Trixie on the other hoof glowered at Twilight now. She really does believe her own lies, Twilight thought, because she was a smart filly, and smart fillies weren’t superstitious.

Heh. Don‘t tell me you really believe that? The little filly, always reading stories, always drawing pictures of knights and mighty princesses who can move the sun.

She tugged her blanket closer, stared into the nothingness. “What do you mean?”

For a few seconds silence reigned while the other unicorns glanced at her, and then at each other. They didn’t know how to handle the situation at all, but what Twilight did was look up, as if the one she was talking to was in the ceiling.

Twilight Sparkle. That‘s a good name. A very good name. You’re probably a smart filly, Twilight, so listen. Magic does exist, that you can hear me should be proof of that. It vanished with the fall of the last dragonequus, but I can feel it coming back. Sadly, knowing this, I need to ask something of you. Twilight, I know this is sudden, but you need to be quick. Stand up, take your friends. Go. Run. Don‘t look back. Go to the old castle plaza and then take the dive. If you don‘t-

The voice tried to say something else, but at that moment, Twilight’s attention shifted. The ground began to shake, every stone moved and every piece of wood creaked. With a loud, roaring noise, the quake broke loose.

Things fell down, a mirror shattered on the other side of the hall, and somewhere outside, thunder crashed, and someone screamed. It took her not even a second to realize what it was, because once in a while, the city trembled with the force of the earth, and so she did the only thing she could and cowered beneath the blanket.

She clutched her legs and prayed to Celestia, to Luna, to Cadenza for it to end. As the world around her shook, the unstable items began to fall. A cabinet fell over, the bang as loud as an explosion to her ears. Terrified, she could only close her eyes, too scared to even pray.

Chapter 4 ~ Have You Ever Dreamt Of Dying? (V2)

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There hadn‘t been any earthquakes in the past few months. Nopony had given it much thought, but Twilight's hope had been that they were gone for good. But now the upheaval struck and she heard the walls cry and the wood break. Listening to it, unable to block it out, the foal began to understand just how wrong she'd been. At least, she thought, it would stop soon.

Yet the quake only grew in power. She heard more things begin to break, both mechanical and organic; she could hear the wood of the hall slowly bend under the pressure. But Twilight still couldn’t look up, she never could, because a certain memory was still fresh to her.

Once in her hospital room, a part of the ceiling had come down, and squashed the empty bed beside her own. It could’ve easily hit her, and as the unknown surroundings burst they might hit her too. She felt cold and her whole body shook, but her legs felt too weak to move and her heart raced while her breaths became harder. Twilight hardly noticed, what with the adrenaline shooting through her veins.

Somewhere in the distance the ground must have moved with such strength that it tore down a building. She could hear it, the falling stones crashing into the ground, and the screams of the ponies that must’ve been so far away. It was too loud to miss, even from here.

Suddenly, she heard Lyra scream, and felt somepony wrapping their arms around her. It was an unprecedented warmth and an alien feeling, yet, she felt one more pony adding to the hug. Twilight kept her eyes closed, but somehow, between the shaking and the distant screams, a piece of her felt safe. Once more the earth’s roar bellowed across the city. Then, finally, it stopped and silence filled the air.

Twilight slowly crawled out from beneath her tiny fortress. Lyra had apparently dragged Trixie to her and pulled both of them into a hug, trying to keep them safe, and Trixie had returned the embrace with fierce strength, her hooves shaking and tears running down her cheeks.

Eventually, Lyra asked, “Is every pony alright?”

“Trixie is always fine,” Trixie answered between sobs, but she didn‘t come out of Lyra‘s embrace.

Instead she hugged the other two even stronger, so that Twilight had to wonder from where she summoned such a force. Twilight couldn't tell whether or not Trixie wanted to stop herself from crying then and she herself didn’t know whether she wanted to hold her tears or just continue wailing, even if nopony would hear them.

For a moment she wondered if she wanted to break apart now. She felt safer than she ever had at home, almost as if nurse Redheart was there.

“This wasn‘t supposed to happen,” Twilight said, and unconsciously added, “I wanna go home.”

Lyra looked at her, putting her strange smile on before saying, “Yeah, that‘s probably for the best. We can all go to your hospital. It‘s safe there.”

“Can I take the blanket?” Twilight asked hopeful, not wanting to grow even even colder.

Lyra however had shifted her attention to Trixie, breaking the hug to wipe the tears from her eyes despite minor protests. So Twilight just decided that she could do whatever she wanted. That marked the point where the three finally parted, though only carefully. Twilight observed the other two, not knowing what to do.

The caped unicorn got to the task of stuffing Twilight‘s medicine in the pockets on the inside of her cape. Lyra watched the walls and let her eyes slowly follow them to the ceiling. Her ears went down and her tail whipped around nervously. “We should go,” she said with a shaking voice.

Twilight followed her gaze at once to see why, there were cracks in the roof and dirt fell from them as they slowly grew.

They got everything together as quickly as they could and jumped from the armchair. Twilight fell again as she touched the ground, her legs not managing to hold her up even after some rest. By now she grew weary of her weakness. She gritted her teeth as she tried to stand up, but her knees shook and she couldn’t keep her balance.

Why? she wondered, looking up to the ceiling and cursing herself to Tartarus. But she wasn’t alone; Trixie and Lyra both moved to her side quickly, helping her up and out of the building.

“Don’t worry,” Lyra said, behind a wide smile that made Twilight question whether she really was just faking it now, or was just brave. “We got you.”

With that, they went out to the streets, with the dark clouds moving across the sky, mixing with the smog from the factories. Maybe it'd soon start to pour, Twilight thought, and she might just stand beneath the rain for once. It had always looked so pretty from behind the windows and she always wondered what it'd be like to stand amidst the rain. The room and the bed where so far away now, too.

Canterlot itself wasn‘t pretty. When somepony walked through the alleys that was especially true. Beneath one‘s hooves were stoney streets full of dirt, with puddles whose origins nopony ever dared to question.

The whole city was filled with the stink of motorized carriages and trash that was taken away only once a month, if at all. Rats housed in the trash cans and on dry days, Twilight had heard the nurses say, the stink became unbearable in most places, if not all.

A pony could easily wander off into the alleys and get so lost they‘d never find their way out again, and she had heard of changelings abducted runaway children in the deeper darkness. Remembering that also made her question why she had left the hospital in the first place. Not only was there an earthquake, but now she would also get abducted by changelings! There wasn‘t even any means to actually navigate through Canterlot, she found, as every alley looked the same.

The alleyway they walked through was no exception, there were pipes and clothing hung to dry, leaving little to no room to look through and if there was, then the sky was hidden behind a mixture of smog and rainclouds. As expected, trash lay splattered across the ground and shards of glass made her glad to have hooves.

Despite all that, Canterlot was still considered one of the prettier cities in the republic, if Nurse Redheart was to be believed. It had the castle garden and even a few trees on choice streets.

“Sure, most of them are dead but there’s some,” she had told Twilight once, and the filly had to agree with the grown ups sentiment.

It couldn’t compare to the mules' wandering cities which she had read about, or the artful camel metropoles of the far east. She had seen the beautiful pictures in her books, and even the griffon holds, with their walls of stone might’ve been considered finer, if only because they had less trash. Her father had told her that Canterlot was the capital of the republic and they should be proud of it. Twilight was proud.

“... and for the little bits of beauty your mother loved Canterlot, Twily,” he had said, looking out of the window when she had been at home, unsmiling. She had never catched what it was that had caught his attention back then, but at least her agreement had soothed his rage. So her pride made her feel closer to him even now.

There were cracks in the walls and small fissures in the ground. Somewhere in the distance smoke was rising, and somehow Twilight just knew it had nothing to do with the local industry. Screams echoed from where it was rising, and Twilight felt a strong need not to go in that particular direction.

Every wall seemed dangerous, every fissure seemed like the beginning of another disaster. Twilight was scared, she was utterly afraid of what could happen now that another quake had happened.

“Why was there an earthquake?” Trixie asked. She looked pale, and her tail was tucked between her legs. Much like Twilight, she never took her eyes off the fissures.

“I dunno, but we‘ll be safe at the hospital,” Lyra answered and gave a smile that Twilight took for reassuring. Trixie wasn‘t even looking. It made her happy that Lyra could be so positive about this despite everything. Maybe it wasn’t that fake a smile after all.

As they walked through the dirt-filled street, Twilight stepped on some clothing that had fallen down on the ground and spotted one of the pipes from above having crashed into a window. Nopony else had noticed, so she wondered if the houses were empty. Her attention drifted past the windows, and nopony was looking outside. She gulped and perked her ears, not quite sure why.

Somewhere in the distance parts of the city had been destroyed and ponies were screaming. Yet that didn’t change the truth that these alleys were empty and if not for the far-off sounds, she would‘ve said they were the last ponies in Canterlot. That thought scared her and she was quite happy that they‘d return to the hospital. It was good her two new friends helped her trot, too, otherwise she was sure to be lost here forever.

You‘re going in the wrong direction.

The voice was lying, she knew. Nurse Redheart was in the hospital, the doctors, too. They were mean, of course, but they only meant to help. They would help them and the adults would find a solution, because earthquakes never happened in quick successions, had never done so. Twilight hoped and told herself that she was a smart filly, and so, she knew all that.

“Do you think the others are alright?” Lyra asked, looking at Trixie on the other side.

“I- I don‘t-” Trixie stammered, eyes widening as her thoughts took some surely gruesome turn.

“Right, stupid question, of course they‘re alright. Derpy‘s probably even the cause for this, considering her record,” Lyra laughed.

Twilight, of course had no idea who this Derpy was and how she could have been responsible for an earthquake, but she didn‘t ask. Later on, there would be enough time for questions and right now all she longed for was to find Nurse Redheart and apologize for running away.

They took each step carefully, and Twilight regulated her breath as much as she could. Her heart was racing and her legs were aching. Nonetheless, they took the twists and turns of Canterlot. Walking through these back alleys made Twilight only notice more that she hadn't seen much of the mountains that the city so famously hugged, but maybe it was a blessing, because she also didn't want to see the steep cliffs to the other side.

As her thoughts went off into a random direction, she suddenly noticed that with each step she felt her heart less and less, and instead her legs became more steady, her breathing less forced. That usually didn’t happen, and whenever she normally grew better, it never was this quick. Was the medicine working properly now? Was it because she wanted to see nurse Redheart again? Because she wanted to be closer to her papa again?

She didn’t know, but either way, she felt herself recuperating.

“I can walk on my own now,” she said after a few steps. Trixie and Lyra both gave her worried looks, but they let Twilight prove herself by allowing her to move on her own. And move she did, steady on her hooves, like she wasn’t ill at all.

You‘re really going into the wrong direction, Twilight.

They advanced, slow at first but then they sped up. Twilight felt her legs growing stronger with every meter, and then the trot transformed into a canter. Twilight moved her hooves with ease.

It felt like she had done this all her life, like she had never been a bedbound filly and instead one who had pranced and danced across the western flower fields. With every step she felt herself not growing more fatigued, not weaker, no. Her heartbeat became unnoticeable and suddenly she was putting hoof before hoof at a speed she had never reached before.

Twilight galloped.

The other two could barely keep up, so Twilight slowed down again once she noticed that. Alone, she would‘ve never been able to move through the maze of alleys, and even though she suddenly felt a surge of energy, she was still aware that she had no idea where she was.

Despite what she had thought however, the main street was only two turns away, and with the other two by her side, she stepped onto it to look at what had been somewhat peaceful when they'd left.

Now, motorized carriages were standing in the middle of the road while ponies hurried around. Twilight knew not from whence they came and where they were all going, all she saw was sheer chaos in the wake of the trembler. There was smoke coming from a distance, too.

Twilight couldn‘t make out anything because of how far it was away, but some ponies were yelling something and it seemed to terrify and anger them. She didn‘t know why but somewhere down the road one pony was attacking another, shouting with an anger-filled voice.

Just as they came out of the alley, Twilight saw something else, a huge cleft on the road. She saw doctors hurrying around, coming directly from the hospital. Motorized carriages were turned upside down and she saw some ponies lying unconscious, blood seeping through hurriedly applied bandages.

She had felt the rumbling, but it looked so much worse than she had thought it would be. Then again, from everything she had heard and read, maybe all the quakes were more terrifying when they first appeared to be.

She felt a drop of water on her nose. Twilight shook her head bewildered and looked up at the darkest sky she had ever seen. Blinking, she felt a light breeze on her coat and then felt another drop touching her muzzle. She had the blanket though, so even as the rain started to pour down on them, she felt little and less. Plus, she was stronger than ever, even her heart didn‘t give her any problems. Yes, she didn‘t even feel it beat as she normally did and that was probably the best thing.

Water came down from the sky; small, greenish drops that felt and smelt bad as they dripped on her. Twilight’s father had always liked to remind her not to drink it, since it was dangerous. Some drops had a shade of grey she noted, they had probably wanted to take some dust back to the ground.

That was the moment one of the adults finally noticed the three fillies. A male pegasus, wearing a black uniform with golden buttons on it. It was the same one she had seen before with ‘RD‘ and this time actually had time to see that his coat was as black as his outfit and his mane just added to the monotony. From what she could remember, he was the complete opposite of RD with her six-colored mane.

“What are you doing here?” he asked with a pressing tone in his voice, “Go home to your parents where it‘s safe.”

Twilight wanted to open her mouth, wanted to answer something but no words came out as she spotted something that her mind surely conjured up out of nowhere. All she could do was blink, just to check if her eyes weren’t lying to her, and as she confirmed it, she realized that she did not know a single word to explain what it was.

She could see it, right behind the pegasus, whatever it was. It looked like a tower of mud with thirteen black sticks for arms, atop its crown was what looked like an eyeball. What should‘ve been white was blood red and it appeared cut, with more mud leaking out of it.

It moved and the way it did sent shivers down her spine, so unnatural it was. Like the motions it should have made were missing, like she was blinking and the arms had moved in between. Then, as Twilight followed the thing, she noticed the ends of the arms, scissors.

Twilight Sparkle, this is important. Look at it and then tell me: Have you ever dreamt of dying?

“What?” she asked.

Because you‘re about to die. So do as I tell you … Twilight–

“Run!” she yelled, following the instruction, not even daring to look away from the creature.

The pegasus stood there, bewildered. “What?” he asked and raised his hoof, “Blasted kids, you don‘t need to-”

There was a noise. A snip. His own hoof moved against his will, higher than intended, not the way he had planned, and he did not realize why. It took a moment for him to grasp what just happened. Blood flew across his sight as he noted that he hadn’t really moved it, it had been cut off. Something just cut his hoof off.

The pegasus didn’t react, Twilight, however, did. She screamed as loud as she could but did not know where to go, not that it mattered anymore.

She stood in an open field, rainbow colored grass waving in the air, mountains of gingerbread with sugar on top of them rose in the distance, and pink clouds of cotton candy were above her. That sight wasn‘t enough to stop Twilight, in fact she didn‘t even notice that the ground beneath her was made of solid chocolate.

She just galloped with all her strength, she just galloped, screaming for help.

The stallion himself hadn’t even screamed, had been silenced before he could make a sound. Now he was gone and she was in a field of candy. She saw a blue unicorn running across the distance, the purple cape Trixie had just worn fastened around her neck. That one suddenly stopped and turned towards Twilight. She must have recognized her, because she quickly hurried towards her.

Twilight herself didn‘t know how to react to this. She wanted to close her eyes, look down and gallop horn first. All she managed was the part where she looked down. That was when she noticed her own coat was a mulberry color. It was pretty, too, and oddly familiar.

Still, she hadn‘t time to question it as a screech sounded up behind her. An otherworldly howl that made her head hurt immediately. That was how she knew that thing was coming, with its thirteen stick arms with scissors for hooves. Despite herself, she turned around, to look at it, but there was nothing but the strangely colored grass, mountains of candy, and earth of chocolate.

Then she saw them in the distance, and looked up, and saw them even above her.

Around them the clouds were falling down, dropping down to the ground. She quickly noticed that they were cotton candy and they had arms and legs like lines of chocolate. They all held umbrellas with candy canes and canopies that looked like they were made out of flowing caramel. The moment they landed, they created noises like a mixture of dropping a stone into water and breaking somepony's legs.

As they rose on their thin legs, they immediately grew moustaches and top hats made out of chocolate. It was all Twilight could do to take the strange sight in, not knowing whether she was scared or curious. By then, the azure foal stood by her side. Stood, because now they were surrounded by cotton candy clouds with moustaches and top hats.

Twilight’s vocabulary had no words for this situation.

“Please tell me this is a dream,” the blue filly asked with a familiar voice, so Twilight took one look at her face. The black eye, the missing teeth and all the other bruises immediately gave away Trixie's identity.

“Sadly it‘s not.” They both heard the ghostly voice. Trixie looked up, clearly hearing it now, too.

“You two are either very lucky or incredibly unlucky, but you‘re the first to see that thing since the princesses.”

For a moment Twilight wondered what he meant, but then she noticed something she'd overlooked earlier. The thing rose up from the horizon. Twilight couldn’t make anything out but a deep blackness, like she grew blind the moment her eyes turned on it, and also a deep, lingering feeling that she should run away from it. A voice within her told her to move quickly, far away and then farther still.

Two red orbs grew out of the unshaped darkness and they glew with a violent longing. Something was swirling within them and Twilight would've said they had an unearthly beauty, one she only grasped for a second, because then she felt as if the darkness turned them towards the two, like they were its eyes. She felt herself ready to gag, felt her legs weakening and cold sweat running down her brows. Just looking at it was like watching her father walk back to her, telling her he had a solution for her illness.

For a second, it felt like there was a rope tightening around her neck as she envisioned him smiling while killing her. Then, a sound echoed across the plains. It was a sound that could be described the noise a pony made when rusty saws cut through their flesh. Twilight had no idea how she came up with that definition and it did nothing to calm her. She really wanted to be back with Nurse Redheart now.

“What is that? What is going on? Where are we?” She asked, barely able to breathe.

“Oh, Twilight. You‘ve stepped into the first phase of this world‘s end, of what will happen when magic isn‘t brought back. My little pony, that thing is the embodiment of fear, the king of nightmares."

Both ponies stared at the thing, but Trixie turned around as those fluffy clouds started moving towards them, their every movement as eerie as the one from the beast itself. The snipping of their scissors, and the horrible breaking sound of their walking legs added itself to the distant screams, that, and the laughter of a thousand children.

“Dreamy called it: Magia.”

Chapter 5 ~ What Are You Doing, Twilight? (V2)

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The ground cracked beneath their hooves as they stumbled closer together. Its sweet smell touched their noses, lingering there while not truly reaching their heads. Twilight only managed to catch faint glimpses at her surroundings, because her attention was drawn elsewhere.

The grass was colored like a rainbow, the ground was made of chocolate and the air tasted a bit like lemonade. Really – if it were not for those pink cotton candy clouds with scissors for hands, snipping wildly at the air it seemed like an ideal vacation spot. Under any other circumstances, she might have even found it in her to enjoy it, probably.

Trixie’s eyes were fixated on the front and sweat was running down her forehead. She didn’t truly try to grasp what was all around them, instead closed her eyes and mumbled something to herself, something about a tower and about a promise. Maybe she was looking for courage within herself, Twilight wondered as she turned to look at her.

Her friend looked so different, so strange to behold. Everything about her colors had changed, well, everything aside from cloak and wizard hat. The blue coat, the icy mane, that was not how a pony looked, they were colors like the oldest stories spoke of. Trixie couldn't possible have them, because Trixie wasn't blue.

However, Twilight couldn't deny that Trixie looked the way she did, because she felt every step, she felt stronger than ever before. Nonetheless, she still felt a bit cold. Maybe it was because she knew nothing else, the warmth she knew was a fleeting thing and always came from an outside force. Yet it wasn't the blanket-cape that made her feel warm right now, no. This time it came from within her.

Sweat was running down her body and she couldn't help but grin, even though she realized how shakey she was on her legs. Twilight felt ready to weep, wanted to cry for some adult, but she was sure that none were here to hear her call.

And they were still advancing, these clouds who had fallen from the brightest sky. In the distance, there was the echo of innocent laughter. Black top hats and moustaches of chocolate closed in on the two, the entire coloration reminded her of something.

An egg of purple with darker dots on it, a dragon baby looking up to her.

Twilight turned her head around, catching another glimpse at Trixie, who did the same to look at her with huge eyes as they remained close by each other.

"We need to get out of here,“ Trixie cried, tears flowing down her bruised and cut ruin of a face.

All Twilight could think of was to look around, search for an exit, even though the scissors were snipping and the clouds were walking forward, each and every step a mind-boggling motion. It was like there was something missing from them, something that was needed to move and yet they still stepped forward. And with every step they took, Trixie and Twilight moved closer together, feeling the warmth of each other and failing to find comfort in it.

“We can’t,” she suddenly heard Trixie speak up again. “I’m scared.”

What should she do? What could she say?

They took the last possible steps and their bodies hugged each other. As their hooves touched the chocolatey ground, it cracked and bits of sweet dirt were whirled up, left to clutch against their coats and skin. The sky was growing darker and something was in the distant, laughing at their meager escape attempt. Red bulging eyes, bleeding like mountains of fresh corpses. The image became clearer in her head the longer she lingered on the thought.

What could she do? What would the heroes in her books do?

Fight on, she remembered, and just at that moment promised herself to do just that. Whatever was going on, she knew they were in danger, and a hero always managed to find a way.

"No, we can … I'm sure we can, we just need to–“

At that moment she realized that she didn't know what to do. If they ran they'd get pierced and sliced, if they stayed the same would happen, there wasn't even going to be much of a time difference as it stood and they were both just little fillies. Children weren’t heroes, children relied on them.

Now that she thought about it, it seemed kind of unfair actually. She had just gotten the strength back to her legs, she was smart and her Papa was going to miss her. If he wouldn’t have before, at least now, since she was healed.

Yes, now that she thought about it, her body was working, for the first time in her life and she was even running along the plains. She did not know how, or why, but she could stand and breathe and if they’d go back to the hospital she could show herself to her papa.

He would be proud and happy again, Shining Armor would return and everypony would acknowledge the brave and smart filly.

And the clouds advanced one step after another.

Twilight felt Trixie’s tail nervously whipping across the ground, while her own remained close to her body, unmoving. She was too afraid to do anything, to say anything. There was nothing she could do, and neither nurse Redheart nor her papa would ever find out that she got good in the end.

An unworldly scream echoed across the plains as the creatures' mouths opened, each revealing a thousand teeth like nails, and eyes like abysses of a violent blackness stared at them before the creatures leaped at them, their motions broken and abrupt.

Twilight could only close her eyes, praying that Shining Armor would come to save her.

"Candy!“

The yell easily overshadowed the screeching noise the candy attackers made, and as Twilight opened her eyes she saw an aquamarine unicorn with a cyan mane with white highlights. Her horn stood out strangely, since it hadn't been there before. She noticed and understood that because something else was there, a smile so wide it looked like it hurt this foal so much.

Lyra smashed through one cloud head on. Time seemed to stop and then the chocolate dissolved into ashes and the body into strings. But the filly did not stop, instead galloped on and jumped over her friends. She immediately made a turn upon landing and bucked another cloud that came too close to them. Only then did she look at Trixie and Twilight.

"Run!“

She didn't need to say it another time, and Trixie reacted but a split second faster than Twilight.

Their worries dissolved somewhat, there was a path before them now and so all three started into a gallop. But as they did that, Twilight Sparkle felt it almost immediately, the scissors at her tail. She didn't care how much of it she'd lose however, she just needed to hurry up. All they needed to do now was get out of her.

So they went at their quickest speed, the weight of their tiny hooves enough to transform the ground into chocolate sprinkles for the grass. Once or twice she felt herself running straight into a puddle but the mess that made of her coat was the least of her worries now.

She heard the stomps, heard her own sharp breaths, but what she didn't hear was the sound of them being followed. While she didn’t really know how that could be, she deduced that they must’ve been too quick for the beasts. After seconds, maybe even minutes of running she started to giggle. The sharp sound of scissors, teeth like rusty and rotten nails, and the violent swirls on the horizon. They had escaped that.

Her giggling became laughter, a maniacal guffaw that echoed across the plains louder and louder. Sadly, that left her almost incapable of breathing and resulted in a sharp pain, stinging in her side.

"What're you doing?“ Lyra asked mid-run, looking at her with a frown on her face.

"There's nopony following us,“ she answered truthfully, barely able to contain her laughter.

That made the others stop, and Twilight immediately broke down on the ground. The tears kept flowing despite herself, and the laughter did not stop either. They looked over the fields to find that Twilight had been right. Almost a second later Lyra let herself fall to the ground, and started to laugh too.

"Never again,“ she complained.

Twilight looked at the far off mountains, the sun above them and the clouds. The darkness was gone all of a sudden, maybe it'd vanished when Lyra appeared. Maybe it had been scared of the foal.

With what had just happened, she didn’t know what to make of this world, but she really hoped they wouldn't suddenly fall down. She remained there on the ground, slowly regaining her composure by Lyra’s side, while Trixie just stood there, looking around.

Yeah, never again, Twilight thought, and a second later she jumped up again.

Staring at her surroundings she noticed something that had escaped her grasp before. Not just the mountains, the fields and the clouds, everything here was wrong.

"Where are we?“ Twilight asked. And how did we get here?

The question hit home instantly and even Lyra got up again, only now hitting the realization that they weren't in Canterlot anymore. The way she turned her head made it look like she hoped to find a shield with all the answers on it. Only silence was there with them at that moment, however. Silence, until the second question fell.

"Why do you have a horn?“

Trixie stared at Lyra, who stared at her in return. "I've got a horn?“ the green filly asked, touching her forehead.

For a moment she didn’t seem to know what to make of it though. And then tensed up, and Twilight noticed how her gaze fell, how she visibly shrunk, before she broke out into another laugh.

"I've got a horn. I've got a horn,“ Lyra sang, stretching her arms out to the sky before she jumped up, much to both Trixie’s and Twilight’s surprise.

Twilight looked at the child who now was dancing around Trixie, finding it in her to smile.

There was magic in this place, she understood. Whatever was going on, they were on some kind of magical place where they were all actual unicorns again, not just the powerless, useless bags of worthlessness. Twilight had no idea where they were, nor what was going on, but that, that alone was the most awesome thing ever.

The blue filly didn’t seem to find it as amazing as her other, technicolor compatriots, and as Lyra danced in circles around them, all she had to offer was a look of minor annoyance, and careful glances in every direction.

The smart part of Twilight at least acknowledged that neither she nor Lyra did anything like that now, but they had just escaped death and, well, Lyra had a horn. That would've maybe made a good enough cause for a party, not that Twilight knew how to throw one.

Thing was however, she had read about parties. Loud things with everypony having fun, which was about just the thing she needed and wanted right now, now that everything was clearly going to be okay. The foal couldn't quite imagine a lot of ponies together without there suddenly being problems but then again, her papa had never allowed her to have a party.

She had heard that Shining Armor had done a lot of of those before he'd left and her father had not been pleased. That thought alone drowned her laughter, because she didn’t want her father to be mad at her, she didn’t want to do more bad stuff. So a party was out of question.

"Here you stand, hunted by the emperor of horrors, in an impossible place, where clouds are made of candy and long for blood, where your worst fears linger in every shadow. And you ponies decide to dance. I admire just how much effort you put into your management of the situation.“ The voice spoke, sarcasm dripping from it like honey from a spoon.

Yet, what caught Twilight’s attention was that it wasn’t just sounding from within her head, but instead echoed across the entire land.

"What?“ Lyra asked, obviously surprised, Trixie just gazed around.

"Lyra, was it? Let’s get the introductions out of the way; I'm the ghost Twilight talked about. You can call me ... A wise goat? Yeah, wise goat. I like goats, they’re funny.“

The explanation wasn't enough to tell them anything, though.

Twilight took it upon herself to ask the important question, "And who are you, Mister Goat?“

"Not important.

Twilight grumbled at how he shot her down immediately.

Right now, the only thing that matters is you Twilight Sparkle. That Magia, it’s old and it hasn’t been in direct contact with our home for, I don’t know, millennia. It's just been in this world and ponies shouldn't be able to enter here. Which, together with all the other evidence, leads to only one conclusion: Twilight Sparkle, you, out of all the beings in the universe are the only one with a talent for a dead thing. For some strange reason you're still connected to magic.“

Twilight blinked, a question echoing through her head, but it was Lyra who spoke up before it could come out of her mouth, "Wow, Twilight is a magician!“

She would've been glad to see that wise goat herself at this very moment. She just had Lyra to stare at now and the way she grinned did nothing for any kind of suspense that the voice tried built up. Still, there were more questions, but before she could ask any of them the voice spoke up again.

"Sadly, it doesn’t actually matter anymore. Though Loonie did her best, this is quite the horrible outcome. After centuries of nothing, magic has found another connection to this world, and soon enough, both it and our own will meld together. They’re probably coming, and I have no idea how you little ponies could escape from this place. No matter how talented you are, or how creative, I doubt that–“

"Can I cast a spell?“ Twilight asked, thinking of something.

"What?“

The filly finally rose from the ground, however, Twilight couldn't elaborate as the screeching echoed over them. Her eyes went over to the distance, where she saw the sky itself move in strange, indescribable motions and clouds were raining down like droplets of rain. They were in a world of magic, she had a connection with it, something was happening, and she had no idea what any of this was about, but Twilight Sparkle decided at that very moment, that if she was really a unicorn, a wizard now, she would do something.

"We need to run,“ Lyra said and turned, making for another gallop.

"No!“ shouted Twilight, stopping her friends in their tracks. "I'll handle this.“

This was the moment she gathered her confidence. If the voice was right, then maybe this would be just like the stories she had read. She was about to become a hero, she was about to save them all. This was the first step, and so she took a deep breath, lowered her head and closed her eyes.

Then, she just took it all in. The gushes of wind around her, blowing the sweet scent of this world into her nose, the grass that brushed against her legs and the chocolate that felt soft beneath her hooves. She heard them in the distance now, falling, crying, marching, snipping, wailing, hurling themselves towards the three who didn't belong.

All those things made up this world, but she felt something else, too, something warm, something nice. It came to her as she concentrated, even though she hadn't felt it or anything like it before. It still was oddly familiar, though. That was the feeling Twilight Sparkle wanted to take in, and so she did, with a deep breath she let it wash over her.

For a moment longer, it was like she was lying on the beach, wave after wave of sugary water washing over her, the warmth making her feel all fuzzy inside. Yes, it felt like the embrace of a parent; so warm, so nice, like a good friend returning home, like a peace of mind found only in the most remote of places.

"What are you doing, Twilight? Your horn is glowing,“ she heard Lyra's astonished voice. "Ohmigosh, you really are a magician!“

That was the moment. A wind started to blow around them, lifting the little child off the ground. She felt the warmth, she felt the peace, she felt the strings of magic unravel around her. They engulfed her, and took new shapes, and with these a new strength came to her muscles, a power like she had never felt before. Every part of her body felt so much better than before, like she was never going to be sick again. Twilight felt herself so happy, she was finally okay.

With a surge she stomped her hooves on the ground and suddenly, rain was falling down on them.

"We're back,“ Lyra exclaimed loudly as the ghastly wind vanished.

Twilight only barely heard her. She found herself touching the ground again, feeling the warmth moving through her body. Everything was fine now, she had saved everypony, she was a hero. Twilight Sparkle was finally a pony that would be praised and loved. Weird, she almost regretted transporting away.

Only then she opened her eyes again, and for a moment she saw the alley, she felt the blanket against her back, the rain, stinking like chemicals, ruining her mane. Twilight took a deep breath and then opened her mouth to breathe out but something other than air came out. Blinking, she looked at it, wondering what was going on. She needed to go to the hospital, everypony would be happy to see her there.

Her papa would be there, too. He'd definitely hug her and tell her that she did well.

Then she was thrown into another world. A hell of pain and hurt. She collapsed onto the ground, into the red and brown stuff she just vomited out, and there was only enough strength in her left to twitch miserably.

The last thing Twilight heard was Lyra shouting her name, and all she saw was an ugly, small, piebald pony wearing a wizard’s attire, looking at her with a mixture of resentment and pity. After that, the sound faded and her world was overcome with the most familiar blackness.

Chapter 6 ~ I'm Just Prattling On (V2)

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This time, Twilight dreamt of a pony as white as snow, with a long mane waving in a ghostly wind. She was tall and had wings larger than any pegasus', and she looked at Twilight with a kindly smile. The filly noticed the long horn that emerged from her head, a bone that only added to the radiant elegance of this person.

Twilight did not know who this mare was, but she knew exactly what she was, because Twilight had read of alicorns before. Yet, reading about them was one thing, standing in front of one quite another.

Her sheer size outclassed any adult Twilight had ever seen, and even though she did not move a muscle, just the way she carried her stance made her seem–for lack of a better word–regal.

There was a great deal of awe Twilight felt in the presence of this alicorn, but she did not feel small or unimportant. The eyes that looked down on her made her feel like an equal.

Twilight had learned of strength as Trixie reached out to her, but not this kind, because the white alicorn’s presence gave her a confidence she wouldn’t have believed herself to have. She wasn’t weak, she wasn’t the small filly in the hospital, covered by warm blankets and looking out of the window.

She saw her parents in the dream, too. Them, and Shining Armor. Her mama, rubbing Twilight’s head, laughing at a joke somepony must’ve said. Her papa was laughing, too. It was not the harsh guffaw Twilight knew from him, the condescending one so filled with hatred and contempt. No, he was just happy to be with his wife and his children, of whom he was so proud.

Shining Armor was roaring the loudest, he looked less like a pony and more like a lion. Twilight’s brave lion, who was always there for her when she needed to be protected.

Everypony laughed and everypony was happy, and Twilight never even wanted to notice where they were, because this was her perfect world.

Her paradise.

That was when she realized that it was only a dream.

For a second it was only that, a realization, creeping up as slowly as the sun on its rise, but as she looked around, didn’t feel the hoof on her head, didn’t hear the cuckles, didn’t smell the perfume her mother had loved to use and didn’t feel the air around her, it all became clear.

This wasn’t real, it had never been real, it would never be real. Yet, Twilight Sparkle didn’t want to wake up. She looked at those three, and she really didn’t want to leave them in this place she was sure to never reach again.

"Twilight Sparkle,“ she heard the white alicorn's voice speak up–a sweet voice, as regal as the pony to whom it belonged, "My faithful student.“

Twilight woke up, feeling weaker than ever before. Her legs were shaking, her heart was pounding and every part of her body seemed to hurt. As she tried to open her eyes, the sensation only drowned her in pain and not with visuals as they were meant to do. Every breath sent bolts of hurt through her neck and nose. As she tried to move, she felt the strain of her legs’ muscles, felt the sting as she tried to shift around for a bit.

She took one deep breath, waited for another moment, and the pain started to subside. Second after second passed, and Twilight could only lie there, trying to adjust, trying to regain her health. They were painful moments, but she finally managed to open her eyes for good and the world moved into focus. The filly saw something moving above her.

A big, yellow moon surrounded by stars and small figurines of breezies, the mythological carriers of winds and seeds. Twilight, being her usual smart self, understood the meaning of the device above her immediately. It wasn’t something she had ever possessed, but she had seen them in shops and heard how they were placed atop the beds of young foals. Knowing all that, Twilight had to admit that she was quite a bit too old for a mobile. Then again ... She was in some stranger's room as it seemed.

The blankets that now covered her were made from patches with more colors than a rainbow could have had. Compared to the sofa this bed felt soft and warm. Together with the mobile slowly moving in circles above her, she felt the grogginess overtaking her slowly, and the realm of dreams calling out to her.

The foal resolved herself not to go back to sleep and lifted her head to get a better look at the room. A single lantern on a lone desk illuminated this place. She found that it wasn’t as big as the hospital room, but she still spotted another bed just by turning her head.

It had the size for a filly her age, with a similar colorful bedding and a few stuffed animals sitting atop of it. Well, not just animals, some looked like pastries too. That bed appeared to be made out of an old metal, whereas the one Twilight slept in had to be a wooden construct.

Toys laid scattered across the room, Twilight found as she turned her head away from the other bed. She spotted the door opposite to her own blanket fort, and as she turned her head farther, she spotted a window with ragged curtains, and the orange tones of a sun–either rising or going to hide beyond the horizon–pushing through. Beneath it stood a third bed.

That one looked less colorful, with notes on its greyish covers and a giant music instrument laying atop of it. Twilight contemplated getting up into a sitting position for a moment, but decided against it. Instead, she began to search her memory in hopes of figuring out whether she had read about instruments before and could name this specific one. It looked like an oversized violin though.

The brown foal sighed and looked up at the mobile again. The constant movement started to annoy her, if only a bit, but she felt too weak to do anything about it right now. Though most of the pain had faded, it had been replaced by an ugly feeling in her stomach and her surroundings were spinning. As a matter of fact, even turning her head had made her heart pound against her chest real hard, and the fear started to appear within her heart again. She clutched at the blankets, tried to take deep breaths once more.

Atop all of that, she also felt famished. Twilight figured she could even eat a whole bowl of alfalfa about now ...

No, wait, no, she couldn't. That stuff was disgusting! And green! All green food with the exception of flowers was disgusting, and even a few of those were only borderline cases.

She sighed again, and this time she was answered by the rumbling of her own tummy. Against the surges of pain it seemed like the lesser evil, but an evil nonetheless, and so Twilight tried to let her mind wander again, far away from the dreadfulness she felt.

Why was she in this strange place? That seemed like the next best question and Twilight looked up to the ceiling and the mobile again, hoping to collect her thoughts. They were scattered, but she remembered going with Trixie, then they had been at some kind of building with lots of old stuff in it.

She had sat on a sofa, then they had met Lyra and then … Twilight felt a shiver running down her spine.

After that an earthquake had happened. She tried not to linger on that thought, though she recollected how Lyra had hugged her, and how warm it had made her feel. Thereafter they had wanted to find shelter in the hospital.

That was everything she recalled, but something else must've happened then, yet she couldn't remember what it was exactly.

She only remembered bits from her dream, but doubted the alicorn–or any alicorn for that matter–had played a role in the real world. Papa had always told her that the last alicorn on this world had died more than a century ago, and Shining Armor said that she must've been a real stupid alicorn, calling herself 'Princess of Love' and all.

Shining had said that they were lucky that she was gone, he was sure he wouldn't have liked her. He had liked many girls though, so Twilight wasn’t sure about that.

Twilight’s thoughts were broken as her tummy did not intend to give up so easily and another rumble escaped. Her thoughts turned to flowers and oatmeal, wheat and vegetables; stuff that would’ve hopefully improved her situation. She had none of it here though, so Twilight admitted to herself that this truly felt like the worst day of her entire life now.

Yet still it seemed just like the start of every other day.

"You're awake,“ she suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice, it sounded very high-pitched even for a filly.

Twilight turned her head, fully expecting to see some foal much younger than her, but what she saw coming through the door was just a filly who couldn’t be much younger than Twilight herself.

This one looked unremarkable, had a grey coat and blackish grey hair, with only her violet eyes standing out. She walked over to Twilight with something that might've been a noblepony's strut, if that noblepony would be extremely clumsy. And the filly seemed to try so hard to get every single step right, too.

Twilight could see the effort she put into and and even how she tried to hold her nose up as arrogantly as possible, only to stumble over a toy. She landed right on her face, with an accompanying “Oompf”.

Seconds passed as Twilight could do naught but look at this stranger. For a single moment, everything else faded from her consciousness and then the foal started to whimper. Twilight, who until this point had never done much with other foals, was taken over by it as tears started to fall from the earth pony’s eyes. There was nothing she could do as the other pony reacted miserably to the fall.

Twilight could only look at the filly.

A part of her wanted to start crying, too, because she wasn’t used to the sight. It seemed really appropriate. She kept her mouth open, since maybe she should speak up, give words of comfort or just ask where she was. What am I supposed to do? she wondered, not looking away.

Some adult would come was what she hoped, and an adult did come through the door. A stallion of strong build with a grey coat–missing patches revealing pink skin–and black hair similar to the filly.

“What’s wrong, Octy?” he asked with a raspy voice.

The filly didn’t respond, but Twilight took it for the obvious. Wherever she was, he had to be the adult in charge.

“She fell down,” the filly said, causing him to look at her.

He had bags beneath his eyes, she noticed, and his sigh was a heavy one as he stepped towards the young filly. Twilight gulped, knowing from her father what would happen next, she dreaded it and was happy that she herself wasn’t crying, otherwise he’d be mad with her too. Except he wasn’t, and quickly betrayed Twilight’s expectations by pulling Octy into a hug.

“It’s fine,Octy. Everything’s fine,” he said as caring as he could.

The filly threw her arms around his neck, and he gave a smile as he patted her on the back. His eyes went back to Twilight.

“Sorry about this. Are you alright?”

Twilight nodded.

He didn’t say much, but merely went over to the bed with the musical bedsheets, making sure not to step on any of the toys that lay scattered across the ground. As he sat down, his comforting made the earth pony filly quiet down.

The moments were almost silent, and Twilight merely watched, only for the moment to come where she couldn’t stop herself from asking. “Where am I?”

His smile, though tired, was a comforting sight. “Trixie and Lyra brought you here after the earthquake. I guess you could say it’s a sanctuary.”

Twilight knew that word, she was a smart filly so of course she did.

“My name is Hugh Jelly, yours is?”

“Twilight,” she said meekly, “Twilight Sparkle.”

“A wonderful name, Trixie said you come from the hospital.”

Twilight nodded. She needed to get back there, otherwise Nurse Redheart would be mad and wouldn’t come whenever Twilight broke down.

Hugh’s mouth was twitching before he spoke up again.

“How about I’ll get you something to drink first, does that sound good?”

Another kind soul she would’ve never met if she hadn’t stepped out into the world. Twilight felt her smile grow to a size that hurt her a bit. In a way it felt like something was missing, something in the back of her mind, but she didn’t care about that. Not really.

All that mattered now was that she could go back to the hospital. Somepony was waiting for her.

Surely.

As he left, he gave her one last nod and she thought of how empty her stomach felt. She wanted to say that she wanted something to eat but decided against it. Somehow, Twilight was afraid of just seeing food. This was still uncertain territory and she didn't know how this person might react if another pain-attack hit her.

So he went, getting her something to drink. That was something at least. She leaned back and a moment thereafter sounds filled the quiet room. Outside, she heard ponies talking, only a few rooms away. Quite a few they were, and then they were laughing. Not only that, but then came the music and she looked to little Octy on her bed, with a violin-like instrument that was much too big for her.

Here and there was a mistake, sometimes she missed a note in that piece she was playing. It sounded rough, untrained, but at the heart of it, it also sounded a bit beautiful. Twilight couldn’t pinpoint what exactly made her not dislike the amateurish music Octy presented, but there was a certain quality to it.

"I'm just prattling on, yet everypony says it's good,” Octy commented, pushing the bow across the strings. “It’s too big for me and I can’t even play it properly.”

Twilight didn't know what to answer, so she just spoke with a sore throat, "It does sound wonderful. Where did you learn to play like that?“

“As I said: I’m just prattling on. Playing the cello, that’s different. I know that, because it’s impossible for me to do.”

Another moment that was only filled with distant voices, and Octavia played a chord progression that Twilight knew. She couldn’t say where the melody belonged to, but she had heard it before, somewhere in the past, when her father had wooed another mare.

“I’m Octavia Quarternote, you probably know the name?”

Torn out of the sea of her thoughts, Twilight felt body stiffening. Quarternote, that wasn’t a name she was familiar with, so Twilight shook her head. “Do they own a jelly factory?”

What followed was the worst chord Twilight had ever heard.

"What?“ Octavia asked aghast.

"Because your papa ... Hugh-“

"He's ... He's not my father, more like a ...“, Octavia interrupted, but then she didn't say anything, but merely looked away from Twilight. “A good friend.”

Another quiet moment came, and then Octavia resumed playing. Twilight didn't quite know how to respond to that. The filly was strange, but on the other hoof, she must've been a friend to Trixie and Lyra. Maybe everypony associated with ponies like them had to be weird.

"My papa is probably looking for me at the hospital.“

Or he was at a bar, drinking and complaining, maybe he was even celebrating now that the other ungrateful brat was gone from his life. Papa was better in her dreams, he smiled and was together with mama. She would've really liked the dreams to be true.

Twilight leaned against the bed and looked at the fake moon and stars above her, their slow movement was a bit relaxing.

"Can't be,” Octavia answered flatly, “Madame said that the hospital is gone.”

Twilight stared blankly at the mobile for a moment, before her eyes widened in shock.

Immediately a thousand questions ran through her mind. What? Why? How? When?

But most importantly: Where would her papa search for her if that was true? She didn't know how to respond to the statement so she did the only sensible thing she knew.

Because sometimes, even smart fillies lost control, and so she just let the wave of sadness wash over herself and as it crashed the tears started flowing. When you cried, your parents came, just like it had happened with Octavia a few seconds ago. Her father would come, he needed to come. Or at least Shining, her brave knight coming to save her from pain and suffering. Her big brother best friend forever.

Twilight tears rolled down her burning cheeks, but neither came and not even Nurse Redheart was here. She was gone.

Hugh arrived with a cup of warm tea, immediately spotting another crying filly. He shot Octavia an angry look, but rushed over to Twilight, setting the cup down by the bed.

He wasn't her papa and he wasn't Shining Armor, so she continued her crying. She was hungry and thirsty, she was alone in a strange place and her papa hadn't visited her once. Shining had run away with some marefriend of his and her mother had died long ago during Twilight's birth. She had been sick and weak and always about to die.

The truth was, there was nothing more she could do but cry.

Chapter 7 ~ There Are Some Muffins Left For You (V2)

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“Smart fillies don’t cry,” her father had told her once.

He’d hit her and she hadn’t been able to sit for days. It wasn't just that one time, either. He had always been easy to anger. All she needed to do on some days was smile at him and he would throw a bottle at her. Sure enough, he hardly ever hit when he threw stuff, and later on he would merely ignore her, yet she wanted to make him happy.

Twilight Sparkle wasn’t a filly that cried often, and only ever for a short time. She was a smart filly, still growing, still learning. Yet she didn’t feel like stopping herself now. Her father wasn’t coming back anymore, because she was sick all the time and he didn’t need some useless unicorn filly dragging him down before his marefriends.

She was freezing and shaking, sobbing and gasping for air, and her heartbeat only grew louder, like drums in a rolling crescendo. And yet still, she felt warmth, and heard somepony tell her something.

“It’s okay, everything's fine.”

Nurse Redheart once told her something like that, with a bright smile. She’d been there, always, even when nopony else wanted to come, even when Twilight had said she didn’t want anypony to be there. Nurse Redheart had been there for her. Now she wasn’t, so it should’ve been okay to just let the oncoming pain take its natural course. It hurt, sure. She wanted it to stop, sure. But. …

“Sssssh, deep breaths, Twilight, you’re fine, you’re doing good. Calm down and then how about some of this tea, hm?”

But a stranger was there, talking to her like it wasn’t over. She wanted to ask why, but then she felt his hoof going through her hair, her mangy hair nopony cared about. Octavia still played in the background, still that familiar, hopeful tune. It was calming to Twilight. Not just that, of course. The feeling of the blanket against her cold body, the moving stars above her and then Hugh gave her the tea.

She took a sip of it immediatey. It was warm and tasted sweet, yet she felt the cup in her hooves shaking, small waves touching the edges of it. Her throat was still dry, so the wetness felt extraordinary in her mouth, she pretty much chugged down the rest of the tea.

Twilight had no idea how to feel, as this was completely new territory for her. The tears did stop, after a while, almost on their own. The drumming grew quieter, the pain dissipated, and Twilight could tell that she felt much better–which, sadly, didn’t mean as much as Twilight wanted it to. Hugh didn’t even stop hugging her when she was done crying, instead told her how she was a good filly and that everything was alright.

A stranger served just fine for hugs too, as it seemed. Her own papa hadn't been quite the pony for them. Every time she'd cry he would rage, which would result in more crying, which would somehow result in Shining and her papa arguing and then in both leaving her.

Early on had she learned that this was more of a family thing, as ponies who didn't belong to her family came more easily to a crying filly. She knew that from the kind nurse Redheart. Well, maybe Hugh too. For these moments there were only his arms, Octavia playing in the background and her shrinking pains. She noted how it felt different than her normal hurting, deeper than that. She wondered if the pain wasn't actually physical, but that was impossible.

Twilight was a smart filly and smart fillies never hurt like that.

Still contemplating the emotions that washed over her, Hugh Jelly picked her up gently. As he did so, she was still wrapped in the colorful blanket, and she was happy that he didn’t say anything bad about it.

Of course, there was still the issue of why he was lifting her up. This kind of closeness to some stranger felt weird. Nopony ever heaved her up like this, tak. She’d seen it with younger foals, ones who couldn’t yet walk properly, but she had no real idea whether this was something unusual for her age.

No matter, if he was going to carry her around it would save her strength, and that was awesome. It also meant she could take another sip of the tea as she just rest on his arm.

"You come, too, Octavia. I think they should be ready now,“ the stallion said warmly.

Octavia looked up and at him, her ears turning towards the sounds of the others. She started to smile, revealing lines of perfect little teeth with only one missing on the upper row. Then, she jumped down and ran out into the corridor.

Between remaining sniffles Twilight had to wonder what he had meant and why the grey filly had reacted like that.

She didn't have to wonder long, however since the place wasn't that huge. From the only hallway she spotted about two other rooms, aside from the bathroom. One was on the end of the hall, closed, probably where the parents slept and the other was by what Twilight presumed to be the front door.

Behind the entrance was a room, not big, but not small either. It was neither kingly nor for beggars. It was simply, for lack of a better word, home. The kitchen itself was simple in the way it was built, but the red-and-white walls made it appear very comforting. But the table in the middle was what truly stood out. It was carved from oak and its legs had the forms of the first ministers.

Twilight knew how they looked and she knew their legends.

There was Firefly, who had dared the last dragon to a race; Twinklestar, who, in her time, had banished all the paperwork from Equestria; Mjölna, who had been the first to unite the pony tribes long before Equestria was formed, and – Twilight had to think who the one right in her sight was, the left leg of the table, although it seemed like she didn't belong.

A unicorn in a simple robe, staring at the wall with dull expression.

Then she remembered the name. This wooden creature was a folk hero amidst the unicorn population, a story her father had told her with great pride, a thing that had, once, given her hope.

She was the last unicorn capable of doing magic, Clover the Clever, a pony who had lived for more than a hundred and fifty years.

On the table were small cups of tea, coffee and warm chocolate, while muffins were piled up on a tablet in the middle of the scenery, right beside an empty flower vase.

Though the sight of the sweets made her mouth water, it was the ponies around it that caught her attention a second later. There were those she did know, but a number of strangers she hadn’t seen before.

Lyra was waving happily at her when she spotted the filly on Hugh's back, but Trixie's mood seemed immediately fouled. The tiny unicorn who sat on a little cushion beside Lyra harrumphed the moment she saw the pony she had brought out here.

Twilight wondered what she had done to get this kind of reaction. It just seemed strange that Trixie hated her now, was it because she hadn’t been able to do her magic show? Had she even performed it? Strangely enough, Twilight couldn’t remember. All she caught in her memories was a strange feeling of sadness, but not much else, so she just dismissed it. Hopefully she could ask Trixie about it later on.

Then there was a tall, slender mare with a brown coat spotted with white and a long, dark brown mane done into a braid, just like her tail was. She looked at Twilight with a smile but the small filly noticed that her eyes seemed as sleepy as Hugh’s. It was weird, but she looked like a nice enough pony.

To each of her sides she spotted a pegasus filly. The one on her left was a bit smaller, had a deep black coat with a mane pretty much the same color, playing with two muffins like they were toys. She was also making (probably) accurate sounds according to it, presumably enacting some sort of muffin-laser-battle, to which Twilight would’ve loved to hear the background story.

The one on the right was a bit bigger, and also seemed to be a bit more heavy. Not only that, but Twilight didn't even notice her gray coat or pale mane at first. No, what she spotted was something different entirely. The filly’s eyes, like two golden suns in a white sky, staring off into two different directions. The weirdness meters were topping themselves over and over again today.

The weird eyed filly noticed her staring and started to grin as mister Jelly sat the young unicorn down. Before anypony else could say something she already opened her mouth, directing her first words directly at Twilight Sparkle.

"There are some muffins left for you.“

Considering the filly delivered the line with an awful lot of enthusiasm, Twilight felt overwhelmed by her already, but examined the muffines nonetheless. They had a chocolatey brown texture and seemed to have berries as an ingredient. She knew not which kind, because she hadn’t read that many books on berries, and she also didn’t know whether it was smart to eat some. So she simply took a sip of her tea.

It was warm and tasted so sweet, Twilight let it gladly warm her body. She only had one blanket left to cover her and she was shivering beneath it. The drink would help only a bit and she heard her stomach growling, begging for something to eat. If a muffin would do? Probably, but she didn’t quite know if she really should.

She looked at the stallion, "can I take one?“

He seemed to genuinely think for a moment, Twilight began to wonder if that question was even right to ask? She was starved, yes, but what if they'd throw her out or yell or something worse.

She really expected the last, adults were always good at coming up with 'something worse', and some nurses had gotten some strangely amused looks whenever they’d been able to hurt Twilight and the 'tips' their own neighbours had given them for raising a filly had made her own papa tell her to never talk to these ponies again. Grown-ups sometimes even managed to scare grown-ups.

A shiver ran down her spine.

In the end, though, he gave her a good answer.

“Of course, silly.”

The words that told her that she could take one were the best she heard today. She immediately made a grab for one.

It was still warm in its wrapping. The smell of the berries filled her nose and as she took the first bite she felt its deliciousness in her mouth.

It wasn't like she hadn't had muffins before but the last time was so long ago. She remembered snow falling and a young Shining laughing and their papa looming over them, smelling of a strong cider brewage. Shining had told her that these were raspberries, and they were impossible to get during winter.

"Do you think you'll be fine?“ She heard Trixie ask after a few moments.

The piebald filly didn't look like she knew whether she should be worried for Twilight or not. A hint of the hatred remained in her voice, however.

"Yeah,“ Twilight answered with her mouth full.

Trixie wanted to say something else, but just shook her head. She wasn’t wearing her hat and cape anymore, but they were probably in the box she kept on her lap.

Twilight took the chance to have a look around, wondering about all these ponies. The mare was making the black filly stop to play with her muffins with but a single movement, without ever saying a word. Octavia was eating in a fairly refined manner–though crumbs still ended up falling down her lap nonetheless–while the wall-eyed filly was munching down muffins at record speed.

They looked like a family, sure, but then not really. She grasped the chance; “Is this really an orphanage?”

The question was directed at Hugh, the only pony here of whom she was sure to be able to answer her question. He stifled a laugh and gave her another kind smile, he did that a lot, unlike most ponies.

"You're at our household, not anything official, but you could say we take children in when they’re without a home. Well, technically, she does well,“ Hugh said, pointing at the mare,"I present my sister, Madame Hooves.“

She gave but a nod and a smile, but still didn't say anything. Twilight put on a thoughtful frown, wondering why she didn’t speak. Hugh laughed at that.

“Sorry, she doesn't talk. Lost her voice at an early age, actually. You’ll get used to it, I’m sure. Anyway, that one,“ he pointed at the muffin muncher, "is Derpy, my niece and the other one,” he pointed at the black one, "is Raindrops, she's another 'friend of the family' like Octavia, whom you've already met.“

Twilight looked at the grey filly who gave her a friendly smile while grabbing for a cup, although her being refined immediately stopped as she toppled it over and spilled the tea all over the table. Madame Hooves gave her but a disapproving look and then moved into a motion that seemed so routinely handled, Twilight didn't quite believe she was watching a pony and not a robot.

"Oooh, and I'm Lyra!“ Lyra said loudly, raising her hoof.

"Yeah,“ Twilight answered to that,"I know … And I'm Twilight and that's ...“ She looked at Trixie, distant and mad and in need of some cheering up, "Starswirl the Bearded!“

That got a laugh out of everypony with Lyra leading, "she called you 'bearded'!“

Trixie looked just forlorn. Twilight didn't quite get why until Hugh Jelly turned towards the little magician.

“Starswirl was an ancient pony who lived before the founding of Equestria, a mighty magician who jumped through time and back.”

Trixie nodded as if the only thing that reached her was “mighty magician”, but her smile grew with that, and Twilight felt proud of herself.

However, there was one thing she did catch on to as Hugh explained–with the way he phrased it Twilight couldn't help but think that he didn't appear to believe what he told the guests at the table. As if he didn't believe that magic had once been a part of Equestria. Yet it had been, and unicorns had once wielded power.

She didn’t say that, he was kind to her and she didn’t want to ruin everything.

Maybe it was because she had read the stories about the princess of love, maybe it was because she was still so small. Shining had always told her that only foals believed in fairy tales, even though he liked Cadenza's story more than she. Not that he’d ever admitted it, but it had been there.

So she smiled and ate and thought of magic, and as they delightfully fed on the raspberry muffins, she felt something moving in the back of her head. Something twisted itself into shape and out of a hole, but what it was, she couldn’t tell at first.

But the laughter of children and the falling sky were not things easily forgotten, nor was the sound, the horrible sound and the whole land of candy with the darkest pit in the sky.

She thought of magic, and how she’d done it.

From one moment to another Twilight, a pain ran through her tiny body like a spear, and then like a poison, spread to every end. It was her brain that started to hurt the quickest, and the most. Her heart was beating again and she lost her string of thoughts. Now, she just immediately fell on her back, away from the table. As the ponies around her jumped up, she rolled herself into a ball. She didn’t want to give the pain a large room to spread, she didn’t want it to be there at all. Then the tears came quickly.

The sting was different from her normal pains though, and this time the hurts brought something else but crying and more pain.

They brought her memories of rainbow fields, air that tasted of lemons and cotton candy clouds with moustaches and top hats made of chocolate and with these memories came the snipping of scissors and mud bleeding from an eye.

Then the voice came back, too. The old, kindly voice of the wise goat. Again, it was in the wind around her, filling the whole room. A ghostly whisper only in her head and for nopony else.

She might have felt somepony turning to hug her. She might have seen faces, both familiar and unfamiliar, gathering around her. She might have heard somepony else telling somepony to get her another blanket, someone saying to breathe calmly, to take it in, to take the dive and then another voice saying that they needed to go to the hospital.

All those things made her feel safe, they really did. Yet the illusion was as quickly shattered as it had appeared. The darkness came all of a sudden, and then all the feelings and all the noise just vanished.

Only the voice of the wise goat remained.

You're awfully happy for a pony that is seconds away from dying.

Chapter 8 ~ There Are Dreams And There Are Dreams (V2)

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Princess Cadence had lived a hundred years ago, long before even Twilight’s father was born. There were many stories about her, but only the vaguest concerning the place she hailed from. These few told of her march all the way from the north down to Equestria. The strange thing about them was that in the far north, there existed not a single place that could sustain life. Some legends even spoke of unliving monstrosities who hibernated there, untouched by the fall of magic.

Yet, this one filly had walked down from the endless wasteland and into Equestria. The legends said that she had disguised herself as a normal pony as she journeyed across the land. What sorry state she found her homeland in, it made her weep bitter tears. After she reached Canterlot, the disguised alicorn searched for audience with the administration of the country, those elected earth ponies and pegasi that were the first servants of the state.

When the time finally came and she stood before all the ministers, she took off her cloak and recited the ancient equestrian laws, that when an alicorn arrived at the heart of the land, it was upon them to seize control of the country and bring forth harmony again.

Twilight had read quite a few versions about the reactions of the ministers when the princess spread her wings for the first time. Most she knew from very funny picture books.

They relented, however reluctantly, and Cadance, the first alicorn to appear since the demise of the old princesses, took the royal crown and the title that came with it. “Mi Amore di Cadenza, Princess of Equestria” took the reigns of a nation, despite not being a grown adult yet.

No matter what opposition she faced, the young mare brought forth a small golden age for the land of Equestria. She made friends with everyone aside from the ponies in her own country. Even the griffons, after so many hundreds of years of fighting, welcomed her with open arms as she honored their fallen and promised to relinquish the colonies Equestria held on their land.

She forged peace where the ponies lusted for war and created a stability in the realm that hadn't existed since the reign of the old princesses. Above all else, she nearly banished all corruption from Equestria. Many ponies wondered how she’d done that, how the country ran as smoothly as it did under her rule.

So it appeared a sad truth that half of the work she had started remained unfinished by the time she died of a sickness that had been believed to have vanished from equestrian soil. Twilight had heard the tale a thousand time but never the continuation what had happened after the ministers took over again. Yet even she had heard voices how the country would look if Cadance had lived on a bit longer.

Despite being frowned upon at first, Cadance became a hero years after she had died. However, the leaves fell from the tree as autumn came and Twilight would look out of the window of an Equestria ruled by voted politicians everypony knew to be corrupt.

It made her feel bad to look at the outside, since the world where princesses lived and every being existed with harmony in their heart was not what she saw there. The streets were filled with trash, the houses were old and falling apart, and the ponies were angry and unsatisfied with their lives.

Amidst it all, she was a mere small filly with the same sickness as the princess of love, the same thing that had nearly killed off every unicorn right after the death of the old princesses. She sat there, always looking out of the window, gulping medicine that wouldn't help, slowly dying away.

That was what Twilight Sparkle dreamt of this time. She dreamt of herself looking out of the window, the empty hospital room all quiet. She dreamt of herself wishing to go outside to jump around and play beneath the trees and beside the houses.

"Come on,“ she heard a white colt with blue mane say. "If you'd just get up, all our lives would get easier.“

"Come on,“ she heard her papa say. "Your brother was worthless, but you're smart. Smart ponies know how to stand.“

"Come on,“ she heard Trixie say. "I'll even help you.“

She reached out with her hoof, which was a first. All Twilight had had were books, but she didn't just want those anymore.

So Twilight Sparkle took the hoof and then they stood amidst ruins and rubble, staring at the center of what had destroyed the once proud city of Canterlot. Rain fell hard on their shoulders, but this time Twilight Sparkle did not shiver. She looked at her lavender colored hooves, and felt the strength rile up inside her. She smiled, she could do this, just like back then.

Before them rose a fissure from the air, with something clawing at it from the other side. Cracks grew in the sky, trying to shatter the wall in a new attempt at every passing moment. The sound created sounded like a hammer hitting a glass floor, the shards ramming themselves into her eardrums.

The shrieking and howling that came from beyond the fissure was almost unbearable, but Twilight told herself that she could do it, even if it might have seemed impossible. To her sides stood five other ponies. She knew them now, each by name: Trixie, Octavia, Lyra, Derpy and Raindrops. She knew them even though they looked so different than before. Trixie with her azure coat, Lyra with her cyan mane, Derpy with her golden eyes and Raindrops with the blue mane. Only Octy looked not different at all, save for her cutie mark.

Twilight smiled at the fissure and then bellowed something heroic, though she didn’t hear her own voice over the screaming and shouting that erupted from the oncoming tear. Nonetheless she jumped towards it. The rain still fell, leaving a cold mark on her coat. Drops fell into her eyes, making hard to see what lay before her. Despite it, almost as if it was beyond her control, her horn lit up.

A warmth pulsated through her veins and she could feel how her head grew lighter, distancing itself from the world as the light grew. It was the sort of feeling she would’ve loved to feel forever.

With a widening smile on her face and her confidence growing, she released the magic.

Then, Twilight Sparkle woke, feeling colder than ever before. A hot water bottle was pressing against her chest and layers and layers of blankets covered her tiny body. Yet she felt as if she had just plunged into a frozen lake. Her teeth were chattering and she was shaking. The filly tried to roll herself into a ball again, as she did so often, but just the thought of moving felt far too tiring for her.

It took a few moments, but she noticed that her stomach wasn’t roaring angrily, so she hadn’t spat out the food again. Having her hunger sated for once felt truly, truly great, yet it was about the only good thing she could get out of this situation. Heck, even the mobile was above her head again, even though those were for babies. She wasn’t a sunforsaken baby!

Her heart was pounding though, and so she kept herself from moving as much as possible and, remembering Trixie, took calm breaths. This was all she could do, and so she calmed herself and looked at the mobile again. Twilight tried her best to take her mind off the cold, and the moving breezies and stars seemed the ideal solution. She only hoped that nopony would see her like this.

Nevertheless, she had never felt this way upon waking up before. Usually she was cold and hungry. The nurses always said that the two symptoms were related, that her body hadn’t enough fuel to run on, but now she was colder than ever before.

You're alive, huh? I knew you had talent, but I didn't think you had guts too.

Twilight blinked, then felt a strange shudder run down her spine. Whatever this ghostly voice was, the fact that it resounded from the depths of her head made her feel uncomfortable, even though it didn't seem to have ill intentions. Maybe this ghost knew what had happened and why she had blacked out the way she did.

She took a deep breath. "What happened?“

The world works according to rules, one of that rules is: No magic. Guess what you did yesterday? Magic.

Twilight tried to turn towards the window, spotting the nightlight burning in the corner of the room. She could see past the curtains that it was dark outside, the kind of dark most of her dreary mornings had. Now she had two good things happening to her this morning.

She had only slept through the night. Another morning with grey and black clouds in the sky, but it was her morning now. The cold was still horrible enough to make her long for another warm hug, but she felt a bit better now.

Not only that, but that voice in her head existed meant something else. The ordeal with that strange world and the cotton candy clouds had been real.

"Are you talking about this Magia thing? For a moment I thought that had only been a dream,“ she almost cracked a smile as she said that, silly filly that she was.

There are dreams and there are dreams, Twilight Sparkle. One word can have different meanings. The world Magia resides in should only be a realm of fantasy, something the mind of only a most fearful creature could conjure up. The fact that you broke into it is quite insane. In its own right, you could call it a dream, but that was until you managed to get out. You woke up in this world, the real world and you managed to do the impossible. The truth is, you might have weakened the walls that hold up the reality of this universe.

"What?“

Oh, Twilight Sparkle, I know this may seem like something a smart filly would already understand, but I want to tell you this secret anyway: Nightmare Moon isn't real, the monster under your bed is a fantasy and magic never really was a thing in this world.

There followed a quiet moment.

If Magia breaks from its world into this one, these things are going to be very real. And you can believe me, it's going to be far worse than cotton candy clouds with scissors when that happens. You need to listen to me. You need to get to the Lunarium, you need to-

The voice said something else, but the door crashed open with loudest of bangs and suddenly a grey pegasus landed face first on the floor, groaning for a moment before she rose up with a, “I’m fine.”

Yet again, Twilight found herself completely entranced in the other pony's eyes. Derpy simply smiled stupidly at her. Sure, enough, the filly got up quickly and ran over to Twilight, pushing her face close to the unicorn’s.

"You're awake again!“

The obvious had to be stated and at that moment Derpy was the mare on the case.

Still, Twilight nodded. Derpy still grinned and then retreated a bit before something new appeared out of nowhere right in front of Twilight’s nose.

"Have a muffin.“

Twilight looked at the chocolatey delight that Derpy held out in front of her. She hadn’t seen that thing on Derpy before, had she missed it?

"Wha–How?” Twilight asked, mouth agape, but Derpy only smiled. “Uhm … thanks?”

She took the thing and weighed it in her hooves. It was one of the same kind as she had eaten yesterday, but it was cold now. She figured that Derpy must’ve hidden it away, because taking food from the table wasn’t something that was allowed.

"You suddenly collapsed, everypony was worried, you know,” Derpy suddenly said. “It’s neat that you’re fine though. Raindrops’ bed is probably really comfortable, since she usually doesn’t like sleeping without that mobile above her head, or without a nightlight, but she’s fine now. She slept with mommy!“

That filly could talk, Twilight noted as Derpy took a breath only after finishing.

Also, Raindrops? She tried to remember who that was, thinking about the dinner. The black, quiet pegasus? This was her bed? She still slept with a mobile? Twilight wondered if it was a normal thing then. Nevertheless, she'd taken up space, hadn't she?

“I’m sorry,” she said instinctively.

It was always the same, at home or even at the hospital. She always inconvenienced others with her sickness, it was the most annoying thing ever.

"It's no problem, that's how Octy started to live here, too. She collapsed, although she didn't came from a hospital, and it was because she was red all over, her zello-“

"Cello,“ Twilight corrected immediately, like the smart little filly that she was.

"Jello, that's what I said. Anyway her jello was without a scratch, though.“

Twilight remembered Octavia as the little filly who had tried to walk with her nose so high she hadn’t been able to see her own four hooves. It must’ve been a normal thing for her to just fall down on her nose.

However, Twilight wondered why Octavia had been red when she collapsed. The answer came to her quickly: She must’ve been painting! That kind of stuff happened when you painted. Like when Shining had showed her hoofpaint for the first time. In the end most of the colors had ended up on their respective coats and her papa’s laughter still warmed her heart. It must’ve shown on her face.

"Why're you laughing?“ Derpy asked as a slight giggle escaped from Twilight.

"No reason.“

The grey pegasus seemed displeased with that answer,"You can tell me.“

"You wouldn't understand.“

"Tell me!“ she insisted, puffing her cheeks up like it made her look more intimidating.

It didn’t.

Twilight just huddled up beneath her blankets and started eating the muffin. Even if she would want to tell Derpy, the truth was that she had no way of describing how her father had laughed, nor of why something so simple made her so happy.

The other filly still insisted on being told why Twily had giggled, but Twilight felt her attention shift the moment another party stepped into the room, a small white filly with a grin so wide and so painful.

Lyra looked like her usual self this morning but Twilight noticed that her steps were a bit more careful on the ground, she was almost on the tips of her hooves as she moved forward. Twilight wanted to wave at her, but Lyra gestured her to stop.

The unicorn blinked in wonder, and Derpy still insisted.

Step by step Lyra closed in, as quiet as a shadow. Twilight’s head held no idea what this was about, at least not until Lyra suddenly moved her hooves under Derpy’s arms.

“Surprise tickling,” the unicorn declared, the quick movement eliciting a squeal of laughter from the surprised victim.

Derpy broke down laughing and tried to kick her assailant off, but Lyra didn’t stop. Their squabble brought forth another smile from Twilight, which was quickly noticed by Lyra, who stopped her attack to have a good look at her.

"You're fine again,” she said, as forcefully happy as she could be.

Meanwhile, Derpy’s laughter became smaller and smaller, and she tried to play as dead as possible, as to not make Lyra turn her attention back to her.

Twilight used the chance to answer. “Yeah, thanks. I’m a bit cold, but Derpy got me a muffin and it’s a little better now.”

Lyra blinked, turning her attention back at Derpy, "I thought all the muffins were gone?“

Derpy just scrunched her face and looked into two different directions. Then again, she always looked into two directions.

Considering how little of an answer that was, Twilight merely shrugged. “It must’ve been the last.”

That wouldn’t have been too weird, and Lyra seemed to accept it too, but said nothing against Derpy taking food away from the table. If not she, then Hugh Jelly, he’d be furious, Twilight was sure.

There followed a dead silence, as Lyra shuffled around, moving a bit away from Derpy. Her eyes were back on Twilight and she also opened her mouth a few times. It was the strangest thing, as she seemed to struggle with the words.

"Anyway, I wanted to tell you something important.“

Twilight tilted her head. "What?“

For a moment Lyra hesitated, she was clearly trying to remember something. Maybe Hugh Jelly had told her to tell Twilight something. Maybe it was a lecture, maybe it was that she should leave the house, maybe he didn’t like having another unicorn in his house, or somepony as sick as her.

He’d seemed so nice, too.

"You slept right through another earthquake.“

The first thing Twilight thought, against all odds, was that this sort of news wasn’t so bad. Just another earthquake. Sure, it seemed to have happened rather quickly after the last one, but that didn’t mean anything special. Sometimes earthquakes happened, it was just a thing and Twilight really couldn’t understand why Lyra was struggling for words as much as she did.

Weird, how at that very moment she thought of someone telling her to go to the Lunarium, whatever that was, whyever they had told her that ...

"They say half the city collapsed, too.“

Chapter 9 ~ Trixie Is Not Amused With Your Shenanigans (V2)

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Her own breaths were steady, but the blow had almost taken the air out of her.

Sure enough, earthquakes were a common thing in Equestria. She had grown up with them, everypony had. Some had hit hard, made the walls collapse and left her in a broken room, but the repairs would always be done swiftly. They never gave ponies much trouble under normal circumstance, so she had heard. From all the talking and gossiping around the hospital it seemed like a minor problem. It was as if there were always more important things than them, no matter what broke down.

Sure, there were wounded and there was damaged property, but nothing that scarred the city for an extended period of time.

Twilight knew that this one was different. She was a smart filly and she understood what Lyra just told her, even though the scale must have been exaggerated.

Two earthquakes in two days wasn’t something to worry about, but something like half the city breaking down? That couldn't be true, because the roof above her head was still fine, because the others didn't seem all that fazed. Truly, it couldn't be that bad?

Yet it felt eerie, like there was something else. Even Lyra’s smile did little to hide the unease she must’ve felt. Something was off, incredibly off.

Twilight was a smart filly but she didn't understand. Still, she tried to take a deep breath, hoping to calm herself.

“We’re okay though, everypony’s fine, right?” She asked.

Lyra nodded. “But are you okay? You just collapsed.”

The topic sure changed quickly, Twilight took that as further proof that Lyra must've exaggerated.

“I’m sorry, sometimes my body's just weak. It’s because I’m a unicorn,” Twilight answered as warmly as she could.

Derpy at least nodded understandingly, and Lyra started to nod after a moment, too.

“Yeah, we unicorns are weaker than other ponies," Lyra agreed. "But that means you're fine, that's awesome."

Except we’re not, Twilight thought.

She didn't tell them that she had collapsed as a reaction to using magic. It wasn't often you got to tell somepony that you'd broken the laws by which reality worked and she was quite sure none of them would understand it. She herself had little to no idea about it and she was pretty much the smartest filly here.

Her happy thoughts were quickly broken by the growing feeling of her bladder, telling her that it would soon explode and ruin whatever credibility she held.

“Urgh,” she groaned for a moment, because the sudden pang in the farthest back of her body was far too unexpected. She turned back to Lyra and Derpy. “Can you two help me get to the toilet?”

They both tilted their head, before Lyra seemed to have some sort of enlightenment. “Oh, you don’t know where it is!”

“Oooh,” answered Derpy as if that was truly a revelation unravelling the mysteries of the universe. Twilight would’ve said something, but Derpy immediately followed it up with a more substantial offer. “I’ll lend you a shoulder, Twilight.”

That, she could appreciate and having somepony’s strength to aid her made the way to and back from the bathroom that much easier. Not only that, but Twilight felt at ease, despite the shock of the news, or maybe because of the hole it’d created. These ponies here truly wanted to help, and it made her feel, well, like it was worth it.

Once she sat back in that little bed with the mobile above, Twilight got her first real chance to see the life that was going on in this house.

She observed Raindrops coming into the room, hovering above the ground, her tiny wings flapping like those of a bee. She tagged Derpy and not even a moment later, they’d kicked the toys around and made even more of a mess than there had been previously. The reason behind that might’ve been their hectic play, but it was also that flight technique of theirs. Or lack thereof.

As a matter of fact, two pegasi were really bad at flying and it didn't surprise Twilight that even if they were only a few centimeters above ground, whenever they did try to land, it ended up being face first, always.

Octavia had taken her giant cello to the kitchen and plucked it there, or so Twilight guessed from the sounds reaching her. Another melody that wasn’t quite there, another melody that was in need of some guidance. Octavia wasn’t all that good, but she didn’t lack heart.

All the while, Lyra seemed to be in an endless talk with Madame Hoove, but she neither heard nor saw Hugh Jelly being around. That weirded her out, and so she turned to the two playing fillies to ask about his whereabouts.

Raindrops stared at her, but didn’t say anything. She hadn’t spoken even to Derpy, and only her laughter during the game had hinted at her not being a mute.

At least Derpy herself was eager to give an answer. “He’s out helping the others with the damage, but he forbade us to go too. It’s too dangerous for kids.”

In all honesty, Twilight agreed with that assessment, and she only wanted to stay hidden beneath her blankets, where it was warm and cozy. So it came easy to her to enjoy watching the other two continue their game, but then they took it to the floor, and then the kitchen, leaving Twilight on her own.

It was a quiet moment, or at least one where all the sounds in the world seemed to be far, far away from her, and Twilight looked to the mobile, at how the stars and the moon turned in circles. Her eyes lingered on the crescent moon, a slightly misshapen scrap that served to calm little children.

The Lunarium, she thought, and even the word seemed, like something impossible to reach. Her thoughts turned to the Wise Goat, the mysterious ghost of Canterlot, but only for a second, because then, the silence was broken, and Trixie marched into the room.

She was quiet, her hat too big for her head, her cape catching dirt on the floor as she walked across it.

“Hey, Trixie,” Twilight said, “I’m better now.”

Trixie didn’t answer, she only sat down by the side of the bed, and then the sounds of the other foals became the loudest noise again, despite the distance. Trixie’s eyes were fixated on the ground before the bed, but Twilight ignored how she looked.

“I, I wanted to thank you,” that made Trixie move a little, maybe startled her. “It’s really nice here and if I could, I would want to stay here forever. Thank you for bringing me.”

Silence was a dreadful thing, especially between two children. Twilight knew not the finer points of conversation, but she noted how quiet Trixie was, and how she shook. Was she cold too?”

"So ...“ Trixie started. "Has that 'wise goat' thing talked to you again?“ she asked.

And there was a poison in her voice like whenever she spoke Lyra’s name, a seething hatred that Twilight could feel burn.

"Yeah,“ she answered, not knowing what else she could say.

"He said that you could do magic.“ Twilight noted how hollow Trixie's voice sounded.

"Y-yeah,“ she said, with a bit of hesitation but also pride. She had to be the first unicorn since forever to be able to do magic.

So, yes, she was proud, actually. And Trixie would probably be proud to, and happy, because magic existed and she could make an even better magic show than the one she had shown Twilight.

Yet Trixie only sighed, like she gave up on something again, and then there followed another long, dreadful quiet. Another hollow moment filled only with the most distant of sounds, the light from the lamps and the movement of the stars and the moon above their tiny heads.

The hooves went to the hat, grabbed it, and pulled it down. Trixie looked at the pointy thing, it’s pale purple color and the stars on it, they seemed so close to falling off. She then started to hug her head, and took a sniff at it, recapturing a smell that Twilight couldn’t scent.

"Trixie was born in a tower by the cliffs. There were fields of grass all around my home and if you followed the road for half an hour you'd reach a small town,“ Trixie suddenly said. "Trixie's parents were called Great Stars and Powerful Echo. They gave Trixie the cloak and hat and told her that she would become the greatestest wizard in the world if only she tried.

“They were stage magicians, you see, but nopony had liked their show, so they had bought the tower, to spend their remaining days out by the cliffs. They always put shows on until they went to sleep and ponies came to take Trixie to Canterlot. The cloak and hat were taken from Trixie and she had to get them back. They're all that's left from them, that and that she's going to become a great and powerful unicorn. I promised them, after all. But … I can’t do magic. I’m not a wizard. I’m useless.“

Trixie looked to the ground. She seemed a truly downtrodden and broken thing at that very moment. Twilight Sparkle didn't know how to respond, other than a meek; “I'm sorry.“

There were no tears, no whimpering, Trixie didn't show any emotion on her face. Maybe it was because she was strong, at least Twilight presumed that to be the reason. She's stronger than me, at least, Twilight figured, but kept quiet.

And so Trixie made to leave the room, but as she hopped off the bed, for a moment Twilight thought to catch the scent of salt and water, there in the wind that followed the tiny foal of brown and white. It was a strange sensation, too, for it was gone only a second later, like it'd never been there at all.

Twilight wanted to say something, but as it was, she never got to.

The third earthquake shook the foundations of Canterlot even more than the last two. The raging earth’s power caused the walls and the ceiling of Madame's house to crack. Twilight felt it down to her bones as she looked up and remembered how the bed beside her had once been crushed. The walls loosened up and dust rained from the ceiling as it started to give in to the might of the shaking.

“Come on,” Trixie beckoned, and Twilight looked at her waving.

It wasn’t safe in the middle of the room and she needed to move. Quick as she could she tried to get up and down from the bed, but entangled herself in the blankets, falling down to the ground, only barely managing to land on her right arm. Though the blankets quickly covered her sight up.

It hurt, but as she tried to get herself moving again, the quake stopped, vanishing as quickly as it’d come.

She saw Trixie not moving from her spot, not coming to aid her. She wondered why, but it was probably because she was looking in another direction, checking whether the others were alright. Probably, but Twilight couldn’t tell.

With six not-so-swift motions, she rid herself of the entanglement and stood on the floor covered in but one remaining blanket, the one she’d taken from the warehouse. She moved closer to Trixie, but just then the others came in, with the tall Madame Hooves right behind them.

“I’m sorry, but I need to look where Hugh is,” she had written on a piece of paper for them.

“You need to stay here, where it’s safe. Don’t leave the house.”

Twilight wanted to ask her why they couldn’t come, wanted to tell her that she was scared on her own, without an adult nearby, but the Madame had other things on her mind and stormed out of the room again, grabbing her own coat and leaving the house with a bang of the door. She didn’t lock it, however. Lyra walked out into the floor, and started to giggle.

“She’s so fast,” she said, highly amused by the small detail, even though everypony else just stood there, shaking with fear.

Twilight allowed herself to fall onto her rump and let out a sigh. How could three earthquakes hit the city in such a short span? This can’t be good. Again, she thought of the Wise Goat, and again, she thought about the Lunarium.

But she was only a child and couldn’t actually do anything, right?

She spent the next few minutes in the puddle of blankets she had created on the floor, fighting the growing shaking of her body. The cold wasn't going away and she became weaker as time went by. Her stomach felt bad, not only because of her illness, but because she felt something in the air. Something terrible. Without any idea why she thought about that, and what it was, she couldn’t help but be a little bit scared.

You know, I couldn't help but notice a small thing. Tiny, really. You know ... It is actually quite a bit funny, so I thought I'd tell you. You see, I have actually noticed that you haven't really moved towards the gardens. Why?

She looked at the ceiling when the voice said that. "You talk too much and I don't understand what you're saying.“

The others turned their heads.

“Wha–” started Octavia.

“She’s talking to the Wise Goat!” Lyra said, a wide smile on her face.

While Derpy and Lyra looked confused and bewildered, Octavia only barely lifted an eyebrow at that statement.

It's simple, really: Go to the gardens, get to the Lunarium, save the world.

"But the magic nearly-“

That's not because of the magic, but rather because other than a talent you've got no connection. It's complicated, all you need to know is this: You get magic back, you get better.

There was a pause, Twilight said nothing.

That's not what you wanted to hear, though, right?

The others were by the front door, waiting, she knew. "Even if I get better, Shining's gone and papa ...“ She couldn't finish that sentence.

So, you don't think going to where I tell you to go isn't going to help? Even if I'd tell you that you'd revive the princesses there and get harmony back to the land?

There was a pause. "What?“

Go to the gardens, the old castle plaza. Twilight Sparkle, take the dive and change the fate of the world. You are the pony to do it. You'll get stronger as the journey will continue and in the end, I'm sure, you might even become a bearer of an Element of Harmony. Trust me on that, Twilight Sparkle.

The voice was reassuring to her, yes. She sat there, looking at the ceiling and the mobile above her, still no idea why Raindrops had one above her bed as she seemed way too old for one.

However, now those stars told her something. Revive the princesses, bring back harmony.

She had read stories, she had heard so much about the old world, how wonderful it had been, how Equestria had flourished and peace had been there.

But most important: How family had mattered. Twilight thought about her father, about her brother, and a mother whose smile she’d never known.

With a stern expression on her face she stood up, standing even more shaky on her hooves than usual. Nonetheless, she threw off all the blankets but the most colorful, leaving that warm haven behind. That remaining one would serve as a cape, the warmest and cuddliest of all, because somewhere down the line, she just knew she needed something to snuggle.

Then she moved, step by step, slowly stumbling towards the first door. The others were watching her quietly, wondering what she was doing. Twilight reached it and then went to the hallway, setting her sights on the front door. Five ponies followed her, and yet not really. They didn’t know where she was going, and they were still hoping for the mare and the stallion to return.

Maybe that was enough, but Twilight had a chance to do something now, to save everypony. Somehow she felt like she knew this entire scene. Every step felt familiar, every time she blinked, everything felt like she had seen it before. Deja-vu that feeling was called, or so she had memorized, or maybe it was just a story she’d once read, about somepony leaving everything behind for a brighter tomorrow. It was time to play hero!

Reaching the door, Lyra was the first to react to her: "What are you doing?“

"Going on an adventure!“ The declaration came easy to Twilight, she felt good, even though she felt weak and cold.

The other ponies looked at her for a moment, mouths agape.

"Trixie is not amused with your shenanigans. You should rest,“ Trixie said, trying to be the voice of reason, despite trying to sound like she did, in fact, not care.

"Anypony want to go with me on an adventure? We might even see Madame and Hugh on our way,“ Twilight asked.

A quiet moment passed, but Derpy declared a “Woohoo,” and started to move, taken in by the prospect of doing something but remain here. Raindrops followed her without saying a word. Octavia stared at them and then at Lyra whose smile looked as painful as ever.

“We can totally help some adults out, too!” She said, eager to break some rules.

That made Octavia sigh and nod, though she turned around again, unsure whether to leave something important behind. She started to move towards the front door, too, however.

And that left only Trixie, staring at them with a blank look on her face. “They told us to stay.”

“But if it’s as bad as they say, we need to help. You can’t just want to stay here,” Octavia answered, surprising Twilight.

"We're going to follow that voice?“ she still asked.

"Yeah. We're going to revive the princesses and save Canterlot!“ Twilight declared.

The rest of the group took it with smiles and laughter, and Twilight could understand. This might well become a great adventure. Even now, as her heart smashed against her chest and her legs were trembling under the weight of her own body, she felt like this was the first glorious step towards the dawn, and the sun hadn’t even set yet.

"It's dangerous, you know? Two earthquakes in just a few hours, we should wait for Hugh and Madame to return and then leave, we ... We can't do anything anyhow," Trixie took a step forward, her voice shook with desperation.

Yet Twilight offered her a smile, despite the fact that she knew Trixie to be absolutely correct. "Nonetheless, this might be the chance to save the world. You saw the other world, you saw me do magic. If we could bring that to everypony, all this will have seemed like a breeze. And you, too, can become a wizard, just like you wanted."

Trixie stared at them, her mouth half-open, revealing the missing teeth. She hesitated, but took another look at her hat. Twilight couldn't guess her thoughts, but hoped that the words would reach her, and they did. Trixie put her hat on again and looked at Twilight with newfound resolve. “Alright, I’ll come with you.”

Chapter 10 ~ I Always Wanted To Play There (V2)

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Ponies galloped frantically through the city. Cracks were in the road, roofs had fallen down, houses had collapsed in on themselves. Just looking at this disaster made Twilight regret her decision to leave the confines of her home and of her blanket fort.

Just as they left their home, two mares ran by, saying how there was a fire a few streets down, and the rising smoke from beyond the buildings on their side of the street told them it wasn't just one. Nevertheless, Twilight made herself move.

Every pony they saw was stressed and busy. Some were digging through their fallen homes, some were tending to others. Twilight even spotted some pegasi soldiers trying to organize themselves.

None of them noticed the six fillies who'd just walked out of the apartment complex and onto the road. That was a good thing, Twilight told herself as they went through the chaos in hopes of reaching the castle and its gardens. Twilight knew not where they were, but the nopony else complained about the direction she took.

And now that a few of the higher buildings had collapsed, the view of the city set itself before Twilight for the first time in her life.

Whenever a writer spoke of Canterlot, they likened her to a nest of snakes, resting by the side of the mountains. She'd heard how past the main road, if one walked long enough, there would come a steep cliff and far below it, another arm of the city would stretch along a river, and the oldest parts of the city where built on a slope to Canterlot Castle.

She could see it now, despite the smog. Past the wrecks and the broken homes, past red-tiled roofs and rising smoke the stairs rose up to what might have been the oldest ruin in Equestria, the last remnant of a golden age. She could see it well enough from here, but they clearly weren't on the main road, and they'd need to go through the maze of alleys.

Twilight moved on, glad that the blanket still hugged her, and the group followed.

"I've never gone farther than the hideout. Do we really have to go all the way to the castle?" Derpy suddenly asked. "I don't want to get lost."

"It’ll be fine, I’m sure we'll make it before nightfall, I'm sure of it," Octavia chimed in.

"I can't go farther without my parents. It's dangerous to go alone." Derpy said, "They'll be worried."

"Ha!" Laughed Lyra before declaring proudly; "I took the horsebus once, all on my own. I mean, I didn't know where I got off, but I did get back home safely. So there's nothing to worry about!"

That didn't incite much confidence in Derpy, who made a noise somewhere between neighing and squeaking after she heard that.

The desolation was pretty much around them, with lots of houses having collapsed and ponies running past them.

It was a strange thing to notice at this point of time, but Twilight just realized that she walked at the tip of their group, leading them. That, considering everything, was a weird feeling, one that scared her. Her eyes were fixated on the bleak ruins of Canterlot Castle, and she clung to the thought that they needed to get there.

With everything around her in rubble, she felt helpless. She knew the city the least of them all, since she had only ever walked a single road. She knew the way from her home to the hospital. She knew the shops and the bakery, she knew the signs and the house numbers, but that was it.

Quite honestly, Twilight had little to no idea where they even were. The thought that she was lost right off the bat didn't suit her, the smart l0eader.

Octavia trotted close by her side, trying to look dignified, although the panic around them seemed to affect her, because she grew more and more nervous, her tail flailing from one side to the other. Trixie was on the right end of the group, right beside Raindrops, who in return seemed to worry about the downtrodden, piebald filly, if only with looks. She kept a certain distance to the others.

"How do we get to the castle?“ Twilight asked Octavia as they passed the first street. She got a queer look for that question.

"You don't know?" Octavia sighed, then nodded. "Well, just follow my lead then, I know an easy way to get there.“

With that, the grey filly took the lead. The grace with which she carried herself was not lost on Twilight. Sometimes however, she would stumble over her own hooves or walk into something she hadn't noticed because she held her nose to high up. But aside from that she seemed to know where she was going.

Into another alley they moved and soon the castle vanished behind the cold stone of house walls and what little daylight pressed through the smog and the darkening clouds grew only thinner in this place.

Twilight decided to take the moment to get to know Octavia better.

"So, why were you staying at Hugh's house? Sleepover?“ she asked.

She had read about sleepovers and slumber parties, but since she didn't have any friends, it would be wonderful to hear somepony being to them.

Octavia looked over to her for a second, trying to figure out how to answer that. "I live there,“ she finally said and added after a pause; "My parents are ministerial agents and we lived with the other ones near the town hall.“

"I've never seen that part of Town,“ Twilight admitted.

"It's beautiful, they have gardeners that tend to the parks there and the houses are old and wonderful.“

Even though she said that, Twilight noticed that Octavia wasn't exactly swooning, there wasn't even a longing in her voice.

"It looks best during winter, when the snows covers the roofs and streets and the lanterns. The ponies go about in their fancy clothes, and when Hearth's Warming Eve approaches and the richest families homes smell of garrapinyades they acquired from griffon traders. I always got good inspiration for music during those times. The cello I have belongs to my own grandfather, one of the greatest musicians that ever walked into the Celestial Hall.“

"That's where the orchestras, operas and all that stuff play, right?“

"Yeah, the biggest musical house in all of Equestria." Now she was definitely swooning. "It's quite grand and since it's from the time of the princesses, even the simpler ponies could go there and enjoy the masterworks of music.“

As they made a turn into another alley, the end was covered in rubble, but the sight revealed the far horizon, dyeing itself in the brownish grey of the city's smog. Octavia faintly smiled as she looked at it.

"I've been there myself, you know, the last time grandfather played. I remember the name of the piece, too: The Seapalace. A canon dedicated to some kind of water ponyfolk," she said, her voice drifting, dreamy.

"Seaponies,“ Twilight interjected, "They're part of our folklore, right?“

Octavia nodded and even though Twilight knew nothing of music, the appraisal made her feel smart. It was a good balance to those weakening legs of hers.

"The piece was quite wonderful and it was grandfather who introduced me to playing the cello. My parents tolerated it as a passing hobby but after he died I wanted to become a musician just like him. Little Octavia Quarternote, the neighbours said, dreaming foalish dreams.“

Musician wasn't exactly dream job, as far as Twilight knew. The Celestial Hall had seen its second golden age during the time of the Princess of Love, and of course, it had wilted away with the princess. Nopony cared much about music anymore, even she'd never heard a song in her life, even though ponies had talked about some in her presence.

They walked farther into the alleys, through the maze and the shadows. Yet Octavia walked on single-minded and Twilight was glad to follow.

She took the chance to observe how the city had changed from the moment she and Trixie had stepped out of the hospital. Back then she wouldn't have called Canterlot a good looking city but it hadn't been a complete wreckage either. Now, that seemed like an appropriate appellation.

The walls they passed looked like they were about to crumble and what windows they spotted were either cracked or shattered. That made them all extra careful as to not step into any glass shards.

They trailed through the narrow passages in a line, with Trixie on the far-off end and Raindrops trying to hover above them, only to fail miserably at it. Meanwhile, Derpy made a hobby out of accidentally knocking everything over that could be knocked over. In and of itself, that was just her being clumsy, but the thing was, on most occasions, it set off a string of events. This led at one point to the fall of a pony from the sixth floor into the dump and another time in the furthering of a small crack, which Twilight figured would probably somehow end in a disaster in the long run. At least the first time the pony had been unharmed, he hadn't even known that Derpy had somehow been responsible for his fall.

Either way, that filly had a hand for accidents, as it seemed.

Then, after a while, they left the maze of alleys and stepped on another street. Unlike the busywork everywhere else, however, this one was utterly deserted. There were no ponies in the street and whichever houses still stood appeared to be abandoned, the doors and windows barred. Twilight had to stop for a moment to take it all in.

Lyra laughed. "Don't worry, it's just the local ghost town."

Not knowing whether to take it as a joke, Twilight asked in return; "How do you know that?“

"Grew up here,“ the white pony laughed and creeped closer to Twilight. "Sometimes at night you can hear the screams of the damned. Woooo. Woooo. I mean, it's either ghosts or drunk university students, but both are scary."

Twilight looked around once more. This didn't seem like a good place to live at. Half the buildings, as it appeared, had collapsed some time ago and the sudden earthquakes had done a number on the rest. The six moved on through the abandoned part of the city and Twilight was left wondering how ponies could forget an entire district. She wondered if it was a lie Lyra told, but what reason would she have for that? Just like with the ghosts, now that she thought about it.

And since magic was real ...

"Uhm, Octavia?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can you hold my hoof?"

The other filly nodded and Twilight grabbed on to her new friend's appendage, immediately feeling a bit safer. Tavi was smaller than she was, sure, but she braved this scary place much better than she did.

A few moments later, Octavia looked across the street and stopped right dead in the middle of it. Everypony came to a sudden halt, wondering what was up. So they went and looked at the same building that had caught the grey filly's attention.

This one stood apart from all the other houses around it, and it captivated Twilight pretty much immediately. A house that must've once had white walls stood before them, it looked huge compared to the apartment buildings around it and its entrance, even though broken down, still had remnants of a red carpet coming out of it and the entrance was guarded by stone statues of the solar guard, the first army that had served Equestria.

"What building is that?“ Twilight asked, in her amazement not even able to produce her voice properly.

"The Celestial Hall,“ Octavia answered, "It burned down after my grandfather died. It must've been a year or two. The rest of the district was already falling apart and with the fire, everypony left to the other parts of the town. Father and Mother even told me to forget about it. Funny thing. I always wanted to play there and now I can't, not ever.“

So Lyra did lie, at least about one thing. I wonder if there's ghosts in there.

Twilight looked at the sad little pony that held her hoof, but she was also intrigued by how that building would look from the inside. "Can we go in?“

"I– my parents ... No, it's dangerous.“

That's when they heard Lyra's voice from across the street; "Are you coming or not?“

She waved at them from before the house and Twilight had to giggle. Lyra's energy and enthusiasm was something to behold. It even made everypony else move into that general direction, Derpy first, Raindrops following her. Trixie shook her head, before she put on her head and started walking, too. Octavia was the last to move, and Twilight was with her. Now they both benefited from holding hooves, Twilight figured.

It was dark inside of the building. So dark, that Twilight could barely make anything out. The sun was already moving down outside, so only small rays of light reached this place. The few things she did notice when they came in were the old counters and burned pictures on the walls. They probably had depicted the princesses. Oh, how she would've loved to see them.

Other than that there was a stairway up and hallways leading to the bathrooms. They decided to take the stairs.

Old wood creaked beneath them and Twilight held herself close to Octavia, who tried to stay close to Derpy who tried to stay close to Raindrop who tried to stay close to Trixie who tried to stay as close as possible to Lyra. Still, they somehow managed to not trample on each others hooves. Twilight deemed their teamwork excellent as of that moment.

Then they entered the biggest door they saw and came into the biggest room Twilight had ever seen. The roof had given up long ago and fallen down, leaving only a ring on the edges of the walls. The large stage stood empty and desolate, its curtains had become ashes and were scattered in the wind.

The filly noticed the rows and rows of chairs. So many chairs, she figured that the entire city had to fit in here.

She was in deep amazement as she walked through the gate into this weird new world. The others followed her suite, as amazed at the size of it all as much as she was. It was Octavia, though, who suddenly started into a trot, letting go of Twilight and moving through all the rubble and past the chairs.

Twilight followed her slower, feeling so tiny against this place. What a sight it must've been during its golden age. She looked back at Octavia, who walked up the stairs to the stage. The grey foal walked to the middle of it and then stared at the far world before her, with the other five scattering across the hall and exploring it to their heart's content.

Octavia looked on it all, and for a moment, Twilight heard a whisper in the wind. A melody playing in the distance, and then a long, empty quiet following.

The hall was quiet.

Arpeggio Quarternote looked at them all, all the nervousness he had expressed to his family beforehand gone. He smiled so sure at the audience, so completely without fear, he couldn't believe it himself.

He took a deep breath and his gaze went over to his family. His own child and that air-headed wife of his, together with their own little one, his granddaughter. While his son seemed distant and disinterested and the wife was unusually busy with her purse, the little grey filly stared at him with wide eyes. No, rather she was looking at his instrument. That old wonderful cello he had once bought at an auction in Manehatten. She looked so excited, it filled him with joy.

Most ponies hadn't had a sense for music. True musicians were slowly dying out, just like unicorns. Writers and artists persisted through sheer stubbornness but magic was long since gone and with it the colors and the words and the music. The notes could still be played but few ponies could get the heart of the piece right. Nopony sang anymore and when they tried they would get angry because they didn't 'get' the music.

Arpeggio Quarternote lifted the bow to the strings of his instrument. He was well aware that there were few ponies who could still create magic and just as few who could feel it. The magic of music, the rarest thing. Like writing or drawing, anypony could do it, but his long studies had brought him to but one conclusion. The magic of harmony was needed to create real music. Harmony was gone though.

He pulled the bow and the melody began to resonate throughout the Celestial Hall. A song, a prayer, a ray of hope. The magic was still there, in his bow. He was a musician and nothing else. Right at this moment, his world was in the notes, his heart was with his instrument and he had lived his entire life just like this. Playing the cello for everypony, he closed his eyes and let his heart do the work for him.

Through the song's guidance, the seaponies woke from their slumber, in the blackest depths of the cold dark sea, and looked up to the sky, taken in by curiosity. They would start their journey to the air and then they would chase the sun until they reached the land. Across rivers and seas their journey would carry them, and all with the help of a bow dancing across the strings.

He asked himself if he'd find Celestia's palace if he kept playing like this? The bow hovered across the cello, the sounds came out so fluidly and the magic worked, even if only this once. He didn't open his eyes, he pictured it.

The little seaponies, they reached out from the darkness and came into the light. They ran from sharks and whales, needed to solve the eight riddles of a squid and needed to help a lost frogfish. In the end, he heard the orchestra entering his play, playing a glorious fanfare as, at long last, the group reached the palace of seashells and pearls and met a pony with a mane glistening in the sun, and a smile like summer.

The bow went off the cello and he opened his eyes, although they were a bit watery.

He was happy for the seaponies, so happy, because with this, they'd reached their goal. But then the applause set in and it made him that much happier that he'd reached everypony around him.

They all stomped their hooves on the ground and cheered like foals. Everytime he played they were so giddy afterward. The magic had gotten to them and they all felt the harmony. All but his son who had never forgiven him.

He looked at his family, but his son and his wife had left. A despair came up within him, but then his eyes caught those of a little grey filly who had remained in her seat. Her eyes glittered with tears she herself hadn't noticed, so intoxicated she had been by the music. She wasn't even aware it had ended, she was just happy that they had reached their goal. Like him. Arpeggio smiled a smile reserved for her.

"Octavia,“ he would later tell her, "you know there's magic in these strings and few are talented enough to unleash it. I think you can do it, though. You're a Quarternote and the most musical pony in all of Equestria. Our family's produced geniuses like you since the dawn of the earth ponies. Never forget who you are, Octavia and do what your heart tells you to.“

Octavia took a deep breath and looked down at the other five ponies. They were all good friends of hers and they would need her. She was sure of it. The filly stepped down from the stage and moved towards her friends, ready to continue their journey.

So you're done then, my little champion? Remember, you are the only pony that matters, only you can bring magic back. No matter what this journey will bring, I trust you completely.

It was strange how the Wise Goat talked to her, but he'd been her companion from the beginning.

Chapter 11 ~ You Can Change Everything (V2)

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As six fillies made their way through the chaos that now painted Canterlot in such a perverse version of life, the clouds in the sky only seemed to grow darker. The heavy weight they carried let itself not be held back any longer. Droplets of water, dyed in sickly browns and greens, began to fall on the heads of the city’s denizens.

First earthquakes and now getting soaked, that seemed fairly harsh to Twilight. But the dry summer was already a thing of the past, cold winds were rising and soon rainclouds would mix more often with the city’s smog. At least that’s how it always went, but Twilight Sparkle wasn’t a filly who could predict the weather.

Of course, she had tried to read about it but the books about weather, air and temperatures had been too complicated to her. Twilight didn't like books she wasn't able to understand. A smart pony understood many things and things a smart pony like her didn’t understand shouldn’t exist in the first place. They made others think that she wasn’t what she thought herself to be, and that was horrible.

So here she was, glad she had a blanket with her and threw it over her head as soon as the rain started. The drops were heavy, weighed down by the chemicals the factories pumped into the air, and a lightly foul stench clung to them. Twilight felt her gag reflex acting up, but she didn’t want it to happen in front of the others. So she kept breathing, slowly and steadily, like she'd learned.

Her five new friends took the change of weather even worse.

Trixie ran over to an alley, taking a garbage can’s top and held it above her head, not wanting her valuable clothing to get hit by the horrible wetness. She cursed all the while. Lyra huddled with the piebald filly, constantly whispering jests into the ears of her ears. Trixie clearly wanted her to stop, grimacing as the distance between her and her fated nemesis closed. Lyra, yet again, portrayed a wondrous ignorance for Trixie's assessment of her.

Maybe Trixie would've pushed her away, were it not for her being too busy getting her robe off the ground. Considering how ragged the edges looked, it didn’t really seem to matter that much to Twilight.

The two grey fillies, Octavia and Derpy walked before Twilight. The earth pony told the other that she shouldn't drink the water, that Hugh and Madame had forbidden it, but Derpy seemed quite stubborn about it.

“I’m thirsty,” she insisted.

“You’ll get a tummy ache when you drink it. It’s bad for you,” Octavia told her sternly.

“But I’m really thirsty,” Derpy whined, stopping and stomping her hoof on the ground.

“We’ll get something when we go back, okay?” Octavia looked at the others. “They have apple juice at home and that’s way better than this icky water.”

Derpy grumbled and wanted to turn away from Octavia, to give her the cold shoulder. Doing this, she stumbled over her own hooves and landed flat on the ground. The thirst was forgotten, and now she was too wet to continue.

“We’ll get to see the castle,” Twilight interrupted them. “I’ve never seen it before,” and we can bring magic back, make papa smile again and make Shining come back with his marefriend.

Derpy looked at her, her golden eyes drifting into different directions. The lower half of her body was drenched in the filth of the street, brown dirt mixing with the grey of her coat and ugly blonde of her mane. As miserable as the fat little thing looked, she gave Twilight a little, honest smile.

“Okay,” she said happily, forgetting her own troubles, her own stubbornness.

The grey pegasus started moving again, and the rest of the group with her.

“Hey, Raindrops,” Trixie suddenly said from behind Twilight, and the unicorn turned to find the black pegasus.

She was hovering between Trixie and Twilight. The rain fell down on her and dripped from her muzzle as she looked forward, her wings flapping inelegantly as they continued onwards. Raindrops was very quiet, Twilight noted. Until this point, she hadn't said a single word, and even as Trixie spoke to her, all she did was turn into her direction.

Was I wrong before? Is she actually a mute?

“Do you want to change places?" Trixie asked, clearly wanting to get away from Lyra.

“I like the rain," Raindrops answered in a calm voice.

So she was just a quiet pony, Twilight could understand that. It would make interactions much easier, because less words needed to be spoken. And she'd always liked the quiet characters in her books, too. They were thoughtful, smart, like Twilight was. Getting to know one would be brilliant.

But she couldn't speak up, no, Twilight felt the water through her makeshift cape, felt the cold to her bone and of course, her body reacted to that. She felt the beating of her heart, the hammers smashing against her chest yet again.

Why now? she wondered, and focused on her breathing. They needed to get to the castle! Then they would bring magic back and the darkness they'd seen in the other world would become a distant dream, banished forever from her thoughts.

With the rain picking up, the chaos grew lighter, or at least it appeared to do so. The world of the fillies grew much quieter and they focused on the path through the alleys and the open streets, where the water ran across the stones and towards the edge of the city, where it would fall in the valley to the east.

Looking forward, upward to where the castle ruins overlooked the mighty capital of the Equestrian Republic, Twilight couldn't help but ponder on why she was even going there.

There were many things she never understood, but ponies had always spoken of one with absolute certainty: Magic did not exist.

What they said varied, but most believed the stories, even around the Princess of Love to be exaggerations. Alicorns had never been as powerful as they were made out to be, because to be a god, one needed to be supernatural, and the supernatural was not a possible thing. Changelings didn't replace naughty children at night and dragons had never ruled the skies.

In fact, until Cadance showed up, most books already referred to the princesses as complete make-believe and even now most things surrounding them, such as their involvement with the movement of the moon and sun, or the almost utopian way with which they had ruled over equestria, all those were considered legends, stories of a golden age that had never truly existed.

But Twilight liked the stories better than reality. She liked to think of fields and castles, of princesses and the Elements of Harmony defeating the forces of Discord. A part of her had already accepted them as just the stories they were, at least until, well. ...

Whatever they'd find at the castle, she wanted it to change the world. The Wise Goat just had to be right, there just had to be a way to make her family whole again.

This single voice that had appeared in her head somehow had given her the strength to believe in those foalish dreams. All she'd wanted to do as she’d set out with Trixie was to see Canterlot at least once. Now, with the cold, reeking rain and the shattering beats of her heart, she wanted to reach something new.

However, it wasn't just the words he'd spoken that made her move towards what had once been the center of their country. She had felt the strength when they had faced that thing, Magia, she had felt the magic running through every fiber of her being. Her memory told her that she had felt as strong as never before and that there were no logical possibilities for the feats she'd accomplished there.

Twilight knew that.

Ponies didn't believe in magic because nopony had ever seen magic, not even Cadance had used spells, only words of conviction and a warm, open-minded warmth. But Twilight had seen it first hand. She knew that the bone that many called a reminder of the unicorns' worthlessness was actually the instrument that allowed her to weave the strings of magic into the cloth of spells.

There was magic, but it had left this world. Sure, just the thought of how she felt after surging with might made her tremble. For a moment, she wanted to stop, her heart accelerated even more. If there was something that kept her going now, then it was the fact that how she felt didn’t matter.

If they found the Lunarium, if they brought back magic, she might never feel sick again, now that she thought about it. That would be nice.

The princesses, harmony and the golden age, all those weren't stories either, or legends, they were facts, and they could be brought back. And Mama, too, Twilight thought, because that was the only way to make her family perfect again.

She remembered Shining Armor, her papa and the pictures she had seen of mama. Twilight Sparkle wondered if the world would change for the better, if she'd really see her mama outside the dreams? Surely she would, even if, right now, it still only sounded like a dream. Maybe Shining would come back, her papa would stop drinking and they all would–

What would they do?

Twilight didn't quite know how to answer her own question. Even when she thought about it. She had never felt stupid in her life, since she knew the answers to many questions. She knew what goats were and she knew all the letters of the alphabet. She could count as far as there were words for numbers and she could do math, too. Twilight knew about trains and the structure of the military, she knew several plants and she knew that she would soon leave this world behind.

But what would she do when mama was back? Even if it was really just a "hypothatical" – she congratulated herself on getting the word right – question, she still wondered about the answer.

What would they do when mama was back? Maybe Shining would finally play with her. He'd ruffle her mane and call her the best little sister, his best friend forever and ever.

Maybe papa would be able to find a proper job and everypony would acknowledge him as the nice pony he was, not just his marefriends.

Maybe mama would work while he stayed home and he'd read her stories and played soldier with Shining.

That'd be wonderful, Twilight thought with a growing smile on her face. The rain dripped down from her muzzle too, and she accidentally got some in her mouth and swallowed it down. It tasted sour and left a slight burning sensation in her throat. Really, really, wonderful.

Just the thought of it: Mama, Papa, Shining. There would be hall with a green floor and a checkered wall, three ponies writing on their papers and amidst it all a purple egg with darker dots.

All the pain, all the fear, they would all culminate in her dreams becoming reality and everypony praising her, because she'd been a smart filly, a brave filly.

Maybe she could even stop reading then. She would be strong; strong enough to go outside, strong enough to visit different towns, strong enough to make friends and she would never ever collapse again. She'd be a healthy little filly and she would be able to do magic, too.

Surely she didn't need to be a smart filly then, instead she could just be a normal filly. Well, a normal, magical filly.

She had read stories about normal fillies. She had read about cookie jars, bedtime stories and playing hide-and-seek on the corners of the street. It filled her with glee, the thought that she would be able to do all those things. Maybe she could even eat like a normal pony, then. She wouldn't be skinny anymore.

All that excitement made itself felt, as the stinging in her chest caused her to finally stop in her tracks. Twilight didn't want to worry anypony, so she immediately continued, her breaths agitated but steady.

It hurt, it really did, and a part of her wanted to cry out for Nurse Redheart, wanted to go back to the hospital and go back to sleep. But she didn't want to stop now, she wanted to do this. If the voice was real, if all the things she had seen were real, this was the right way to go. This way she could do something. Twilight Sparkle, the brave little adventurer. She had read such stories, too.

Not only did the rain not stop, but the wind picked up too, howling in the distance as they moved onward. A bolt of lightning shot through the sky and the following roar of thunder caused Raindrops too yelp and huddle up with Trixie and Lyra. Trixie expressed her discomfort at how she was now sandwiched between the two with a groan.

Twilight loved the sound of thunder, because she was a brave filly, a mature filly.

Yes, the weather didn't dim Twilight's mood one bit. As a matter of fact, the rain actually made her feel a bit happier, even if it was cold and started to burn in her eyes. The sound of the water falling on the ground was calming, even if she stood in the middle of it, and the sensation it left as it touched her kept her from stopping.

The voice had told her that she almost died back at Hugh Jelly and Madame Hooves' house. The next time she might go to sleep, that could well be her last time. So she didn't want to stop, didn't want to sleep or be weak. She could change this world, she could bring everything back.

The group around her walked on, but no one really walked with her. Twilight noticed how they were all looking around. They had passed the quiet part of the town for a livelier one already, and they all felt the distance to their home. None of them probably understood why they needed to go to the castle, but it didn't matter, as long as they reached it. They could bring magic back.

As optimistic as she was about it, it wasn't a shared sentiment, and it was the quiet Raindrops, who'd been silently walking beside them all until this point, who spoke up.

“I haven't seen daddy and mommy.“

Raindrops had to be a bit younger than Twilight, she only now really noticed. The black filly walked in a slightly hunched way, as if she was scared of everything around her.

“Don't worry, they're busy with the other adults. While they fix the damage we'll make sure that there won't be anymore earthquakes!“ Twilight said, the optimism practically seeping out of her.

“How?“

“Well,“ she paused. "We're going to find the Lunarium.“

“The. ..." Raindrops started but didn't continue.

Twilight thought that she needed to explain, but that was when she realized that she had no idea what the Lunarium was and what they actually needed to do there. The Wise Goat hadn't explained, and all she knew was that they needed to take a dive.

But as Raindrops said the next words, it was Twilight's turn to be surprised. “The Lunarium? You mean the burial ground of magic?"

“Huh? You know it?“ Twilight asked, then progressing to slam a mental hoof against her head. Now Raindrop probably thought she was stupid.

“It’s a story I … I heard somepony tell a filly," Raindrops said, stuttering at every turn.

Whether it was the cold or the fear, Twilight couldn’t tell, but this was good. What made her wonder was how Raindrops knew about it, but before she could ask, somepony else spoke up already.

“I've never heard that story,“ confided Octavia, “could you tell us about it?“

“It's ... It's where the princesses supposedly left plans for the resurrection of harmony. M– The pony always said that it was far beneath the earth, close to the world’s heart, but nopony ever found it,“ Raindrops told them, nervously shifting her weight around as she became the center of attention. “At least, that's what I can remember. When the ... The other mare told me the story it was way more detailed and I really liked Tendertwig, she was the gardener at Canterlot during the princesses' time. I’m sorry.“

“Well, that's certainly not much ... But, I guess it does help a bit, at least now we know somepony buried magic somewhere,” Octavia said and she looked to Twilight, "How do you suppose can we get there, though?“

“We need to go to the old plaza in the gardens and,“ Twilight thought for a moment then concluded she didn't know, “the rest you'll see when you get there.“

It wasn't much, but she didn't want to appear completely useless. She hoped that everything would become clear when they reached the gardens. There was very little she could do otherwise. The rain felt heavy on her, and it really, really reeked. Twilight hoped it would stop soon.

You will most certainly see the rest, and it'll be glorious. On that note: Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.

The voice went through her head, carried by the winds of the coming storm, the rising cold winds. It was carried through the growing darkness of the city's shadows and came from somewhere far away, maybe the lowest low or the highest of heights. Either way, it was a place Twilight hoped to never see, because even smart fillies couldn't not be afraid of everything.

One tip though, as I don't know what will happen before you make it to the end of this journey. Don't put all your faith in me, but rather believe in yourself. You are an Element of Harmony, I know it. You can change everything, Twilight Sparkle, and you are the pony who will change everything.

Chapter 12 ~ Don't You Dare Leave Us (V2)

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Fields of dead grass and rotten flowers drenched in poison rain presented themselves before the mighty stairs that led up to the Canterlot Castle. This was the oldest place in the republic, and time had left its mark on the buildings, she saw. Vines crouched up the broken walls and had died in the rain a long time ago.

There were stories about this place, Twilight knew.

They were stories about the tribes uniting by this very mountainside, founding the capital in the shadow of the highest peak. They were stories about brave heroes defending the realm against the wrathful griffons and the proud zebras. They were stories of politics and romance, of cynicism and a lone princess, dying while reaching for her harp.

There had been a time when those things had been part of the world and anypony could've easily donned a cloak and just walk off into the world to make their mark on it. When they’d come back, they’d bring mystifying tales of strange countries and new friendships forged.

These times were long since over.

As they moved up the steps, she felt her heart pounding more and more, but the words of the Wise Goat had given her strength. She tried to think of herself as one of those old heroes, but which one, that she tried to find out next.

There were quite a few tales of which she remembered the names, more and more popping up every time her hooves hit the ground again. A certain phrase moved through her mind, over and over again: Take the dive.

She had heard that a long, long time ago. The phrase had appeared once in a story, a specific tale of wonder and adventure.

As they approached their goal the memory of it came easy to Twilight. She’d read it once when Nurse Redheart had been angry with her and hit her over something she already forgot. The Seapalace, the story was often called. It was the same one Octavia had mentioned, now that she thought about it.

There had been a folk called seaponies. They had lived in the eastern sea and it was the tale of how they first met with the nation of Equestria that had made transcended time.

A young seapony once swam far, far away from her home, where the earth rose beyond the waters.

The little pony was intrigued by the idea of life outside the water, although until then she had only heard the griffons talk of it. Strange tales of wood growing out of the ground and creatures breathing air.

This seapony thought the griffons made their stories up to tease her people, but her curiosity was set ablaze.

Even though her family told her; “Don't you dare leave us,” she swam for miles and miles, until she reached a point where the ground lifted itself up, above the water. The sky was draped in weird colors and she could see from afar that something was wrong with the land.

She carried on by the side of the coast, brave little filly that she was, until she found a stream to follow. The seapony swam deeper into the land, though sometimes she'd take her head out of the water to look at the weird world without water.

Queer was the simplest word for it, as she saw nothing but chaos there. The trees were hovering on patches of dirt above the ground and the grass had taken checkered colors. She decided to swim on, to see the end of the path.

She reached the end of the river days thereafter, the lake at the heart of their mighty nation. On its end was a mountain scraping the clouds. Wondering about where she was, the pony decided to delve further into the lake and there she talked with the inhabitants.

Only a few fish remained, but those who did talked about an evil king called Discord. They told her that by the lakeside he had fought rebels and imprisoned one of their leaders within the mountain.

The little seapony's curiosity was peaked and so she went towards the large stones and held her ears close them. Deep inside the mountain, she heard a pony crying.

Then she searched the stones for a weak spot, a hole or something like it and went deeper and deeper into the lake, till most light had died around her. There, at the lowest point, she found a hole in the wall, blacker than the blackest night and the water howling as it went into it.

On the other side, though, there had to be the crying pony, so the brave seapony took some seaweed from the ground. If the other pony was hungry, she would surely need something to eat.

The seapony took the dive into the deep dark. Without any kind of orientation she moved with the stream through the tunnel.

She had no knowledge of where she was going, so she just went with the flow of the water. The ride was hazardous, however.

More than once did she hit her fins or her head on the cold stone, but the brave seapony persisted nonetheless. Her blood might have mixed with the water, but she just closed her eyes and sped up.

Her path left her bruised and battered, but she fought through it.

When the stream was gone and she was in calm waters she opened her eyes to look at a strange light.

It was like the sun was shining above her, reflecting upon the green stone that now surrounded her, painting the water in a beautiful and mystical color.

Up there she heard a song, too–a small song drowning the silence. She followed its sound, the voice that came from beyond the waves. And then–

“Woah,” was the sound that lifted Twilight from her recollection.

Only for a second did she wonder about who had said that, because her eyes were drawn towards the castle that rose up before them.

The six fillies stood atop the world, with the stairs and the whole of Canterlot now behind them.

She couldn’t get a word out, because what she saw surpassed everything she could have imagined.

The gates were made of fine stone, although she didn't know exactly what kind, and stories were carved into them. They were pictures of the old age and Twilight was sure that if she would have had the time, she could’ve spotted quite a few she knew.

Just with one look she recognized the figures of Discord, the horrible king from the time before the princesses. There were other pictures, like the griffon queen kneeling before the republic’s council after the griffon’s defeat at the Wetterspitze, Blue Herald finding the remains of the last dragon, and the black obsidian shape of Sombra’s Crystal Heart.

There were a hundred more stories spread across the gates, but they didn’t have the time to read them all. They needed to bring magic back.

Lucky as they were, the gates were open. All six, stunned into silence, started to move through them and into the castle. Here, the wounds time had left seemed like deep scars.

The white paint was chipped off the castle walls and where once gold had adorned them, only cracks and holes remained. The towers were gone but for a few stones and the main palace looked even worse than the Celestial Hall had.

The roof had collapsed a hundred years ago and Twilight Sparkle knew the ancient library had been taken by a fire about a lifetime before she was born. The green surrounding the castle had been forgotten, grown out of control, and then died in the poison rain like all the rest. Grass covered the old pathways, brown and beaten down by the falling waters.

As they walked on, Twilight noticed all the dead flowers. She wondered if they would grow lively and colorful when they were done. All she could do was hope for that to happen, that, and move on.

So little remained of the palace and yet Twilight felt that those tales on the front gates and the stories she had read, they all remained. She saw the weeds, the broken towers and fainted colors all there before her, but time hadn’t destroyed everything.

As the six moved into the grand gardens, she felt herself overwhelmed. Wondering how the others fared, she turned her gaze towards them and they, too, walked forward, their heads turning, their tails swinging around nervously. None of them spoke a word, and their only companion was the sound of the rain.

Nopony ever visited the castle, as far Twilight knew.

The ponies didn't cling to the days where the princesses lived anymore and they probably even wanted to forget that there was a past with magic and peace.

As they walked over the grass and the rocks of the once greatest structure built by ponykind, she made herself realize that this was probably the truth. Nopony wanted to believe anymore.

Her papa had once told her that there was a difference between stories and reality. Something she hadn't wanted to acknowledge and if they did as the seapony did, taking the dive into the deep dark, she'd prove him wrong.

She would bring magic back and would become a bearer of an Element of Harmony.

The thought alone made her well up with pride. He'd also like that, a kid of his that wasn't a complete failure.

Trixie watched the stones with a passing interest, while Lyra hopped happily beside her.

“Ohmigosh, I thought things started off a bit rocky, but at least this adventure isn’t a total ruin, right?” Lyra asked, snorting with laughter.

Trixie shook her head, but Derpy and Raindrops snickered.

“What’s so funny?” Octavia asked.

“It’s not funny anymore if I explain it,” Lyra said, shaking her head.

Octavia grumbled something. “I don’t really know about all this. The rain is stupid. Wonder when it’ll stop?”

Twilight wondered about that, too, but the rain wasn’t that bad, not with what would come hereafter. This was going to be a wonderful adventure and at the end, her entire family might gather up again and live happily ever after.

Her grin disappeared the moment she got a look at Octavia, who looked like the most serious out of the bunch. She was awesomely mature about all of this, totally level-headed and the like. Twilight kind of wanted to be like that.

In contrast to that, she noted how little presence Raindrops had in the group. All she did was look around, nervously as she could be. Maybe she had just followed Derpy, and maybe she regretted having come.

Of course, she and Derpy both only wanted to find Madame Hooves and Hugh Jelly, so she probably wasn’t all that excited about being here. Well, a fun and exciting adventure would surely fix that. That was how it always happened in the stories.

Plus, if they were to bring back harmony, they'd be heroes. Everypony would like them and their story would find itself carved into stone.

None of them probably even realize just how big the thing was they were about to do. Well, once everypony started celebrating them, the surprise would be totally worth it.

The gardens were silent, aside from drumming of the rain on stone floors and the distant piping of wind as it went through ancient corridors. The sun still hadn't reached the horizon, so a few hours remained until sundown.

This place would probably be far more scary than it was now once the light dimmed. Still, it was amazing how little the earthquakes had made an impact here. The destruction was ancient and even if the tremblers had done more damage than there had been before, nopony would have noticed. Twilight sure didn't.

They went on, moving past the old buildings. Everypony followed Twilight who followed Octavia, who trotted on staunchly.

“Have you been here before?” Twilight asked after a few more moments.

Octavia turned her head for a moment. “No, the castle has been out of bounds for a long time.”

That came as a surprise. “How do you know where to go then?”

Octavia smiled a little. “We’re just following the path that leads through the garden, there’s no secret behind it. I mean, I hope it leads us to that plaza. Even if it doesn’t, I’m sure we’ll find it quickly,” she explained and Twilight nodded, finding that conclusion absolutely logical.

From the front gate they turned left and followed the only remaining path past the old castle ruins and statues of old heroes. Past stories long forgotten and stones set there long before their parents had seen the first light.

Six little fillies strutted, beneath a sky of black and greenish smoke, through the oldest tale in pony history. As they walked on Twilight looked left and right, because everything here had a story.

Each broken statue they passed had been a hero, a villain or famous figure. Before the death of the princesses, they all had contributed to Equestrian history. She saw and knew and the words resounded in the back of her head.

You can change everything.

You are an Element of Harmony.

Take the dive!

They were so close now and her heart was pounding. But it wasn’t the bad, hurting kind. She felt strong and her tiny, brown hooves moved onwards in a steady walk, too.

By the end of this she would be a hero and she would fix the world. She would bring harmony to the ponies and all she needed to do for that was to jump down.

Some cotton candy monster wouldn't be able to stop her. Nothing would ever be able to stop Twilight Sparkle now that she was at full strength.

She had to giggle. Her own confidence felt refreshing, but also silly. Twilight had never felt like that before. All she had done until now was wake up every single day in a world without magic, a world that refused to change.

Now she could bring something good into it and her own pain wouldn't matter anymore. She had to ask herself whether nurse Redheart was still out there. Surely, somepony needed to care for those who were hurt.

Twilight wasn't among them now, Twilight was strong. She could stand on her own and her own heart wasn't hurting anymore.

Some flowers bloomed in lavender and red and off the path an ancient labyrinth rose up, the green wilted, the wood dead. There were trees reaching out of it, like claws coming from the ground, twisting themselves, trying to reach for the clouds. The few leaves that grew from their branches rustled in the wind.

More statues guarded the labyrinth. Twilight had never seen so many stone figures before.

Most ponies knew of their existence, but seeing them in person was just overwhelming for the filly. They had all been important ponies and yet she couldn't put any names to the few faces that were still in a recognizable shape.

That was a depressing thought, so she turned away from the cold stone.

They moved further into the gardens and after a few more minutes of walking the old path the plaza came into sight. It stood out from the grey and green the rest of the path was covered in, for it was built with a stone dyed in a nightly blue. It was a marvellous sight, truly, and became even greater as they came closer.

Six pillars stood around it, each with a round rock with a symbol on it. A mosaic covered the ground. A nightsky with fourteen stars on its edges, a full moon to its north and a crescent moon to its south, while in the middle the sun resided.

From the sun, there rose two more statues, or at least remnants of them. Of the left only the base and a hoof remained, while the right one still retained the form of a pony. Only one wing remained and her face had been removed alongside any features.

Twilight had no idea whom ever represented, but it didn’t matter. The six fillies had arrived at their goal and dusk was still far away.

They moved onto the plaza and looked around.

“What now?” Raindrops suddenly asked.

“There should be a way down somewhere, we need to find it,” Twilight answered.

Somewhere around here there needed to be the place where she could take the dive to the Lunarium. It was below Canterlot Castle, but the Wise Goat hadn't said that the way down was going to be difficult to find.

Twilight found such twists and turns wonderful, though. They reminded her of all the adventure stories she had read until now. Especially that Daring Do book for which she still wanted a continuation.

They searched the plaza and its surrounding, hoping to find what they needed.

“Maybe there’s a button,” Derpy said and started touching every corner of the statues, and Trixie followed to do the same.

Octavia shook her head. “No, but the statues might show a hint,” she said and put her hoof to her chin, thinking.

Lyra imitated her, while Raindrops quietly hovered beside Twilight.

“Our parents aren't here. We should really go home,” she said.

“We can save Canterlot,” Twilight answered.

“From what?”

For a moment the filly hesitated. She hadn’t actually explained.

“The world is dying, the earthquakes will get worse and worse. We need to bring magic back and then everything will be alright.”

Raindrops looked at her with utter disbelief.

“I want to go home,” she said with the complete defiance. “Mom and dad are waiting at home. There will be more muffins and everything will be alright, too. They’re adults, they know what to do and we're just fillies, we can't do anything.”

Twilight looked at the unremarkably black pony. “I don't care If I can't do anything. I want to change everything.”

She had been weak and small up until this point. Her world had been restricted to her bed and her books, even when she had always longed for the ability to do more.

She was a smart filly, she was a good filly but all she ever wanted was to play outside with all the others.

If she did this right here, then her world wouldn't be grey and dull anymore. No, maybe the entire world wouldn't be grey and dull anymore. It would all be bright and happy. Everypony would be happy.

Shining, Father, Mother, she thought. Her heart pounded and it hurt.

They stood in front of the statues, not knowing what to do, and the sun slowly sunk down, while the rain had died down slightly. Only its slight drumming was the loudest noise in these moments, but then they all felt the earth slightly shaking beneath their hooves. And the force only grew.

"Another quake?“ Raindrops asked, fear washing over her face.

Just as the question had left her mouth the ground started rumbling and shaking more violently. Twilight didn't even get a chance to steady herself, the ground just seemed to sweep her off her hooves.

She crashed down on the mosaic, with her jaw first and felt a sharp sting as her teeth dug themselves into her tongue. She yelled out but was immediately overshadowed by the royal palace.

They heard its walls falling down to the ground and a cloud of dust burst forth into the air.

She heard Octavia yell something, but rather than listening, Twilight instinctively tried to hide beneath her blanket, pulling it close in hope to cover herself from the smoke that now surrounded the area.

Twilight remained like that, forcing herself into a brighter, warmer place. A place where Nurse Redheart held her hoof and told her everything was going to be fine. There was no way she would get hurt here, she needed to go back, she needed to go down, needed to bring back magic. This couldn’t be the end.

And then the earth grew quiet again.

The filly felt herself shaking, felt her heart beating and coughed, ready to spit out whatever she still had in her stomach.

"Come on, stand up. We need to find the way down quickly,“ she heard Octavia, coughing after inhaling some of the dust.

Twilight lifted the blanket up and looked at the other filly, whose soaked coat was now covered in dust. Nevertheless, she felt like she couldn’t stand up anymore. But I’m strong, she thought bitterly.

Octavia reached out with her hoof. “Come on, we just need to find the way and everything’ll be done.”

Within her, Twilight hoped to kindle a flame, but hardly managed to bring herself to move. Nevertheless, she grabbed the hoof and let herself be helped up.

One look at her surroundings told her that now, the earthquakes had reached the castle. The main building’s walls had come down and the dust formed a mist around the garden.

It took her a moment to get her head back in the game and she looked at Octavia, who seemed very worried. Twilight took a deep breath and swallowed the bloody taste in her mouth down.

"Yeah, the quakes are getting worse.“

The sudden sound of an explosion came from the distance. A split-second of nothing happened and the a gust of wind blew across the gardens, throwing the six of them off their hooves again and carrying the mist away, clearing even the sky for a moment.

Twilight lay on the floor, back flat on the back, but lifted herself up immediately, not even noticing the clear sky above the city. She had a horrible feeling about this explosion, and so she started into a gallop. She needed to go back to the gate, needed to see what had caused it.

Trixie ran after her hat first, since it had fallen off, but joined them thereafter.

Then, all of a sudden, a bolt of lightning whipped across the sky and its thunder roared up seconds after. In and of itself, Twilight wouldn’t have been worried about that, but there was something to the sound, like the sound of sawing through iron. It was unnatural.

Then, she halted in the middle of the garden, and the others did, too. All six fillies finally decided to turn to the sky, because all of them felt it in the air, the change.

The orange color of the twilight shifted and moved, turning into a darker color of itself and then to an unnaturally rich purple and black clouds gathered up, quickly covering it up again.

The ground started to shake once more and the rocks were trembling. Twilight felt her heart pounding.

It still didn't hurt.

She heard the whimpering of Raindrops, but she herself didn't feel like being scared, not this time. She wiped off the tears and took a deep breath.

Far over Canterlot a light gleamed, slowly growing and then, like the stroke of a hammer against a wall of glass, with a thunderous roar a crack appeared. Another gust of wind howled over them a second later.

“What is that?” she heard Trixie ask.

I told you to get to the Lunarium but you waited. The worlds are crashing together and your worst dreams will come true.

“Trouble,” Twilight answered.

“What do we do?”

It's too late. If you’d just gone we might’ve prevented this from happening. Ah, well, some things are inevitable. Nevertheless, now that the end’s here, maybe you can pull off something impossible again, huh? Go and prove yourself, Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight looked at the distant sky, the crack in their reality and the twisting fabric of reality. She understood that this would end badly for everypony in the town. They’d be cut to pieces by clouds of candy.

Everypony around her was scared but she? She felt stronger than ever.

Maybe the Wise Goat was right and she could change everything. Maybe the Lunarium wasn't even needed. She was strong and she was smart. She had escaped that creature without much thinking, so if she did think, maybe, just maybe it would work out fine.

The brown filly who covered herself in a colorful blanket took a deep breath. This was going to be the moment of truth, the moment where she needed to be strong. Twilight looked at her new friends. It was only for a few hours that she’d gotten to know them, but she would defend them nonetheless. Because she was just like the hero of a story now, wasn’t she?

“Don't worry, I'll do something,” she told her friends.

With that, Twilight Sparkle smiled. With a bit of quick thinking and her new found strength, she was sure to get everything right.

She turned away from the plaza and galloped towards the gate.

She could do this, she could be strong. She would do this, she would be strong. She was Twilight Sparkle and she wasn't weak anymore, she was a brave filly who'd bring harmony and magic back into this world.

Twilight galloped at top speed. She was so quick, it made her heart hurt, but her legs were stronger than before. Now she had friends to protect, she had a family to reunite and now her body wasn't failing her anymore.

For a moment she felt herself a pony with a lavender coat with a white alicorn smiling down on her and everypony being happy. She could do it now.

With those thoughts she reached the gate from where the steps led down and the sight she faced let her hopes disperse.

She heard Trixie and the others coming up behind her and then all of them halted.

Rain started falling down once more and the water dripped down her shoulders. It was almost surreal, for the drops were without color and felt so cold on the touch. This wasn’t the sort of rain she knew from Canterlot.

The six stood before the rubble and the ruins, staring at what had been the mighty city of Canterlot just hours ago. Almost nothing remained, as the houses were blown to bits and fires rose in multiple places. The rain did nothing to clear them.

She looked down on her brown hooves, felt the strength inside herself.

Twilight tried to smile, tried to tell herself that she could do it, just like a few seconds ago. Before them, a fissure rose up in the sky, with tendrils clawing from the other side, widening it. Teeth bit at it, tried to tear it apart.

The shrieking and the howling of it was enough to give her a headache, but Twilight knew what to do. By her side stood five ponies: Trixie, Octavia, Lyra, Derpy and Raindrops.

Twilight turned her head to them and started to smile more confidently now.

“Aren’t you scared of nightmares?” Octavia suddenly asked her, her voice shaking and her eyes fixated on the fissure.

This was a nightmare wasn’t it?

But Twilight Sparkle wasn't afraid of such a silly thing. She was a big filly and this was going to be her story.

“I can finish it if I try,” she said and looked at them. “That thing's presence is bringing back bits of magic and I could use them against it. So don't you all worry. I'll do it.”

She looked at them and smiled. She turned away and hurried down the stairs as the sun closed in on the horizon.

Chapter 13 ~ Aren't You Scared Of Nightmares? Pt. 1

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A hoof met the ground and kicked a small stone up into the air. It flew against the wall of a building that had stood the test of time for more than thirty years. Now it had lost the fight and only a single wall remained, whereas the rest had collapsed into the neighbouring building.

Twilight did not notice the stone, but she noticed this house and all the others. Half the city, Lyra had said before and Twilight had figured it a lie, but now? There was the furious beast, slashing at reality itself, wanting to break through the barriers that held it away and every time it made itself felt, the city shook.

More parts would crumble soon, Twilight knew, and with every step, doubts rose.

But all she could do was run. There wasn't any time to question her actions.

She saw some ponies galloping away from the fissure, screaming in fright, not putting any mind to the six fillies who hurried towards it.

She noticed the smoke rising up in the distance. Fires had probably broken out in several more districts, but Twilight couldn’t tell how many. She didn't want to know, either.

Large cracks ran through the streets, and as they reached the main road, she even saw that a gorge had opened, running from the edge of the mountain right into the middle of the city.

As they ran past it she saw a colt and a filly holding on to something. It took her a second to realize what was going on, but then it hit her: A pony had fallen down the ravine and now held on to four tiny hooves.

Twilight wanted to stop, she wanted to help, but there were larger things to consider. She needed to fix the fissure in the sky, that was the important thing at this moment. Averting her eyes, she apologized to the ponies who couldn’t hear her.

“Just hold on,” she heard one of the foals yell.

Her eyes turned, then her head, and she looked back, maybe hoping to see somepony else help them, but she found no such pony. Not until one of their own little group gritted her teeth and turned around.

Raindrops spread her wings and had a look of determination upon her face as she hurried towards the two.

“I’ll help them,” she yelled back at them. “You get that thing!”

Twilight didn't know whether she should smile, whether she should answer. No, she should do none of that, all the filly needed to concern herself with was to advance.

The closer she got to her target, the stronger her legs became. To save everypony, she needed to finish off the fissure.

They ran, she didn't know for how long. Her eyes were fixed on the fissure, which rose up right in the middle of the city. They might have run for a few minutes, maybe longer.

Her breathing was still steady, her heart had stopped beating heavily against her chest. She took one turn swiftly, then another, she jumped over the rubble that was before her with ease. It all came so easy to her, like in a dream.

She was free and could gallop anywhere she wanted, yet her eyes lingered on the fissure in the sky. The heavens changed their colors around it, turning into a wild rainbow-like swirl.

Lightning erupted, reaching out from the crack into the reality of Equestria. Then the thunder would follow, like a howling hammer striking across the sky, breaking her ears. It was the worst sound imaginable and just one more thing to toughen her determination.

The filly sprinted past the Celestial Hall and noticed something in the corner of her eye. She turned her head and saw a small pegasus emerging from the hall. She hadn't the time to look why it was there, she hadn’t had the time to care for such matters. Magia was coming.

Octavia, however, made a different choice, and halted her advance.

"I'll take care of that,“ she yelled and ran towards the old hall where her grandfather had once held his concerts.

This was the right choice, Twilight knew. If they could help as many ponies as possible, then it would turn out fine. All she needed to do was to trust in herself, in her ability to stop that thing from breaking through. Then everypony would see magic was real.

She would save everypony, the entire town, even the entire world, and everypony would be happy then. It was perfect, just like in the stories she had read.

Take the dive.

It echoed through her head, the words from the dream, spoken by a distinct voice.

This was the right way, the filly told herself as the broken and burning ruins of Canterlot surrounded them. The streets were filled with a chaos utterly alien to Twilight. There were wounded ponies scrambling over the ruins, hobbling across the streets. There were soldiers and merchants, doctors and workers. All of them tried to escape from the rubble, to run away from the horrible, horrible tear in the middle of their wonderful Canterlot.

Some fell, some were trapped, some screamed and some just stared, but Twilight saw none stopping to help each other. She clenched her teeth, ground them hard and tried to focus on what lay ahead.

She heard yells and screams all around her, as with another bolt of lightning, the madness around her started to escalate. A pony bumped into her, another tried to stop them, but she ignored them all.

Twilight knew that she had to focus on the fissure if she wanted to save Canterlot.

Unintentionally, she took the city's smell in. What had already been a foul stench now reeked beyond description. She didn't know exactly what that new smell was that had overtaken the streets, but it smelt burnt and rotten and like vomit.

She noticed that some screams appeared, others vanished, she noticed the trampling noise of running ponies and then another bumped into her, leaving behind a wet, red mark on her face.

Ponies were dying around her.

Yet Twilight Sparkle just galloped ahead. She felt the blood of the other pony dripping from her cheek, mixing with the tears she shed subconsciously. It was the strangest thing, for while her muscles felt strong, her legs still shook and felt like jelly with every step.

Every single moment she spent hurrying towards the fissure was a moment she felt herself growing more and more nervous. Twilight knew this feeling, this horrible, horrible feeling riling up inside her. The filly knew it, and yet she didn’t.

She wanted to turn around, go back to Nurse Redheart or even Hugh Jelly with his warm tea and the peacefulness of his and his sister’s home.

She had seen that creature once, yet she remembered it so vividly. Orbs had stared at her, a swirling redness inside them had laughed at her. She remembered the snipping noise, the clouds of cotton candy with their moustaches of sweet chocolate. She remembered that the air tasted of lemons and the grass had been the color of rainbows.

She remembered a pegasus being dismembered, she remembered blood gushing and a darkness eating the horizon.

The filly remembered a dream world forever swallowed by nightmares.

Twilight Sparkle gritted her teeth.

"We're going to make this,“ she shouted at the others and also herself.

She was a big filly who wasn't scared of nightmares and she had read that they weren't real. She wasn't going to be scared of this either, even if it was real. Right now she was strong and even though she wanted nothing more than to stop and hide beneath her blanket she kicked herself forward. Even if she was going to do it alone.

But she wasn’t, right?

Her eyes turned again, spotting her remaining friends beside her. They shared looks of fear, anxiety and a bit of hope. They believed that Twilight could do it, right?

Yes, they were with her and she would be with them. She had trusted Trixie from the beginning and even though Lyra was weird, she seemed reliable, too, and Derpy was so stubborn she would surely never run away. Twilight hardly knew any of them but decided to trust them with all her heart.

Because that's what friendship was.

The shaking slowly stopped as she took the next steps. The rain fell hard on her shoulders and left an uncomfortable feeling on her head, but she didn't care.

It felt like the final weight had been pulled off her shoulders. She wasn't the lone little filly in the hospital anymore. The one who always woke from dreams of a better life was gone, her heart would no longer burst out of her chest and her legs would support her own weight from now on. Twilight wasn't opening her eyes to a white room anymore and there was more to her world than books and a kindly nurse.

She was herself now.

Right now she was Twilight Sparkle and she felt like it, too.

She felt like a lavender colored pony who had her baby dragon by her side, read books and lived in an adventure. She felt like a smart, strong filly, capable of doing what she had to do.

She felt like she could do it, like she could bring a dawn of magic to this world and a bright and happy future to all these ponies who now cried and feared for their lives.

She felt like she had grown up in a matter of minutes.

Magic was returning and the little brown filly wasn't scared anymore.

She took the next corner.

And ...

With a loud noise another bolt of lightning reached across the sky, tipping the building they passed by that very moment. Light became fire, silence became sound, and with the mightiest of roars and the strongest of forces, the house was torn apart in a violent explosion.

Its stones scattered into the air, crashing into neighbouring houses and the ground below. The wall cracked and crumbled, then toppled under its own weight. Derpy stopped mid-flight and gawked as the building came falling down. Her friends never stopped moving.

She heard Trixie yell something, Twilight shout something back.

"Hurry!“

Yes, that was the word.

She didn't react. In the farthest back of her head she knew what to do, but her body just didn't want to move. All that came was a tear as she saw the stone closing in on her.

Everything seemed to move in slow-motion. She heard the crying and shouting in the distance, so slow and hushed that she could barely make it out, like whispers carried by a gust of wind.

She felt her heart beating slow and steady against her chest. With this steadiness, she gained a focus like never before as both her eyes fixated on the thing that would crush her in the next few seconds.

She felt her mane pressing against her coat, both wet and smelly from the rain. Her mommy wouldn't have liked that, daddy neither. She had to ask herself if she'd ever see them both again.

It was moving closer.

Her mommy had only starting smiling when guests had come home. Both she and Hugh, whom she likened to a father.

They would always be so much happier when the house was flooded with life. All the bleak moments when nopony but Derpy was at home, they’d been the same to filly as sleep.

Madame had told Derpy that once, she had had siblings, but two of them never made it into this world with their hearts beating. She had written that down for her and only recently, too. She had hugged her only trueborn daughter and thanked her for bringing Octavia, Raindrops and all the others into her life.

Muffins had been on the table that day and they had tasted wonderful.

It was moving closer.

Hugh had loved to spend his time with the family, but it seemed like he was always needed somewhere else. Everypony always asked about him and was interested in him. Derpy had figured early on that he had to be the mayor or something, since he just seemed so very important. He had finally gotten around to be with his family just before the day Twilight had appeared and the huge quake had come.

Muffins had been on the table this day and they had tasted wonderful.

And it was moving closer.

And then her world shook violently as a mighty force took hold of her. It happened with a strength she had only rarely experienced, when Madame had been really angry with everything.

Her thoughts drifted for a moment.

There had been blueberry muffins on the table and they had tasted the best.

As she hit the ground all she could hear was silence, and all she saw was the rising dust. For that single moment Derpy experienced the most serene nothingness.

She didn't feel her body, she didn't see her surroundings, she didn't smell the muffins in her memory and her thoughts were so blank, it was like her head was filled with nothing but the color white. The filly didn't hear anypony shouting, she didn't have a taste in her mouth and she couldn't move.

Derpy asked herself what had happened.

Was she dead?

A sudden sting on her left cheek, wetness growing, and the uncomfortable, itchy feeling of her mane returned. She opened her eyes and saw the weirdest sight.

Normally the filly had a smile so wide that it should've hurt, but now she whimpered atop Derpy, babbling something meaningless, something sad. The white little filly called Lyra looked at Derpy, her teeth gritted and whispered; "Don't go. ...“

Derpy blinked and tried to smile.

"I can't even move,“ she said and tried to lift her hoof, just to show that she couldn’t.

The filly's hopes were dashed as she not only managed to lift her hoof up, but also found the strength to pull her friend into a comforting hug.

Fair enough, she thought as the feeling returned to her body.

The ground was hard on her hurting back and one look over Lyra’s shoulder told her how close they’d come to certain doom. All around them the stones did lay. Some had dug themselves into the street’s asphalt, others had left their mark.

She must've stared at it forever, dumbstruck. Derpy didn't even know whether she should laugh or cry, but even if she could’ve decided, her body didn’t want to move another inch. The filly couldn't even let go of Lyra.

She was shaking. The rain fell still fell down on her in an unrelenting manner, leaving her in its coolness. Not only that, but it also burned on her bruises. Oh Celestia, did she want to go home.

They had to be around here somewhere. If they weren’t, then surely they’d come find her. Mommy and daddy, they’d come and take care of them. Yes, right now they were probably looking for her and Raindrops and Lyra and all the others.

It just couldn’t be any other way.

"We need to go.“

Lyra was the one who said that. She had always been brave, although everypony else simply called it a madness of hers.

Derpy thought it a synonym but considering how bad it sounded, it probably meant being brave in stupid situations. So Lyra wasn't brave, she was heroic.

Derpy managed to steady her smile but couldn’t loosen her grip.

The grey little pegasus knew that they had to follow Twilight. The filly had changed the moment the earthquake was gone. With the rain falling on them and the thunder bringing the earth itself to shake, she had looked so strong.

She’d been much stronger than before and braver, too. That mad flicker in her eyes when she’d told them to dive into the chaos was of the same make as Lyra’s.

Twilight was a trustworthy pony, Derpy figured, because when she’d met Lyra, she’d looked the same.

"Come on,“ the hornless unicorn told her and stood up. Derpy, still locked tight in the hug, came up together with her and finally managed to let go once she was in a properly seated position.

"We need to catch up to Trix'n'Twi,“ Lyra said.

The signature grin moved itself onto Lyra's face again, giving Derpy the confidence she needed to spread her little pegasus wings and flutter herself back on all four hooves.

Saluting, she answered Lyra. “Yessir.“

They turned to get back on track, and were about to start into a gallop as a voice sounded up behind them.

“Are you two alright?“

They turned and found a brown mare with a dark brown mane approaching them.

Lyra looked at him, smile on her face. “Yeah, we’re just going to look for our friends. They need us.”

“It's not safe,“ she warned them. “The soldiers, they just received the order to evacuate everypony. They’ll get us out of whatever madness this is.”

The mare’s eyes turned to the fissure, worry reflected itself in them. “You should come, too. If your friends are still in the city, we're sure to find them and get them out of here. Just ... come.“

She reached out a hoof, but her face was unsmiling and had something callous about it. Derpy disliked it.

Lyra seemed unsure, but Derpy only ever knew that she should take one path and stick to it, her daddy had told her that and she would stick to it.

“No.“

“What?“ the brown mare said, completely distraught by the sudden back talking.

“We're going to find our friends,“ she said.

The mare blinked, and then moved forward. Her hoof connected with Derpy’s cheek. She felt a stinging bolt of pain as she was sent flying and a single tooth loosened itself. With a red trail its blackened form fell to the ground, just like the foal herself did.

She stared at them with an utterly cold expression, her eyes flickering. "I didn’t come all this way here for some stupid brats saying that they don’t want any rescue. You say something to me again, it’ll be even worse. You got that?“

Lyra nodded and Derpy did, too. Madame had been angry like that once. This didn’t hurt as much, but she didn’t want to provoke anything like that yet again. If they’d just follow suit, everything would be fine. I’m sorry, Twilight.

The mare smiled, but it only lasted for an instance, because Lyra started grinning two seconds later.

One second before Lyra did that, however, her hind legs connected with the mare’s chin.

Derpy saw her stumbling backwards, but didn’t quite understand what just happened. She didn’t need to, as a laughing Lyra grabbed her hoof and pulled her after her.

“Twily, we're coming!“

Lyra’s laughter filled the world and Derpy began to smile. It was just one road, nothing else.

Her daddy had taught her that much and he had taught Lyra the same lesson.

They heard the stallion cursing and he launched into a gallop, so Lyra let go of her hoof and they both accelerated. The wind was blowing through their manes and the rain was still falling. It was an ugly feeling, but Derpy felt good despite it.

Their target was the fissure in the heart of the city and they would definitely reach it. They wouldn’t let Twilight and Trixie down.

A screeching noise erupted and a bolt struck the ground before them. Lyra stopped. Derpy, too, and they looked at the smoke rising up before them. They heard the mare come closer, they heard her halt and say something, but Derpy wasn’t focused on that.

She knew that the mare, too, stared.

“What?“ Derpy asked, feeling a sense of dread.

A shape emerged from the rising dust.

“What?“ Derpy asked again, a chill running down her spine.

Never before had she seen a thing like this; something without shape, without face and without name. It was a being so foul that its mere presence was a distortion of reality. The sight made Derpy feel nauseous and utterly, utterly afraid. Lyra didn’t move, just gaped at it with an open mouth. The thing approached ...

And ...

Octavia sighed.

“I'm still here,” she spoke.

Though her voice only sounded softly, it was still loud enough for the other pony to hear.

She moved past all the seats, holding a jacket she had found on a street corner. Somepony must’ve lost it in a panic. Good thing, too, as it was still dry, unlike either her or the filly. But the rain still fell and she had to walk around the edge of the Celestial Hall so that the jacket wouldn’t get ruined.

It was all for the hope that it would keep them warm for a while, at least until Twilight finished whatever she wanted to do.

Sadly, the Wise Goat wasn't helping out. He had continued his talk about how they needed to go to the Lunarium and how Twilight was mad and that, if he could talk to her, he would've surely talked her out of something as insane as this.

Maybe he was right, maybe he was wrong, but Octavia couldn’t trust a voice that sounded so giddy as it denounced Twilight Sparkle’s efforts. Mad as she might’ve seemed, Twilight was a pony that Octavia chose to put her faith in.

Maybe, on a fundamental level, she held the same belief her grandfather had once with her. Maybe she just saw a grandness and force of will well beyond her own.

She sighed. Octavia wasn't a chosen pony, she wasn't an element of harmony and there was no magic in the tunes she was able to play on the cello. All she could do was what she did now, to help another tiny soul.

She moved past the many seats and up the stage of the Celestial Hall to where once the curtains were. There, she found a small filly, cowering, crying and very frightened.

“I'm back,” Octavia said and the pegasus looked up.

“Did you find mommy? Daddy? Is daddy with you? He promised he'd be back, he never came back. He said he'd be back. …”

Octavia looked at the filly that was as small as her, though she might’ve been a bit younger. She had her eyes closed and bandaged.

Rocks had hit her during the first earthquake and she’d been unlucky enough to only received the most basic of treatments. As the second earthquake erupted so soon after the first, everypony’s attention had shifted away from her.

So much that she’d just walked away and nopony seemed to care. Octavia was a bit worried about that part. No, she was very worried as no sane pony would leave a wounded filly all alone.

Yet, she had been wandering around the town and still thought that she could reach the doctors and her parents. This was how she had ended up at the Celestial Hall, crying for her mother and father to come, this filly with the six colors in her mane.

“I've brought something to cover yourself with,” Octavia said and spread the coat over the other filly, “and guess what, there's still room for one more.”

She huddled herself up, right beside the pegasus. “Is this okay with you, Rainbow Dash?”

She used the filly's name intentionally here, wanted to give her as much comfort as possible. The pegasus didn't speak, but moved a bit closer to Octavia, sobbing and silently whispering the same questions over and over again.

“Where's Mommy? When will daddy come home? Is he here yet? Is she here yet? Will they both be there? He promised ... He promised to take me to the wonderbolts.”

Octavia looked over the burnt hall, remembering the warmth of the fire despite the cold of the rain. It was all happening over again, just with this filly. She leaned in on her new companion.

“Don't worry,” she said, “They're probably still searching for you. They’ll come and find us and then everything’s going to be fine. You’ll see them again, definitely.”

Octavia found herself struggling for words.

What could she say in this situation? What could she possibly talk about?

Her eyes went over the empty seats and she remembered how he had played the strings, how he had silenced the entire audience. Nopony in the entire auditorium had been able to say a thing, to think of anything but the little seapony's journey home.

Think ...

“Rainbow Dash,” she suddenly said, and the other pony looked up, lips quivering. “Could you tell me about the wonderbolts?”

The other pony waited for a moment, before she stuttered, “Y- You don't know about th- the wonderbolts?”

Octavia shook her head, but immediately realized that Rainbow wouldn’t notice that.

“No, I don’t know much about sports in general, but I'd like to hear about them anyway.”

There was another moment of silence and then Rainbow Dash managed to stop her sobbing. As she opened her mouth, her thoughts drifted away from her lost parents, her blind eyes and the fear of the darkness all around her. Suddenly, the most important thing in the world was something much more simple.

“They're Equestrias best fliers, and by that I mean the best. They're so awesome. There's Spitfire, she won the great Dragonbridge Race a year ago. A volcano broke out as they were right above it and Spitfire saved eight different racers from falling into the lava. She was so cool, they even gave her the price, even though she finished last, oh, and a medal, too. And there's also Soarin, the youngest member, he eats pies. A lot. Oh and he's also the only pegasus to ever win at the Manehatten Diving challenge. Also there's Fire Streak, he once flew so fast that he set himself on fire. He won last years Wonderbolt Derby and is the most senior member on the team. Ooh, and Wave Chill who's so lazy he once slept through an entire race and still managed to be placed tenth, out of a hundred. And Misty, she's also pretty young but she accomplished herself by the Easter Cliff Rally two years ago and she also bakes pies. A lot. Then there's–”

She talked on and on and a smile formed on her face, growing brighter and brighter as she reminisced about her idols.

All Octavia would have needed to do now was to say 'uh huh' and 'yeah' every now and then and keep herself occupied with something that interested her more. Instead she listened to Rainbow Dash gushing about how awesome her most favorite flight team ever was.

Then she started rambling about the Desert Dusters, the flight team from Appleloosa or the Thundernados from Manehatten. Thereafter she started talking about the history of the uniform design and just to top it off she recounted the most important Wonderbolt members throughout history.

“You're pretty awesome for knowing so much about them,” Octavia told her after Rainbow Dash had finished.

She meant it, too. Most little ponies played games and didn't think much of the world around them, but every now and then one would discover the magic of a certain thing. For Octavia it had been music, the same way it had been being completely bonkers for Lyra.

Rainbow Dash turned several shades of red just then. “Thanks ... I always wanted to join them.”

She started to look much sadder then.

I always wanted to play there.

“And now I can't.”

Not ever.

“Why?” Octavia asked.

“I ... The doctor said I probably won’t ever see again. There’s never been a blind racer.”

The sky was tinted in the orange of sundown, the world was growing even darker and Octavia could only look at Rainbow Dash. It was the same sad tale, repeated again. Seeing somepony else like this, it was something she couldn’t stand.

“You also said that he couldn't do much for you there. There's still a chance, there's still hope and hey, you could still make it, even without eyes.”

“How?”

“I-” she paused right there, “I don't know ... But if you put your mind into it, you can. Do …”

Her voice trailed off.

They sat on the large, desolate stage with its curtains that had become ashes long ago and were scattered in the wind. They were surrounded by rows and rows of chairs, enough to let the whole city in. And the hall was quiet.

Her grandfather once stood right here, she remembered, near the edge of the stage armed only with his cello and all the nervousness he had shown beforehand had vanished. Then he had looked at her and his concentrated expression changed into a smile even he didn't seem to notice.

“Anything,” she finished. “Rainbow, how about we make a deal?”

“Huh?”

“From now on we'll watch over each other's dream, you get to become a wonderbolt and I will rebuild this hall here and then we'll both fill all their hearts with the magic of joy.”

A moment of silence lingered between them, but Rainbow Dash’s smile grew again, as she nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that’d be awesome, Tavi.”

And …

Chapter 14 ~ Aren't You Scared Of Nightmares? Pt. 2

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Raindrops took a deep breath in order to keep the nervousness away. She steadied herself, hoped that this would go well.

The light brown filly with the blonde mane called Doseydotes and her brother Goldengrape looked at her for a moment, then at their father, mister Grape, who seemed to scarcely believe what had just happened himself.

“This is all impossible,” he said from behind gritted teeth.

Raindrops didn't feel that inclined to agree. The quakes were real, the fissure was real and this right here, this was reality.

Under the smog of the city one could never see the stars, she had found. That's why she kept them close to her heart, that's why she always looked up at night. They were there, hidden behind the smoke and they were still real.

The filly also knew that arguing more would get him only angry again. She preferred to not be beaten by a stallion of his strength, not again. It wasn’t even something she really understood, why he had been angry, why he had told her to not question him.

Hugh would have never hit her like that. Plus she had just saved his life and the only thing he had done was yell at his children for not being stronger and at her for not being fast enough.

She hated stallions like him, he should've fallen down and broken all his bones. Now he was leading them, however, and he had led them right into this.

A cloud of darkest blue, glittering like the night itself, glaring at them with snake-like eyes. A shape that had no shape and a beast that had no name.

Why they had walked right into it, she could not fathom, but the stallion just kept on walking, as ignorant as ever. Nervously, Raindrops looked around, hoped that nothing would jump out of the smoke. Octavia had asked the right question before they had stormed off into this mess, she felt.

"Aren’t you scared of nightmares?“, she mumbled, trying to find an answer herself.

"What did you say?“ the stallion asked, getting angry again.

She didn't say anything, just looked to the ground.

"That's what I thought,“ he grumbled and turned away from her again. "Let's get going.“

She hated stallions like him the most, but still walked on. She wanted to be back with Twily and the others. Why hadn't they helped her, though?

No, Twilight had said that she could fix this entire situation, she would do it. Trixie trusted her and Lyra, too. Derpy had seemed to take liking to the filly who had slept in Raindrops' bed, the one where the stars were always close to her.

She thought of that now. The night sky always calmed her mind.

So they moved on, through the glittering fog while eyes she couldn’t see stared at them. But the fog vanished in the rain and then they could see them again, the ashes of Raindrops’ city.

The crack in the sky reigned over the chaos it had caused, but the screams of the ponies seemed far away now. They never stopped, or at least appeared to, yet Raindrops knew better. No pony wailed forever in agony, and at one point they’d all stop, but only so others could take up the cacophony.

Each step felt horrible. With the chaos all around her she just wanted to turn towards some direction and help whatever ponies she found there. Maybe that way she’d find Hugh and Madame. They’d probably praise her, too.

She was small, yes, but she still knew about the importance of life. Unlike that stallion, she didn't even care about his name or why he was so angry about anything.

He just moved on, like he was running away, thinking that he was some kind of brave hero saving his kids and some stranger's brat.

He didn't really care about them, though. He hoped for “thank you”s and mares fainting at his sight, because he’d braved the chaos of the city with three foals on his back.

Hugh wouldn’t have done anything like that.

Yet this stallion reminded her of someone a pony had once known, a pony that had not been this Raindrops but another. That one that pony had known smiled when everything was fine and had abandoned the other filly at the first sign of trouble.

Just thinking about it made her quiver, so she tried to think about something else. Anything would work, she knew.

Was Hugh alright? Or Madame Hooves?

She didn't know, but the uncertainty was eating at her. As they walked past broken buildings, through puddles of acid rain she only cared about that, that and the fate of her friends.

The water would not stop falling from the sky, but despite how pure it looked, what stone it touched cracked and twisted itself in vivid motions.

Raindrops didn’t understand it and that made her shiver even more.

Twilight had seemed so strong all of a sudden, though.

Raindrops looked to her hooves. She was just a little filly in the hooves of another mad adult, but Twilight had decided she would change her fate. Why not she?

She looked over to Goldengrape as they moved through an alley and closed in on him. "Is he all you got for family?”, she asked.

The colt’s eyes went over to her and back to the stallion. Raindrops figured that Goldengrape was as nervous about angering him as she was.

"He's not our family ... Not really, but he took care of us and all he expects in return is that we do his chores at home and get some money for him.“

"So he gives you a bed to sleep in? That's it?“ Raindrops asked.

Goldengrape didn't answer, he only looked at Doseydotes, hoping that she could answer that question, but the filly only looked away. That told Raindrops everything she needed to know.

Goldengrape was older than she was, lucky enough, so maybe he could help.

"I live with a good pony, you don't have to work for him or his sister. They'll take you as their kids and raise you good.”

Hugh would understand, both he and Madame, they’d take two more in and treat them kindly. The griffon girl had once told her that she was safe with them and she’d been right.

Goldengrape thought on those words, his look shifting between the ground and the cursing stallion.

The cloud was around them and in the distance there was a noise, a small, almost unnoticeable noise.

A cacophony amidst the greater chaos was what it was, but it was the only sound approaching.

Maybe that influenced Goldengrape’s decision as he nodded in her direction, his eyes a sign of the fire that had lit up within him. Raindrops smiled.

It was a madness that overtook them, wasn’t it? Both him and her. She wanted to do something for herself, find Hugh Jelly and Madame Hooves. They could go back then and everything would turn out okay. She wouldn’t end up like the other filly.

Goldengrape moved towards his sister, whispered something into her ear. The stallion didn't notice.

They walked out of the alleyway and onto another street. She could see how it led down the mountain, somehow she didn’t want to go into that direction. The fissure was to their side and looking at it filled Raindrops with an unnatural dread.

They passed a few ponies, but, under his glorious leadership, they ignored any screams for help and just walked past any other pony. Whenever somepony would ask the stallion for help he said that he had to get the children out and that there was no time.

Thus they trotted along the road, the four of them, away from the castle and away from the fissure.

It was much darker already and the sun would soon vanish beyond the horizon. The greatest light came from the crack in the sky now. It wasn’t comforting to look at, though.

The four moved on, ignoring whatever obstacle they faced, until the quiet overtook them and the stallion visibly relaxed. Raindrops spotted another dark alley opening up to their side.

It was then that Goldengrape screamed; "Now!“

Seconds later Raindrops was hooting and laughing as they raced through the maze, believing that the stallion didn't even have a chance to turn his head before they had vanished from his sight.

They turned from that alley into another and this time they would get to do the right thing. They'd help the ponies, they'd search for Hugh, they'd find Twilight and help her. They would save Canterlot.

Raindrops looked at the sky and noticed it had changed its color completely, but this new color wasn't to her liking. Waves of purple, green and gold washed across it and in between, it was like the sky was being ripped apart. Her eyes were fixated on the tears that opened up and the longer she looked, the more she thought to notice something in them.

She couldn’t turn away, squinted her eyes and wondered what she was seeing. Something was moving within the fissures and it did so with motions the filly did not comprehend.

They were heading towards the main road again, the one that led directly to the fissure and even the castle. As they stepped onto it, Goldengrape suddenly stopped and Raindrops ran right into him. He stumbled forward, she fell. Doseydotes herself halted too, her eyes fixated on the other end of the road.

The snipping noise echoed across the street followed by the screeching and crying, and the things moved towards them on broken limbs, their claws ready to be sunk into the flesh.

Raindrops looked to her left, where the street went down the slope, where everypony was running to. Hugh and Madame would also go into that direction after they’d searched their home.

Then she turned right, towards the castle so far in the distance. She was but a small filly, who couldn’t do anything, but her friends were all in that direction. The foal made her choice.

Then ...

The hornless unicorn yelled out in pain as the pair of black scissors darted past her. She looked down to find it had scratched her right leg. Not deep, but it hurt nevertheless.

Lyra’s eyes went up again and she stared at the candy cloud who retracted the Scissors as fast as it had hurled them in her direction.

They had changed since their last meeting, Lyra noticed much to her own disgust. Pink was still their main color, but beneath the moustache was now a mouth with sharp teeth lined up vertically, and between the hat and the moustache was a giant eyeball staring at them, red veins pulsing within. She couldn’t see it blink even once. Its extremities were twisted and every time the thing took a step it made the sound of bones breaking and the legs looked like they were breaking down under its own weight.

As they opened their mouths they screeched and wailed in unimaginable agony. Every step for them must have been hell on earth, every waking second a torment.

For Lyra, she felt how her tail whipped about, how sweat ran down her forehead and how her heart beat frantically.

Needless to say, even Lyra, who could laugh at any danger was afraid of them. She could only force herself to smile at it and she did, no matter how much it hurt.

Derpy was backing away, too. She was always so stubborn, but right now the only reason she didn't run away crying was because Lyra wasn't. Maybe that alone was a true sign of madness.

Everypony else had been quick to take their hooves into their other hooves, why not she? Twilight was still running towards the fissure, she knew and time was running out.

That Wise Goat had been right, hadn’t he? These things weren’t from this world, but another. They didn’t belong here. Something needed to be done about them.

Twilight would try whatever she could, so what should she, Lyra, do? She steadied herself and for once in her life she cursed the absence of a horn. For once in her life she wasn't proud to have lost the one thing that made her a unicorn.

She noticed that, too, and wondered how she could curse the absence of something useless anyhow.

The thing approached them now, its broken march easily likened to stop motion, with every other movement amiss. Scissors were snipping while the beast wailed and howled.

Lyra found tears swelling up in her eyes.

She had always believed that her parents had the right of it, that unicorns were filth from an era long gone. Magic was a dream that probably never existed and if it ever did, it was a good thing that it was gone now.

The princesses were all dead and soon enough even the memory of them would have faded away.

Magic was long gone and Lyra had not once dreamt of it. Not once. Because she had always known the truth, even if all the other foals didn’t.

Yet, she was fully aware that this was different. As she heard the bones crack and the screams of pain she understood perfectly that these creatures were not of this world.

A part of her still didn’t want to believe it, much like she hadn’t really believed in Twilight’s ghost talk or the world with the rainbow grass. She had just humored a fantasy, right? She had at no point, seriously believed that magic existed, right?

Because it hadn’t.

The screams reflected her own and as the monstrosity almost collapsed in on itself, she thought of her own collapsed dreams.

When she had met Trixie for the first time the little filly had put up the most pathetic of magic shows and Lyra had told her so. Trixie, of course, had never forgiven her, no matter how much she tried to fix it. To that filly, magic was everything.

What was it to Lyra, though?

Crack Crack crack.

Twilight had stood there, staring at the broken city and declared that she would save it. It wasn’t a joke, for she had taken the dive into this madness without hesitation. That filly believed in something Lyra had never believed in.

Never.

She remembered her uncle, how he wept. She remembered the smell of burnt flesh, and she remembered herself long before that, glad that he had taken her in despite her being what she was.

Crack Crack Crack!

Worthlessness, powerlessness, strengthless. That’s what a unicorn had to offer, that was all the could ever hope to be. That’s why they should just vanish from this world. They were a dying species that slowed the rest of the nation down, because magic did not exist.

And the beast was still approaching, one step at a time, lifting its scissorhands to strike again. And Lyra looked at it. She heard how the bones cracked and scissors snipped. It was real, all of this was real. These things, they were magic, weren’t they?

She eyed at the beast and the noise of the cracking bones changed into the plucking of a harp.

Lyra blinked, remembering an old mare with pink coat and hair of gold and purple, plucking the strings of the golden instrument. A beautiful picture it was, still fresh in her mind, like the day she had first seen it. The princess of love had looked different from any other pony, so very colorful and said to be full of smiles for all the ponies around her, bringing joy to all them and all who shared her company.

Everypony agreed that she’d been a wonderful pony, if not the most wonderful of all.

They said that she used to play her golden harp beneath a tree with bright red apples, her eyes fixated on the castle gate, as if she was waiting for somepony. On the only photograph of hers to be taken, that was what she did.

She had been dying back then, but Cadance had never cared. All she had ever known was the duty she had enjoyed so much, spreading love without searching it for her own.

In the end, she found a golden harp in an old pawn shop and played it only once, while waiting for her knight in shining armor.

He had never come and no matter how much you waited, all dreams were a fantasy.

Magic was a fantasy.

Except not anymore.

Magic was real, wasn’t it?

With the fissure in the sky and nameless abominations all around her, that was the one reality of it all, wasn’t it? She had stood in that other world too, she had fought against them, she had been brave.

It had been a dream back then, but reality seemed to become the very same thing. Strange, but if these creatures were magic, all they seemed to spread was misery.

"There is magic in music,“ Octavia had told her once and Lyra had laughed at her.

It had been a bad joke back then. Yet, right now, as the words came to her, she remembered the one time her uncle had taken her to the Celestial Hall and she remembered the soloist with his cello. She remembered the princess who had given her life for Equestria and fallen asleep to the plucking of strings.

If magic existed, then it could bring happiness, couldn’t it? It could change the world, couldn’t it? If so, then why not grab the chance?

Lyra opened her eyes as if she’d woken from a millennia long slumber. She opened her eyes and was met with the erratic stare of the cotton cloud's eye. The snipping noise remained in the background just as much as the screams from the ponies who met the scissors and the teeth.

Still, Lyra decided to face the fear head on. There was only one belief left to her. The aquamarine unicorn smiled.

There was still magic in this world and as a unicorn, there was magic in her. The stump of a horn on her head started glowing.

The scissors were closing in, but before they could slice the light erupted from the forehead of the filly and engulfed the square they stood on. For a moment, only the sound of screams remained and then the screams changed to a happy, sobbing laughter as the cloud dissipated.

Then, Lyra and Derpy stood both there, with the rain falling heavy on their shoulders.

"L-Lyra?“ Derpy suddenly asked.

"Yeah,“ she answered.

"What ... What did you do?“

Lyra turned around and smiled. It wasn’t the smile that hurt, though, they lying one of a pony that had stopped believing in magic and herself.

She knew this was not the face of the pony whose horn they had sawn of and whom they had told that she was the lowest dirt. This was her face, Lyra Heartstring’s face and smile.

"I don't know,“ she said, looking at her hooves, green hooves that seemed to belong to a stranger, "I don't know, but I guess it was something impossible. Heh, I kinda feel ... Good? Yeah, good. A bit strange, but. ...“

"You've got a horn.“

Lyra giggled.

"Yeah, I'm a wizard, too, now.“

This would do. She could do it now, she could help, she could be a unicorn, she could be proud of herself and nopony needed to be ashamed of her anymore. Lyra decided to help save this city now, because the adults had lied to her. Magic was real, after all.

"We need to go, Derpy. Twilight's waiting.“

And ...

The crack was not a crack. It tore right through reality itself and any sane pony would've stayed as far away from it as possible. They weren't sane, Trixie found. Everypony around her was a raving lunatic.

At first she had thought Lyra was the worst but now she wasn't so sure anymore. Twilight came pretty close.

She hadn't reacted to them losing Derpy and Lyra, she had only hurried onwards. Then, after a few minutes, suddenly her color had started to change.

Trixie had never seen a lavender unicorn before, especially not with a dark blue mane mixed with purple streaks. Quite frankly, she’d never thought to gaze at something like that.

And now that they had reached their goal, Twilight wasn’t even the strangest thing anymore.

They stood on the edge of what had once been the main plaza and around here, nothing but the foundations of the buildings and a few bodies remained. Trixie didn't even want to know why none of them weren't moving.

The buildings around the crack twisted themselves upwards, mixed with dirt and roots. The asphalt and the stone, they were pulsating with life that shouldn’t have been there and something within them seemed to move, to claw at the walls that held it within.

And then there was the fissure itself, if it could even be described as that. From this distance it looked like a tree and like a crack in a window, like hundreds of maws sewn together, biting at the sky with jagged teeth, both rotten and sharp. It moved, Trixie saw, and that was the worst thing.

The fissure grew and moved and every time it did, a bolt of lightning would form another arm and the thunder was enough to make her cower and pray to the princesses of old that she might lose her hearing. She didn’t want to hear this.

And yet, with all this horror, this “magic” happening around her, she still had the same ugly coat, both brown and white. The only thing that looked remotely magical about her was the hat and cape.

Twilight looked like a unicorn magician right out of the era of discord, while she was stuck being some kind of earth pony with horn in a nice wardrobe.

She hated that.

Still, Trixie tried to focus. She could resent Twilight later, right now, only the fissure before them mattered.

She saw Twilight take a deep breath.

"This is it,“ Twilight said, trying to sound tough.

Her voice betrayed her, cracking under the pressure.

Trixie wanted to tell her that she wasn't as good as she thought herself to be, that she would fail, and yet she didn’t want to tell her that.

She had seen Twilight back in the hospital, a little thing that stared out of the window with little to no hope of ever finding a better life.

Truthfully, she had a weakness for ponies like that, ponies that were like Trixie herself. She had wanted to show Twilight something nice, give her some hope, something to hold on to.

The unicorn had found it, hadn’t she? Trixie looked at her from behind a stone, cowering in fear of the fissure. She felt her stomach twist and her muscles tense.

I should be happy for her, so why do I only feel this angry at her?

Twilight wasn’t stupid, she wasn’t Lyra. Trixie could be her friend, could respect her. Her heart was divided, because she’d made a promise and she needed to keep it.

Finally, she said, "You can do it, Twilight.“

The unicorn twitched and turned around, her lavender coat covered in mud and dust, her blue mane unwashed for days. She gave an awkward smile.

"Let's take the dive,“ she said and moved forwards. "Although I don't know what to do now.“

Twilight took a step back again and her tail whipped from one direction to the other. It seemed amazing to Trixie how quickly she lost her confidence, but then again, she herself only barely managed to take a peek from beyond her cover.

Whatever hammered against the fissure from the other side, it seemed to grow even more restless and Trixie found that she would've rather run then walk up to it. Her eyes shifted to Twilight, who had turned towards her, fear mixing with expectation.

"I-“ she suddenly heard her friend say, "Oh Celestia, what-, how? What should I do?“

She had no plan, in the end. This filly had hoped everything would work out on a whim, Trixie realized. She had to smile at the irony of that, because it was so clear to her what needed to be done.

"Concentrate, like you did back then. Just do what you did in that thing’s own world. You're special, right? You did something that couldn't be done. You are a magician, Twilight!“

Those words hurt more than anything else, because she remembered the tower and she remembered her mother’s face. Trixie had made a promise.

The unicorn looked at her and then started to smile again. "You’re right. Thanks,“ she said, "Trixie.“

Trixie smiled back, even though she didn’t feel like smiling. It was all she could do right now.

She blinked.

And the earthquake tore through the earth, tearing down what walls still stood and as the thunder roared up again, Trixie could barely hold herself up. She saw Twilight trip and the blanket fell off her, but she tried to get up, tried to do something.

Anything would do, Trixie thought, but then the earth stopped shaking and for a blissful moment, nothing happened.

And then, there came the sound of glass shattering and the cracks around the fissure grew and grew within split seconds. Trixie looked at it, wondering what was going on, but then the fissure itself grew, it opened itself up to let whatever resided on the other end through.

Clouds of cottoncandy, rainbow grass and air the smelled tasted like lemons, that was what was on the other side. A picture of a paradise, nothing to be afraid of. Still, she shook. Still, she sweated.

Twilight stood a few meters before her, mouth agape and not knowing what to expect.

From the other side, a huge brown leg stepped out, high as the highest towers of Canterlot, and then another appeared. Trixie blinked as she tried to grasp the shape that started to blot out the sun.

A giant pony made out of chocolate stepped out of the window and whomever remained in this city, Trixie was sure their eyes would be fixed on this, this thing.

The screeching from the clouds afar stopped as the pony appeared, and they were replaced with bright, childish laughter as cottoncandy-clouds with moustaches and tophats rained down on the equestrian ground. Gliding down, using their umbrellas as parachutes they seemed to laugh at the silliness of it all.

All the while the chocolate pony took one step, then another, slowly emerging more and more from the portal that had brought it from its rainbow colored world.

The sky was now dyed in a fine, bright red, but Trixie didn't care, her eyes were fixated on the giant pony and that strutted past the two, a feeling of joy riling up inside her. It looked like something straight out of a dream, a wonderful dream that would make her forget all the pain and destruction surrounding her.

Yes, that giant thing looked like a promise that it would become better, that the entire downfall of Canterlot had been nothing more than a misunderstanding.

She stared at it, as it moved slowly onwards and then the tip of its tail reached this side, too, and suddenly it stopped. The clouds were still raining and laughing, like out of a children’s fairytale, all while the chocolate pony stood still. A big grin was forming on its face, so warm and welcoming.

It was now that Trixie noticed that it had both wings and a horn; it was a chocolate alicorn wearing a warm smile. That's what she had always hoped a princess would be like: Sweet with a warm smile.

Had they misjudged? The clouds were falling but there was not the sound of scissors, they were moving but there was not the sound of breaking bones and the screams of agony.

The Wise Goat might've been wrong, maybe-

Suddenly the chocolate pony turned its head, twisting it far beyond what its neck should have been able to support, just to stare at Twilight Sparkle. There was the laughter of children in the background and Trixie remembered a tower by the cliffs in which used to play.

That memory came all of a sudden and with it came the realization that she was still shaking, that she knew that something was wrong.

She looked up again and the huge, bulging eyes of the chocolate pony took nearly all hope from her. They contained a red swirling madness and the promise of violence. Trixie, in this moment, wanted nothing more but to run away, to Hugh, to Madame, or the foster family she’d so gladly left behind.

No, she made a promise. She could still do something.

With an angry shout she jumped forward, towards Twilight. Her haunches lifted her into the air and she felt the breeze lifting her cape up while her hat nearly flew off her head. Her forehooves touched the ground and her eyes were set on her friend.

It didn't even take a second.

The chocolate pony dispersed and a whirl of black and brown and white and red surrounded Twilight, forming something new.

It had the white skull of an equine and a body of bones and whirling shadows. Where its eyes should’ve been there were two the two red orbs, like two whirlpools of blood and madness.

It stared at Twilight for a moment, before its cackling became a cacophony in Trixie’s ears. It was the sound of dying ponies, the sawing of two rusted chainsaws against each other and it was the cracking of stone.

The whirlwind of shades closed in on Twilight, claws forming.

Trixie saw, how Twilight stood there, paralyzed with fear, and then she saw her turn angry, confident. She knows what to do, Trixie thought and almost felt herself smiling.

A bolt of light pierced through the shadows as Twilight focused her magic. This was it, the beast had underestimated her.

“Go, Twilight!” Trixie heard herself yell.

And then ...

Twilight Sparkle felt nothing.

Twilight Sparkle saw nothing.

Twilight Sparkle tasted her own blood.

Chapter 15 ~ All Dreams Die Once You Wake Up (V2)

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The room she sat in was made of purple stone and the windows to both her sides had images in stained glass.

These pictures that presented themselves before her were manyfold. Some were of a blue sky, others of a golden sun. The bright rays of the sun’s light were broken so wonderfully by them and dyed the hall in many colors.

A red carpet went from one end of the room to the other, flanked by many columns. They were lean and tall, with quadratic bases. The silhouettes of flowers were painted on them. Them there were the shafts, perfected in their simplicity and only the paintings of clouds and sunrays marked them and the capitals.

Above these there was the ceiling, a checkered pattern marking it and reflecting on a floor clean as a mirror.

She sat before a stairway that lead up to a beautiful throne and behind it hung two banners. One showed an apple tree under the sun, the other of sea and wind and fire.

The sight was the most gorgeous Twilight had ever seen, for this room appeared like out of a storybook. She had no words to express herself with, only a lingering question.

“Where am I?” Twilight asked quietly.

She didn't even notice the stranger moving up to her and seating herself beside her.

Do you like it?, the whisper asked.

She answered, “Yes.”

It is the most wonderful of places, We found. Never did We think that We'd gaze upon it again. To think that We might be brought back here to bask in the glorious blaze of our own light, that is a gift We never thought to be bestowed upon Us ever again.

"It's a ruin where I come from,” Twilight answered truthfully.

She turned her head a bit, to look at the wall to her right. There were many glass windows, depicting events of a distant past. She recognized the defeat of Discord, as well as the Shattering of the capital of the Crystal Empire with the corrupted Crystal Heart in the center of the picture. There were others as well, one of an old mare, sitting in a cage of light, one of a strange figure with a six-colored mane standing in the darkness.

She did not know the majority of the stories, Twilight noticed. A smart filly was what she called herself, one who had read many books and tales. Did the legends on these windows not exist in the place she came from? The place where she was born, the place where she had struggled everyday.

A place without magic.

It is a ruin because time alone only knows the decay of all things born. Everything falls to dust as time passes, and dusk falls on all of us. We know of that better than you, Twilight Sparkle. There once was a time where we walked the earthly realm and sought to bring happiness to all, be they touched by the light above or not.

The whisper sighed and Twilight looked at the walls. They had not crumbled and time had left them untouched. Somehow, that was comforting to know.

All knew that and we all lived for harmony’s sake. Some would say that the dream we followed was an utopia, but we would have denied that, because it was a feasible dream. Yet, here We stand, and We did stop to believe in it. Ponies are forgetting what they once were, what they lived for. Even our beloved cousin was unable to change that, in the end.

She looked at the throne. At its feet grew flowers with leaves of indigo and white petals.

There, to the sides of the carpet the entire first step was a pond, with life brimming in it. There swam several fish in it, but the most apparent one was a starfish close to the surface.

On its second step stood the throne itself. A majestic, golden seat emblazoned with leaves and swirls, cushioned with the most softest of pillows. There was a small candle stood at its side, the light dimmed by shadows. Atop it was a mural painting of the starry night and the sigil of the sun itself.

It was one thing to read about it, but a whole other to actually see it. The royal throne of Equestria was a piece of art, albeit one lost to time. Where she came from, this place held no more splendor.

The thought of walking up to it occurred to her, but this wasn’t really the palace. She knew that, of course, and walking up those stairs? It appeared like the road to the throne would be too long, anyhow. She didn’t feel like trying, she was just a weak little filly, after all.

Yet, she didn’t leave the silence hanging above their heads, because the whisper had said something and Twilight wanted an answer.

“Your ... cousin?” she asked the whisper.

We are nearly all gone from the world, your world. So our burdens will fall unto the last of us. When she dies, so does the last piece of harmony that clings to the earthly realm.

One of us? Twilight wondered, but only listened, hoping to get an answer anyhow.

All that has happened to you would have happened much sooner and the world would never had become like this had she appeared a bit later. A part of me believed that, despite my sister’s insistence that causality does not equal a promise of a happy ending. Yes, even Cadance had waited for her knight, yet she had arrived too soon for him to be born and the elements have yet to appear, either. Time may flow, but the heart always was too far away for them to find physical bodies.

“The Elements of Harmony? The Wise Goat said that I was one of them…”

For the many lies the beast likes to tell, that is a true statement. You are a most wondrous apparition, Twilight Sparkle, to even visit me in this place not even my sister could find. You being here means something, is what I believe. So, do you know what you did, Twilight?

What had she done? Did the whisper mean to ask how she’d gotten here? Twilight had to think.

“I don't know what happened. I don't remember anything. We were before the crack and suddenly a giant pony came out. I didn't know, but the feeling of it was off-putting. It was happy and sad, angry and mellow. I didn't know what to do and then-”

You did something that would have been impossible to most, you stared into the eyes of the first Nightmare. Do you remember that?

Twilight did remember and with the realization, her legs started to shake and her eyes were wide open in shock.

“There were claws and teeth, they were hacking and biting and they–I. …”

Oh, little Twilight Sparkle. I see the look in your face, but you need to listen. This is important, so I need you to tread carefully. This tale may still end bad for you and all you hold dear.

She hated stories with bad endings, she loved the hero to win, to triumph and everypony to be happy. That was the sort of story she wanted to be in. She shook her head. “No, no. This can’t be. I can’t die, I’m the hero. I’m … I’m …”

I’m what? She wondered.

A brown filly, sick and frowned upon by everypony around her. She was a pony pitied and easily thrown aside. Above all else, she was not a hero.

Twilight felt how the tears welled up from her eyes and the strength waned from her. The filly just let herself fall to the ground.

The walls cracked and flowers turned brown and black. The gold on the throne covered itself in rust while the water grew darker and muddier.

As the fish died and their bodies drifted lifelessly on, the starfish swam on.

Magic is not as wonderful as your stories made it out to be, the whisper explained with both warmth and sadness in her voice.

As modern history understands it, magic in and of itself came from the Crystal Empire. Unicorns had control over magical energies to the same extent as pegasi used it to walk on clouds and earth ponies used it on their fields, but none knew any spells. At least until two wise ponies appeared in the field: Star Swirl and Sombra. Brothers they had been and each had their own vision of how magic could be used on a grander scale.

Twilight listened, but not really then. She didn’t understand what the whisper told her, and why, but she hoped she would get to the point. It was over, so there wasn’t really any point to it anymore.

Star Swirl saw the potential to help ponies, Sombra sought to use it as a weapon. They never understood each other, but Sombra made a deal with Star Swirl that they'd both teach unicorns of the empire all the things they themselves had learned. While Star Swirl thought it a good idea to work in harmony, Sombra still only intended the worst. His lessons taught the ponies to seek out power and that strength was the only means of survival in this world.

She found herself listening to the tale as it went on and tried to figure out what it meant. It seemed like something an old pony would tell, a story for the sake of a story. Her eyes lifted themselves up, and she looked at the broken throne. It was almost completely gone, she thought.

There was nothing left in this room but the whisper and its story.

Sombra and his students betrayed the Empire and he murdered the royal family. Of course, Starswirl faced him and asked him why. Sombra explained to him that this was the nature of things, that it was a necessity for the weak to fall. In my time, they said that he regretted his following decision, but made it consciously, nonetheless. He killed Starswirl. Only a single apprentice of the wise mage survived the massacre and fled south.

She thought of her, the pony of that story. Twilight knew of her, she knew the story of Clover the Clever, one of the founders of the nation of Equestria. Her ears perked up, her interest was piqued.

She was a bright filly, yes, but she never quite accepted her master’s fate. The filly decided to follow the recently united unicorn tribes and their Princess, Platinum, farther to the south. Yet she never opened up to them. At least, until a certain night where she was trapped in the cave.

You know the story of Hearth’s Warming Eve, everypony does. The filly became a side character, but it was her that ended most of the resentment between the tribes. Because she learned not from Sombra to seek out power for revenge’s sake. No, she did not care for the one who only cared for power. He betrayed and enslaved to achieve more greatness than before and in the end, he paid dearly for it and his empire shattered to pieces while the ponies in the south prospered. Do you get it, Twilight?

A question was poised and Twilight’s brain immediately started to work. She was a smart filly, she could solve anything. Was all of this a riddle, then? To seek out power no matter the cost, or to lose everything over showing kindness? No, it wasn’t Sombra who had prevailed, but Starswirl and his kind teachings. The stronger one hadn’t prevailed.

"Magic is more than just being able to cast spells,“ she finally answered.

She heard the whisper laugh, That is the first half, my dear Twilight. I think that the rest will come to you soon enough. For now it will do just fine.

A hoof touched her head and ruffled through that mess she called her mane. The feeling was strange, it made her all warm and fuzzy and was all too familiar. Yet she did not recognize the whisper's voice, or maybe she did? Twilight couldn't say.

“I really wanted to save the ponies. I didn’t do it for the power, I didn’t do it for–”

We know, Our little pony. You are a weird little spot in the this grey world, every single day waking up and finding yourself in the wrong room. Your very existence is bound to magic and only you can bring it back to the world, therefore it searches for you and you search for it. Those are the rules and We all have to abide them.

She didn't understand, so she just looked at the flowers. There was one remaining in bloom had a blossom of maroon and golden leaves.

Still, there was more Sombra's tale than just the lust for power. Now, Twilight, Magic is at its base a force of chaos, led by emotions. Sombra utilized the darkness of his heart, the hatred and the fears he held within him and it turned him darker with every spell he cast, while Star Swirl helped others and felt better for it. Magic is linked to emotion, and it is a bond. Do not, under any circumstances, use the power you feel near Magia ever again. It is the very source of what you use and it is the most powerful of and most vile magic. Even Discord became afraid of it. It will eat at you, tear you apart and forever cripple you. With every time you use this power, the worse you will end up. There aren't many chances left for you.

The last sentence almost echoed through Twilight’s head. Wasn’t it over?

She wanted to turn around, but found she couldn't. She was fixated on the throne. The only things she could do was listen to the whisper and answer its faint warmth.

“Why me? Trixie loves magic more than any other pony I know. She seems more fit than me.”

We cannot tell you about the tiny Lulamoon, for her story is one that she needs to see to an end with her own strength. But you? Why you, indeed? We asked Ourselves that question a long time ago. Who would bear the element of magic and how would it show? Everypony is bound to the fabrics of magic, for it is everything we are. From the color of our coats to the nature of our cutie marks, magic defines how we look and it defines how we look at ourselves. Did you know? Everypony has a special talent. The talent of Our sister was to rule the night, while Ours was to rule the day. Others could do such simple things like stand on one hoof and We once knew a pegasus who could fly through any weather with his eyes closed ... We believe it might have been Wonderbolt himself.

Your talent is magic itself and because of that you were always connected to it. Even if you would not want to believe it yourself, it still is the truth. You looked for it, dreamed of it, longed for it. But, it is sad to say, this talk is coming to an end, We feel, and all dreams die once you wake up. You will remember little, if anything from this conversation We fear, but also hope that you take the one important thing with you.

Twilight turned her head to her left and looked into the alicorn's magenta eyes. Her coat was white and the mane moved in an ethereal wind. The little unicorn's mouth opened and closed, but she couldn't get a word out.

We may not see each other again, for of Us, too, there is little left. But if there is one thing I still wish to do, it is to wish you good luck, my faithful friend, Celestia said and Twilight felt the feeling in her body returning.

The scenery blurred out as she opened her eyes again.

There was grey stone above her and her body felt weak again. She was shivering and her heart was pounding violently. A part of her wanted to go back to sleep again, to just let it end.

Yet there had been a dream and she still felt like somepony had praised her. She didn’t remember much else, but only the claws and the teeth and violent red orbs that had looked at her.

A smile appeared on her face and she let out a giggle.

Her heart was pounding against her chest and her body was hurting all over. Yes, she understood this perfectly. Her body was in pain and she was feeling it. The filly broke out in a laughter, ignoring the pain, ignoring her heart, and ignoring how much she wanted to go back to sleep again.

She understood it all too perfectly.

The Wise Goat had called it Magia, the king of nightmares. It was a beast able to smash through dimensions and its shape was far beyond the comprehension of a little filly. It had only looked at her for a second, only shifted its entire attention on her for one moment, but wherever she was, her heart was still beating. It had tried to kill her and she lived!

She heard somepony else’s giggle and her laughter broke down a little as she took a look to her left side. Trixie sat there, still holding her hoof. Her eyes were teary, but she had a smile on her face. How ugly her face looked when her missing teeth were exposed.

Lyra jumped into her field of vision, positioning herself direct to Trixie’s right, looking worried and also very green, with even the marks of the fire erased. “Ohmigosh, you’re alive. Derpy! She’s alive!”

The grey pegasus appeared between the two, and started to smile brightly. “I knew you wouldn’t just go away and leave us.”

Twilight coughed. She felt utterly terrible, hungry and she probably didn’t want to see how she looked. However, the filly was alive and she would continue to do so.

Dying wasn’t an option anymore.

"You’re right. I wouldn’t. Just one thing, are there possibly any muffins we could eat? I'm starving.“

Chapter 16 ~ Dusk Has Fallen (V2)

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Muffins would have been delicious. Like, really delicious. So, if one were to admit that no muffins were available at the time it would also mean that nothing delicious at all was to be had. As a matter of fact, there was no food whatsoever to be had.

“Sorry,” Derpy told her after she had searched her non-existent pockets.

So Twilight had to remain hungry. That sucked, but at least it also meant that she couldn’t vomit anything up, right?

She felt a cold burning through her, but the filly gave her best to fight it. She had survived Magia, so she would survive the aftermath of it. Yet she remembered the earthquakes and looked at the ruin they hid in.

Canterlot was gone now, wasn’t it?

Nurse Redheart had said she’d get a roommate, Twilight wondered whether the mare was searching for her. What would her father do and how fared Shining? She didn’t know, but red orbs had looked at her and a sea of teeth had tried to rip her apart.

It was only thanks to whatever light she’d brought forth that she had survived. She remembered it, if only dimly. It had been warm and white and had ruffled her mane.

Strange, it was like somepony had called out to her, but she couldn’t remember much. Had she seen a golden throne? A painting of a purified sky and the sun above?

“We should get moving,” Trixie announced after a few moments. “If that thing finds us, we’re dead.”

She sounded almost deadpan, but there was a weight to that statement. Twilight tried to shake her cold off.

“You’re right. Can somepony help me up?” she inquired.

There was no exact way to describe what she felt as Derpy helped her from the ground. As she stood beside her friends, she felt the nausea and the cold. She felt so very weak and so tired.

Physically it was the same as ever, but it also felt very different from all the other times her illness had struck. Her spirits were high and despite the fact that she had almost died, she didn’t feel like giving up.

Yet she didn't know why. Losing all hope seemed more logical at this point, but then she remembered an alicorn, white as a pearl and with a smile warm as the sun.

“You can lean on me, if you want to,” Derpy said, offering her friend a smile.

Twilight nodded, glad to get some help. “Thank you,” she said with a weak voice.

The only question remaining was to where they should go. They couldn’t face the beast, and looking for adults would be hard, as they were still close to the center of the entire mess. By now everypony else must've been gone.

"We should try to go back," Trixie said, much to Twilight’s surprise.

She’d been angry with her before, but she looked so sad now. Of course, she was beaten down both by the rain and Magia’s assault, but there was just something about her, even if Twilight couldn’t pinpoint what exactly it was.

Trixie hadn’t been beautiful to begin with, what with her black eye, the bandages on her legs and a smile that showed half her teeth missing. Some had fallen out and regrown, others must’ve been lost to causes less natural.

She still wore that giant hat and her coat was hidden beneath a cloak with stars on it. These things looked old and ragged, making the filly appear even poorer. Either that, or Trixie just really didn’t care about looks.

However, Twilight had felt a certain charisma coming from Trixie, a pride she herself could hardly comprehend. It had given her courage to step out of her bed, hadn’t it? She had thought that it was the reason why she’d gone with Trixie.

That had been before. Now she could hardly find anything admirable when she looked at Trixie. The filly seemed so much smaller, like she was using her cloak and hat as things to hide beneath, as if she was ashamed of something.

Twilight had half a mind to cheer her up, to say something, but she was the reason they were here and she was the reason tears had stained Trixie’s face. What hope could she possible bring to her with all that in mind?

Beside the caped unicorn stood Lyra. She was a bit taller than Trixie and a bit more lanky. Also aquamarine.

Twilight took a moment, blinked, and the reassured herself that the other pony was indeed aquamarine with a cyan mane and tail. There were absolutely no words she could say to that.

No, wait, did Lyra have a horn? She hadn’t had a horn before, so why had she a horn now?

“What happened to you?” Twilight asked as the amount of questions within her kept rising.

“Oh, this?” Lyra pointed at her horn, smiling proudly. “I guess I found something I lost again."

She said it like she was talking about a misplaced book, which Twilight found weird. But the way Lyra smiled now made Twilight think that it didn’t matter. That smile was better than the one before and it didn't look like it hurt at all.

Lyra was tall and beautiful now.

Trixie looked at them from beneath her hat, "I know we need to catch up and all but considering everything: We need to get back to the castle. Or is this Lunarium a lie, too?”

Twilight felt herself staring at Trixie. But that word, how it had sounded, how it was carried in the wind, it felt off. It held a power that hadn’t been there before, she clearly understood.

“What?” Trixie asked, clearly freaked out by the sudden looks.

"I- I don't know, but just now … Lu---narium." Lyra stretched the word and then looked at Twilight.

"Do you hear it, too?" The brown unicorn asked.

Lyra nodded.

"Hear what?" both Trixie and Derpy asked.

The way it sounded, like a distant force calling out to them. For a moment, she didn’t know how that could’ve happened, but then it came to her, how she did not know.

"There’s a power in that word. Lunarium, there’s magic even in that word. And it’s reaching out."

Or something was, but that didn’t matter. It was clearly a sign, one that Twilight just couldn’t misinterpret. "Yes, yes, we should go back to the palace.”

Derpy nodded. “I only hope Drops and Tavi make it there, too.”

“They will,” Lyra said with a smile. “We’ll make it through this together.”

Trixie nodded and gestured the others to follow her. She never said a word and gave Lyra a cold look. It wasn’t as seething with hatred as before, but there was an emptiness to it that didn’t escape Twilight. Even Lyra’s smile waned a bit as she saw it, but they went on nonetheless.

Twilight was just thankful that she had other ponies to help her. There were things in her mind, new thoughts she hadn’t held before. They were of Magia’s connection to herself, for the most part.

The Wise Goat had called it the king of nightmares. Now that she thought about it; that, too, was an ancient tale.

She had read about Nightmares, or Night Terrors, as they had been called in the old days. They had been creatures who, even in the days of the princesses, were nothing but a myth to scare little children.

The story of Nightmare Moon, as originally written down by Princess Luna, was probably the most famous interpretation of these legends. The story spoke of her meeting the beast in the space between dreams, where she nurtured the fears and paranoia of the ponies for the sake of a king beyond the boundary of reality.

Though unfinished, it was still one of the best stories Twilight had read, because it had taught her that all nightmares were just stories. They weren’t real and so she had never needed to be scared of them.

Well, apparently she had been wrong about that, so she guessed it was okay now to tremble, to let her teeth chatter and her heart rumble. They went through a hole in a wall and then they faced the outside.

They had taken refuge the ruins of a house, now one in a sea of ruins. Carefully they walked forward, but now that the rain had stopped falling, only the howl of the wind remained.

The path to the castle was open, so they chose to go through the ruins. Whatever cover they could find, they took, so that they wouldn’t be caught by any cottoncandy clouds. Twilight noticed that the sun had reached the horizon, coating the world in tones of orange.

As they came out from beneath a wall that had fallen atop another, Twilight gazed up and halted immediately. Her mouth went open, for at the highest point of the sky, the world turned a darker shade of blue and amidst it, tiny dots glittered in the dark. Stars, they were called, and this was the first time Twilight had ever seen them.

“Dusk has fallen,” Derpy suddenly mentioned. “It’s already past bedtime isn’t it?”

“Trixie has no idea why you're talking about bedtime now,” their very nervous leader hissed. Trixie always spoke in third person when she got nervous, Twilight had noticed.

"Because mommy will be mad if we don’t get home in time," the pegasus whined.

Trixie rolled her eyes and turned around.

"We'll need to meet the others before we can rest and Trixie doesn't think she could sleep after-," there she paused. Trixie looked down on the ground before her, yet didn't stop to walk. Was she thinking? Crying? Twilight couldn't tell. "Trixie thinks we all need to be together. Just follow–"

Trixie’s eyes went up and widened. “No,” she said and the others immediately turned around.

There was little of the cottoncandy left, its arms were more akin to tentacles, spiked and vile, and its entire shape was plastered with mouths and eyes. The beast stood atop the fallen wall and raised its twisted arms.

Bang!

A hole appeared in the center of the beast’s torso and a split second later, black liquid dripped on the floor. There was a moment of silence before another shot fell, blowing the monster’s top away.

Fear gripped all four of them and they hurried back beneath the wall, to the darkest corner they could find. They only heard the third shot, then the beast fell.

“Aaand, apparently, they both bleed and die,” they heard a female voice ringing up above them. “Nice.”

“Sarge, ya sure it’s dead?” A male voice appeared, sounding raspy.”

A moment of silence, and then they heard the sound of a metal blade piercing into the ground.

“It should be now,” a third voice appeared, belonging to a young stallion. “What was it doing here anyway?”

“The same thing we’re here for, lads,” the female voice spoke up. “That fissure’s gone, but the higher ups were quick enough with their decision.”

“You’re right, it only took them an hour or so to send a runner,” the young voice answered.

“They’re soldiers,” Derpy whispered, hope in her voice.

Maybe they could help, but Twilight felt a bit uneasy about their presence. And what were they talking about anyway? They were here for the same reason as Magia’s spawn?

“An’ I still don’ feel why we should do this. I didn’t join tha army so I can shoot civilians,” the raspy voice answered.

“No, you joined the army to defend your homeland, and this is the perfect situation. We have no idea what invaded our beloved capital, and so we should cleanse it in its entirety,” the mare told him, sounding awfully casual about it.

“No shut up, you two and get looking for survivors. Kill anypony you see on sight.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the younger stallion immediately answered and the three heard wings beat as he took off.

The other soldier took a moment longer. “Yes, sarge,” he grumbled, but they didn’t hear him move.

“Check every place, I’ll need to check up with the rest of the squad. And Black?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t you dare doubt our cause or try to cross me. I promise you, I will make you regret either.”

Another sound of beating wings. The four crouched closer together, deeper into their hole.

The stallion kept quiet, before he moved closer to the wall and his head piqued through the hole. He turned his head, scanning the entire area in a half-hearted manner.

Derpy tried to get closer to Twilight, tried to hug her, but missed her lightly and hit a small rock that tumbled down. Twilight almost expected the entire wall to come down on them, but all they heard was the sound of one stone falling atop the other.

The stallion’s ears perked up.

“Well, looks like I found me a few survivors,” he said with a sigh. “Lucky for you, I hate the sarge’s guts, so stay quiet, stay low, and don’t go down the mountain. This whole mess is only gettin’ started.”

With those words he turned and left, marching away from the hole.

“Oh Celestia,” Trixie muttered.

Twilight had to agree, but this was only an incentive. “We need to get going.”

“They’re trying to kill us,” Derpy said.

“We get to the Lunarium, everything’ll be okay. Remember?” Trixie asked. “Stay quiet, stay low, don’t go down the mountain. So we go up, to the castle, and we’ll bring magic back. That’ll fix everything.”

Derpy stayed quiet for a few seconds. “Okay,” she answered.

There was little time remaining and they needed to get a move on. So they went out of the hole and through the ruins, keeping a low profile.

Twilight took a few moments to check up on the situation. Whatever remained of the populous city of Canterlot was ruined and burned. The destruction of all the buildings had left a layer of dust spread across the city. Like mist it surrounded them, slowly coming down from the sky.

It made her so much happier when they could move forward without looking around. The moments where she could just concentrate on getting one hoof placed before the other made moving through the carnage more easier.

She thought to see a pony or two, but when nothing moved, she decided that there probably were no others on this path but them. Nopony expected that some might’ve fled towards the castle.

As they continued, a certain smell made itself apparent. The city had always smelled like a garbage pail with the factories by the edge only making it worse, just like the skies were always obscured and the rain was poisonous.

Now there was this smell of sweets and cotton candy overshadowing the old. Something she, strangely enough, did not find to be good. Her tummy was as sensitive as the rest of her body and the smell only made it hurt.

She turned her head to Derpy, whose eyes each looked into a different direction each, one up, one down. The pony seemed to have lots of strength left, now that she thought about it.

What had happened to her on the run? She sported a cut on her cheek and it had bled, even though most of the red liquid had been washed off by the rain. Twilight didn't inquire, there would be time for that after they reached the Lunarium.

The road was covered with rocks and in the corner of her eyes she thought to spot some more ponies lying around. Despite all her curiosity, she thought better of it and didn't look and the others tried their best to ignore them, either. She knew why those ponies weren't calling out, weren't moving.

Her thoughts drifted, but she didn’t want them to go to them, she wanted to think about something else, something that didn’t make her feel weak and fretful.

Hopefully Raindrops and Octavia had managed to help those ponies they met. If something good would come out of this whole mess, maybe it was worth the trouble in the end. Twilight was sure that, once they were together again, those two would have wonderful stories to share.

Her heart was beating furiously, but it wasn't hurting as much as usual. Yet she was aware that it was just that the cold in her body overshadowing it and that it would only get much worse once they reached the stairs.

Her condition was one that would never go away and she actually felt herself growing weaker. The feeling from atop the castle had left her completely, but at the same time, she didn’t feel as bad as the last time she’d woken up from using magic.

With that thought her head turned to Lyra, who was walking on her other side, probably to aid when necessary. She let her words go through the mind again. Lyra had said that she had found something.

“What did you find?” she asked, but her voice was weak and she already breathing heavily.

There was a moment of silence before Lyra noticed that Twilight was talking to her. “What?”

“Your horn grew back and your coat is different. Did you find anything that is related to magic?” Twilight wondered.

That new smile of Lyra’s appeared on her face; the warm grin, that, given the right circumstances, could easily sway any mood to a good one.

“You could say that. I just thought about what Octavia once told me, that there's magic in music.” Crouching through the ruins, Lyra giggled a little.

“I never believed in magic, you know, not until I met you. I guess I realized that it exists and that with it we can do something, even fix the damage already done. No, maybe I just want everypony who’s still here to be able to smile. Even if this Magia is set free in the world, I now know we can defeat it. We've got each other and we can trust in that.”

Lyra’s let out a hearty laugh, making Trixie shush her. Still, she added, “We can earn ourselves a happy ending.”

Twilight smiled and allowed herself to believe in that, too. Everything that had happened over the past few hours was hard to grasp. The thing was, it didn’t need to matter, because, for some strange reason, with every step closer to the castle she felt a bit more confident.

She wasn't getting stronger, in fact, she felt getting weaker. She felt the weight of her own body, the exhaustion from her long run and from her short battle with Magia. Yet she was glad, as if she had done something right. Twilight had ponies to trust in her and ponies she could put her trust in.

And she didn't notice that the distance between them and Trixie widened. The filly pulled her hat down and moved forward on her own. Derpy looked awkwardly to the ground, not knowing what to say and keeping herself from tripping over her own hooves.

With that, they continued on, the sun sinking slowly behind them.

After walking on for quite a few minutes more, they reached the stairs. There, they were greeted by Octavia, who came out of the rubble with a grim expression about her. She looked dirty and had dishevelled. Her cold glance wandered from one pony to the next, quietly noticing the injuries and the expressions they bore on their faces.

She looked at Trixie ... and then smiled, “You're all fine. Celestia be thanked.”

Trixie harrumphed and then went past her.

What could have been her giving the other filly the cold shoulder was ruined the instant Octavia grabbed the piebald unicorn and hugged her tightly. Octavia didn’t say anything either, but she put all her strength in the hug. No, Twilight noticed her move her lips.

“You’re all fine, you’re all fine. …”

The three stood in silence as Octavia quietly hugged her friend. It took a while, but Trixie finally decided to hug her back.

“We should go up,” she then said.

“Why?” asked Raindrops.

The ponies turned around. Her face was swollen, but there was a determination in her eyes.

Twilight gave her answer immediately, “I tried to end it, but the Lunarium is our only chance now. Magia’s a Nightmare, a real one.”

"This whole mess is a real nightmare."

Lyra had said that, and she smiled as if she had just delivered the pun of the century.

Twilight and Trixie rolled their eyes simultaneously. Then, Twilight said, "I know but that's not what I mean. Magia is a real Night Terror."

"A what?" Lyra asked.

Despite the tone in her voice, her expression revealed that she had the vaguest of notion that something called a 'Terror' that just wrecked the capital of the Republic was something to be scared of.

"I'll tell you on the way up." Twilight said.

She was smart, she had read those things and so she shared what she had found in the books her father had given to her.

“There’s several old legends about them, I read some of them. They’re only a small part of our folklore, but, if I remember correctly, they were spirits of the realm of dreams. All they wanted was to sow dissent and fear. I always believed they were nothing but a fantasy, but,” she looked back on the city.

Where the fissure had risen before was now a darker tinted spot in the sky. The laughter and the screams had vanished, but there was the sound of gunfire in the distance.

Two worlds would crash together and it would all end.

She herself had never quite gotten into her head what exactly the end of the world meant. A planet wasn't a pony that could just lie down and sleep forever, it was huge with land and water and skies and clouds.

How something like that could end was well beyond her, but she at least understood that it was bad. Nopony answered her, nopony asked anymore questions. They all moved forward and Twilight hoped she would be smart enough to solve whatever riddle lay in the garden.

She wasn't quite sure what she should hope for but either way, as the last rays of light vanished beyond the horizon they stood between the statues once more. The moon itself revealed itself in its glory on a night filled with the stars’ light, and its white rays touched upon the stone and it glittered with the light of the stars themselves.

The light became stone, the stones became water and as the ray touched them, they turned into the waves and what was once the center of the plaza became a hole, a dark place.

Twilight and the others looked at it, blinking, and then, in a single moment, it came to her with the light of the moon.

There was a voice coming from the depths, much unlike the Wise Goat’s. She had heard its like before, but could not pinpoint any time where she had listened to its soothing echo.

It whispered to Twilight nothing and everything. There were no words it spoke, but as Twilight looked at the silver ray, she understood what she needed to do.

The moon's light was bidding them farewell and the warm voice of a mentor she never had carried through the wind, telling her that she could do it.

There wasn't any time to reflect, she understood that. If they looked back, then they would see the city again and the nightmares’ descent from their ghostly plain, too. If they looked back, they would have to face the death and the destruction. But if they moved forward?

She could deal with it if they jumped, she could do something. Her father had left her for good and she had last seen Shining a thousand years ago.

"Let's take the dive," Twilight Sparkle declared as she walked towards the hole in the ground, all on her own.

She smiled and turned to the others. Whatever regret they carried with them, not a single one turned back. They all took a step forward, towards the darkness. Their choice was made.

One last time she looked at the sky and at the peak of the sky she saw the laughing eyes of the beast called Magia staring back at her, while the screeching and the breaking of bones became not only sounds, but a vile symphony that rose into a crescendo.

This night would be the first real Nightmare Night, Twilight thought, and even though the moon shone brightly, every pony who'd sleep would be haunted by night terrors.

Twilight took a deep breath and then she was the first to jump into the darkness, the first to leave Canterlot behind. She remembered Nurse Redheart, she remembered Trixie reaching out to her, she remembered a loving family.

But her reminiscence was broken as Lyra cried out; "Cadenza!" while jumping down.

That was that. They were all together in it now and the road back was barred. The only thing they could do was move forward, because their journey to the Lunarium had only just begun.

Part 2: Chapter 1 ~ A Filly In The Dark (V2)

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“Let’s take the dive,” Twilight said to them as she stepped towards the hole.

Then the filly turned around and Raindrops saw her smile. She felt almost inclined to return, but a thought was stopping her. Was Twilight trying to give them hope? Was she making herself believe that they could fix everything, or did she really believe it? Did Raindrops herself even think about believing, even after all that had happened?

Madame and Hugh were searching for them. Goldengrape and Doseydotes had left her halfway to the castle and the city was in ruins. The only thing that had looked more beautiful than ever before was, the sky. Dark blue it was and orange where the sun came down. It was clear for the first time in forever. The filly blinked and as Twilight jumped and then she looked upwards.

Was she really willing to jump?

Raindrops had always taken a certain pride in her youth.

Octavia tried to compensate her own looks by acting as dignified as possible, Trixie was obsessed with being something she wasn’t, but she? Raindrops was a pony of but the color black. Her mane, her coat, they were like coal, with only her eyes standing out.

They had the same color as the cloth of a victorious general, an exquisite purple that would’ve made another filly proud. One who might have lived back in the place where the night sky was lit with a gazillion stars and the father sang songs to best the silence.

She had taken pride in her youth and wasn't afraid to show what scared her. She knew about being judged for it, but as long as she had a family that cared about her, she wouldn’t stop.

Raindrops remembered herself only a week before, crying because of something, she didn't even remember what. Madame had come, smiled for her and hugged her. The silence between them had been most soothing and she’d gone to sleep on the mare’s lap. She was but a little filly, not even ready to do minor factory work.

That was something she needed to remind herself of every day. Children were children, they shouldn’t be anything else.

The others were moving forward, Trixie quietly, Lyra with a guffaw and a warcry. Hugh and Madame, they had cared for all of them, hadn’t they? Was it really right to just go?

Raindrops asked that, because she remembered when a moment of loneliness struck, Hugh would always sit down alone and just stare at the table where they always ate. The smell of muffins had long since been absorbed by the furniture.

She remembered walking in and watching him, just like the other filly had done once before with her own father.

She’d done so on many quiet nights, sometimes he’d notice, sometimes he didn’t. Whenever she escaped his notice, however, he would break down in tears. Nopony else was there, so he allowed himself to be weak, but Raindrops had seen the truth of it.

He didn't have enough room or money for so many foals in one place and even though their presence gave him happiness, he knew that it was but a short-lived dream.

All dreams died eventually, all you needed to do was to wake up, but he never wanted to.

Before she jumped, Derpy smiled at her. “We’ll be fine. Twilight believes it will work, so it will.”

She nodded, but didn’t actually agree. Raindrops had found herself in the Dark ever since she’d seen Hugh alone. The Dark, that's how she called the world the adults lived in. It was a world where you had to pay taxes for everything and were mocked because your house held children that were not your own offspring. A world where a minor problem like Derpy's eyes could get a pony into lots and lots of trouble. A world where you knew of other ponies' worries and even the sweet scent of muffins became salty with tears.

Raindrops didn’t want to know that world. She wanted to jump from one water puddle to the next, wanted to play hide-and-seek with Derpy and let Trixie’s attempts at magic wow her.

She had placed a mobile above her head and tried to sleep with a nightlight again, let herself be told small stories by Hugh or sung herself and the others to sleep while Madame Hooves gently stroked her mane. The warmth of home and family was for her, not the loneliness and the pain the Dark presented. She was but a little filly, not ready to face the world before her.

Octavia jumped right after Derpy, and then only Raindrops was left. She and the sky above them. A cold breeze was playing with her mane, carrying sounds from a distance over to here. They were the noises of chaos, of soldiers marching through the city. They were the Dark and the world she had tried so hard to unsee.

But the Night Terror had appeared and had dragged her back down. The dreams of cottoncandy and warm hugs were destroyed and now she stood before a choice to make. Doseydotes and Goldengrape had left her, because they had been too scared to come.

Raindrops was scared, too. She had seen these nightmares and she’d run from them. The truth was that if it hadn’t been for those two, she wouldn’t even stand here. For better or for worse, she was trapped in the blackness. A filly in the Dark.

Another filly had heard a whisper in the wind once she’d realized the same thing, a call beckoning her to move towards an uncertain direction.

Raindrops used her wings as she took the jump, trying to brake as much as she could so she wouldn't hit the ground with full speed. The hole was deep, but an adult could fit through here, if only barely. For her, it was easy enough to spread her wings. Below she saw more light than just that from the moon. Something was shining down there.

She saw Twilight hit the ground first, then Trixie beside her. Lyra chose to use the piebald unicorn as a cushion and landed safely upon her, at least until Derpy hit them instead of the ground. On the last meter, she finally managed to spread her own wings in an attempt to brake. It didn’t work as well she wanted and after a thud the groaning of multiple ponies filled the air.

Octavia landed head first in the sand, everything above her neckline digging itself into the ground. She immediately got up on her hooves and tried to pull her head out. With a plop she managed to get out of her hole, sitting down immediately and tried to look like nothing had happened.

“Everypony alright?” She asked the very same moment Raindrops reached the ground.

Shortly before she made contact, the pegasus took up in speed, which put her off. Instead of attempting to regain her balance, she folded her wings in a panicked motion and fell the last few centimeters right into the sand.

It should’ve hurt, at least a bit, but it didn’t. There was only little resistance and while the ground held her weight, it wasn’t really hard either. In fact, feeling the sand, an old pegasian proverb came to mind.

“This is fluffy as a cloud.”

“I don’t really feel it,” Derpy said.

“I don’t either,” Lyra added.

Trixie groaned. “Then try laying down somewhere else, you’re both too fat for me.”

Derpy frowned and stuck out her tongue. “I’m not fat.”

“To me you are, get off me.”

“I’m not fat.”

You’re a bit fat, Raindrops thought, but didn’t say anything.

Trixie tried to move and Lyra attempted to rise up, too, but neither managed to make the pegasus move. She merely stared down at Trixie, expecting an apology.

“Okay, okay,” Trixie finally relented, “you’re not fat. You’re super slim and wonderful and everypony wants to look like you. Can you now, please, get off me?”

With a happy nod, Derpy tried to get up, but slipped and fell onto the ground herself.

“Woah, it really is fluffy.”

With a, “Wooh,” Lyra rolled off Trixie and onto her back. “Cool, I can totally see the moon from here.”

The light was shining right onto them from the hole above and the sand glowed slightly, too.

Twilight lay on the ground, too. Her eyes were closed and she had a small smile on her face. She clearly enjoyed the feeling of the sand, something Raindrops could relate to. Yet Twilight responded to Octavia’s question just a few seconds thereafter.

“I'm better than I expected,” she said weakly.

She wasn't as full of power as when that horrible, horrible crack had appeared in the sky, that was easy to see. Raindrops spotted her chest move with heavy breaths. Truth be told, she looked like the complete opposite of Derpy, who currently rolled around on the ground. Twilight looked like she’d never eaten anything, with her ribs accentuating her skin and bags beneath her eyes.

Her legs were such thin sticks, too. As Twilight tried to stand up, it made Raindrops fear for her. She looked so clumsy and uneven on them, but at least Derpy rushed to her help immediately.

“Thanks,” the unicorn told the grey pegasus, who tried to give her a confident smile in return.

“That's what friends are for.”

Meanwhile Lyra tried to help Trixie up, but the unicorn stood up on her own and dusted her cloak and hat off.

“Thank you for being my cushion,” Lyra said lightly.

Trixie looked at her with a dull expression. “You know, I think this sand is much softer than I am. Try to land on the ground the next time.”

“She's right, it’s super for landing,” Raindrops piped in.

A small but smug smile appeared on Trixie’s face as she placed her hat back where it belonged. Lyra tilted her head slightly, but the attitude made her more happy than not, as she pulled Trixie into a hug.

“You’re back to being regular grumbly, woohoo!”

With another groan, Trixie shoved Lyra away from her and walked a bit away from her.

“And she’s back to silently grumbling. I don’t like her like that at all,” Lyra noted.

Raindrops only shrugged. Trixie’s thoughts were her own, and it wasn’t like she could help anyway. She was just a filly, after all.

“We need to go on,” she said instead. “This Lunarium-thingie is somewhere close, right?”

In truth she wasn't quite sure about this whether she really believed in this thing, but if it got her away from Canterlot and the monsters she was willing to go anywhere now.

Maybe the place they’d visit would hold no more adults, no more looks, no more judging and no more pain. She wanted to leave the Dark now and maybe even go where the filly and her family had rested. Somewhere with clear skies and a bazillion stars.

Or maybe she would go somewhere deep down beneath the earth, where nopony would ever look for her Maybe they would see the heart of the world and forever forget all the things they’d seen until this point.Doseydotes and Goldrengrape, she thought, but there were more names.

Moving forward would make her forget, that was a blissful promise.

Everypony stood now, eager to move on. Raindrops saw that and was happy, because they could leave the Dark behind, they could finish this.

“Uhm,” Trixie said, “in which direction should we go?”

They stood in a large cavern, filled with white sand that had the faintest glow to it, as if it had absorbed the light of the moon. All around them, there were tunnels. Some of the entries were dug into the walls, above the ground, others only slightly peeked out from below the sand. Raindrops easily likened it to cheese.

Yet, all the pathways led into darkness, all but one. The sand formed a road into the unknown. She would’ve picked that one, instinctively. The darkness wasn’t a place for children, every adult ever had taught her that. Raindrops wanted to keep to what the adults of Canterlot had taught her, but then again, these caverns were as much of a place for them as the ruins above.

So sticking together was really important. Quietly, she walked over to the nearest pony, which happened to Octavia, who was as awed by this place as everypony else.

Just as Raindrops stepped close, she could feel how Octy tried to get as close to her as possible, too, all while staring at the walls around them. Was she afraid?

“Wait,” Twilight said, “I read about this. There’s stories about Princess Luna long before she vanished from Canterlot. Some say she went underground and built her garden, with a path of moonsand shining the way.”

Octavia looked at her. “This is a trail left by the … by the princess, herself?”

“Ohmigosh, we’re walking on princessy ground,” Lyra chimed in. “We’ll be lucky until the end of our lives. And rich. And powerful.”

Twilight smiled. “Yes, that might just happ–”

The filly suddenly started to break down in coughs and everypony fixed her attention on her.

Now Raindrops started to doubt again. That’s why you needed an adult, somepony who could understand the situation and make a responsible decision. None of them were qualified for this.

She looked up, and thought about the ponies she knew in this city. There was a whisper-like wind.

“We need to go,” Trixie insisted. “The faster we’ll manage to fix everything, the sooner we can go home.”

Yes, they needed to get away from here and as long as it led them away from Canterlot it was fine. As long as where they were going was somewhere else, she was completely fine with it. Her eyes looked to the path in front of them.

They had all witnessed things in Canterlot, they all wanted to run away, so they seemed to quietly agree with Trixie. As the piebald filly started walking, they followed. Six little fillies, slowly advancing on a glowing path that might’ve been set by the princess of the moon.

As they went forward, Raindrops kept close to Octavia. It was quite comforting to have light all around them, but as they took a corner, the tunnel grew darker and cold, hard earth overtook the warm, fluffy sand.

Raindrops wanted to say something, but the others just continued to walk into the darkness. She felt herself growing smaller and smaller, felt herself pressing against Octavia. The distance between all of them shrunk.

“Should we go back?” Derpy asked. “Maybe this was the wrong path.”

Strangely enough, Raindrops didn’t think so, or at least hoped. Anywhere would be better than Canterlot, because there had been Goldengrape and a beast of shadows and blood and teeth.

“Don’t step away from me, please,” Octavia whispered into her ear.

“Yeah,” she whispered back.

Now, the darkness was truly all around them and they slowed down more and more. Somepony was starting to sniffle, fighting back tears of fear. Raindrops fought, too, because in the stories, there were always monsters hiding in the shadows. Everypony must’ve thought that.

The truth was that they weren't meant to adventure, they all just wanted to go home. She thought of what she could say to them at that moment. Should they go back to where Hugh and Madame were? Was that place even still there?

Maybe, yet the sniffling was broken by the weak Twilight.

“Everypony, stop,” she said and they did.

“What is it, Twily?” Octavia asked.

“Lyra, can you do me a favor?” the unicorn asked between huffed breaths.

Raindrops raised an eyebrow.

“Y-yeah?” Lyra answered.

“Close your eyes.”

“What?”

Raindrops was just as perplexed as Lyra about that question.

“Just do it,” Twilight said softly and after a pause she added; “Now think about something warm and bright, a small flicker, a little flame.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see. Just close your eyes. …”

“Okay.”

“And now do it. Think of a dark room and a fireplace in its middle. Think how warm it is, about how the light it spends paints the room in golden colors.”

For a second, there was a small flicker, then it vanished as Lyra giggled. “Fires aren’t gold, silly.”

“Just concentrate, Lyra,” Twilight said, “trust me, it’ll be worth it.”

“Okay, okay,” Lyra said into the darkness. “Okay. Eyes, closed. Thinking of a fire place. Some stone, some wood and whoosh it goes burning.”

“No need to describe it aloud, just concentrate on it in your head.”

“Roger, roger.”

A small flicker, there in the darkness.

“Now a sun. Think of a sun, bright with hope and love.”

The light grew brighter and for a moment Raindrops could see it as it flowed from Lyra’s horn. Then, the unicorn giggled again.

“A sun can’t be bright with hope and love.”

“Lyra,” Trixie suddenly said, “just concentrate.”

“Meh,” Lyra said, “only if you cheer up.”

“Lyra!” Trixie yelled out.

The green unicorn sighed. “Alright, alright. I’ll concentrate. Sheesh.”

And then it appeared again, the small flame. It grew slightly and then even more. Raindrops could hear Lyra grunt as the unexpected strain rushed through her and then a small, glowing orb appeared over her head. Her horn glistened with green, magicky energy.

“It’s actually working,” Twilight exclaimed with a wide smile. “Let the sun soar above you, Lyra. Relax,” she instructed, sounding absolutely dazzled by the sight.

Lyra followed suit, sitting down, relaxing her shoulders and the orb starting floating in circles around her horn. Twilight smiled confidently and nodded.

“Good. I think it should work on its own now. You can open your eyes now Lyra.”

So Lyra did and she looked at the orb. Her mouth opened, but at first, not a sound escaped her. Then she squeaked, “Ohmigosh! I. Am. Doing. Magic!”

She jumped up and down and threw her arms around Twilight. The filly danced to the front of the group, laughing loudly while doing so. Even the others were really relieved that they weren’t in the darkness anymore.

“Oh yes! Look at me! I’m a wizard!” Raindrops said and threw her arms up.

The light vanished and the group was in darkness once more.

Raindrops couldn't hold it in.

“Oh, Come on!”

Part 2: Chapter 2 ~ When You Hide (V2)

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Her name is Rainbow Dash and she's waiting for me to come back. She's safe, she'll be taken care of and I will see her again. I only need to remember that her name was Rainbow Dash and that we made a promise. No matter what happens next, there’s a place where I can go back to.

Octavia remembered the filly’s face, her smile and the distant thunder of guns. She doubted, because she’d heard the soldiers say those horrible things. They’d apologized, but pulled the trigger on the ones who tried to save them nonetheless. Remembering it sent shivers down her spine.

She’d told Rainbow Dash that she would fix everything, to walk across the street without her.

She’ll be safe in the building. Even if they find her, they won’t kill her. She’s blind and sweet. She’ll be there once I get back.

That was right, everything would be fine once they reached the Lunarium. Yet the tunnel led nowhere and they only walked through a darkness that seemed to go on eternally before them.

After a few tries Lyra had managed to get the orb to work properly and now she proudly cantered ahead of them, her head held so high, a grin so full of pride adorning her face. She was the first unicorn since forever to cast a spell and Octavia only barely could keep her eyes of the glowing ball that illuminated the path in a shimmering green light.

It was something to be proud of, for sure.

The orb was small but bright, enlightening an area of a few meters around them. It was better than any lamp.

Yet, what astounded her the most was Twilight, who’d shown Lyra how to do it so easily. Was this what unicorns had been capable of a long time ago? Where all the stories actually true?

“There’s magic in music,” her grandfather had told her.

“That’d be awesome,” Rainbow Dash had answered her.

Octavia needed to remember her, because she was okay. Canterlot was okay. It could all be fixed and the ponies that got shot would all be fine, too. If they weren’t now, they’d be once they would reach the end of this tunnel. The Lunarium would be there and everything would be fine.

Octavia’s gaze shifted back to Twilight. She looked weaker than before, her breaths heavy, her gait unsteady. Yet there was a somberness in the way she looked, only lacking the fire that her eyes had carried before.

“Twilight,” she asked, “what happened to you in Canterlot?”

The light of the orb made the walls glitter, for they were made not only of rocks, crystals and gems were spread across them, too. Their natural colors reflected in the light and gave the caverns a most resplendent atmosphere. She took a moment to notice it, as Twilight thought on her answer.

The tunnel was small, too. An adult would’ve had a hard time fitting through here, Octavia thought, but she did not deem it impossible. Not that any adult would come, the soldiers had no reason to search the ruins, right?

As they moved on the path unknown, everypony struggled to be as close to the light as possible. And the only real sounds were their steps on the floor and their breaths in the air.

It was after a few moments that Twilight would finally say something. “Octavia, sorry it took me so long, but to answer your question. I guess I had an … epiphany.”

She had trouble enunciating the last word, Octavia noted. A big word, even for a smart filly. Octavia had, of course, no idea what it meant and one look around told her that nopony else did either.

It was Lyra who broke the silence: “What’s an iperfamy?”

Twilight laughed and coughed at the same time. Octavia felt bad just listening to it. The unicorn still leant on Derpy, who seemed concerned, but also proud of herself being there for her friend.

Twilight explained; “It's epiphany. What I mean to say with it is that I fought Magia and after that encounter I witnessed what exactly it is. I feel now like I understand what we need to do, too. When I jumped forward, that Wise Goat told me that I did the right thing, that I could finish it right there. I guess he kinda encouraged me.”

Octavia almost stopped. The Wise Goat? But he told me that you were wrong, she thought, but didn’t quite know whether she should say it. Maybe it was a different goat. Maybe there were lots of goat spirits all around Canterlot, filled with regrets of grass uneaten.

The tiny earth pony sure didn’t know what to make of it, but Twilight seemed to have an affinity for the arcane. Maybe that meant just meant one got involved with magic goats.

“This magic I used before, it was ... I tapped into the Magia's power. I-,” she broke up and inhaled deeply.

Octavia saw how a shiver ran through the filly and she pondered whether she should say something. However, Twilight quickly regained herself and continued on.

“I think that's what the Wise Goat wanted, maybe he wanted me to die. I mean, it was a voice in my head, just appearing, telling me how special i was, how I could change the world. I can’t say why, but I think he lied to me.”

Octavia had noticed that he’d gotten quiet. Was it because of fear? Did he not wish to be questioned, or were they truly on their own now. Before she could begin figuring out an answer, her thoughts were interrupted. Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, her breaths growing heavier by the second.

“Sorry, I- I need a rest. I can't … Oh, Luna .... My body- It's. …”

She fell on her knees, struggling for each breath and the other ponies tried to close in on the narrow path. Derpy managed to stand beside her, Octavia before her and Raindrops behind. Trixie stood there, looking at Twilight with a mixture of spite, pity and fear. Lyra was the last to turn around.

“I’m sure it's only a bit farther Twily, then we can rest,” she said with a smile, but Twilight only shook her head.

There were tears falling from her eyes and she grabbed her stomach, grunting and coughing.

The little filly was in pain and scared of it, too. Octavia remembered her donning the same expression during the time they had dinner. However, this time there were no adults who could interfere, nopony to help them.

She felt her own breath accelerating, but snapped out of it the moment she saw Raindrops. The black filly was beginning to cry too, now. Nopony seemed to know what to do, it seemed, but Tavi understood perfectly that one of them had to stand up. They had to, even if none of them quite knew what to do.

She moved to Twilight’s side and embraced the filly. What had Hugh said back then?

“It's okay, calm down. Take deep breaths,” she spoke, too hastily, “Think of a calm sea , a blue sky with white clouds.”

Rainbow Dash, she thought.

One filly had broken down before her today and she’d been there for her. Yes, she hadn’t failed then and she sure as hay wouldn’t fail now. She would be brave, she would be there for everypony.

She stroke through Twilight’s mane and whispered whatever soothing thing came to her mind. She showed her calm breaths and hummed a song, one of those Raindrops liked to sing, but she felt so hollow while doing it.

In truth, she would’ve given everything for the boon of doing Twilight a real kindness and take the pain from her.

The other filly calmed down in Octavia’s hug.

“You’re so small,” Twilight whispered.

“W-well, that’s just because your head’s t-too big. You should really stop reading so many books,” Octavia answered with a smile. “All better now?”

Twilight nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Derpy chimed in. “I can carry you if you want.”

The Lunarium would probably be right at the end of this tunnel, right? So having somepony carry Twilight wasn’t that bad an idea.

“Maybe you could do that,” Octavia said.

“No, no, I want to walk. I want to see this through on my own four legs. If that makes any sense.”

Raindrops grumbled. “I want to fix everything before midnight. We’ll get grounded if we take too long.”

Well, that would certainly be a problem then, Octavia thought, and everypony silently agreed.

“Onwards then,” Lyra said, pointing forward.

As they started to move again, however, Octavia noticed how Twilight slumped. She might have asked Lyra if she could magic Twilight’s pain onto her. The filly twitched with every heartbeat, as if a tiny hammer was crashing against her chest and tried to break through the wall of bones.

That was the sort of pain Octavia never wanted to experience.

After that thought it was like her mind went blank and she noticed how weak her own legs had become. She was shaking and her teeth were chittering, weren’t they?

She tried to walk closer to Twilight, to soothe her own fears. It was okay though, because she was just a filly, too and there wasn’t any magic in her own music.

She was just prattling on and she really wasn't anypony special.

That’s how it’d always been. Her mother had told her so, the other foals in the city had told her so and only Hugh had smiled whenever she took out the bow. Even that little pegasus would eventually overcome all odds and become a wonderbolt, but she was just a normal filly.

Her name had been Rainbow Dash, Octavia remembered and somepony saying something to her. She remembered the words and the smile her grandfather had given her, but it felt like there was something missing.

Here she was, surrounded by the five ponies she thought closest to her and yet she felt alone. Raindrops was sniffling, quietly, without anypony really paying attention. Not even she herself did. All she had on her mind right now was a name, because everything else felt so distant now.

Octavia knew she needed to be brave now, or else she’d become dead weight for all of them. They were unicorns and pegasi, but with magic, she would be the only earth pony.

Would they leave her once magic was back and saw the paradise of old restored?

Actually, even her parents had thrown her out, hadn’t they? She’d been too busy with her instrument, too busy to chase the dream of being like her uncle and she hadn’t grown up when the fire came.

Now, she wasn’t even a proper Quarternote. Even if she’d been, wouldn’t her parents be gone now, too?

She felt herself shaking more and more. My parents … They were still in the city weren’t they? she suddenly thought and stopped in her tracks.

“What now?” Trixie asked annoyed.

It was silent then.

The smog covered in another layer of inescapable filth, like it always did. Looking out of her window, Octavia found nothing to look at. The same old ugly garden, the same old ugly town. There were dark-tiled roofs and houses of red stones, grey streets and alleys exploding with waste. Everything was ugly.

Her grandfather had often taken her through the same streets. They hadn’t been ugly back then, but beautiful and rich with sights. Why couldn’t they be like back then? To where were they gone and to where had her grandfather left?

The blaze lingered on her mind for a second and then she turned away from the ugly world towards a colorless room that had only a bed, a cabinet and pictures of family members staring down at her with utmost disdain. An ugly world outside and an empty world inside.

Her parents would be mad if she left her room now, however. This was no time for proper little fillies to walk about and annoy them, after all. They were busy, too. They did adult things little fillies shouldn’t question. Her parents usually got really mad whenever she questioned what they did. Be it among themselves or with her.

But she didn’t want to be alone in her room, with dolls too fragile to play with and furniture too expensive to touch. The filly walked away from the window and towards her cabinet.

With one pull she opened it and revealed all the dresses and headdresses her parents would put on her whenever they left the house together. She was their own, precious babydoll after all.

Beneath the dresses was a large trunk. Octavia wasn’t supposed to touch it, but her parents seemed to have forgotten that it was even here. So she opened it and looked at the thing she’d hidden away inside. Her grandfather’s cello case was right before her and the filly quickly grabbed it with her teeth, pulling it out. Though it was much too big for her, she managed to drag it across her room and towards her bed.

Octavia got atop it with great difficulty. She was still young and often clumsy, not that the instrument was helping. However, she managed to get up there, seating herself and placing the case in front of her. The filly opened it.

The smell of her grandfather lingered there and she took it in.

“It’s almost like you’re here again,” she whispered.

Taking the bow, she prepared herself to play it, to hear him again.

“Octavia Quarternote,” her father’s voice erupted from the door.

Instinctively, she threw the bow back into the case. “Fa–” she started, but couldn’t finish.

Of course, she wanted to explain, she wanted to tell him that she just wanted to do something, that she didn’t mean to upset him. But that didn’t matter, not really. He stomped towards her, his face contorting in anger.

“How often have I told you to,” he grabbed her mane.

She screamed, of course she did. He never listened, but Octavia thought that if she made herself heard, maybe there would be mercy.

“Just,” he sat down and threw her over his lap.

“Let,” she felt his over hoof coming down on her haunches.

“It.”

“Go.”

She was crying, of course she was. It was unfair, she hadn’t even done anything bad. Not this time.

“I just want grandfather to come back,” the girl cried out.

He stopped spanking her and she looked up to see his face. Shock was clear on it. Had she gotten through? He’d never stopped before.

Then, she felt another sting of pain as he threw her back on the bed, ripping out some hairs. Her father, her beloved father, he only ground his teeth as he towered above her and lifted his hoof again.

It came down on her face, she remembered. Again, then again. Back then he’d lifted her again by her hair, but before she could scream out his other hoof would come down on her. By the time he threw her against the wall, she was only half-conscious and reduced to blubbering apologies that he didn’t care for.

Then there was more pain, more hits. He was screaming words she couldn’t hear. She couldn’t even see him anymore. Her sight was red and her face felt oddly light, with some liquid flowing down. She felt another beneath her thighs, the sight must’ve infuriated him even more.

Octavia remembered her mother. “She was always a dreamer, not a true Quarternote. We could always try to make another. Just let go of her and that memory of your bloody father.”

That was how she’d calmed him, but Octavia didn’t remember much thereafter. No, there was only a grey street before her, with lampposts to each side. She remembered herself dragging the cello case after her and the thought of her grandfather smiling down on her.

There is magic in music. ...

Then she was in the middle of the road, the smog obscuring the nightly sky and two eyes. They were as gold as the sun, but whereas one stood at an early dawn, the other rose up high in the sky.

“Daddy,” a filly in a distant memory yelled.

“You’re going to be fine,” a stallion had told her. “We’ll take care of you.”

Her mother had smiled when she first put the bow to the cello.

There was silence and darkness and nothing else. It felt so hollow all of a sudden, so cold, it was like the entire world had come crashing down and at the same time it didn’t. Octavia felt oddly distant from it all, as the only thing she did was to stare at the sand. Yet she felt arms put around her.

Derpy was holding her and tears coming out of her eyes.

“Don't cry, Octy. Don't-”

Was she crying?

Her eyes went to the ground, and she noticed how droplets were falling from then. She looked up again and saw everypony’s faces.

Lyra smiled, but she her chest was moving with heavy breaths. Trixie looked simply downtrodden and Twilight looked a wreck, leaning against the wall, sweating and panting. There were tears rolling down Raindrops’ eyes as she eyed back.

They had stopped, hadn’t they? Is this what happens when the halt?

“Sorry, it’s nothing,” she said, but couldn’t find her voice. “We need to. …”

Canterlot was behind them, wasn’t it?

Octavia understood. She would never see Hugh again nor Madame Hooves, she wouldn't get to watch Trixie trying to make a decent magic show, Lyra throwing her off with a comment about “hands”. She wouldn't get to see a table nearly breaking under the weight of the muffins atop of it ever again. Never again would she smell the dirt of Canterlot and canter beneath the smog and the poison rain.

The chance to see her parents again and bring a little music into their lives was gone as well.

She felt them gather as much as they could, gathering in a hug, grasping for what warmth they could find. All they had now was each other, because everything else was behind them and there was no turning back.

Only one pony didn't join in, instead she simply adjusted her hat and said in a loud voice; "Magic is harmony and harmony is peace. When we get to the Lunarium, everything will be fine.”

They turned to Trixie, who looked forward. The path twisted itself into darkness.

“Everypony we have met, everypony we haven't. They're all going to be fine and maybe there will be Alicorns, too. I don't know what you're crying about, because what happened up there, if anypony can undo it, it has to be an Alicorn! There’s probably one at the Lunarium."

They all looked at her, how she stood there. For a moment Octavia thought how tall she looked. And then, Trixie turned her head, revealing her smile. For one single moment, she dropped the sad act and smiled at them with hope.

They were all together, not just in grief and fear.

“We've all seen what happened up there,” Trixie continued, “but we shouldn't run away from it, instead we should go forward so we can save it. Brave and strong, mature and not crying. That would make all our parents proud, Trixie's sure."

Tiny and piebald, brown and white. Octavia had laughed when she first saw Trixie and only later learned that the household she lived in was similar to Octavia’s old home. There, she would get beaten for even the most minor thing. Sometimes Trixie would get her head bashed in just for the sake of having it bashed in.

Octavia had known and like anypony else done nothing about it. Everypony was like that, every parent found a reason to despise their child. All but Madame Hooves and Hugh Jelly.

If there ever was a chance to change that, was it now? Was the Lunarium really the answer? Had the Wise Goat lied about everything, or should they cling on to that little bit of hope?

“Come on everypony, we've still got ways to go,” Trixie said and turned around.

Octavia just looked at her and for a moment the tiny and weak Trixie seemed truly great and powerful. Everypony found some strength in that speech.

“Alright,” Lyra said gravely and continued to lead the way.

“I’m fine, Derpy, you help Twilight, alright?” Octavia told the grey pegasus who nodded in return.

Then she turned to Raindrops. “We’ll be there soon, come on, I’ll walk with you.”

That cheered the pegasus up a bit.

So they walked forward. Trixie beside Lyra, Derpy beside Twilight, Octavia beside Raindrops. The path was narrow, but Octavia felt a bit better. Now they could surely finish it.

I'd do anything if I don't have to look back now, Octavia thought as she moved forward. The rest of this journey would be a piece of cake.

“Fuck!”

The voice echoed from far behind them and they all turned around.

Raindrops froze as she heard it and only one thought came to Octavia’s mind. Someone had followed them and she was sure it wasn’t a helpful pony. They shot the mares, both of them. They only tried to help us.

In the distance, they heard noises and a small light appearing.

“There’s something up front,” she heard a voice, one she didn’t recognize. “Sarge, there’s something strange there.”

When you hide they can't find you, she had told Rainbow Dash. She remembered her and she told herself that the poor, blind foal was safe and sound and she would be taken care off. They hadn't gotten her who was even more tiny than Octavia. They hadn't gotten the filly and they most certainly wouldn't get her.

“We need to go,” She said, her voice and body trembling. “Now!”

All looks were upon her, but Trixie quickly began to nod.

“They’re soldiers,” Octavia said, “I really hoped they wouldn’t come, but they did and if we won’t hurry, then they’ll kill us. We need to go, we need to run. We need to hurry!”

Part 2: Chapter 3 ~ This Is Trixie's Might (V2)

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They were running once more, weren’t they? Trixie was unsure whether she should be happy about this. On one hoof it meant everypony would finally shut up, on the other it meant that something was after them again. Still, putting on a brave face came easy, all you needed to do was lie, but every step still made her feel worse. She knew it wasn’t only because of the soldiers.

She’d wanted to never run away again, she’d found another haven, away from the tower and the cliff and she’d taken the first steps towards her goal. Though a light shone from Lyra’s horn, she felt like she was still in the dark.

They hurried through the narrow tunnel and she did not know where they were going or what would wait at the end. Maybe the Lunarium would be there, maybe it would be just a place far better than the one they came from. Maybe it was a worse place, she had no idea. Yet she didn’t look back.

Hoping that they’d find a better place was also easy.

All of them were following Lyra, the one who held the light, the pony who had never believed in magic.

Trixie felt herself seething with hatred. All of them talked how great this was, how wonderful magic would be. The same ponies had laughed at her, had told her she couldn’t be a wizard. At the same time she was sure, the next time they would stop, they would all go crying again.

The only pony who had no tears left was Trixie. She had always endured, always hoped, always dreamt of magic and a better tomorrow.

She had sat on the window sill of her room in the old orphanage, the day before her new parents had come, and had looked at the sky. There she had spotted a single star, shaped like the ones on her hat and cloak. From the filly's point of view it had been as bright as the sun, even though it had was one small star in a sea of them. It had been there for her.

She galloped and her hooves made a clacking sound on the rocky ground. It felt much like the roads of Canterlot, like the alleys where they’d played tag.

Not that she cared. Nopony cared about the rocks beneath them. Derpy had grabbed Twilight and put her on her back with ease the moment they’d started their gallop. The brown filly was holding on, while the one beneath her stared forward, not quite knowing what she did but kept doing it anyway.

Octavia panted, she’d never been a pony with much strength in her legs. Hopefully she could keep up with the rest of them.

Were the soldiers even following the group? The little filly didn't know and in truth, she didn't even want to know.

The only thought on her mind, like always when she ran away, was what that star had been.

That night it had dedicated its light to her and summer snows had fallen, like they had done the day the princess of the night had held her own wake.

Trixie remembered a filly by her side that night, but neither the color of her mane nor the sound of her voice came to her. But this other foal had told her that the sky was beautiful for once.

She had spoken to the ugly, little Trixie.

Suddenly, she felt a sting of pain as her hoof rammed against a stone. The filly stumbled, falling face first into the dirt while her friends still moved forward. Not one stopped for her. There were fewer gems in the walls and the crystals were all but gone. The ground wasn't made of soft sand but hard, dark rocks, some of which had edges that could easily cut.

As she felt her jaw hit the ground, she closed her eyes and took one long second, thinking about somewhere else.

She thought about her room.

Six beds standing side by side with only a small corridor between them leading to the door. The stink was unbearable and the window was almost always open. The only times it wasn't was because they had been ordered to close it.

Her own bed was always neatly done, as if nopony would ever touch it. She never had slept in it, only on the sill, where she could see the city resting below and dream of both princesses and dragons.

Just like at this moment, with the summer snows falling.

The orphanage had been placed higher on the mountain, overlooking the city so that the normal folk wouldn't be bothered by the parentless little ponies. On one hand, that meant long walks if the town was to be visited, on the other, that they had lots of space for themselves.

For the nights it meant one more thing: Canterlot. It was an ugly town, coated in the worst tones of brown and red, with steam rising from the factories and dirt covering every inch of it. But the factories didn't work at night and the dirt was covered up by darkness. What remained were the black silhouettes of buildings on a dark blue background with black clouds above and a few holes in them, through which the light shone.

Now, Canterlot was only towers and spires, a conglomeration of shapes and structures that looked like a piece of art. And it had been the only beautiful thing Trixie had ever seen since coming to the orphanage. Nopony else even looked out of the window. Everypony was asleep, because anypony that wasn’t, they would put in detention.

Small flakes of white were falling and she looked up to a sky she only knew to be covered with smog and smoke. Down in the city, the air was almost unbreathable. Trixie had heard about the factories, how ponies had to wear masks and most workers didn't even make ten years there. Someday, if no family picked her up, she had to work there, too.

Thinking about it made her feel sad, so she didn't dwell on it. Her thoughts were concerned with snowponies and a clear sky. She smiled at the window.

A single light gleamed in the middle of the room. Sugar High insisted on one being lit, just like Trixie insisted that when she had to leave the room at night another filly had to come with her. The light caused a reflection which Trixie, at that point, still enjoyed. Her coat was both brown and white, her mane part white, part black and her eyes were a shade of the richest purple.

She had always loved her own appearance, since it reminded her of both her parents. Her mother, who had always walked around with a mess of a black mane and her father whose white mane had always been adorned with ribbons of various colors. She could still spot most of her teeth in that reflection, too.

Within the window she saw the door swing open and another filly entering the room. Trixie remembered her now. This one had a coat as white as the snow outside and a well-combed, brownish blonde mane. Her unicorn horn had been taken off like Lyra's.

The only filly here who wasn't an orphan. Oh, if Trixie would only have been able to remember her name.

What memory she still had was how it went. The filly tip-toed across the room and seated herself beside Trixie, looking silently out of the window. There had been an air of grace about her, but her mane was dripping wet.

She sometimes cleaned herself at night, both herself and her sheets. Nopony but Trixie had noticed until now. It was this filly's secret, whyever Trixie had never quite understood, though it was probably for the same reason most ponies here kept secrets. For the fear of punishment.

They both sat like they did and for minutes, maybe even an hour, neither said anything.

“It's beautiful,” the other filly whispered, then looked behind her, hoping not to have woken any other ponies.

“Uh huh,” Trixie answered.

That was the only thing that needed to be said. The world was covered in a beautiful white carpet and this moment would be engraved in her mind forever. There was no thought that needed to be spoken out and both of them could just stare at the snow falling forever.

It would stop, Trixie still knew, but the moment was theirs.

The other filly then did something Trixie didn't remember. She turned around, her eyes a tone of cyan that gleamed with a fierceness of old age in them. Trixie would not have believed anypony to have such a gaze. They looked at each other but the silence lasted not a breath.

“Trixie Lulamoon, do not stop!”

The voice didn’t belong to the filly who’d sat there with her on the sill. It was old and filled with a power Trixie could hardly comprehend and the eyes were staring at her, two abysses of wisdom and regret.

You still have something to fight for!

And the second was gone, Trixie touched the ground, felt a sharp pain in her mouth.

Next time she wouldn't scream while falling, because biting her tongue hurt. Yet she stood up immediately, taking energy she had not known to possess before. If not for anything else, then for the sole fact that magic still existed in this world and all her dreams would soon be answered.

She hurled herself forward, only barely hearing a voice behind her, shouting. “Dammit, there's really more kids down here! Get them!”

Trixie heard them, regrettably so. She knew that voice from the city. The female that had so idly chatted about murdering civilians, it had to be her.

She didn't want to be caught, she wanted to be free and she wanted to see the Lunarium. The filly wouldn't stop and her friends didn't appear to slow down either.

With a determination only children could bring up, they galloped farther and farther into the dark. The path was straight, but still they had to watch where they were going. Rocks and crystals were on the ground, some were pointy, some had edges. Trixie felt a sudden sting and a sharp pain on her hooves more than once. The path got narrower and narrower and then the light orb vanished, Trixie didn't even know why.

Not until she fell, her hooves slipping from under her. Suddenly she was propelled on her back and felt herself gaining speed.

With six different sounding Aaaaah’s they went down a natural slide.

Down and down, but Trixie spotted a light at the end. Lyra hit the ground first and the others landed on her.

Then they hit the ground, or rather, Lyra did, and everypony else just landed atop her. A quiet moment passed and none of them even tried to stand up, because they were immediately sucked in by what they saw. They were all feeling like they had just woken up in a world filled with magic, surely. Trixie knew she did.

The cave was monstrous with walls made of crystals and a glowing stream in its middle. The sand they had landed on was the same as before, the moon sand, as Trixie recalled it. There were a few holes in the walls and some of them could be reached by using the rock formations that spread themselves around the river. A filly could easily climb them, but all of them were leading into the blackness again.

After a few moments Twilight said one thing and she was too astonished to cough, “Luna's garden.”

Trixie had heard that story. How Princess Luna had build a garden beneath the castle for all the children in Canterlot to play in. A giant playcave, so to speak. Trixie, like any sane mare had believed it to be a myth since the entrance had never been found. Yet they were here and–

“You're squashing me,” Lyra whined and as Trixie looked down, she realized that they were still a heap of ponies and got up immediately.

She did enjoy the irony of using Lyra as a cushion, though.

The others followed suit, but Lyra left anypony a chance to make a productive comment. “This is totally destiny. Adults can’t get into Luna’s garden. We should celebrate by playing for a bit!”

Octavia, wise as she was, shook her head. "We were just being hunted, Lyra. I don't think we'd lose soldiers this easily."

Everypony easily agreed to that. These ponies were out to kill them, so of course, there was only one thing they could possibly do. We should keep running.

Twilight nodded, “Tavi’s right.” She looked at the river. “Maybe we should look from where this water comes. Maybe the Lunarium’s there.”

If only they had some reassurance as to where exactly they needed to go, Trixie thought, but there was no time to question the situation. A noise came up from behind them, from the slide.

“Hide,” Octavia said quickly and looked around, finding a formation of rocks to their left. They hurried in this direction, following the river down and jumped behind the stone. They heard a thud and then a cry of pain, clearly male.

“Storm, you applebuckin' idiot, watch where yer goin'!” A hoarse voice grumbled, coughing.

“Shut it, you dumb bastard. If it weren't for you they wouldn't have run. Really, I have better things to do than to friggin' chase after kids,” a second voice said, a bit younger, but even though he said that, he didn’t sound annoyed at all. Trixie could’ve sworn she heard him giggle. “I mean, not really. It’s a sport, right? Plus, they’re the first who’re actually smart enough to run.”

“Yet you two should’ve gotten them far easier. You’re a disgrace to both the military and me,” a third voice then said, this one belonging to a female and she spoke the words in the same tone tone any other mare would have gushed about having her hooves polished.

A moment after that voice had spoken, the thud of this pony landing on the ground came. It was softer than the others, and the flapping of wings reached the foals’ ears.

The other two spoke up in unison; “Sarge!”

The two sounded both awed by the mare and rather fearful of her. Pegasi had a proud military tradition and many of the officers were frontline veterans. Trixie remembered an idiot back in her home village always bragging about it and how his parent was a major or something.

“At least it’s done now, just collect the bodies and we can go back up.”

No answer.

“Well sarge ... Uhm, you don' need to come. We can find and kill them kids all on our own.”

“What do you mean ki– Storm, Black, why aren't there any corpses?”

“Uhm …”

Both male voices seemed to be wondering exactly why, or at least they were thinking up an excuse.

“You didn’t even start to look for them? I mean ...” The sarge grew quite for a moment. “Wow, this is pretty nice.”

“Yup!” the raspy voice said with what Trixie thought to be a dumb accent.

Then came the sound a hoof made when it hit another pony's face. “You idiots! How're we supposed to find them here. They could’ve already gone into one of these tunnels, or hide behind a rock formation. I swear, my promotion’ll get ruined thanks to you.”

“It’ll be fine, they’re probably cowering in fear, all we need to do is search. They’re bound to make a mistake,” the other, younger one said.

Trixie knew what that meant. She hadn't spotted that many actual rocks in here, and the only others that could’ve hid them were either on the other side of the river, or a few meters going upstream. As the soldier had suggested, the others were all just cowering.

“Wait here till they're gone,” she whispered in a sudden turn of madness and leaned around.

The trio was made up of three ponies. The one with the rough voice she figured to be the brown, small stallion that wore a very untidy looking Canterlot uniform and a rusty helmet. The younger one looked not much cleaner, but was tall and lanky. He had a white coat and blonde hair.

The female was a black, elegant pony who had her uniform clean and even wore armored horseshoes. Not many ponies could afford proper horseshoes.

They all carried long staffs, one-edged blades at their ends and guns mounted on them. She hadn't really any idea about the equestrian military, but she already knew that she didn't want to be hit by one of those. Luckily, all three were walking upstream instead of fanning out. Trixie really didn’t know why they did that, but if they were going to be stupid about their tactics, she wouldn’t be the one complaining.

She then moved both as quickly and quietly as possible.

There was another group of large rocks that might've made an excellent hiding place, right on the other side of the small river and they had another tunnel behind them. That was her goal.

Her eyes were focused on the three ponies, who themselves were trying to sneak up on the stones. One misstep and everything would be lost.

Trixie stepped into the water, fully aware that if she moved too fast, or lifted one hoof too high, even if she did it just once, it could spell doom for them all. Her movements were pretty graceful she thought, and the river, while wide, wasn't very deep. She took about half a minute to the other side, making no noise.

The soldiers went forward, one turned his head in her direction, but she was quick enough to notice and hide within the water. He didn’t notice her.

They were doing their job fairly half-heartedly, Trixie thought, but maybe the three of them also were awestruck by this place, and just use their chase as an excuse to explore it.

The eyes of her friends were focused on her, but not a single one of them moved.

That's good, she thought.

Not a single step produced a noise that would have given her away. She was a bit clumsy on normal occasions, but somehow it all worked out. Truthfully, Trixie felt a bit strange, like an old friend was watching over her, making her feel surefooted and safe. That's what she wanted to think, that and how there was a tower by the cliff, just waiting for her.

Reaching the other side, she looked at the rocks and then at the tunnel behind it, which led into the blackness. It was a path to nowhere, but a path nonetheless. She couldn't even tell whether it was a dead end or not. A smirk found its way to her face.

One step, then another step, both very quiet. Then, just as she entered the hole she spotted a little rock in the corner of her eye and kicked it with a little force. The rock flew through the air. It hit a wall and the sound resonated through her ears.

Suddenly, she felt the adrenaline rushing through her, her senses sharpening and regret kicking in. As the stone hit, the noise sounded like the hammering of a thousand drums to her, and it reached the three soldiers, too.

The mare called 'Sarge' reacted immediately and turned her staff towards Trixie. Without hesitation she let her hoof move to the gun. Trixie couldn’t make out the exact motion, but a split-second later the shot erupted with smoke and fire.

Trixie's hat flew off her head, now filled with holes.

Trixie, while regretting what she had done, only did one thing, the most insane thing.

“They’re onto us!” she yelled, “Run!” and turned around, hearing a voice behind her.

“Damn brats, after them!”

With a frightful shiver she picked up her fallen hat and then she galloped into the darkness, a smirk on her face. Her plan had worked out and for whatever reason she had decided to run towards certain doom. Everything was up to her friends now, they needed to find the Lunarium and end this.

Why? She asked herself but found the answer long since engraved in her mind, ever since the night, the snow and the promise she had made.

This right there, right at that moment. This was all she could do to reach her goal. This was Trixie's might, Trixie's determination. If it meant to sacrifice herself to bring magic back, so it would be, but nopony Trixie called her friend would ever be hurt while Trixie was around and could do something about it.

Don't stop, the voice echoed through her head, You are on the right path.

Part 2: Chapter 4 ~ Only A Small Wound (V2)

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Then, there was silence. She knew she was blinking, she knew she was shaking and she knew that she was still breathing. Yet the filly could not make a sound. Moments passed like this, with nopony moving or even twitching as they all awaited Trixie’s immediate return.

Lyra still couldn't believe it. Trixie, who’d seemed so furious with them, had been the one who ran and given them an opportunity to make it through this. She felt cold, and not just from the rock pressing against her back. Once more, she blinked and her eyes were fixed at the crystal walls, yet they weren’t looking at them at all.

She had thought to bring joy to the other ponies and had found her magic in happy thoughts and laughter. All she’d ever wanted from Trixie was for her to smile, because, ultimately, this day would end a happy one. She had cast magic, right? Even Trixie should have found joy in that. It was something unbelievable and it had left her with a warmth in her heart.

She was shaking now, sure, but the magic couldn’t be the reason. She wasn’t Twilight, she wasn’t ill or weak.

But we’re both unicorns, aren’t we?

They were both wizards now, and Trixie would’ve become a wizard too. No, she definitely would become one and they’d all be happy in the end. Right?

Her leg still itched, there where the scissors had scraped her. Lyra considered herself lucky, because if there was a scar, it was sure to be obscured by her fur. Yet, even though it was just a small wound she had felt it ever since she regained both her identity as a unicorn and her horn. When she’d cast the orb the itching had grown stronger, too. Maybe that was the prize she needed to pay for them to achieve their goal.

We’ll all laugh about it when this is over, she thought.

Luckily, the pain wasn’t so bad that she’d have to cry about it, not that she really felt like whining about a scrape anyway. No, she only let out a heavy sigh and closed her eyes for a bit. Maybe that would help her regain some focus.

The sound of rushing water ran past her ears and the sand felt soft beneath her rear. She let her two forelegs move in circles, imagining how she'd put fingers inside the sand. That always calmed her. The thought of digging appendages like a minotaur’s into the sand and feeling the cold of the earth. Her mind focused on that fantasy, how she would move each of the eight fingers and the thumbs, too.

If you had hands, you needed them to have thumbs. Those were important.

A smile formed on her face and she remembered the first question she had ever asked Trixie.

“If you're a wizard, then can you give me hands?”

Trixie had denied her that sweet thing, because magic had not existed. Lyra knew that, she kept saying that to herself, too. But words couldn’t make her stop to hope. She could never grow hands or walk on two legs. That hadn’t stopped her from trying once, twice. At least back then, she hadn’t known any better. Truthfully, she had managed to stand on her hind legs for quite a while. Well, she had leant against her bed, but it counted nonetheless.

Walking was hard, it hurt her back and after a few steps she'd always fall over.

Hugh had told her that ponies weren't meant to walk on just two legs, that's why they had four. And fingers weren't necessary for them, too. You could grab things just fine with hooves and ponies would always be fine as they are. Lyra had tried to yearn for more, but then she’d begun to understand just how foalish that was. It was the poor sort of joke nopony would ever laugh at.

“Can you give me hands?” she’d asked Trixie, hoping that the pony would get the joke, that she would laugh.

They would all grow up eventually, she understood, and it was best to let go of make believe until then.

“She’s not coming back,” Derpy mumbled.

Water was rushing to their side and Lyra wanted nothing more but to apologize. Trixie had gone because she couldn’t do magic, because Lyra had laughed at her. Once more, she’d lost something important because of her own, stupid childishness.

She looked at the circles, but to her they were blocks. She heard the water, but to her it was fire. As different as this might’ve been, it was just the same dance as before.

The wound was stinging, but Lyra tried to block it out, to think about something else. She came up with a warm fire and marshmallows held above it, because she loved marshmallows and anything sweet. Right, she loved sweets and they didn’t hurt. So Lyra thought of bon bons, cakes and parfaits. She thought of muffins and then of cottoncandy.

She thought of shadows stalking and of a hall burnt black.

She remembered the Celestial Hall with the red carpet in front of it and as they entered, the guards stared at them with grim looks on their faces. Rows and rows of seats were in front and behind them. Little Lyra, with her new, frilly dress and the bow in her mane had been so excited. Not just because she was here, but because he had come with her.

They seated themselves far away from the stage and to her left had been an older lady who’d looked at her with disdain.

“Ugh, Minty,” she had whispered to that friend of hers, thinking that Lyra wouldn’t hear her, “just my luck to have some pesky unicorn sitting beside me.”

Her friend giggled, but Lyra frowned. Of course she would be insulted, that happened everywhere, but that didn’t mean she ever got used to it. The mare was an earth pony and she was a unicorn, so she knew it to be a normal thing. But he had helped her, had sawn her horn off so nopony would be mad at her anymore.

“Well, I don’t have a horn,” she said, trying to think of something witty, “so–”

“Lyra, shut up,” he told her with a nervous look on his face and then apologized to the mare.

She just wanted to say something funny, but he needed to make excuses for her, again. That wasn’t how she wanted it to go. No, she wanted him to be happy again. If it wasn’t through jokes, then maybe not making a sound would help. Surely, that was the solution.

There was a quiet upon them, until she spotted something moving on the side of the stage. Ponies marched onto it and took their positions, the entire orchestra, the conductor and, of course, the cellist. He was a famous figure, or so she was told, an old musician who also was the main reason the orchestra was still getting work.

Lyra felt sad that they sat so far away from the stage, but as he put the bow to the cello, she learned that it didn’t matter whether one could see or not. That was the first time in a long time she’d heard music.

There’s magic in it.

The young child ignored the whisper, for it didn’t belong in her memory. No, she let her heart be captured by the music again, like the rest of the audience. She didn’t notice that the mare to her side had left the auditorium until the first break, not that she had ever understood it. It just wasn’t conceivable that anypony would leave such a wonderful presentation.

But maybe that didn’t matter, either. Maybe everything in this room was unimportant, everything but the music.

How could this cellist put that much emotion in something like marks on a paper? She had often wondered that, before meeting Tavi. He had played “The Seapalace” and the beauty must’ve come from Tavi sitting in front of him, smiling for him. Lyra knew that now, even though she had never told Tavi that she’d also been in that room on that night.

It was her own little secret, that they had shared a common thing even before meeting one another. Back then, she hadn’t known many other foals, even though he had always tried so hard for her.

Lyra remembered him fondly, her own guardian, Tattletale. He was a light brown stallion with a blonde mane and poisonous green eyes. When the filly thought of him, she thought of the hint of a smile she’d seen on him when he’d gotten the tickets and when he had shown her a hint of a smile when she finally behaved like a proper little filly and tried proper little dresses on. Often she wondered whether he could do more than that, if she could make him happy, make him laugh.

The filly had hoped that going to the concert with him would better their relationship, but she looked at him once, when the cellist’s opening solo played, just before the bassdrums added themselves together with the thunder of the tubas and trombones.

She remembered it exactly. His hair was combed over to the side, making him look as elegant as ever, and of course, his tail was also groomed. The sideburns running down his cheeks were his pride and she loved them, too. With them, he looked less like a pony and more like a lion. Not only that, but now that he wore a tuxedo, he clearly was the classiest pony there. Her Tattletale.

He fiddled around with his bowtie and wore a frown on his face and gritted his teeth, impatiently kicked the air with his hooves. Lyra remembered that Tattletale didn’t like the piece and that saddened her greatly. How useless was she, when she couldn’t even make the pony laugh whom she had to thank for everything?

Tattletale had always tried to look his best on any occasion, Lyra remembered. He always tried to accommodate for others. That was also the reason why they had gotten the seats farthest away from the concert, the ones where one could hardly hear anything and the ponies that had been seated before them just wouldn't stop talking.

The two of them still tried to listen and soon enough, as the music reached its high and the orchestra went in full force, finally everypony started to play attention. The cellist was almost jumping on the spot as they hit another allegro.

Everything before them fell quiet. Everypony was looking at the stage with sheer awe and Lyra could only imagine what the cellist saw and felt in these moments. The little seapony’s journey, they all hoped for it to have a happy ending and Lyra even more so.

As the ponies leant forward to listen closer, it must’ve been like a wave running through the auditorium. A wave of the purest emotions that clashed with the music, creating a cascade of joy.

Lyra thought that’s what it was and she thought that it was magical.

She remembered that her smile grew so much that it hurt. Then the filly turned around.

It was the finale and Tattletale just sat there, his hooves covering his face. He sobbed and tears were running down his face. The girl looked at him and then the music was drowned out as he opened his mouth. His words were only mumblings at first, growing into a whisper and then he said those same words aloud, over and over again.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. ... “

She remembered him dying in the flames when they went to listen to the orchestra’s last concert. She remembered herself being trampled by panicking ponies and she remembered him grabbing her and carrying her out.

He never stopped saying those words.

Poor Tattletale who had wanted to give Lyra a good home, poor Tattletale who had lost the mare he loved and everything else that had made his life good, and poor Tattletale, who had called her filth and cut off her horn.

Poor Lyra, the her from back then told her, always looking for something that isn't there anymore.

The seapony had struggled, the seapony had yearned. Lyra had yearned, too. For how long she didn't remember, but it was the seapony that inspired her to become proactive.

When Tattletale was gone, Hugh would read her a book, filled with stories of mystical creatures that were commonly depicted by minotaurs to haunt the labyrinths at the beginning of the world. Every tale filled her with inspiration, with yearning.

She couldn't read, but still she asked everypony and looked at every picture that could have hinted at the existence of these humans. Then, Lyra would draw pictures of them. How many hours did she spend thinking about how they looked and how awesome they were? Even she couldn’t really say anymore.

Whatever it looked like to everypony else, it wasn’t the pictures themselves or the stories that preceded them. Neither truly managed to grasp her attention as much as the thought of humans itself did.

She had no concept what a world populated with humans looked like, so she just imagined it like Equestria under the princesses, only in better.

They would be ruled by the smartest men and they only cared about making everyhuman happy and they could control the weather with mighty machines. In fact, they had machines for everything. For making food, for feeding the animals, for keeping the forests in good shape. Since humans were imaginative they would even do a better job with technology than ponykind.

They were so good that they probably wouldn't even know what pollution was, or racism and all the human parents loved their children, too. Nohuman was ever hurting anyhuman else, not ever. When one was in trouble, everyhuman would come and help them, so not a single one of them died.

And there was a day every summer where all the families would go out.

A mother with a sickenly sweet smile on one side, because life was just so good. A father on the other side, grown a bit fat because of the luxury and good food. He told his wife how much he loved her and how happy he was that she would never leave him or their child because of something like the color of their skin.

A child was between them, her skin white as milk and her hair a pale blonde, wearing her finest summer dress and holding each of her parents tightly, not even thinking of letting them go.

“Don't worry,” they said. “We love you. We will never leave you. Lyra. …”

“Lyra!” Twilight called.

The Filly was leaning over her, her hoof touched Lyra’s forehead. The aquamarine one blinked, wondering why Twilight did that.

“What's wrong with you?” Twilight asked.

Lyra was amazed how scared she looked. At first, she would’ve guessed it to be natural, because Trixie was gone. But then why was it that Twilight cowering over her now?

She felt something on her left front leg and turned her head to look at it. A dark spot had appeared, though only faintly beneath her coat. Seeing it was hard, feeling it was easy. Twilight must’ve seen it and thought it to be bad. She was just scared for Lyra.

The poor pony was afraid of losing another friend, wasn't she?

“I-”, she started, but thought better of it. She wasn’t good enough with jokes for a situation like this, not yet anyway. “It's just a small wound, no biggie.”

Lyra gave her best smile, “That and I'm a bit tired.”

“We rested enough already. She’s not coming back and we need to get going,” Octavia said from the side. “Maybe it’s close to the source of this river, the Lunarium. Trixie ... She knows what she's doing. She's smart after all.”

She looked tired, too, if not more so than how Lyra felt.

The unicorn only knew that they now had one more reason to go to the Lunarium.

If it would fix everything, then surely it would make Trixie better, too. She would come back and they would all go up to Canterlot. After that, laughter would come back to the world and they would all be happy.

That was what needed to happen, that was what they needed to make happen. This was Lyra's resolution now. She wanted everypony to be happy and even if it meant sacrificing her own ability to smile, she would get to it. Being brave enough to do just that was what she decided to be.

Slowly she rose up. “Yeah,” Lyra said and looked to Twilight.

She gave her a smile, one she believed in herself. “Let’s finish this. Trixie’ll be fine and if we find the Lunarium quick enough, we might even get to help her.”

That seemed enough for the little brown filly with the thin legs that could barely support her own weight. She nodded. Derpy offered Twily her help once more and their looks turned to from where the river came.

Lyra already knew one thing, there was something she had gained while fighting Magia but she had lost it already.

The feeling of hope, the faint magic she had felt. She knew the color of her coat was fading and the horn would soon disappear. Lyra also understood that me magic she had used was foul, for an unnatural chill rested in her bones.

She understood that now, but somehow she also knew that that was just the reason to keep going.

The only thing she really would have liked would be for a voice in her head to tell her where to go. As she stepped forward, something like a Wise Goat would have greatly improved her mood.

And against all odds, between the sound of the rushing water, she heard a whisper in her ear, trickling through like drops of rain.

Don't worry, no sacrifice will be forgotten and in the end, the laughter of the children will fill this world once more.

Part 2: Chapter 5 ~ I Dreamt Of Mommy And Daddy (V2)

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“Are we there yet?” Derpy asked.

Her legs hurt, her stomach complained and they were still continuing to walk on the white sand. This was literally the worst trip she’d ever taken. The filly now truly understood why her parents had never wanted her to go too far away from home. As much as she understood that there was no way to turn back anymore, she just wanted to stop.

“I don’t know,” Twilight answered, the doubt festering in her voice.

Every time she answered the same question, the filly grew more nervous and the river to their side just seemed to continue endlessly.

Luna’s garden my butt, she thought to herself.

There was nothing fun about this place at all and she doubted anypony could even find anything amusing here. None of them were happy and Derpy was so sleepy that she was getting angry. Out of all the things they had done together, this was the worst.

“When are we there?” She asked.

“Derpy,” Octavia answered, “it can’t be far anymore. Just hold out for a bit.”

Tavi sounded tired, Derpy noticed. She was tired, too, so why were they continuing? This was all too horrible. But maybe Tavi was right, maybe it was just around the next corner. Not that there were any corners, but one should always hope for the best. Yes, they’d find the Lunarium and there’d be muffins, freshly baked and warm to the touch.

Her stomach grumbled. “I’m hungry.”

Nopony answered. “I want something to eat. Muffins, or cake, or–”

“I’m hungry, too, now,” Raindrops complained.

“See, we’re hungry.”

Octavia sighed. “Yeah, well, guess what, we’re all hungry.”

Twilight nodded, but let her eyes linger on the ground for a while. “Do you think we could eat the sand?”

“Nopony’s going to eat the sand,” Octavia said grimly.

“But it does kinda look like powdered sugar,” Lyra said and dug her hoof into it, shoveling some up.

“Don’t you put that in your mouth, Lyra.”

“I’m not going to–” She stopped and looked at Derpy, so did everypony else.

“What’re you doing?”

She’d pretty much gone and ignored them after Lyra’s sugar comment and was now chewing on some sand. “It tasteth like rockth,” she noted while continuing to bite the stuff down.

“It’s sand, you dummy,” Lyra grinned. “Of course it tastes like sand.”

“But you said that it looked like sugar.”

Octavia sighed and shook her head. “Don’t take Lyra seriously, please.”

“But I’m seriously hungry.”

“Just a bit further, then we’ll reach the Lunarium,” Twilight said, as if that would help.

Derpy spat out the sand. “Ugh, I can’t eat this. Why can’t ponies eat rocks, that would make everything so much easier.”

“Just come on, we’ll be there soon, I’m sure of it,” Octavia told her and started walking again.

Whatever she thought was the right path, Derpy felt inclined to disagree. Her legs hurt, her stomach was complaining and she had sand between her teeth. This was the worstest trip they’d ever done together and she was getting really tired of all the running she had to do today.

“I’ve had enough,” she suddenly said and stopped in her tracks.

Twilight made the mistake of making another step, however, stumbled and fell. Everypony was looking at Derpy yet again.

“Come on, we need to get going. Or. …”

Derpy merely harrumphed. “I’m hungry and sleepy and I don’t want to go on anymore.”

“But–”

Derpy didn’t listen. She had enough. This was tiring and she wanted to at least have a nap. She let herself fall onto the white sand and closed her eyes. She heard the others egg her on, but she didn’t want to move anymore.

“Twilight, say something,” she heard Lyra say.

There was a moment where only the water was rushing past them, then Lyra asked her question.

“Is she asleep?”

“Oh, wonderful,” Octavia said, throwing her hooves up.

She didn’t care. All that came to her now was sleep. She was hungry, but her last thought was of home. As sleep took over, Derpy felt a sadness upon her.

There was one dream she had. It wasn't the same every night and yet it was. The colors changed sometimes, the scenario would be different, too.

There were times she dreamt of a brown stallion in a clock shop whom she’d visit every so often. There were muffins and a telescope, and he would tell her of the lights in the nightly sky. Sometimes she dreamt of herself amidst them.

Nebulae and planets, strange lifeforms and a million adventures with both despair and laughter filling her life as much as his.

There were other times where she dreamt of a village close to Canterlot. It was a place so crazy, it couldn’t even be described with words.

It was nothing that could be described close to real life, but when she dreamt, she was happy. Of course, none of her dreams would ever prove to be true, no matter how much she wanted them to be.

When it came to all the dreams, she would often be a mailmare, sending letters and muffins (especially those) to the ponyfolk, often getting them mixed up. Sometimes she would live with an orange pony she called 'Carrot Top', sometimes 'Golden Harvest' and she would always eat everything in her fridge.

There were times she dreamt of coming home after a day of work and opening the door to her apartment. It would be a small, dull thing with a kitchen, a bathroom, and a room to live in. Its walls were often painted grey with the tapestry coming off. Worse yet, there was always something she broke. A lamp, a doorknob, a vase, things like that. She should’ve felt horrible about it, but in that town, nopony cared.

That place should have been sad and little and unimportant. Yes, it was the kind of home anypony would have traded gladly for another.

Every time she dreamt of the apartment, the first thing she did was to open its door. She looked at it, and knew that she should’ve felt pathetic for it, but she never did. Instead she would open the door, be interrupted by the landlord, who laughed and joked with her for a moment, and then she would move into her home.

Then, it was always the same thing that happened. A little filly jumped at her and gave the grey pegasus with the funny eyes a warm embrace, laughing loudly while doing so and saying how this specific day was the best day ever.

Derpy never got the reason why the first time, because the filly talked too fast for her. She just wasn’t all that good at understanding it when ponies give her lots of information at a quick pace. All the ponies would eventually get irritated with her, but this little filly always noticed the confused look on Derpy’s face and then repeated her words, slower this time, but happy to do it.

“Diamond Tiara said you were the worst mailmare ever and she and Silver Spoon are the worst bullies, but Miss Cherilee stepped in and told them that my Mommy is one of the most important citizens of Ponyville and without her the post would never find its way. This day is the greatest because Mommy is the greatest.”

Nopony thought that Derpy was the greatest and she actually doubted she would make a good mother, actually. Heck, even taking care of dolls was too hard for her, as evidenced by a sudden fire on the last Hearth's Warming Eve.

Yet there stood the little unicorn filly and called her all that and more with a smile that told Derpy she was truly proud to be with her. She would always take the filly in her arms and hope that the moment would never go away.

Derpy was wanted, needed, to be something they could be proud of. There was also despair in the dreams with the small town called Ponyville, but the laughter there was so bright and warm that she always yearned to return.

It was always the same dream at heart. There were strange places she would visit, there would always be something different and yet it didn’t.

It felt like whenever she slept, she was visiting an unchanging land, filled with feelings she couldn’t truly fathom. It was always a different dream, yet always the same one.

But this time it wasn’t so. No, this time however was different, very different, because Derpy dreamt she was still in Canterlot and she never dreamt of Canterlot. She hated to be in Canterlot.

The first thing she did was to wake up in her own bed, the one with little rails – because she still fell out quite often – and the atrociously colorful bed linen. She opened her eyes there and looked out of the window, watching the red night outside, with the clouds bleeding onto the roofs of the city.

“Rainy? Octy?” She called but nopony answered.

“Lyra? Trixie?” She asked but there was nopony else in the room, so she got up.

The other beds were torn up and the ground was dyed black with broken toys littering the earth. She also saw the plush toys amidst them, their white innards spread across the entire room. Derpy’s eyes turned towards the door and she decided to move. Every step was carefully set, as she didn’t want to step into anything.

Yet she was still a clumsy pony who couldn't do anything right. With every step came a new cut, a new scar and new pain. It was a horrible feeling, but she didn’t want to turn around, didn’t want to look at the floor beneath her and just continued on, because forward was the only road to go.

The filly then reached the hallway and looked across it. The ground was unsteady and all the things, from the doors to the pictures, seemed too big for little Derpy. Her goal were the stairs, which were next to her room. She needed to move down there. Derpy took a deep breath.

“I can do this,” the grey one told herself and took a step, the hoof landing steadily on the ground.

A proud smile came unto her face as if she was successfully walking for the first time in her life. She took another step, tripped over her own leg and then the world was spinning around her as she tumbled forward, hitting the rail of the stairs.

The next thing she knew was that everything came crashing down. Pictures and walls and doors, they all crumbled and fell down to the ground. She saw them moving towards her in slow-motion, but her voice was stuck in her throat.

Somepony had to hear, somepony had to listen, but no sound escaped her as both the rubble and rocks came down on her. In a vain attempt to guard herself, she lifted her legs up to her face.

For a while there was nothing and she just sat there, her eyes closed and averted. Finally, she let her arms down and decided to take a look. She found herself surrounded by ruins. Above her was a red sky with black clouds that wept as lightning crept across the skyline and Canterlot burned. Ponies were running around, screaming and dying, burning and weeping.

“Did I do this?” She asked. “But I didn't want-”

“Derpy,” she heard a warm voice, a familiar voice. It belonged to Hugh and it was like honey on her ears in a dream like this.

The little filly turned around, tears of happiness in her eyes.

He had come, he would save her, he would rebuild everything once more, like he had done before Raindrops had come. He would be there for her and Mommy. Her uncle would be there for her when her real daddy wouldn't. He'd be her father again.

She turned around and the laughter and the happiness of hers faded. Her eyes widened and she felt a horror like none before.

The stallion had no fur, no skin and there was blood pouring out of his eyes. He stood there, white on a black and red background and his mouth started moving, repeating the same five words, over and over again.

Whatever thoughts she held, they yielded to silence as she turned and ran. Her eyes were wide open, but felt like they were shut. Blindly she stumbled through the fire and the ruins, hoping that somepony would come to help her. Everypony stopped, everypony looked and their voices were all she heard.

“There she is-” they said.

“The freak with the weird eyes-” the broken record continued.

The fillies and colts all pointed and laughed at her. Laughing at the pony with the funny eyes, the halfwit pegasus who had no idea where she was going.

“There she is-”, they said and laughed, despite the fire.

And then all the voices changed and they repeated the one line, again and again.

It was the one she feared most, though it only contained a mere five words.

She ran across the city, their laughter and sneers accompanying her. Derpy closed her eyes, not knowing what else to do, but forced herself to open them again, to look to where she was going.

Around her were the gardens of Canterlot Castle, a silent ruin beneath a darkening sky. There she found the last pony.

This one was tall and had a beautiful mane, one that looked so familiar.

“Mommy?” Derpy asked.

The mare only showed Derpy her back and didn't budge as the filly's voice tore through the silence. Her head was held low and she was shaking all over.

Derpy was surprised at this. Her mommy was strong.

“What's wrong, mommy?” she asked.

Then, she asked again, taking a step forward.

“What’s wrong, mommy?”

Now the mare's ears perked up and once more Derpy asked. She took another step towards her mother.

That one now stood up, but she kept her head low, even as she turned around.

Like her brother, Madame was but a white husk, without a coat or skin, and her eyes were black abysses with blood gushing down her cheeks. Her left hoof went up to her neck and then her mouth started to move.

At first there came no sounds, but then, slowly, yet steadily something was starting to build, a hoarse, tiny voice, growing stronger every time she finished the line.

It became louder, more aggressive and harder to understand, like a beast's roar.

“What are you saying, Mommy?” Derpy asked, wanting to understand, wanting to hear.

Madame Hooves then spoke.

She remembered the voice, the calm, soothing voice that was as sweet as honey and as soft as cotton. Teary eyed Derpy listened as the words were formed once more and the line was spoken, the dreaded five words that she had received before.

“It,” a sweet mother's voice said.

“Is,” an angry father's voice said.

“All,” an old friend’s voice said.

“Your,” a strange clockmaker's voice said.

“Fault!” The beast roared and extended its tendrils and fangs, clawing at Derpy and tearing off her wings.

The pain rushed through her body, both warm and cold. As she wanted to scream as the teeth dug into her. Then there was only silence and the dark as the monstrosity swallowed all the pieces that remained of Derpy Hooves.

Derpy opened her eyes. She didn't cry, she didn't whine, she didn't ask. All she did was open her eyes and then she looked at the ceiling of the cave.

Glimmering crystals greeted her and she felt that water was rushing down her lower half.

It’s cold, she thought as she turned on her stomach, watching the side of the cave.

She had somehow managed to roll more than four meters in her sleep, judging from where all the others lay.

Derpy stood up, looking under herself. Her lower half was soaked, yeah, but at least she was awake now. Driven by thirst, she tried to step a bit more into the water, but tripped over her own hind legs and fell on her back, her entire body being submersed in the cold and clear wetness.

She might've been unable to swim, but luckily the river was very shallow, which meant almost no risk of drowning, even for her. She came up from the water and had all but forgotten the dream she had had, at least consciously.

Her body was still stiff with fear, but she thought that was just because of the cold water.

Honestly, it felt like forever since Trixie had run. They had followed the river as long as their tiny ponylegs had been able to carry them. Derpy remembered herself just laying down. The others must’ve taken her example and just gone to sleep, too.

Honestly, she felt a bit horrible about doing that, but they could at least continue onwards without much trouble once everypony woke up.

With that, she put her head down to the water and let her tongue gather up some of that cold freshness. It felt better in her mouth than on her coat, that much was sure.

Yet, she noticed something strange about it, as it tasted like water with too much sugar in it. She wondered what was up with that, but hoped that it would still quench her thirst. It did, and it also calmed her stomach down a bit. That was awesome, but she didn’t want to know what she’d needed to do once she needed to relieve herself.

She’d never worried about life without a bathroom before.

Anyway, Derpy seated herself besides the other sleepyheads and just goggled at them.

Hugh had once told her that he could watch his children sleep for hours, because everypony made a certain face when they slept. Twilight looked mildly irritated, Derpy found, while Raindrops found herself with grin that showed her teeth. Octy was almost never moving and on only a few nights she would lift her hoof close to her mouth, sometimes going so far as to suck on it. Right now, though, the only thing about her was the grinding of teeth as she slept. Lyra never stopped moving and seemed scared of something, but Derpy just thought she misjudged that.

She often did.

She had seen Trixie's sleepface back when they had all lived together. Trixie talked when she slept. Of a tower and never wanting to leave, of magic and being a good filly. Of course, Derpy had not understood any of that, but still tried to be a good friend to Trixie.

Hopefully Trixie had managed to get some rest, too.

Twilight was the first to get up, but they decided to wake the others in quick succession.

There was no time to be lost, as Twilight said and so they decided to each have a drink and then move on.

“This water is sweet,” Lyra announced once she had put her tongue to it.

“Yeah, this is pretty sweet. It’s totally different from the stuff in the city,” Octavia noted.

Twilight had a taste, too, and began to smile. “This is how I figured the rivers in the Crystal Empire tasted like,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Raindrops asked, licking her lips.

“I read a story that the oldest rivers of the empire came from springs inhabited by spirits, whom they referred to as the Gods of Rush and Temper. Rivers blessed by them could quench the thirst of any travelers and keep them standing on their hooves no matter how hungry they got,” the tiny pony explained.

They all stared at her, utterly awestruck.

“Wow, you’re like a dictionary,” Lyra finally said.

“I think what you mean is an encyclopedia,” Twilight answered with a small grin.

She was blushing, Derpy noticed. That one really liked to be praised.

Derpy only looked at the water. There were crystals all around them, so she figured this was one of those oldest rivers.

Once they were done drinking, they each decided to do whatever they needed to do for hygiene’s sake. Derpy took note of how Octavia hid behind one of the rock formations to relieve herself. She jotted that down under the category of: I’ll have to do it like that, too and then decided to keep to herself until everypony was finished.

The time to prepare for the continuation of their journey wasn’t that long. Of course, there wasn't actually much to prepare, but Lyra found herself talking again quite from the start. She had had an awesome dream involving pirates and space robot princess alligators, which sounded awesome.

Derpy and Octavia decided to play a bit in the water and Raindrops wanted to wait for Trixie.

But they were back to walking a few minutes later. Twilight leaned on Derpy again and had her eyes on the grey pegasus.

“You don't look like you slept well, Derpy,” she said in a voice that rang hollow, breaking the silence that had until then surrounded everypony.

Derpy looked at her, she had bags under her reddened eyes. Her face was wet from when she had taken a drink, and sand stuck to pretty much the entirety of her body. Even her legs were really thin, too. But they might have been that way forever.

Despite all that, Derpy still thought she looked nice, nicer than her at least. She had purple eyes, looking all straight.

Nevertheless, she giggled at the remark.

“Actually, I dreamt of mommy and daddy.”

“Oh, is that so,” Twilight said, her eyes turning to the river as she thought about that.

Derpy didn't notice. Even though the details of the dream were fuzzy she remembered some things about it. She remembered her home, she remembered her parents and she remembered lots and lots of ponies around her. Those were good things and they made her smile.

Part 2: Chapter 6 ~ Trixie Shall Become The Greatest Wizard The World Has Ever Seen (V2)

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She hadn't taken a hit and there were no wounds.

She wasn’t stumbling and her legs moved in a perfect gallop.

Breathing wasn't hard and she had still had enough stamina.

She didn't need to take a rest, because Trixie was absolutely fine as she moved through the darkness. The filly went onwards as quietly and quickly as she could, so nopony could possibly chase her anymore. Everything was fine and she was going to make it.

“Where’re the brats gone too now. I saw that caped one just a few minutes ago.”

“We’re always just seein’ the caped one.”

“Shut up and search. I’ve had had enough of these bloody caverns already.”

She didn't hear the voices far behind her. She didn't hear because nopony was there, because she had outrun them all.

Somehow Trixie knew that wasn't the truth, though. There were still ponies coming after her, no matter how hard she tried to escape them. She needed to move forward, through the darkness, all alone. Her gait wasn’t perfect, either, long since reduced to a clumsy stumbling.

The left leg on her front was hurting every time she put pressure on it. After a few more steps she decided to looked down in hopes of seeing what was wrong with it. Of course, she couldn’t make anything out. Be it the walls or her own hooves, down here everything was shrouded in darkness. That was actually kind of relieving. She didn’t want to know how her leg looked, now that she could hardly feel it anymore.

Her cape dragged through the dirt and her hat had more holes in it than stars on it. The thought alone made her feel horrible, but she also tried to see some good in it, because they were still with her. Everything would be fine as long as she had both items.

So she continued, stumbling and shivering. How long was it since she’d started her run anyhow?

It sure felt like forever. Surely, she must have bought some time for the others, so all Trixie needed to do now was survive. She didn’t know where she was going, but simply following the tunnel seemed like the right thing to do. Here and there it branched out, but it was really just a blur to the filly.

Trixie would notice turns whenever her head smashed against the wall. By now, she had the worst headache, but there was no way to stop. If she’d stop, they would find her. Once they found her, she would get killed. That was something Trixie obviously wanted to avoid.

She heard the voice of the younger stallion behind her. Trixie would’ve felt more comfortable with the older one, since he’d let them go once, so he was trustworthy. He had to be. Nevertheless, the voice said something about hoofprints to the sergeant, who hadn't hesitated to shoot her twice.

The filly hoped that they’d never find their way back, but she knew that she wouldn't find her own way back either.

There always was the faint hope that around the next corner her friends would wait. That was probably why she was still trotting onwards and also how she managed to keep her tears down. It was only a part, because another part felt like she had betrayed them.

Somewhere deep down she knew what it meant to run away from those things she wanted to cherish and protect. Lyra, Twilight, they’d been able to do magic and she just couldn’t stand it. How often had she talked about being a wizard, how often had she wanted to do a proper magic show, just to have it all crushed in a single day. Was she really this useless in the pursuit of her dreams?

That was when she stopped walking, there in the middle of the blackness. The pain, the cold, the darkness, she tried to take it all in.

A liquid dripped down her leg. It was her blood, she knew, since she’d bled often already. Halting, however, made her realise just how spent she was. Her eyes got heavier, even as bolts of pain jolted through her body. The foal thought it kind of funny, actually. She felt all this pain, but still no tears would come.

Trixie couldn't turn back, Trixie couldn't walk forward. No matter how she turned, she knew that she would find nothing. The end of her path was as black as the beginning.

Why did I try to play the hero? she thought and grimaced.

The voices were coming closer and she wondered if it was alright to rest a little. There were no friends here, no family to aid her. No, she was all alone. So she found herself thinking of nothing as she took one deep breath and started hobbling forward once more.

Now, she was just one filly in the dark .

Trixie didn't quite know whether she had gone blind or if it really was total blackness that ruled here. Maybe she should have been scared either way, but she wasn’t. Not really at least. Everything in the world but her seemed to drown in gloom and an unending road she couldn't even see stretched out before her.

The pathway continued and she just walked in silence. The voices were distant and at the same time they got louder. Her heart was beating furiously and she didn’t know to where she was going.

If there was a thing she could hope for, Trixie did not know what it should be. She blinked, felt dizzy, wanted to fall over, but caught herself and lifted her head once more. In the far distance, she spotted the tunnel getting a bit brighter.

There was nothing more to it.

The hunters, her friends, they were all gone now and the snows were falling once more.

”Tell me, what happened to your home?”

The question of the filly rang through Trixie’s head.

Her parents had been called Great Stars and Powerful Echo and they had been stage magicians.

Everypony had said they had been bad at it, but Trixie had seen their shows and they always made her smile. The little filly remembered sitting there, grass blowing in the wind, the tower by the cliffs rising up and before it the small stage was filled with noise and colors. Her parents would perform their tricks for her and they would do it with great fervor. She had been amazed and bewildered, she had laughed a lot in those days and, at times, even shed tears of happiness.

Trixie remembered sitting beside her mother's bed and looking in her eyes. Tears were rolling down from her eyes and her entire tiny body was shaking.

“You can’t go,” she remembered herself saying with a cracking voice.

The mare smiled at her little daughter and told her; “I should be sorry for all those things I said to you. You have more talent in magic than both me and your father. You still have a life worth living and you still have something to fight for.”

She remembered the sun vanishing beyond the horizon and her father sitting beside her. He put the cloak around Trixie and put the hat on her head.

“Don't ever stop, daughter. You need to find the right path,” he told her and then left.

In her ears the noise remained. He had walked up the stairs and with every step of his came a loud creak, a horrible noise that Trixie remembered better than his face. She heard it, she remembered it and couldn’t banish it from her mind as she looked at her mother. The mare lay there, quiet as a stone on the wayside. After all those tears, all the fighting and all the pain, her mother finally looked at peace.

It was far too soon for that.

“You need to wake up,” Trixie said. "He's going to hurt himself again if you leave now."

The creaking didn't stop and her crying became a wail. Her mother had to listen if she cried for her, right? She would tell her to stop it and then get the father to snap out of it. Yet the mare did not move, no matter how much Trixie howled and sobbed.

Was it because she’d defied her so often, was it because she hadn’t wanted to become a magician, but rather wanted to live in the village with the other fillies and colts? Was that it?

Was her mother sleeping because of her? Was her father leaving because of her? All she had wanted was to be with her friends, she hadn’t meant any harm, she hadn’t meant to be naughty. Her parents shouldn’t leave her.

“Trixie promises to be good,” she said, saying her name to reassure her mother, “she'll be the best daughter you ever had, she'll be a great magician and everypony will like her shows and they will point and say that she is your daughter and, and …”

A door opened at the end of the stairs and then closed, and then Trixie remembered sitting alone in the room.

She remembered sleeping, she remembered going to the bathroom a few times, but she would always go back and sit by the bed where her mother was. The filly stayed there, from sunrise until sundown, then from sundown to sunrise. And every time the stars would show up above the clouds and their lights would illuminate the nightly dark, Trixie repeated the same words she had said to her mother.

Certain spells only worked at certain times, her parents had told her. So she stayed and repeated the words at the same time. Again and then again. As long as she did that, there was a chance that her mother would hear her.

On the sixth day she heard another door open and ponies entering.

Then, the summer snows were falling above Canterlot and she was in the orphanage with the filly by her side. It was the first time she’d done that, this generous filly. She’d lent Trixie her own blanket so she wouldn’t be cold. Of course, that left her shaking quite a bit.

“You don't need to tell me if you don’t want to,” the filly said.

Trixie turned around and looked at her.

“Who are you?” she asked. “Why are you doing this?”

The filly stared out of the window. “It’s a beautiful world outside, strange how you can only see it when its covered in snow and darkness.”

She wanted to answer something, she even remembered words coming out of her mouth, but Trixie didn’t say anything. Instead, the generous filly turned her head and looked at her with cyan eyes.

“Why are you stopping, Trixie?”

Her mouth opened, didn’t it? The words of the other filly weren’t carried by her tongue, but by the air all around them. It was a ghostly whisper that didn’t belong to anypony. At least it felt so, and at the same time it didn’t. Yet the voice had to belong to the filly, because she, with her ancient eyes was speaking to Trixie, right?

“You ran away for a reason, didn't you? The first time was when you realized that they would take you away from the tower. The second time you ran from the orphanage and the third time from the parents they chose for you. The fourth time you ran with Twilight Sparkle, but only you know why and you need to find the reason within your heart.

“Trixie Lulamoon, do not stop! Under no circumstance must you stop or give up! You are important, you are as important as everypony else on this journey and you might just be the one who finishes it. Stand up. …”

But Trixie didn’t react. She only blinked, for she did not know what to say or what to do. She was sitting here and everything in the world was far away. Her friends, her parents, her other parents, the ponies who took her and even the filly who had lent her the warm blanket and shared so many nights in her company.

“I said, Stand. Up!"

Trixie opened her eyes. She was lying on the ground and she felt the blood on her leg. Darn, the foal thought and then she heard the voices behind her.

“Shit,” a voice shouted in the distance, the raspy one and then there was the sound of a gun getting fired.

Had something happened behind her? No, if it had, then it would most likely be bad. She needed to continue, find another turn, a way back, so that she could catch up with her friends. The piebald filly lifted herself up, albeit slowly. She tried to steady herself as much as possible, which wasn’t really working, but she decided to hobble forward yet again, even though her body cried out for a longer rest.

So she went on, ever through the fading darkness and then she spotted the end of the path. It was leading somewhere brighter, to an end. What strength remained in her legs, she used. Her left front hoof dragged across the ground now, as it didn’t want to be lifted anymore. The pain she felt, the numbness and the sleepiness, all that faded to the anticipation of the tunnel’s end.

And then she stepped through it and was greeted by an uncountable amount of lights, scattered across the walls of a gigantic cave. It was a sort of natural bridge she stood, below it a dark abyss, around it walls littered with glowing crystals. Trixie wasn’t quite able to grasp where she was, but it reminded her of an old friends words, of how the world showed its beauty only in the dark.

She spun around, a smile growing on her face. Then, she stumbled forward again, every inch of her body burning with pain. Now Trixie figured that she could have a proper look at herself, right?

She’d run against walls, had been shot at and sharp stones had dug themselves into her legs at some points.

Whether she should really look wasn’t up for debate, however. Trixie was still standing, so it couldn’t be that bad.

Her left leg had turned blue beneath the red, she couldn’t even make out how many wounds she had there. Her other appendages fared only little better, with bruises and cuts and the occasional the occasional wound. Everything else looked like she’d just talked with her foster parents. The pain was nothing she wasn’t familiar with, or at least that’s what the filly told herself.

Still, her eyes shifted to the side as she walked on. The bridge wasn’t all that wide, all things considered and aside from the glittering crystals on the walls, she couldn’t even see how far down it went. It was a wondrous sight, to say the least, but she did wonder what did lie on the other end.

The filly walked on, her hopes rising as she thought of what she might find. A cliff, a tower, a bed with her mother in it, her father saying that she was his daughter, maybe she’d even find one of her friends waiting there, telling her that she’d reached the Lunarium, too. Maybe she’d find another friend of hers, one who smiled at her and would throw another warm blanket over her shoulders.

A little pony whose parents ran an orphanage and whose name was Rarity.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

“Hey, brat,” she heard from behind her and turned her head.

The staff smacked her across face and she felt some teeth flying out of her mouth. Not only that, but her precious hat fell off and then slowly went down into the abyss, like a feather carried by the air.

In a moment where Trixie’s entire world was filled with pain and nausea, she just watched it fall down into the abyss. Finally, the tears ecaped her eyes, but he didn’t care. Instead the soldier knocked her down with the blunt part of his weapon. As she felt it smash against her head, she let out a cry of pain, a cry for her mother.

“I’ll be a good girl,” she said loudly. “I’ll never run away again!”

He spat on her before he knocked her over the head once more. It wasn’t something she wasn’t used to, but that didn’t make the pain any less bearable. She wept and cowered before him, hoping that he’d see that she couldn’t take anymore, but he didn’t care.

She felt the blunt of the weapon smacking across her face, beating against her body, piercing into the wounds. Trixie cried out with every hit, blubbered out noises which should have been apologies, but he only kept on beating her without saying a word.

He only stopped when he was out of breath, leaving Trixie to twitch and moan and spit out blood. That was the moment the soldier finally said something.

“Unicorn filth.”

Why she decided to look up, she didn’t know, but since this was probably the end it didn’t matter anyhow, right? Before her stood the tall and lanky pony, but she could hardly make out what expression he made while looking at her.

Blood, tears and sweat made her eyes hurt, but somehow still, his own stood out to her. Grey eyes burning with an angry fire, the worst kind of eyes. He lifted his staff and pointed the blade at her. Trixie also saw the gun that was attached to it and understood what would follow next.

“I don't know why those things are down here, but they've already gotten Sarge and Black, you dumb brat,” he snarled. “I'll kill you and any other brats I'll find on my way out and then I'll probably end up having to tell their families that the griffons got to them first. This isn’t how I wanted my bloody day to end, but I’ll take some enjoyment in pumping you full of lead.”

She regained a bit of focus during his speech, noticing that his uniform was torn up and that claw marks were running down the side of his face. The wounds were turning black.

Trixie half-expected him to finally pull the trigger, but he seemed to enjoy both her pain and the chance to rant.

“Aw, whatever, Sarge’s family’s from Canterlot, so they’re probably dead and I think Black’s family is a bunch of hillbillies on the frontier, so nobody cares. And if I play my cards right, I might get a promotion for all of this. Well,” he said and Trixie could swear he was smiling, “All’s well that ends well, right? Any last words that don’t involve you begging for your mommy to come and pick you up?”

Trixie didn’t want to say anything to him, because he was a bad pony and the only thing she wondered was why she’d even run?

Maybe because she had told herself to run away, because she had a life worth living for, a life of her own that nopony else could control. It was given to her by her parents, alongside the hat and the cloak. They all belonged to her and all she ever wanted was to make them proud.

No, that wasn’t it.

All she wanted was to be what they couldn’t, because unicorns were good at magic and magic could bring happiness to all. Her eyes turned away from him and she looked to the side, to the stars and the edge of the bridge.

Trixie groaned. The pain was sharp, but was this really where it would end? What lay at the end of this road if not the thing she’d always searched for. She’d come here to bring back what the world once lost and every part of her was screaming. Yes, she would take the dive.

Between sobs and tears, the pain and the sadness, the fear and the anger, she was answering the voice and Rarity and herself. She answered them the one question, the one that was important to her, the one solitary most important question that she had known until this moment and the one she had never known the answer for.

The question why she was still running.

“Trixie shall become the greatest wizard the world has ever seen!”

She yelled it out and assembled all her strength. With one swift motion she jumped to the side, to where the darkness awaited and then she rolled off the edge. She heard the gunshot, maybe she even felt it. Maybe it was nothing but a scratch, maybe she was already dead.

Still, the wind was all around her as she fell. Down and down and deeper down. Everything was going by so fast, but she couldn’t even find the strength to blink or move as she took a dive head first into the depth.

She went past her hat, which now had so many holes in it, it was barely recognizable, but for the ring of the brim.

Above her, the outcry of the soldier shattered the silence as the nightmarish beasts descended upon him. Strangely enough, Trixie didn’t feel happy about it. He was dead, gone and lost forever.

Never would he know what magic and harmony were and have a chance to tell somepony else of the fate of his comrades. Now that she was falling, she felt sad for him, but also for herself. At least it was ending on her own terms.

Trixie smiled just before felt a sharp pain going through her body as she hit the ground and everything turned black.

Part 2: Chapter 7 ~ I'm So Scared (V2)

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There were no corners and there was no Lunarium in sight. All she saw was a river, the endless stream that rushed past them and towards some place they would never get to visit. It glittered in the unearthly light of the sand, and it reflected crystals and stones alike. By this point, however, it all appeared a blur to Raindrops.

How long had it been since Trixie left? She didn't remember, didn't want to remember. The filly hadn't come back, and they hadn't reached their goal. She's dead, Raindrops thought, the words lingering heavy on her mind. We'll be dead too if we don't reach the Lunarium.

Now that wasn't a very comforting thought, but it was one that became louder every single time they slowed down.

How often had that happened now?

They'd been walking, drinking, walking, drinking, sleeping and then they'd started walking again. Had they repeated it thrice now? She didn't quite remember.

That was more comfort than anything else, as the filly didn't want to know how long it'd been since their journey started.

Not knowing the time meant that it would be more likely that somepony was waiting for them. It meant that somepony up there would be there for them, because they had more time fixing things if Raindrops couldn't tell. Right?

“Can we stop?” Twilight asked, yet again.

How often had she asked that now? Was it the fourth time or was it the tenth? Raindrops didn't know and she didn't want to, either.

“Sure,” Octavia answered, as she did every time.

She and Derpy both liked to stop, they both liked to look back, like somepony they loved would appear from there. Nopony came and Raindrops knew it.

Her stomach growled, not to be sated by water alone, and her legs ached, strained by a journey she never wanted to embark on. The others could do as they liked, but Raindrops was far too tired to even care about it anymore.

Every time they would halt, she would drop down on the ground and just close her eyes. She did that now, too. The caves all looked the same around them, but the moment she got to close her eyes, the world around her changed for the better.

Lyra was thrashing around in her sleep and sometimes she woke screaming and grabbing her leg. Octavia would quietly weep, humming familiar melodies to calm herself every time she woke. Twilight shook and cried, and it was clear that she grew weaker every single time. Yet every time she woke, she became more fierce about finding the Lunarium. Derpy, like Lyra, was always thrashing around, and woke with screams and sobs. By now she looked worse than any of them, but still smiled the moment she became aware that she wasn't in her nightmares anymore.

But Raindrops?

She dreamt of a story another filly had once known. She dreamt of a place, somewhere far away, with a gazillion stars shining in the sky and that filly had lived there. She had been beautiful, her parents would tell her, and everypony liked her.

On the first night, the filly had been she. The second time, stormclouds had roared aloud in the sky and a blaze was moving across the land. It wouldn't reach her, to be sure, because the filly was safe with her parents.

On this night, it had to be the third, the filly was gone and only Raindrops was left. Everypony knew that and they didn't like Raindrops. Her parents looked at her, despising her very existence and the ponies, they called her names and they threw rocks at her.

She stood in that place and saw them flying towards her. As she turned, they hit. She might have even felt them. Her legs, she couldn't see them, but she knew they were black and bleeding. She'd always been black, however, both in her dreams and in reality.

As the world rejected her, the pain surged through her and she wept. The filly ran towards somewhere else, crying out for someone to notice her, but there were only the ponies. They laughed at her, they screamed at her and they hurled their rocks at her. Her last bellow was the only thing that remained. She wished them gone and gone they were.

She turned around and looked at this place. Somewhere in the world it lay, a paradise another filly had known, some days in the past. There was a hill, overlooking it all, but as she tried to remember how the tale described it and everything else, all she saw was flames, and all she felt was the blistering heat on her skin.

Everything was burning. The world was on fire and even they. She saw the ponies, their coats ablaze, their mouth twisting as they screamed in the most horrible agony. Hooves and manes, tails and heads, they were covered in lights and flame.

They tried to run away from it, but those who reached the edge of the fire faced a fate worse than the one for those who stayed within. As their hooves touched the ground, they turned to cinder. All of them fell and they still tried to crawl, both without legs and without eyes.

Raindrops sat at the side as this happened, knew how quick her heart did beat and she wanted to scream the names of these ponies. But she didn't know them. The other filly had known them, but she was not here.

There were only Raindrops falling from the sky.

“Are you okay?”

“Hm?”

Raindrops looked at Derpy, who stood beside her as they drank from the river. The black pegasus blinked, wondering why she was asking that. Probably because she tried to be there for everypony now.

They'd all woken up in a bad state this time and only Derpy managed to maintain her chipper attitude. She had bags beneath her reddened eyes and she tried to force a smile, now that Lyra continued to grind her teeth in pain.

Sure enough, Derpy suffered as bad as the rest of them. Whatever nightmares visited them at night, hers made her keep rolling around, the time before this one she'd nearly drowned in her sleep.

“I'm the big sister, so you can trust me with anything,” Derpy said, her voice a bit too deep for a filly her age. “Mommy and daddy would want me to look after you.”

She said those words so easily. Sometimes she called Hugh her daddy, even if he wasn't. Raindrops never truly wondered about that, since this was her family now. She liked to think of Hugh as a father, too.

“Don't do too much. We'll all look after each other, okay?” she asked, perhaps too softly.

Derpy frowned for a moment. Clearly, she had wanted to be recognized, but Raindrops didn't want to leave everything to her. Derpy always tried to be brave, she always tried to be smart, but she wasn't all that. This was why Raindrops wanted to stick with her, because if she wasn't here, Derpy might stumble and fall and not get up again.

That was why she was here, right? Raindrops felt too tired to answer that question herself.

“We need to get going,” Octavia said, helping Twilight up.

Twilight got slower every single time they went to sleep. How sunken in her eyes were, how hard her every breath looked. It was like something was sapping all her strength.

The magic comes from the tear and the monsters that came through it, Raindrops thought, but banished it from her mind. Both the thought and all the implications that it carried.

Lyra agreed with Tavi, grinding her teeth yet again. She'd gotten quiet, only nodded, never smiled anymore. The pain was draining her strength, too, and it seemed to grow worse every time she went to sleep.

The spot on her leg, Raindrops didn't like to look at it. Black veins showed beneath the skin, which itself had lost its coat.

For some reason her eyes always kept looking back at the wound, for some reason she felt herself drawn to the terror. She shuddered and felt Tavi touching her shoulder.

“You okay?”

She nodded. “You don't need to worry about me.”

“Everypony's having trouble with their sleep. It almost feels like something bad is coming.”

As vague as that sounded, as terrifying it would be if the things Raindrops didn't want to think about did appear. But they wouldn't, right?

They started their journey in quiet again and once more they went past the same scenery, an unchanging river and the sound of water rushing past them. Raindrops almost wanted to stop asking how long it'd been since they'd started to walk. Maybe it'd been more than a day or two. What if it had been even longer?

Her stomach was growling when they sat down again, but she went to sleep nonetheless. Even after another uneventful long walk, she had no strength left.

To where were they going again?

The moon was scattered up in the sky. The drifting pieces became clouds and stars, the falling ones became mountains and fires. Beneath them was an endless sea of grass and a hill with a single tree atop of it.

Another filly had spent her days here, another filly had smiled and laughed and had told Raindrops that it had been the greatest time of her life. But the filly was gone and Raindrops only remembered the stories she'd been told.

This tree, she did not know which color it had or in what shapes the branches spread. Neither did she know its name, but she decided to walk up the hill anyway. Her legs were bruised, black and horrible to look at.

So she didn't look at them.

The filly just walked up the hill and saw a piece of the moon falling down in front of her. It was a bright, white light, moving straight down from the heavens themselves. A shooting star, the filly thought and felt how blood dripped down from her forehead and into her eye.

She closed it and moved her lips to make a wish.

As the filly reached the top of the hill she spotted them all before her. A herd of ponies, looking up to where she stood. Some whispered, some giggled, but then lifted their hooves in anger and their mouths twisted and shaped themselves. There was a noise, a long, long noise. It was a melody she knew and words she understood. The filly closed her eyes.

She wished them gone and gone they were.

The blaze went past her, a raging gale that she felt down to the tip of every feather. The piece of the moon crashed down before her and she saw how quickly the explosion spread. Only for a moment did she look, and then averted her eyes, looking to the sky.

The moon's pieces aligned themselves in the shape of a head, one that belonged to a griffon girl.

“What're ye called?” the voice whispered in the wind.

She saw clouds gathering, obscuring the sky with a coat of color, dyeing it all grey and black. The wind remained, it, and the drops of rain, falling down on her and obscuring the flames, more and more.

“They hurt me,” she said.

You are getting closer.

“They abandoned me,” she justified.

You need to take the dive.

“I never wanted to leave,” she screamed, tears streaming from her face.

You can do this.

Then she tried to see the one whose voice spoke, but all she truly did was open her eyes and then the dream died. Only pieces of it remained as she woke up.

Her hooves sank into the sand as she stepped forward.

“My legs aren't hurting as much as before,” Octavia said, stretching her hooves a bit.

She'd stopped her usual proud gait after the first time they went to sleep. Her legs were still bruised from all the times she fell, however, but she still led the group alongside Lyra.

Lyra was looking at her, bloodshot eyes moving as she thought of a response. Her aquamarine coat was dirty and her hair a mess, while the black spot was so very visible on her leg. She was shaking all over.

“That's just because your–“

She stopped, was unable to figure out something witty to say, made a face and gestured to Twilight that she should shut up, before the sickly filly even got a chance to talk.

“Is the pain that bad?” Tavi asked her friend.

“I have a hard time moving on three legs and every time I put my bad leg down it feels like smashing against the ground after being pushed out of the window by the salad mafia.”

Tavi had to giggle. “I don't think the salad mafia's a thing.”

“Of course it's a thing,” Lyra responded dully. “They're the ones responsible for bad parents forcing tomato juice on their children.”

“Eugh,” Derpy answered.

“See, she get's my pain. Do you even know how bad tomato juice are for you–Twilightshutup.”

Twilight dropped her ears a little and Raindrops wondered since when they had established a comedy routine.

“I don't know how bad tomato juice is for me, my parents always told me a proper filly drinks everything her parents give her,” Tavi said.

“But tomato juice is icky. Even Hugh agreed,” Derpy threw in.

“Yes, and it causes ninety-eight percent of tomato related cases of children's diseases. It's science,” Lyra said with a serious tone of voice.

Octavia bristled a little. “Children's diseases are linked to tomatoes?”

Raindrops felt her steps in the sand, heard the river to their side and watched the crystals they went past. She had to stifle a giggle, however, as she understood very well enough that Lyra was just playing around with Octavia.

“Uh-huh,” Derpy suddenly said and Raindrops did not believe for one second that she was actually in on the joke.

She did certainly look a bit confused as she eyed Lyra.

“Yes, there's lots of nasty, nasty diseases, many of them are caused by tomato juice,” Lyra said, getting more into her story.

Octavia certainly tried to play it cool. “You're just joking, I drank tomato juice the day before Twilight came and nothing happened.”

“That's because of the incuperatation time.”

“incubation,” Twilight corrected.

“That's what I said. It takes about a week or two before the Evilmato cells in tomato juice get to work. They say that after long periods of exhaustion, you'll suddenly feel better–”

Octavia's eyes widened and she looked down at her legs, Derpy's tail waved around nervously. Raindrops came close to laughing out loud, but turned her head away from the action so that nopony would see. Lyra was close to breaking out in laughter, too, finally getting back into her element.

“–and then you'll feel a sudden cold, like you received some shocking news.”

Both Derpy and Octavia stopped and looked at her. “I feel that way right now,” both of them said.

“Well, you need to–”

Raindrops couldn't hold it any longer and began to laugh. Lyra followed suite after a moment and Twilight joined in, though her laughter was more restrained than theirs. Octavia and Derpy stood there, dumbfounded, but the former quickly regained her posture again.

“You were messing with us,” she declared.

“Ohmigosh, your face was brilliant,” Lyra said with a roaring laughter.

Octavia tried to look at her angry and intimidating, but she was the smallest of the group and the way she puffed her cheeks was pretty much the least threatening thing to do when angry.

However, Raindrops was glad for a moment like this, because it made her feel better, because it made her feel like things were still moving forward. Even though the rest of the way went on in quiet, once they went back to sleep, she felt far more eager to get back on the path thereafter.

She dreamt a different dream, one that belonged to a stranger.

Small lights were buzzing around an apple tree and she was lying on the ground, her head covered in mushed apples. She got up and wiped them off her face, to stare into the vast darkness that surrounded her now.

“Were this any other time, one might consider this a usual sight, am I right?” her new friend asked.

He opened up his palm, held it out to her. It was a strange claw, one of a creature she felt like she did not know, but she took it nonetheless. With no effort he took her and held her up, for a moment it felt like she was flying again.

Another filly had flown once, held in claws like this, reassured by someone who'd killed her parents. Raindrops remembered the story well.

“I often wonder how you ponies live with your eyes closed, but I guess that's what history can do to you,” he said, a wry smile on his nondescript face.

Raindrops didn't want to look at him, instead she enjoyed being held like this. It was like she was a much younger child, all giddy when their parents held them up like this.

“Is this really what you want? To be held, to have somepony tell you bedtime stories, to get a toy from the dentist? Is it really so nice to be a child?”

“The adult world is boring and nopony likes each other,” Raindrops said, soaring. “The Dark is not for me.”

“Is it the Dark because of the things you saw, or is it the Dark because you cannot see?”

“I'm only a filly. I don't need to understand anything you say.”

“But even fillies die,” he said, now flying beside her through the blackness. “You are aware that you're going to die at this rate, right?”

She didn't answer, not at first.

“When there's a fire, a firepony will take care of it. I'm not a firepony. It's fine when I'm weak.”

“You say that, but nothing you do makes any sense. If you really are what you say you are then why?”

“Why what?”

He took a sip from his lemonade, drank so much of the glass that the liquid spilled onto the white table. The terrace that was now all around them was made out of white wood and they sat on white chairs. Around them were cupcake trees and birds looking like oranges flew through the air.

“Why what indeed. Let me ask you something. You saw the tear, you saw the nightmares, you had a chance to turn back, but you didn't. How does that feel? How do you feel?”

Raindrops grinned.

“I'm only a filly, so it's obvious. I'm scared.”

“Truly?”

“I'm so scared,” she said, her hooves shaking. “If I had the strength to show it, I would die of fear. If it weren't for Derpy moving on despite her dreams, for Lyra joking despite her pain, for Octavia being kind enough to lead us and for Twilight believing despite there only being horror around us … If it weren't for them, I would … I would. ...”

Tears were rolling down her cheek. It felt weird to say it, even if it was only in her head, only in her dreams.

He held his finger out and an egg landed on it, cracked open and revealed a salad that quickly spread its legs and crawled down his arm.

“Fear? Really? Well, if it's that, than that would be good enough a reason for me to talk to you, I guess.”

Her dear new friend. “Who are you?” she asked.

“I'm me, always have been. I talked with everyone who ever came here, too, much like she did. You can hear Her voice, too, right?”

“Whose voice?”

“How many people can reach out into other ponies dreams. There's only one voice, it has a blue tint to it.”

She looked at him, wondering what he was going on about.

“There isn't many things the two of us can talk about, not now anyway. You're still not flying, still got your eyes closed. Everypony has, it seems. Two believe, two want to believe, one follows and you? You're afraid, right? Well, before this week ends, you'll probably reach whatever you're not searching for. For my own continued amusement, I shall tell you something nice in relation to the entire nothing of your everything. The fire's in your head at the moment, but it belongs somewhere else.”

She blinked. “You're not making any sense.”

“That's my job. Now,” he said.

There was something else he said, but she only heard another pony calling.

Lights were flying around the tree, she knew their names. She knew the names of so many ponies and had been held by a griffon and now she was afraid and the fire was eating her up. All things were ending, but they didn't matter.

She woke up by the riverside and Octavia stood above her, bags beneath her reddened eyes.

“Come on,” she said, only to be interrupted by her grumbling stomach.

Her own stomach was rumbling, too, causing the two of them to smile faintly. It wasn't really a source of humor, as it made Raindrops question when she'd last truly eaten something. Nevertheless, they needed to continue, Raindrops needed to continue.

How she managed to get up was a mystery without answer, but she did. Her legs were weaker than before, her stomach was turning and she was close to an end. Even Twilight had said that ponies could only survive a week with the water.

Had it been that long?

Impossible.

She moved automatically by this point, her thoughts drifting between a mad spirit's lemonade and fire burning away someone else's world. She would see either again once they went to sleep, wouldn't she? They were night terrors, weren't they?

The Night Terrors of old had come back and now they were feasting on the darkness of her fears. Yet she didn't say it out loud, that she knew this. Everypony else probably did, too, anyway. It didn't really matter, too. What did really matter now, anyway?

They walked forward and even the river was drowned out by the silence. With grim determination they moved on their path, there by the riverside surrounded by crystals.

And then the sixth night came.

The plains were burning and she was looking at them again. Tears fell from her eyes, cries of wordless pain echoed from her mouth. What else could she do but stare, however, for she knew what was happening.

She saw Stone Heart wringing in the fire. The old lady had carried herself with grace and pride, hardly ever talking to anypony. Her eyes had been the color of ice, but now they were ablaze with the brightest light.

She saw Forest Mist dancing with the flames. He had stalked the forests in the south and walked through the mountains in the north, had laughed and told her he would teach her a new game in the future.

Slimy Git was there, too. Her name was Passion, in truth, but she was despised for what she loved to do, but she carried through the scorn. She had told her how invaluable a happy life would be and now she was dying before meeting her true love.

The herd was burning and she could give names to all, she remembered every face. All the blades of grass tried to get away from the fire, but couldn't escape. All the names wanted to flee her mind, but she clung to them no matter how much she wanted to let them go.

Amidst them, the father of another filly burned, a filly he had once loved and then abandoned. They all burned and Raindrops hated herself for it, because she was the reason this had happened.

Fire was all around her, their howls and screams were filling the sky.

He had wondered if this was fear. What else could it be?

Raindrops wanted to close her eyes, but they remained wide open. Raindrops wanted to stop the noise, but all she heard was their screaming.

Then there was something new, sounding in the distance.

A harp played in the fire.

A harp played in the blackness, there by the apple tree and the flying lights. It was a lonely melody, one she could barely make out at first, but it became clearer with every moment and all other noise faded as it became stronger. A song pierced through the heat and through the darkness. The flames rescinded as a voice, so beautiful and melodious, yet so sad and lonely started to sing.

It was a melody she knew, and words she understood.

Take my heart away

Take it far from me

Lead me astray

So together we'll be

and sing our song again

As the truth waits at the end

And we will let the earth be rend

Our hopes will all come true

And I will nevermore ask of you

Do you still dream of magic?

No wait, that's wrong

Raindrops opened her eyes. Lyra sat there in the middle of the sleeping group. She'd never sung before, or had she? Once more she recited the lyrics, once more the melody came to Raindrops. A mother had sung this to a filly, in a world she had once known.

“What are you doing?“ she asked.

Lyra jumped up with a yelp, making everypony turn in annoyance, but none woke up. The unicorn looked at her seriously for one moment, before she sat back down and started right into 'Cider In The Keg', some drinking song the factory workers often howled after work.

The little pegasus smiled at that and closed her eyes again, strangely peaceful at heart.

Whatever dream she dreamt then, nothing remained of it as they woke.

Then again, maybe it was the same for everypony.

After waking up they quickly went to do their respective businesses, drank some more water and before ten minutes had passed, they were on the move again. If there was anything different from the last few times, it was that they didn't stop.

“My legs are hurting,“ Raindrops noted hours after they'd started to walk again.

She continued nonetheless, they all did. Nopony really said a word, because everypony was too focused on walking. They were on their last legs, with no reserves remaining, at least that's how Raindrops felt. What strength she had was only there because she told herself she had some left.

Maybe she just lied to herself by this point.

But she kept on. At the end of all this the Lunarium awaited them. That was the thought she tried to keep on her mind, even as the glow started to dim and the crystals were replaced by normal rocks.

Raindrops couldn't really hear much anymore, nor could she really make out the river anymore. She thought of grass and cakes and apples falling from a tree as she continued.

“This is too much,“ Raindrops said, she did not know after how long.

“All you need to do is think positive,“ Lyra stated, a dull smile on her face.

She looked at Raindrops like she was a giant flower. That was uncomfortable.

“Think about, uhm. …”

Of course she didn't know anything.

“Oh, I've got it, think about being a robot! Yes, robots don't need food.”

“What's a robot?” Derpy asked.

“It's a thing that doesn't need food,” Twilight explained, her wits presumably failing her.

“Not even muffins?” Derpy asked in disbelief.

Raindrops wondered how her sister could think about such a specific food, but then again, this was Derpy.

„Yeah, not even those,“ Lyra declared proudly.

As if she had anything to do with robots not consuming food.

Derpy, however, guffawed. “That's stupid. How could anypony live without muffins?”

Lyra shook her head and sighed a fake sigh. “Derpy, Derpy. It's a very simple principle–”

Thud!

Everypony looked dumbfounded at Derpy, who fell snout first down into the sand. It was a quiet moment, one they all didn't quite manage to process at first.

“Hey,” Lyra spoke quietly.

Twilight somehow still managed to stand, she looked at Derpy, perhaps wondering if she should fall over, too.

“Hey, Derpy,” Lyra spoke, her voice still soft, but beginning to shake. “Derpy? Hey, Derpy?”

The filly didn't react and before them, the tunnel was already rather dark. Yet Raindrops thought to see a dim, bluish light glowing somewhere in the distance.

“Do you hear that?” Twilight suddenly asked.

The rushing of water had grown familiar, but it sounded different. It sounded like it was moving hard and downwards.

“A waterfall?” Raindrops asked.

“Maybe it's the Lunarium, maybe there's something to eat,” Octavia said and tried to help Derpy up. “Come on, there's food there.”

“Food?” the grey pegasus repeated in a hollow tone.

Now she was helped by the much smaller Octavia, but they kept moving. Twilight stumbled for a moment, before Lyra stood beside her. Raindrops wanted to gallop before them, wanted to hurry towards whatever made the sound, but she was doubtful.

This could well end badly for all of them. There might not be any water, there might not be any Lunarium. What lay behind them was darkness and what lay before them was darker still.

They should've just stayed with their parents and let somepony else handle both the monsters and the end of the world.

But as they reached this place, it was a cave, illuminated by a ghostly light. Two waterfalls fell from a small cliff, and between them stood a statue, its features washed away by time and water alike. At the feet of this statue was a small lake and around it land. It was fertile ground with countless blue flowers, glowing in a stone cave with all the crystals well away from them.

It might have been the most gorgeous sight they'd seen since forever, but Raindrops didn't care, Twilight didn't care, none of them did. Their instincts took over and they hurried to the flowers, who grew so wildly where no heavenly light reached them. Even Derpy, come back to the living thanks to the distinct, indescribable tasty smell they gave off, started to spread her wings and almost glided over to them.

They started their feast like it was the first they ever did. What manners they had been taught, what rules they knew, they were forfeit as they munched down blossoms and stalks alike.

For Raindrops, every bite gave back a little bit of strength, a little bit of life and a little bit of hope. It was like they'd taken the second step on a long journey, like they made it through their hardest trial.

Every bite that she wanted to be sweet was sweet, but when she tired of the taste, it was like the flowers noticed and changed accordingly. It was stranger still, because even Twilight, who usually ate so carefully, now bit down like the best of them. No, not stranger, this was better.

It was a taste of things to come, wasn't it?

Soon after, they lay in a circle, amidst more flowers than they could eat, looking at a grey ceiling, feeling like they just had eaten the greatest meal. Raindrops closed her eyes and breathed calm for probably the first time since this journey started. She felt strangely content.

It was then that Lyra started to hum her song. First, only her own voice, lonely and sweet, sounded through the dimly lit cave, but then another added itself to it. It was a voice much too high-pitched against Lyra's own soft tones, but Octavia didn't care how she sounded.

Even Derpy took the chance to try out her singing. She sounded like a colt even when she hummed, Raindrops thought, but at least she was enthusiastic about it. Derpy even clapped her hooves together. Raindrops did the same, but decided not to hum.

The last voice belonged to Twilight, and it was the smallest in the bunch, yet strangely persistent on making itself heard, for she only whistled against their humming.

It was a melody everypony knew, just as it was a story they all had known before it had first been told on this journey.

So together it was that they started into the leitmotif of the little seapony, and before they drifted away to sleep, five fillies from Canterlot created the most beautiful version of the Seapalace in the caverns beneath their home.

Part 2: Chapter 8 ~ I Always Wanted To Play The Cello (V2)

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Octavia dreamt of how her days should have been. She dreamt of Hugh and Madame, her friends and herself walking into the Celestial Hall, past soldiers clad in gold and marble statues of the heroes of legend. The red carpet was beneath them, leading up and into the main auditorium.

Everypony was so very excited they could barely contain themselves, even as they took their seats in the front row they could only barely sit in them. However, nopony noticed, as they were all just as excited.

The Celestial Hall was filled to the brim with ponies and the noise they made was something to behold. Some were laughing at jokes, others were fevering towards the show and especially the celloist, for they were the most famous classical soloist in all of Equestria.

The warmth overshadowed everything, both laughter and happiness knew no boundaries in her dreams. Even to her side, they had their place.

Lyra made funny faces at Trixie, who pretended it wasn't as funny as it was. Derpy and Raindrops bounced up and down on their seats, but quickly sat up straight and proper, and they did that with just one angry glare from Madame Hooves.

Octavia only barely noticed them and only from the corner of her eyes. Instead, she was on the edge of her seat and her hooves trembled with great excitement.

It had been so long since the fire and since her father had left this world behind, but he had come back just this once, to fill this hall with his magic again. Maybe it was for her, maybe for everypony.

Maybe he would smile at her again and maybe she would finally get to hear him again. No matter what would happen, she felt her throat going dry as the lights dimmed and somepony stepped onto the stage.

However, it wasn't the pony she had expected, but one who moved with an unearthly fluidity and elegance in her every movement. This pony was simply the most graceful mare Octavia had ever seen.

Her coat was of a goldish grey and her mane was both long and well-cared for. It was dark grey with a lighter tint to it and hung from her head and neck as perfectly as it could be. Her eyes were as violet as mulberries.

Yet her face was a rock and remained in a cold stare as she looked over the ponies. It was as if she only saw the numbers of the taken seats and not the ponies who sat on them. Nevertheless, her presence was undeniably the center of attention now and with every movement of her head, another part of the hall stopped making noise.

Her silence was like a command for everypony and Octavia, too. And it also helped everypony focus more on her, for they all awaited what would happen next.

But the silence was broken by a sudden laughter and the mare turned around, glaring at the ones who came up from behind her. The other bandmembers showed themselves, stepping onto the stage not half as dignified as the mare had.

The pianist laughed at a joke cracked off-stage and the brass player seemed to have trouble in stifling her giggle. The only one who didn't appear happy was the harpist, who shook from stage fright and nervously eyed at the crowd.

As they noticed her glare, they quickly quieted down and made to their respective instruments, however, and the mare nodded. She turned around and for a moment Octavia wondered what she would play. It certainly looked like a giant violin.

What was it called again? she wondered and closed her eyes, asking herself where she'd seen that kind of instrument before. Then she started to giggle. Of course.

As Octavia looked again, she found the mare putting the bow to the strings of her cello. For a short moment her eyes were fixated on the instrument and even though her face remained unmoved, Octavia could see the shine in her eyes. It was the glitter of nostalgia and happiness, of emotions she herself knew all too well.

It made her wonder who she was and what she would play? And if she could move the crowd like her grandfather did? Of course, those questions would soon answer themselves, once the music started. Octavia blinked.

The mare then took a deep breath and looked over all the ponies in the hall again. So many had come today, not a single seat remained empty and not just that, no, something else would fill these halls tonight. Once more there would be music here and she would be the one to play it.

That was everything she hoped for and then the mare turned to her compatriots. All of them looked more confident, now that they were in their familiar space. It would all work out, she knew. She nodded at them and then turned back around, pulling the bow across the strings.

As the first sound escaped the instrument, the hall was set ablaze.

The fire was around her and all the ponies watched in silence as she stood alone on the stage. She knew not what to do until her father came up and yelled something she didn't understand. Yet she knew.

Here she was, playing the cello against his will and so he smashed her head to the ground, kicked her and then choked her. She felt it and yet didn't. The cello was gone from her hooves and she tried to look for it, but only saw his face, contorting itself in unspeakable wrath.

She also saw her mother there, laughing smugly and holding a foal in her arms, one with a white coat and a blue mane. The image only remained for a second, for then the poison rain fell from the sky.

Greenish drops of water hit the ground and melted the stone away with a fierceness the flames could not hope to match. As it met with the bodies of her parents, they, too, started to melt, but as they did, they never felt the pain. He still hit her and she still laughed, the pain would remain with her forever.

And then they were gone and she stood in the middle of nowhere, the rain falling down hard on her body. Every drop burned her skin and so she tried to run, only for the drops to go into her eyes, blinding her.

She wanted to scream as that happened, but when she opened her mouth, raindrops fell into it and she lost her voice.

She stumbled forward, not knowing to where she was going. Maybe she was walking up stairs, maybe she was smashing against a building, maybe she was falling into a sea of stars, she did not know.

Tavi ran into something then, and felt the rain and the sound of everything vanish. In the distance she heard a scream and a shot, as well as the curse of a soldier.

Finally she could open her eyes, to see herself cowering beneath the seats of the hall. To her side was Rainbow Dash, whom she had left before. She had told her that she was safe, that everything would be fine and somepony would come to save her.

Octavia had smiled at her and told her that she would keep her promise. She would come back for her and the world would be safe then. Then she started into a run, away from the soldiers, away from the hall, away from Rainbow Dash. That's how it'd been before.

However, as she reached the edge of the hall, Octavia heard a gunshot, echoing across the world. It made her stop, it made it hard to breathe.

Within the realm of her dreams and fantasies, Rainbow Dash was already dead.

Octavia shook her head. That couldn't be. The soldiers only used their guns against ponies who could have seen, ponies who were strong enough to fight back. But Dashie was blind and small and helpless, she couldn't harm a fly and had wanted to see the Wonderbolts with her father.

The wind moved through her mane, leaving an unearthly feel in her bones and she felt the bed of flowers, pressing against her tiny body. She heard them sing to her, too, and it helped her calm down.

As she opened she blinked again, they both sat on a stage amidst the ashes, where the curtains had long since turned to dust and been blown away by the wind. She let her legs dangle off the edge of the stage and looked at the other pony. Tavi felt so small compared to the graceful mare.

Between the two stood a tea set made out of the finest porcelain and steam rose from the pot. In one fluid motion, the mare elegantly took the pot and poured the tea for both of them. Just looking at her was awe-inspiring for Tavi.

Then, the mare lifted one cup and took but a small, perfect sip.

“I always wanted to play the cello when I was younger,” she said, her voice filled with longing and melancholy. “When my grandfather died they forgot about him, too. Everypony left him while his body was still growing cold. My father left the instrument in the corner to gather dust, my mother never had been one for the arts. But I? I looked at it every single day, sometimes for hours. Then, one day, I simply decided to pick it up and pluck the strings. I was just prattling on.”

Her eyes looked at the little filly, who started to smile for herself.

“I did that, too,” the little one confessed. “Sad thing about it is that they kicked me out of the house for it,” she said, lowering her ears. “Father hated grandfather, everypony did thereafter, but I just wanted to hear it again, to make others hear it again. I have a wonder … Did you ever find it, the magic in the music?”

The two Octavias looked at each other and then the older one started to laugh. It was not what the younger one had expected, for it wasn't elegant and it certainly wasn't classy. Instead she snorted and guffawed like a little foal.

The moment thereafter, two Octavias looked at each other. They were of the same age, but one was a bit taller, and it was she who pointed at her cutie mark.

Octavia looked at it, seeing how it was painted on the flank, but she could feel the power surrounding it.

It's all real simple in the end. You start to prattle on like it's nothing and then somepony hears you and they carry your tune into their life. There is a magic in music, the taller one stated.

One last time they looked at each other, but even that dream had to end.

Octavia Quartnote woke amidst blue flowers that only the most knowledgeable scholars could have identified. They gleamed with a pale blue light that faintly illuminated the entire cave. From a distance, the flowers had been like a beacon for the fillies. Octavia smiled as she went over them with one hoof.

She felt the weight of Raindrops' head on her left arm, which the black pegasus used as a cushion, but she also felt her body's warmth. Compared to the cold she'd felt before this was much more comfortable. Everypony else was fast asleep, too, and huddled together.

Even with how comfortable this place was, Octavia was happy that everypony else was so close by. Even though there was no song here, their breaths lessened her worries and the occasional snore allowed her to feel like she was still alive.

She felt a heavenly tranquility in this place, but she also didn't want to close her eyes again. A part of her body longed for sleep, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Right now, the whole world that surrounded her was perfect.

She looked at the ceiling of the cave. It was fairly low, she noticed. So low, in fact, that even if they could climb up the cliffs to the top of the waterfalls, proceeding any further would be impossible. It wasn't something she let herself be bothered by, for right now, this was fine enough.

Though her gaze did shift to the statue, the only hint that this was truly an alicorn's design. Alas, there were no features except its roughest stance and the remnants of hooves that made it out to be equine. The statue had neither face, nor a horn, nor wings. Like these tunnels were lost to the world above, this statue would not be able to provide them with any information.

Octavia finally decided to push lightly against Raindrops, so that she wouldn't wake. Then, she stood up and looked at all her sleeping friends. Derpy was spread out on her stomach, happily snoring away, while Twilight had rolled up in a ball beside her, mumbling softly in her sleep. Lyra was rolling from the left to the right, however, and she contorted her face a bit.

Octavia nodded and decided to go over to the water, but to also do it as quietly as possible. So she dropped all pretenses of grace she held and just tip-toed over to it. Not once did she stumble over her own, little legs while doing so. The pain of every time she had remained with her, of course, but if this was how it felt if one didn't have their nose up in the air, then she would never stop walking like this.

Then she stepped close to the water and looked at it. It was the clearest water she had ever seen–not that she had high standards or anything–and clearly made out her own reflection in it.

A grey filly with a horrible black mane and eyes like rotten mulberries. She was the smallest of the group, but also the eldest. A part of herself wondered if her parents would love her for her size, because she could really easily pass herself as a doll with it.

Don't think about them, she chided herself and closed her eyes.

As she opened them, however, she spotted the other her in the water, the grown mare who so gracefully played the cello. The image only lasted for the blink of an eye, for when she closed hers, she lost sight of the mare.

She remained by the water and stared at her reflection for a few moments longer, hoped to find the other her in there again. But she did not appear and all Octavia could do was let her thoughts drift. And that they did, until finally the image of another filly appeared on her mind. Rainbow Dash, she remembered, the filly whom she had left behind.

I lied to her, didn't I? she asked herself bitterly.

She had. She had told her that everything would be fine, that somepony would come to save her, that she would come back. Had she been telling those things Rainbow Dash or herself?

Whom had she wanted to give hope right then and there?

A smile plastered itself on her face, though it was only a small one. Canterlot was gone now, but maybe Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep clinging to the faint hope of that stupid other filly coming back. Maybe she'd even gone out with newfound strength.

Why can't I think that she's still alive? she wondered. Why don't I want to think that?

Octavia turned around to find the others stir and wake from their sleep. Twilight rose first, even though she had eaten quite a bit herself, but required help from a friend. Said friend turned out to be Derpy, whose smile seemed less forced now that she'd gotten a good rest.

Then, there was Raindrops, who stretched all her legs and stared at the ceiling above them before she finally got up.

The last one to move was also a surprise to Octavia, considering how active she usually was. Lyra turned herself into a proper position, albeit slowly and when she first tried to put some weight on her hooves, she quickly fell over, screaming out in pain.

Everypony's attention turned to her, but only Octavia moved. She tried to get a look at the spot on Lyra's leg, but what she found was less than pleasing.

The grey had vanished and the skin was a deep black, it was all mushy, too. Lyra's veins had blacked on the whole lower leg and wherever they ran, her fur came off.

Octavia felt horrible just looking at it, but then she made the mistake of taking a breath close to Lyra. The smell of rotting meat hit her nostrils and she reeled back. Tavi had never smelled something so bad before, she couldn't even begin to describe it. Like a corpse rubbed in horrible poisons, maybe.

But she tried to steady herself and took another, deep breath before she walked over to Lyra again. The filly was grinding her teeth yet again and muttered something under her breath as she lay there.

“Lyra,” Octavia started, but she didn't know what else to say.

She could only look at Lyra, who sweated and huffed, but looked up to her nonetheless. Her face was contorted into a horrible smile that must've hurt just as much as the leg did.

“It's fine,” the unicorn lied.

Octavia didn't know what to do, but then she looked at the water. If it can prevent you from starving, then maybe, she thought and nodded to herself. Then she reached out to her friend with a hoof.

“Come on, maybe the water will help.”

Lyra looked at it, then away and then back at it again. Maybe she was trying to measure whether this would really help, maybe she just had more pride when she let on. Not that it really mattered, because Lyra allowed herself to trust Octavia and took her hoof.

Octavia smiled as she led her friend to the water.

Crack!

The water felt cool against her coat as she stepped into it, and it was fairly deep, too. She wasn't just saying that because of her size, but because it really was. The water even reached her belly, which made the experience only a bit worse.

She took Lyra's hoof and nodded to the other filly. Tavi then proceeded to pull it into the water, very slowly and carefully, and Lyra bowed down with her, until the lower left leg was submerged in the water. As it reached the spot, Lyra screamed a high-pitched scream and Octavia nearly fell over.

However, the longer they stayed, the calmer Lyra got. Her expression softened by the moment and after a while, her smile grew to be more natural again. That meant that the water did help and they both grinned at each other.

During the process, she'd looked at Twilight for help at least once, but the other filly could just stare at them helplessly. Everypony could only do that, so Octavia blamed none of them for it. And Twilight probably also didn't know anything about this spot to begin with. So that was that and they could get to discuss how they should proceed next.

Crack!

“Did you ponies hear that?” Derpy asked suddenly and everypony turned towards her.

After a moment of quiet, Lyra merely shrugged. If there had been something, Octavia hadn't heard it because she'd been busy with Lyra, anyway.

“There's nothing there,” Raindrops said, her voice unsure, her ears perked.

Lyra tried to stand on all four hooves again and quickly brightened up.

“The water worked!” She said with a happy laugh. “I don't know how, but it did the job! There's no pain anymore!”

The filly started to hop towards and around her friends in a happy dance. Octavia smiled mildly and got herself out of the water, the sleepiness catching up to her. Still, she decided to get back to where her friends sat in a half-circle.

They needed to start a discussion on what to do next. They couldn't walk back, because then they might see Canterlot again and she didn't want that.

“This is a dead-end,” she started, “We need to find another way, I think.”

Crack!

The sound echoed through the caves and all the ponies immediately put up their hooves to guard their ears. It was the noise of bones breaking and the sound of sawblades cutting through flesh and steel alike. A cacophony of despair and fear singing in the silence.

All their gazes turned towards the entrance, from whence they had come and from whence the sound came, too. They spotted the beasts stalking through the darkness, moving towards them.

They wore cloaks made from the nightly sky and walked on cloven feet while their hands had sawlike fingers. Their heads were horse skulls, with one eye gleaming with a mad red swirl, while black liquid oozed from the other.

Loose flesh hung from the bones of their upper bodies and an ungodly blackness followed in their wake. It was a blackness armed with claws and teeth and everything terrible in the world ready to strike at them.

I always wanted to play the cello, Octavia thought at that moment, the breath leaving her and sweat running down her brows, because that was the only way to keep my grandfather alive in this unforgiving world.

Raindrops was crying, or maybe it was Derpy, or both, or all of them. Either way, they all stared at the beasts.

“Never forget who you are,” he had told her a thousand years ago, even before the fire took him.

The creatures moved forward, their gait missing in form and law, while their steps had the sound of pain and shattering glass, of crying and laughter. Everypony tried to move backwards, only Octavia remained.

Was she too scared to move? Or was she trying to protect them? She didn't really know at this point, but tears were rolling down her cheek. Octavia closed her eyes.

There is a magic in music, the other had told her and Rainbow Dash was still waiting beneath the rubble of a dead city. …

Wait!

It was like she was opening her eyes for the first time since forever, like she'd woken from a long sleep. A gust of wind followed and the nightmarish creatures all stopped dead in their tracks, screeching and howling.

This was the moment she realized what exactly she had told Rainbow Dash, or rather what she herself had wanted to believe. That somepony would come and save her and all of them, that some hero might appear at the end, a parent, a father, even a grandfather.

It was something simple, something innocent, but it was wrong. The world did not work that way. No, what she truly knew was that because the filly with the many-colored mane was still her friend and she had made a promise, she would keep on going. Be they hunger, soldiers or monsters from beneath the bed, she would overcome them all.

That was the moment she heard Her voice clearly in her head.

That's it! Now you can do it!

She felt strange, like a necklace was wrapped around her neck, like she stood taller than before, and stronger still. The pain and the feeling of despair and hopelessness, they were all gone and her sight was clear.

The others looked at her from behind, mouths agape in wonder.

“Octavia,” Twilight said with a stutter, “y-you got a mark on your flank.”

She took that moment to turn around and give them all a confident smile.

“Trust me,” she said, bristling with might, “and follow my lead.”

The creatures screamed and leaped forward, weeping and bleeding, sawing and breaking. The darkness flooded the room, swirling in a mad whirl, ready to swallow them whole.

But Octavia didn't wait, because she wouldn't be scared and she wouldn't hide away anymore. Now their backs were to the wall, but they were on the right path and this was the moment to take the dive.

She turned towards the lake and started into a gallop. None of her friends wasted a second and all did the very same. As Octavia jumped into the water, so did they.

The last glimpse she took was one of her own reflection. It didn't belong to the filly who'd been abused and thrown away by her parents, but neither to the mare with the godlike grace. The reflection was merely Octavia and all she ever strived to be.

There's still magic in this world, she thought. It was in music, in poetry, in song and in every art to be created. But magic was also something else entirely, she understood that now, something the people had all lost. Magic was trust and hope and honesty.

Then the water swallowed them, but the darkness did not stop to claw at them. They had dared to defy the King of Nightmares and his anger would destroy them all.

As the darkness dropped down, the water went into a swirl, but Octavia just continued to swim, down and deeper down. Only once did she look behind her, to check up on the others.

Twilight was clinging to Derpy, who sank like a rock. Lyra moved arms and legs in frantic motions that could be interpreted as swimming and Raindrops looked like she was very determined on avoiding both dying in the darkness and by drowning.

At least Octavia knew that she really wasn't scared anymore. Trixie had sacrificed herself for them, Rainbow Dash was still waiting and the Lunarium was getting closer. If she'd been ever sure of anything, then it was that they could do this.

Yet the darkness sank into the water and started to surround them. The current changed with its presence, driving them up again. They swam against it and the strength slowly left their arms. Octavia didn't even really notice it, at least until everything was just gone.

The strength, the force, everything just vanished as the darkness overtook them. In the distance, she could hear a monster's laughter, like it would be the last thing they would ever hear.

Her parents also had laughed at her. …

What foul obscenity she yelled lost itself to the waves, but she declared Magia and them the same thing, even if only the water heard it. She opened her eyes wide and saw the floor of the lake approaching. She bellowed loudly and pushed her right hoof against the current and drove it against the ground with all her might.

Then, with a flash of light erupting from her hoof, the stone ground cracked and broke. Octavia didn't notice that she was falling until seconds thereafter. Everything fell with her, the ponies, the water and the stones. Out of the darkness and unto a different plane entirely.

Beneath them there seemed to be no ground, but what looked like the night sky itself. It was a sea of a billion stars, going on eternally.

Everypony screamed but Octavia.

“Trust me!” She yelled against the wind. “We'll make this!”

She didn't know whether anypony had truly heard her, but she really hoped that they listened. It was right then that she felt somepony tugging at her arm and turned around to see Derpy frantically trying to reach her. She held Twilight in one hoof already and Octavia quickly grasped what she wanted to do.

Or we could just do that, she noted mentally and grabbed Derpy's arm.

The pegasus spread her wings in hopes of braking the fall at least a little. Octavia also spotted that Raindrops held Lyra, who was laughing like a maniac at this development.

“Best! Morning! Ever!” She screamed.

Derpy looked down with worry. “Do we need to get down there now?”

Everypony was screaming, everypony but Octavia who simply went in head first.

"Trust me!" She yelled, "We'll make this!"

“Yes!” Twilight shouted back, the adrenaline rushing through her. “We're closing in on the Lunarium!”

Thus Derpy took the chance to launch downwards and Octavia, for the first (and hopefully last) time in her life, felt what it was like when a pegasus undertook a nose-dive.

She felt the wind blowing through her mane, probably ruining it forever, and held on to Derpy as strongly as she possibly could. The sea of stars was closing in and she didn't want to look back and see what was happening to the darkness and the walking nightmares.

Twilight was right, however. She felt it, too. They were only a few steps away from it now, from the Lunarium, from the end of their journey. She saw stones falling into the stars, splashing and casting ripples to move across it.

It's another lake, she thought and felt very inclined to shout some sort of battlecry.

Just you wait, RD. I'll fix this world and there'll be songs all around us again. Our dreams will be fulfilled, I swear it.

Those were the last thoughts she had as they crashed into the water. For the briefest of seconds then, she blacked out and found herself surrounded by the light of the stars. There was somepony else there with her, with all of them, watching over them.

Don't give up now. You've made it to the final stretch already!

Part 2: Chapter 9 ~ The Nameless Horrors That Shouldn't Be (V2)

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Don't stop! Wake up!

The voice rang through her head as she drifted through an endless ocean of stars, only a split second after they had hit the lake. She hadn't even felt the shock, that's how quick she'd fallen into the cold. Derpy had always been good at falling, but bad at landing. Even worse, it was one of those times where she truly regretted being unable to swim.

Her eyes were resting until the voice hit, she felt like another round of sleep was due, but then she threw them wide open. Bubbles were rising and the water was all around them, stars were glittering far above and down below.

She blinked, strangely weak, pain surging through her body. Still, she felt somepony grabbing her. It was Tavi, she knew, because that pony was strong now, stronger than she. That was a good thing, because she helped her and Twilight up with ease.

Really, why couldn't she swim? She blamed it on the rules, how you shouldn't go into the water for an hour after you ate. Derpy had never spent an hour without eating something, thus never dared to touch any water deep enough to swim in.

They reached the top of the lake and all of them took their breaths like it was their first time in a thousand years. Twilight, however, used the chance to look up and check up on where they were.

“It's another cave,” she said with a cough and then a smile. “Look, there's more crystals in the walls.”

Derpy did as she was told and looked up. Water had gotten into her eyes and so they hurt, but she did make them out. The cave was a huge dome and the walls were littered with crystals which glowed with a strange, faint light. There was also the darkness, whirling around the falling water, spreading from the hole Tavi had made.

It swallowed one light after the other, but as steady as it moved, Derpy had to admit that it was slow. They had escaped that thing and it was all because of Tavi. Derpy turned towards that earth pony, who still held her close.

She looked different. There was a tint in her mane and she looked a bit taller, a bit stronger, but there was also something else, something Derpy couldn't quite define. Her eyes turned to Tavi's neck and she also spotted something new there.

“That's a beautiful necklace,” Derpy said, wondering if she'd missed that before.

Octavia tried to look at it, but only barely seemed to manage. That was a shame, really, because it looked really nice. It was made out of pure gold and at its front there gleamed a gem shaped like a treble clef. But even if Tavi noticed it, she was unimpressed and quickly turned her head around.

“Where're Raindrops and Lyra?” she asked.

Derpy frowned, she got ignored again. Yet she decided to look around, too, seeing them nowhere. She almost got worried, but the two of them rose up from the waves, though their motions were everything but controlled.

“We're fine,” Raindrops said, not looking fine at all.

She'd been able to swim since a long time ago, Derpy knew, but had always looked like she purposefully got it wrong. Much like her flying was purposefully faulty.

Twilight nodded and looked to her sides, coughing yet again. “Alright, so now that we've got everypony, I just want to say that I have no idea to where we should go.”

“Well, we're in the middle of a lake that's in the middle of a huge cave and that thing doesn't look like it's going to give up,” Derpy said, blissfully unaware that, once again, she had figured out the most obvious of points.

Twilight humored her and nodded. “You're right.”

“So we're stuck?” Raindrops asked, barely managing to keep her mouth above the water.

“Uh-huh,” Derpy answered, feeling rather smart now that Twilight had agreed with her.

Though the crystals did give light to the cave, it was only very little and to neither their left nor their right could they spot land. Above them, the blackness took its time spreading, like it was unsure of this area, or as if something was stopping its advance.

“Uhm, guys,” Lyra suddenly said after turning around. “Look.”

She pointed into the opposite direction to the one which they were facing and all of them turned around instantly. A small patch of land lay there, just a few meters away from them, and behind was a hole with an exit.

Octavia snorted and cracked a smile. “How convenient.”

“Yup. First time I have to congratulae whoever designed this place,” Lyra quipped and followed up with a hearty laugh.

Derpy had to agree, especially after that endless walk by the river this was a welcome change of pace. Octavia meanwhile did most of the work, kicking her legs against the water as they closed in on the piece of land. Reaching it, a sound reached their ears.

Crack!

It felt like she was smacked over the head with a very heavy stick, like it was her own bones shattering beneath the force of the beast's maw. Yet it only heralded the vile monstrosity's wish to show them the pain of all their nightmares. Derpy understood it, even though she really didn't want to.

Yet it didn't speed up, instead advanced meter by meter, like something was hindering it from speeding up.

“It's afraid of this place,” Twilight said as she took a final breather.

“Yeah, there's a power here, I feel it,” Lyra noted.

“The final stretch,” Derpy intoned, not really understanding what they were talking about.

“Indeed,” Octavia said and nodded to them. “Let's do this, girls.”

They didn't waste anymore time and were quickly back on track again. Twilight stumbled forward and looked like she was about to throw up, so Derpy did the most sensible thing and quickly hurried to her side.

“I'm here for you,” she said, “If anything happens I'll make sure we all make it.”

Twilight nodded, knowing that if she fell or slowed down, Derpy would pick her up, much like she'd done on the road by the river. Knowing that, she, too, could start into the blackness.

Lyra was the one to lead the way, creating another bright orb, but much quicker than the first time she'd done so. Whatever pain had hindered her before was gone now, Derpy thought. Thank Celestia.

It was a simple spell, but the green luminescence allowed them to avoid the parts of the stone which would've otherwise cut into their flesh and they also took any corners with ease. It was the best thing they had, Derpy had to admit, if only because they didn't have any muffins to eat.

Not just because she was hungry, but also because everything was easier with muffins. They'd saved the day quite often, in her opinion.

With that, they hurried through the darkness. Derpy quickly noticed a bad feeling with this one, however. The sense of dread and fear was easy to grasp, almost like one was able to touch it. Something bad was happening all around them.

It was a dark corridor with nothing in it, so there wasn't actually anything to fear. That's what Hugh always told her, she remembered, so she tried to keep her act together, to not get scared.

Yet she was becoming more and more afraid the longer they hurried through the black.

Once, another filly in the neighbourhood had told her that Madame Hooves had been a singer, a long time ago, but had lost her voice in the dark of the night. They had told Derpy that ponies lost things they held dear to the darkness, often so quickly that they did not even notice.

She didn't want to lose her voice, because it was a wonderful voice and both her mommy and daddy were proud of it. Madame smiled when she talked and Hugh laughed when she did. Nothing bad should ever happen to her voice, because otherwise she couldn't tell ponies how wonderful her parents were.

Derpy was glad Twilight was by her side, because she couldn't have been brave without her.

As they trotted through the blackness, though, she felt the fear creeping up on her, felt how it wrapped itself around her neck like tendrils and threatened to throttle her. The silence seemed to grow around them and tunnel grew darker still. Derpy quickly made herself aware that she needed to kill the silence somehow, needed to open her mouth and talk.

But about what? No, that didn't matter. Anything would do, anything that could kill the silence could kill the fear.

“What were those things?” she asked and immediately regretted it.

“There's old stories about the Night Terrors, the nameless horrors that shouldn't be. They were called the 'shadow of a greater threat' in one particular story, where they feasted on a noble unicorn whose fear drove him to fight with the pegasi. He, like all unicorns back then, was a doofus,” Twilight answered, clearly glad to do something else but cough and gag.

“A shadow of a greater threat? Does that mean Magia? Are they different from the candy clouds?” Octavia asked.

“I think they're the same,” Twilight theorized.

“Well, I liked them more as cotton candy, they had funny moustaches and looked rather tasty,” Lyra said and looked over her shoulder to see if anypony at least cracked a smile.

Derpy nodded in agreement with her, which Lyra noted gladly. Her mood affected the orb and for a few moments, its glow a bit brighter than before.

Now that she had a moment, Derpy noticed that Lyra also seemed a bit bigger than before, and it wasn't just the color of her coat and the presence of a horn. It was a strange thing, like there was something about her that was missing from her surroundings. Of course, Derpy had no idea what that was, but at least the golden necklace on the unicorn's neck looked as beautiful as Tavi's.

It had a gemstone in the shape of a harp at its front.

What silence came then didn't last long, thankfully. Twilight used the chance to address Tavi, whose rump presented the same symbol as her neckless.

“Octavia?” she asked.

“Yes, Twilight?”

“That amulet you've got there … It appeared so suddenly. How–How did that happen, do you know?”

“It's complicated, but if I were to put into words, I think lied to myself about why I'm walking forward. I allowed myself to believe that this is all just something we do to run away, but I honestly believe in the Lunarium and the good we will do. I think it appeared when I realised that.”

“It appeared when you were honest with yourself, then?” Twilight wondered.

“I guess so, why?”

There was a pause.

“Do you know what the Elements of Harmony are?”

Derpy felt like stopping, she seriously did. Those three words formed the core of why many believed that most of the stories surrounding the princesses were humbug. The Elements of Harmony were said to have been forged from the six parts of the world's harmony, but they were lost a long time ago. Nowadays, the name still carried a weight to it, but nopony truly believed that they had existed.

Even Octavia, it seemed. “W-why?” she asked, her voice without any strength behind it.

Everypony's ears were perked and Derpy's legs felt like they belonged to a different pony entirely as she took the next few steps, because Twilight's answer was that much of a shock for her.

“If that's true, then maybe you're the Element of Honesty.”

Of course, it wasn't just the statement in and of itself, but rather that the word carried an actual power, one that resonated in the air, a power that felt much like Tavi's presence. It wasn't something to be put into words, nothing that could truly be described.

But Derpy felt the truth in that statement and it felt like it changed everything.

Because if the Elements existed, all the stories concerning the princesses were true. One had died and another vanished, gone into the depths below Canterlot to never appear again.

“That voice we heard,” Derpy heard herself saying. “It's the princess. The Princess Luna!”

There was a power in that word, a force that made itself felt. Derpy understood this and it gave her strength. They could do this and whatever the Lunarium was, the Princess of the Night herself was waiting for them there!

Twilight stumbled, nearly fell and something sounded behind them, another crack of the bones, another time the saws met flesh and bone. If she'd let Twilight fall, she would've been faster, obviously. The whole group was slowed down by the sickly filly, yet that particular thought never occurred to Derpy.

Instead, she grabbed her and threw her over her back. Maybe the reaction of Twilight's body to the sudden movement is best left without description, but Derpy didn't really care, all she wanted to do was to get her friend through this.

“I'm sorry,” Twilight said as the group sped up.

“It's fine,” Derpy answered. “I like helping others out and I often slow everypony down, too. So a little kindness here and there is necessary anyway.”

“Less talking, more running!” Octavia yelled as they heard something fall into the water behind them.

As she started into a gallop, right at that moment, Derpy felt an unusual strength surging through her. By whatever grace, she managed to outdo her previous speed easily, even while carrying Twilight. Sure, there was a weight around her neck, but that was probably just her muscles aching for something to eat.

“But wait, are the amulets really that special?” Lyra asked between breaths.

Twilight, who didn't run now, managed to exposit despite bouncing up and down. “Suddenly appearing amulets do tend to be special and the story of how the Elements were forged is my favorite comic, they looked the same Tavi's.”

“It's not just Tavi,” Lyra said with a grin she couldn't keep up as she tried to find her breath again. “Mine appeared during the fall and Derpy's got one, too.”

“Yeah, I noticed yours and–“ Twilight stopped mid-sentence. “Wait, Derpy?”

It sounded like the most shocking piece of information that could be said at the moment. Derpy didn't know whether she should feel insulted or proud, so she just galloped onwards.

After a few moments however, the stare of utter disbelief Twilight gave her became rather annoying.

“What?” she asked and Twilight leaned around to look at her rump.

Again, Derpy was unsure how she should feel about that.

“You even got your cutie mark ...” Twilight said, sounding utterly amazed.

“Okay, so what does all this stuff mean?” Raindrops asked loudly.

If there was one question which got everypony's attention, it was this one. Everything that had happened after they'd woken in the field of flowers needed some serious explaining and Derpy couldn't be the only one who was completely baffled by just about everything.

“It means that we're on the right way, I think,” Twilight stated after a moment of deliberation.

Once more, a noise made itself heard behind them. It was a sudden screech, a cry of pain that made everypony yelp and made Derpy jump from fear. She jumped rather high and didn't manage to land properly again. Instead, the young filly stumbled and fell on her behind.

As Twilight rolled off her, a sudden silence engulfed them all and everypony stopped to look behind them. They could see the darkness move, could feel it approach. It came with claws and teeth and nails and blades, with pain to gift and horrors to draw out. It was a shadow of the greater evil and yet the worst enemy to come.

Crack!

Everypony blinked. The sound was different from before, it wasn't of broken bones but of something else entirely.

“Did you hear that?” Twilight asked.

“Hear what?”

Crack!

Derpy slowly turned her head and so did Twilight, for the sound had come from beneath the grey pegasus filly. They both stared at the crack and with another loud noise, it grew in size.

“What did you do?” Octavia asked, panicking.

The crack reached the wall.

“I don't know,” was all the answer a helpless Derpy could come up with.

And then the screeching came once more and the beast's tendrils shot forward. At the same time, the crack suddenly erupted with what sounded like the roar of the stone itself. Stones fell from the ceiling and one small one hit Derpy on the head.

That was more than enough for Twilight Sparkle to realize what was happening and her eyes widened instinctively as she made herself yell out; “Run!”

Immediately, everypony found the strength in their legs again and they started into a gallop and hurried through the corridor. Behind them, the stone collapsed in on itself, burying whatever came from the dark beneath it.

All ran, all but Twilight, who'd been grabbed by the pegasus once more (her body sadly reacting by trying to empty its stomach once more) and was now carried on her back again. Derpy didn't grasp exactly why they were running, but she did understand that, right now, everything was bad. She needed to get her friend out of here safely.

“What did you do, Derpy?” Raindrops yelled against the rumbling stones.

Even as they all concentrated just on running forward, Derpy noticed that her sister's voice carried a confusion of unimaginable magnitude as the world crumbled around them.

The corridor's exit appeared before them and after a final dash, they jumped through it, leaving the tunnel to collapse while they landed in wet safety.

They were in another cave, smaller than the last one, with water spread out on the ground, but it didn't even reach up to their ankles. Derpy breathed heavily and tried to figure out what had happened.

“Would anypony be mad if I told you that I really don't know what went wrong?” she asked, hoping to appease whatever gods still watched over them.

Twilight got off her back, shaken, but otherwise looking as fine as she did before. Lyra was huffing and puffing, while Raindrops stared at the collapsed tunnel like it was a monster that just tried to eat them.

Derpy half-figured them all mad at her, but instead Lyra immediately jumped at her and pulled her into one mighty hug, laughing like she wasn't angry at all.

“You brilliant, brilliant filly,” Lyra said, looking as bright as the orb above her horn. “Now Magia'll never get to us! You're the most wonderful foal I know and when we're above again I'll buy you all the food you want!”

They grey pegasus with the ugly blonde mane and the strange golden eyes could merely stand there and smile dumbly as she was praised. Bubbles she had for a cutie mark and her hooves felt the water touching them. Whatever she had done, everypony was smiling at her now for it. This was the first time that happened, but it made her appreciate her destructive rump for once in her life.

As Lyra finally loosened her grip on Derpy, she was suddenly embraced by Twilight.

“Thanks,” she said, voice missing from every word. “I don't think I could've outrun that on my own.”

Derpy shook her head. “I don't think anypony would've left you behind. You just don't do something like that.”

“I don't think so, Derpy,” Twilight said, her smile sad and small, “I don't think many ponies would do what you did. It was very kind of you to do that.”

There were tears in Twilight's eyes. Derpy really didn't get why it was such a big deal. Twilight was a friend and even if that hadn't been the case, any other reaction would not have sufficed. She decided to smile at Twilight, return the hug and then pat her on the head, much like Hugh often did with her.

Sometimes, ponies yelled at her in her dreams, but she could smile because she knew that if she tried to do the right thing nonetheless, if she was kind to those around her, the world would grow happier. As long as the world was a happy place, Derpy was a happy pony. That was all there was to it.

Part 2: Chapter 10 ~ I Dream Of Music And Magic (V2)

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If she was going to be honest, she felt the cold and the pain grow again the moment they tried to move farther into the cave. Whatever they hoped to find there, the blackness seemed to swallow any light and Lyra felt how she grew weaker with every step.

There were tunnels, she didn't dare count them, to all their sides as well as above them. She thought that most of them couldn't even lead anywhere, considering how all of this was placed.

“This place is a labyrinth,” Octavia noted grimly after they stumbled in a circle once.

“I don't know which way we need to go now,” Twilight said after another round, her breaths short and hectic.

Worse yet, no matter where they turned, they didn't find a single dry space here. The entirety of the cave was filled with water. With how dark it was, the feeling of it was uncomfortable, to say the least. At least nopony felt the need to complain.

The chase had woken them all up, they were strong on their hooves and the collapse had left them with one more adrenaline kick. At that specific moment, Lyra felt strong enough to punch a hole through the wall.

She wasn't going to try, though, for fear of hurting her hoof. Instead, she moved onwards with the others. The mood quickly dropped after they circled around the cave once more. Lyra thought she heard the stones from the collapse move.

“How about we just take the tunnel the farthest away from where we came and put some distance between us and the monsters,” Octavia offered after a moment.

“Yeah,” Twilight answered, eyeing the receding light of Lyra's orb. “Are you alright, Lyra?”

“Yep,” she said, or lied.

Nopony was complaining about anything right now, and Lyra didn't want to be the one to start. She had, however, every reason to. The moment those monsters that shouldn't be had shown up, she'd felt the pain of the spot again, if only slightly. Of course, Lyra was worried about it, but right now was not the time to give voice to her concerns.

They moved onwards once more, towards uncertainty. The caverns around them were dark and dank and with every step she felt her leg act up more and more. The small spot, which had been cured for those few precious moments at the lake with the field of flowers, pained her yet again. Every time she put pressure on the leg, the pain went a little bit deeper, she clenched and ground her teeth.

Moments passed without noise, without any voice making itself heard. She felt how everypony got closer to her, to the light she created, but was too busy not looking like she was getting stabbed in the leg to say anything about it. If the orb went out now, she couldn't just cast another, her concentration was far too broken for that to happen right now.

The tunnel continued on before them and they moved around a corner to the right, and then another just like it. Lyra had the faintest suspicion of what that meant and as they stepped back into the cave with the collapsed tunnel again, it was confirmed.

“Of course,” Raindrops noted, aggravatingly stomping her hooves on he ground.

“It's certainly not going as I expected it to go,” Lyra admitted and shook her head.

They stepped back into the cave and Lyra was quick to sit down. “How about we think about which way to take. That'd be the smart thing to do, right??”

The others were quick to form a circle with her, ignoring how the water went up their sides as they seated themselves. Of course they didn't care, it wasn't like they'd had any time to dry anyways. All of them were all looking to the tunnel, from whence they heard the whisper.

It was a ghostly song and rhyming, one that had no words nor metronome. It was different from the violent cacophony from before, but was just as unnerving to the ear. If we remain long enough, we might go mad, Lyra thought bitterly.

“So, we're in a labyrinth,” Derpy said.

The filly nodded to herself, like this was the perfect statement, the one that had been needed to be made. Lyra didn't really care, however. She was just glad that they could turn their attention away from the whisper from beyond the fallen stones. They all were, but they also kept their ears perked, just in case.

“This really isn't how I expected the final stretch to be,” Lyra admitted immediately, before anypony else could ay anything.

Octavia giggled lightly at that, and the others were quick to join them. A bit of humor wasn't that bad, especially in a situation so dire, Lyra figured, but her leg hurt even more than before. It's a sign, she figured and looked back at the wall.

“We'll make it through this, Lyra, don't worry. With what Tavi just did and how you lit our way until here, it's going to be a breeze from now on,” Twilight said, ever the optimist.

Lyra didn't quite feel like she should agree. The light was flickering, her strength was waning and as the whisper continued, her leg started to hurt more and more. Whatever would happen next, they needed to make their choice quick.

“I agree,” Tavi said. “Don't worry, Lyra, everything's going to be okay.”

She rolled her eyes playfully. “You make it sound like I don't believe,” she said with a smile, despite the pain.

“I didn't mean it like that, Lyra. We don't know what'll happen at the Lunarium, so it's okay to be uncertain, but I know that everything will be fine.”

“I believed since Canterlot, Tavi.”

Strange thing to say, Lyra had to admit, but the memory of that city lingered. She'd lived there for so long, she didn't quite know how she could've come this far without at least trying to look back once or twice.

A sharp sting ran through her leg.

“But I wanna go home now,” she heard herself saying, much to her own surprise.

Then came another quiet moment and there was only the whisper and the sound of their breaths. Silence otherwise, a cold silence that would prevail through anything in the world and Lyra knew that she wanted nothing more than just return to the city.

Ugly houses with red bricks, alleys filled with trash and rats and ponies as hateful as one could imagine, that's how she remembered Canterlot, her Canterlot.

“I don't,” Twilight said bluntly, looking up at the ceiling, remembering the Canterlot she knew. “I know it's scary, even just sitting here. I know that any moment now we might need to run away again and I know that Trixie's gone, too. But, I don't know, I guess all this, it's kinda fun. It's weird to say, but this journey has been like a real adventure, like in one of my books. It's the one thing I always wanted to have, but I never believed to get the chance.”

The darkness was all around them, but Twilight's face was clear in the tiny light of Lyra's orb. The voice of the sickly unicorn carried a faint sadness within it, and the emotion on her face was plain. The way she looked up, like she was looking back at something without regret, like she longed for what was to come. She's braver than me, Lyra noted, rubbing against the wound.

It hurt.

“The only thing I ever had was books. There were lots of them. I had some with pictures, some that were only text. I had books that didn't last twenty pages and some that had four-hundred. I read lots of children's books and lots for older ponies, too. I even understood some of the really complicated science-stuff,” Twilight continued to explain, looking down to the ground. “I hate books, though. I hate reading about how the world works, about the places where the dragons fly and how the princess of love played her harp beneath a lonely tree. I hated to read about everything, because the more I read, the more I thought that I could never see those things.”

Lyra tilted her head slightly as she saw that Twilight shook, not from sickness, but with agitation. Her smile was a forced one, she noted, too.

“I don't want to read about all the fantastic stuff in the world. I want to see it, touch it, live it.” Twilight turned her head towards Lyra. “I'm feeling things I didn't think I would ever get to experience, and as terrible as I feel, as mystifying and great everything here seems. It's like I woke up dead everyday, but now I'm alive and well and this … All of this is the most wonderful part of my entire life.”

“This here is better than the Dark,” Raindrops suddenly chimed in, her voice small. “I hate those Night Terrors and that Magia, too. I want to go back to Hugh and Madame, I want somepony to hug me and put me into a proper bed again, but we're together now. It's great, but it wouldn't be without any of you here.”

Derpy nodded with strong agreement. “And if we stay together, everything will turn out alright,” she said and laughed.

It was heartwarming, to see how comfortable they could be with each other around, how quick to laugh. Lyra felt how it hurt and wondered if she'd been responsible for at least a little bit of their happiness. The blackness grew around them as the light grew smaller, she felt more tired now and the pain became more pronounced by the second.

Octavia was the one to notice that something was up with her. “Are you alright, Lyra?”

“My mother was an ass,” she heard herself say with a cruel giggle. “She was a beautiful pony, Tattletale used to say. I have her colors and her smile, he told me. It made him happy to be with me and he always tried his best. My Tattletale, he could spin a story like no other, but there was only ever one story he told me.”

The light faded into nothingness and she sat there, all alone in the darkness, a cold smile on her face and her leg pulsating with pain.

“He met his special somepony a long time ago, his first love and the truest one. He proposed to her a week thereafter and they married within the month. Their parents disagreed with their decision, but they, the star-crossed lovers, didn't care. They managed to set themselves up in Canterlot, with a nice house in a good neighbourhood. He managed to get a good job even without his family's support and she stayed at home and made sure everything worked out there. It was like they would have their fairytale's happy ending. Imagine two earth ponies, the greatest species of all.”

She cracked a laugh. “Imagine their daughter was a unicorn.”

It wasn't that funny a joke and nopony else laughed, but Lyra didn't care. It was funny to laugh, to talk like this. Talking was like running away, far away from the pain and the darkness and all the bad things in the world.

“She left him soon after my birth, didn't want to live together with a filthy unicorn. He didn't agree with her and tried to keep this filthy, luckless child he had brought into the world. Maybe he could've even killed me without anypony turning an eye, I don't know, but he chose to make the best of it. My brave Tattletale, he even tried to make me an earth pony. He wanted to give me a life worth living, I think.”

She hoped that, actually, because she had loved her Tattletale more than anything in the world and he'd smiled at her and hugged her and had always been good to her.

“He proudly proclaimed me his niece before everypony,” she said, tears running down her cheek. She took a moment, breathed in and out, calmed herself slowly before she continued. “He told the world that he hated me for what I was whenever somepony would notice that I wasn't an earth pony. He said that I wasn't his and that my parents had left me because of what I was. He said I was responsible for all the wrongs that happened around me when others were looking. I didn't know who he talked to and he tried to avoid saying anything when I was with him, but he told someone that nopony in their right mind would ever love a unicorn.”

She spat those last words out, for she had believed them herself. She'd believed that unicorns were filth, that Trixie was an idiot and that her own make-belief in humans made her even more worthless. She had believed until the three of them had found themselves in the rainbow-colored field, where the air had tasted of lemons and her horn had returned to her.

“When the fire of the Celestial Hall happened, we were there and barely escaped. He saved me from being trampled, but we got separated. They told me later that he got beaten up in an alley and the flames took his unconscious body. Heh,” Lyra laughed. “I ran.”

She felt so cold, her laugh lost itself in sobbing and crying. She felt snot running from her nose, felt the burn marks on her face like that day, when Tattletale had saved her from a fiery grave. Maybe she should've stopped, at least she thought that she should, but then again, she didn't. What strength remained in her, she used it to move her mouth, to form the words.

“Celestia knows, I ran! He had tolerated me, a unicorn, when everypony in the world just wanted me gone. He loved me and he took my horn because he did.”

The unicorn didn't know why she was still talking, darkness and pain were with her now, they and nothing else. The water was running past her leg ever so slowly and the spot felt like it was growing quicker than before.

A wordless whisper rung in the air, added itself to her weeping.

“Hugh and Madame never hurt me, they never beat me and they never did anything but smile and help us,” she then said. “I want to believe that what we're doing is right, that it's going to help, but we're down here and they're up there. It just … I just ...”

She felt a hoof touching her shoulder, a strong hoof.

“Don't worry,” Octavia Quarternote said. “It's as Derpy said, we'll make everything right and then we're going home and there'll be muffins.”

The pain was hurting far too much for her to bear and the whisper took a voice that spoke to her.

“Thanks, Tavi,” she said into the nothingness. “It means a lot.”

It did. Lyra Heartstrings had always looked for a family. Tattletale had shown her hatred and regretted to not have stayed with his beloved, and neither Hugh nor Madame had ever truly made her feel like a part of theirs, like there was something superficial about the love they showed. At this moment, this group felt more like a family to her than any other before.

Her coat was white and her mane of a pale color. She looked at the world with eyes colored like honey and found it so sad that at this moment, she couldn't see their faces. Twilight with her sunken-in cheeks, Derpy who had too much fat even on her face and two eyes gazing in different directions, Raindrops whose blackness made her incredibly stealthy at night and Octavia, with her tiny little hooves and her proud gait.

“The Seapalace. Your grandfather played that one, right?” she asked.

Tavi sounded taken aback, she could tell. “What? How do you know? Did you ever see him play?”

“I went twice to see him, but the second time the fire happened. I know you were there the first time, too, so that's awesome. He smiled and he made me see them all smile. Everypony who listened, their sadness was washed away by the sound of his cello. There's magic in music, right?” she wondered.

“Uh-huh,” Octavia's voice said.

If it weren't for the blackness, she could've seen her face, too.

“It can spread laughter and when harmony is truly restored, music will reach all the corners of the world again, right?”

“Yeah, that's how we'll make it,” Octavia said.

“I'm sorry.” Lyra felt her own voice failing.

Pain was in her legs, in her torso and in her back. It ached in her chest and in her lungs. Every word hurt her and every breath. Every muscle she tensed and relaxed protested against the movement and she felt a terrible dread within her. She only now grasped what the spot was.

There was a silence that would've been deemed awkward by another pony, but Lyra used it to listen. The faint whisper had disappeared, the choral from the fallen stones had vanished. She felt the water's movement against her ankles, how it moved. Another thing she only noticed just now.

“The water flows, probably into the third hole to our left. I think if we follow it, that'll be the right path.”

“Really, you think?” Twilight asked suddenly and she heard the filly stand up.

Everypony did so and they quickly started to move. They didn't even wait for her to cast another light spell and just moved in the blackness. Lyra presumed that they wanted to get away from Magia's monsters.

“Lyra, you coming?” Someone asked.

She smiled faintly, but didn't feel like rubbing her eyes or cleaning her face.

“I don't think I can.”

Nopony moved now, she didn't hear anything.

“What do you mean?” Derpy asked, fear rising in her voice. “Do you need help?”

She was as kind as always, but the whisper that started to sing in her head wasn't so.

“I dream of music and magic, Derpy. All my dreams are wonderful, so you should go and let me sleep for a moment.”

Then she felt a spark in the air as Twilight used her own bit of magic. She heard how the sickly filly grunted and she heard how the magic sparked into a buzzing light. But in her own eyes, nothing happened. Sure enough, Twilight wasn't a wizard. Lyra was a wizard now and wizards could make anything possible while normal ponies couldn't.

She hoped Trixie was alright.

Lyra heard gasps around her, but didn't understand why. Everything was still dark around them.

“Lyra?” Twilight suddenly asked, sounding fearful and sad.

“Yes?”

“Are you really feeling sleepy?”

“A bit. I'll only need a bit of rest. My leg also hurts a bit, but if I sleep for a bit it'll be fine. You go on, I'll catch up to you.”

“Lyra. ...”

Twilight didn't say anything anymore, the silence and the dark remained and they were unyielding.

“Can we do anything for you?” Octavia asked.

Lyra giggled. “Well, if you reach the Lunarium before I catch up, there's one thing I'd like you to do.”

She thought of nothing at that moment and the words just came out of her mouth. She felt nothing, too, only the pain's flow through her tiny body.

“Could you bring laughter back? Tattletale cried the last time I saw him and he probably cried when he couldn't find me. I'm sure he's still fine, but maybe a bit burned. No, he's surely alright and I want him to laugh again. I want everypony to laugh again.”

“Lyra,” she heard her friend say and then felt herself be pulled into a hug.

At first there were only Octavia's arms, but soon enough Twilight's own, weak ones joined in. So did Derpy and Raindrops. She didn't know why they were doing that, but she suddenly felt really guilty about Trixie. The chance to apologize to her was gone now.

Kill them, the whisper told her.

They all hugged her, embraced her with such warmth and such fervor that she felt truly safe, truly happy. She knew the feeling of every arm around her.

She felt Twilight, who had so little strength in her little legs that she was probably getting squished by the others.

She felt Octavia, who in turn was so strong and fierce she could've easily lifted up Lyra on the spot.

She felt Derpy, who hugged her so tightly that every breath became a heavy task to pull off. There was something rustling in the pegasus' mane.

She felt Raindrops, who smelled of green fields and knew songs older than all of them together were.

Lyra couldn't help but smile, now that she noticed how close they all were, but there was a whisper in her ears and in her head. It sang to her and told her things she didn't want to hear.

Slaughter them! Butcher them!

The filly knew that it was her own voice, filled with such bitter anger and dark terror, that it felt more like another pony's. Lyra felt the embraces leaving her then and with them went the warmth of her own body. Or maybe she was leaving those things behind.

The distant voices of ponies she had once known and the memory of life itself was slowly fading from her grasp. She sat there in the darkness, suddenly on her own again, with everypony having left her sight and field. Poor Lyra, she thought, Always losing all the things she loves.

And she felt her own heartbeat, steady and normal at first. Then, even it grew fainter and fainter as the pain took over her entire body and then the last piece of life vanished from her body. First her hooves grew cold, then her arms and legs, her tail, her body and her neck. The last thing was her head and the darkness became final as it, too, stopped working.

A carpet of stars, cyan eyes and the light of a lantern awaited her.

Lyra Heartstrings was laying on the floor, cold and dead. A black liquid started to ooze from her mouth, ears and eyes. She had stopped breathing and her body was unmoving, at least until a faint green light found itself within her eyes. A poisonous thing it was, it let her body twitch in terrifying ways. The light turned into a swirl, became red and glowed with a violent madness as the dead body rose up from the waters.

It turned towards the tunnel to which four more fillies had fled and attempted to open its mouth. As it did so, more of liquid spilled from it like saliva, mixing in with what blood remained in the filly's body. Then it let out a shriek so terrible, no words could explain how it echoed through the tunnels.

Lyra was gone, but she dreamt of magic, music and two ponies by her side, telling her that they loved her.

Part 2: Chapter 11 ~ I Will See You Again Pt. 1

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Cold water rose up to their knees and it splashed against Raindrops' face as she galloped through the tunnel. It was a small blessing, but with the water hitting her, she could focus on the run and wouldn't be distracted by anything.

This isn't what was supposed to happen, she thought. Lyra's still back there, she said she's waiting but something's there with her.

She didn't understand why they were running, but the filly understood that something bad was coming. The shriek that had filled the caves seconds after they'd left Lyra behind had been the worst thing she had ever heard. Every sound from Magia and its monsters had been terrible, for sure, but this one? It hadn't just been the shriek that horrified her still, but the voice that carried it.

Raindrops had known that voice, it had belonged to someone who smiled and laughed and was like a sister to her.

“We need to go back,” Derpy said, not slowing down, stubborn as always. “Lyra needs our help.”

“We can't,” Twilight cried, eyes closed, light gleaming. “We can't,” she said, the strength of her voice leaving.

She was sobbing, Raindrops heard. She should do that to, she should cry and stop and want to be hugged by someone who could make all the bad things go away. But she didn't get why, she really didn't get it, even though she wanted to. Raindrops could only run forward, so that was what she did.

Their run continued through the tunnel as they followed the stream. At first, the flow of the water was only barely noticeable, but it grew stronger and stronger as the moments passed. With every movement of their legs it became more apparent. She sped up a little, her hooves quick as the wind.

Raindrops figured that this meant that they were close to the tunnel's end. The question on her mind was what would wait them. Would it be the Lunarium?

Maybe there'll be a better tomorrow, she told herself. Maybe there'll be a whole better world.

Twilight lit the way, but the orb that she'd created to do so was smaller than Lyra's had been and it flickered more, too. That was one thing, the other was that the filly strained herself to her limits, maybe even beyond them.

She'd looked horrible before, but by now she was nauseous and in pain. If the path would continue as darkly as it was now, then Raindrops doubted her friend would make it through. Yet she couldn't give voice to those fears and there was no time to look back, either. Once again, only the path forward existed and water washed across her face again.

She hardly felt her hooves after a while, but the tunnel still went on and they didn't slow down. The fear started to creep up on them, dark emotions entangling themselves in their hearts and lungs.

If she could've brought herself to check up on from whence these emotions came, she wouldn't have done it, for it meant to look back. Her heart and mind both told her that looking back wasn't a good idea, that there was something wrong with the idea of turning back. She didn't even want to know why she was so afraid of doing that, or rather, she didn't want to know anything concerning these feelings.

She didn't want to think about it. What was behind them scared her and with every step the fear became a part of her, more and more. Before, she hadn't had the will or strength to be aware of it, but now Lyra's laughter was gone, wasn't it? Now, she felt it all around her, all the things she didn't want to know about, all the fears she wanted to hide away from.

Another filly had once heard the story of a beast as old as time and with a might none could even begin to comprehend. Its name had been The Silence And The Dark, now long forgotten even though it had been one of the Heralds of the First Age.

The monster had haunted the universe before the first light had come to appear. There, at the sight of the first dawn, the first of the alicorns came and struck down the beast forever and from its carcass, she shaped a heart for herself. With it, she became the World. Her flesh became the lands, her bones became gems and trees, her organs animals, and her blood became every sea and every river.

But in the darkest depths of her, the heart pumped, keeping everything as it should, while slowly corroding away the tapestry of the stars. One day the beast would be reborn, when all life died, when the sun became dark and the noise became silence.

They were deep beneath the earth, she knew, close to the Heart of The World. Another filly's parents had known about it and they had taught their daughter about the silence in ways so alien to the ponies of Equestria.

To her relief, sound was a constant companion even now, but it seemed to grow more and more distant, with only the most unearthly and wrong sounds remaining. Behind them she heard them, the faint cries of the horrors that shouldn't be, of the Night Terrors. Against them stood the sound of their breaths and of the water splashing as their hooves crashed into it and lifted themselves up from it.

Back then, she had heard them all sing to best the silence. There were no songs here, but Raindrops knew that this would have to be enough, even though she would've loved to hear more.

If someone would've sung a song, or even that song, she would've felt much safer. However, at this very moment, there was nothing to feel safe about and so they ran.

Twilight had taken the lead, but looked like she was about to collapse. Derpy was close to her, of course, and Octavia was before Raindrops, who just kinda-sorta trailed along. She'd done that for most the journey, really.

Another cry echoed through the caves, the one to whom the voice belonged revealing itself just with it. Sadly, the intent was as clear as the identity, but of a darker making. She gritted her teeth and then stopped, the brave little Octavia.

Raindrops nearly ran into and over her, but evaded her quickly, only to stop two steps behind her.

“Tavi?” she asked.

Everypony heard her, and they all stopped, too.

“What are you–,” Twilight wondered, breaking out in coughs.

Octavia looked into the darkness behind them, it moved in the distance.

“I'll try to stop it,” she said and strangely enough, in her voice there was room for both confidence and fear.

Twilight breathed heavily and tried to regain her composure. “You can't. You can't. Please,” she said and the orb flickered wildly. “If you go, you'll. ...”

Raindrops felt the silence bearing down on them, like a weight of lead, heavy, unbearable even. But Octavia took a breath and let the weights not bring her down.

“I'm not going to fight it, Twi. Just delay it a bit,” she said and in the distance the noise of cracking bones and rusty saws cutting into each other came to be. “We'll get to the Lunarium and we will do it together. Trust me on that and don't worry.”

Her coat was grey and her mane was black with a lighter tint in it and she smiled at them. It was a strange smile, for Raindrops felt within it the light of harmony. Octavia didn't lie about her intentions, she wasn't going to fight and there was no need to be worried.

Even Twilight relented. “Just come back quickly. Please.”

Octavia gave them a nod an put on her bravest smile.

“I'll be back,” she said and Raindrops knew she meant it.

Then she ran away from her friends and pushed into the darkness, right into the welcoming arms of whatever horrors awaited her there. The wind blew in her mane and for a second, Raindrops thought she looked the tallest of all of them.

“We need to go, too,” Derpy announced, a stubborn expression on her face.

It was the most obvious thing in the world, but still Raindrops couldn't bring herself to move. She heard Twilight say something.

“We need to reach the Lunarium now. If we do, everything will be fixed.”

All Raindrops did however was perk her ears and listen. Somwhere far away, she heard rocks falling down into the water as something smashed into the wall. She closed her eyes that moment and told herself that she was but a filly and that this darkness wasn't for her.

In the distance, something moved and something fell and a certain pony wouldn't come back.

Raindrops opened her eyes and turned around. Only once more did she look back, hoping to hear a sound, to see her grey coat again. The only thing she heard was something else approach, far too slow to be Octavia, far too different from how a pony sounded when it walked through water. The way was barred now and only the path before them remained, so Raindrops hurried after her friends.

The water came down from everywhere. It came from a thousand holes in the walls. Some were above them, some beneath them and some just on their height. This cavern looked like a dome of cheese, littered with holes.

Their own tunnel had ended in a waterfall, like many others appeared to do. They had taken a narrow path down. A small part of the river went down here, hugging the wall of the cave and flowing to the bottom of it. She could see it when she looked to her right, there was a pool of water, shining like the starry night.

It resembled the other pool closely and Raindrops wondered how many more of these were here. The crystals' glow was stronger however and some must have been in the water, for deep beneath the waves, there was a light shining. Or maybe she was just imagining things, because maybe it was just the same one as before and they merely stood on a different side.

Alas, there was no hole in the ceiling, however she should feel about that. There wasn't much a feeling left in her anyhow. The strength had left her legs, the tears in her eyes had dried and Octavia wouldn't come back again.

It seemed like she was gone for a thousand hours now. Raindrops didn't know much time had actually gone by, but she hadn't come back, no matter how much the pegasus wished for that to happen. Worse yet, the light from Twilight's horn had disappeared and the filly had fallen down on the way. Now Derpy carried her, since she couldn't even bear her own weight.

Twilight's eyes were open, but bloodshot. Her breaths were steady, but hectic and small. Every movement was quick and uncontrolled, like she was desperately trying to be awake, even though her body didn't want to do anything anymore.

She's going to leave us, too, Raindrops realized. Worse yet, she didn't even see the Lunarium.

The cave was dark, with only the lights from above illuminating it slightly. Whatever was at the bottom could be seen, but it didn't really help them out in any way. It made Raindrops worry more with each new step and then the feeling returned.

It was a horrible fear, the one she'd felt when another filly's father had burned, the one she'd felt when he'd left her and the one from when drops had fallen on her face. They were all her fears and nightmares, coming at her in the real world again.

What hunted them was the king of nightmares and if they didn't manage to escape him now, every part of their tiny journey would have been for naught.

We're just fillies, Raindrops thought and made herself move forward, away from the sound. She was scared and she was ready to admit it.

“Everything okay with you,” she asked her sister, who merely nodded.

Nopony led them anymore and they were entirely on their own. Two sisters, the last ponies standing. It made Raindrops smile desperately, for she wanted to go home to muffins and hugs, to where everypony lived. She hadn't asked for happiness, she hadn't asked for a fulfilled life. Just life would have been enough, she hadn't need any illusions of harmony and magic. Those things hadn't been for her, not since she'd told the griffon girl her name.

My name, she thought. Raindrops.

She was just a filly in the dark, after all.

Her steps were light and she looked to her left, where the path's edge lay and water was hurled from another hole so far above them. One waterfall of the many, casting ripples at the bottom and sending the calm sea into a brutal frenzy.

They walked on, following the path while staying close to the wall. Neither knew to where they were going. But neither said anything and silence pathed their way as much as the water did. There wasn't anything else to it anymore and Twilight was half-asleep, or half-dead, now.

In truth, Derpy looked like she hadn't got any strength left, too, or any hope for that matter. Her face was cold and emotionless, she moved only due to her own stubbornness. Everything else was gone, but she still put one leg in front of the other. Raindrops admired her for it, because her legs felt light and her thoughts were far away as she merely trailed along.

“Tavi probably went home,” Derpy suddenly said, her voice dull and lifeless. “Everypony's probably back by now. We should go home, too.”

Raindrops felt every word, and told herself that Derpy was right. They were only fillies, not meant for adventures and taking dives. They shouldn't see nightmares happen and they shouldn't try to fix the world. After all, those were things big, grown-up ponies did. Not they, however. They were kids, foals, babies even. They were meant to be hugged by their parents, to cry when they were scared.

“Yes,” she said.

Twilight blinked, her eyes fixed on the water down below as she laid on Derpy's back. “We need to get to the Lunarium. With it, we can fix everything,” she said.

It was a mantra and nothing else. Twilight was telling herself that, because it would make their situation better just by virtue. It did not do that, however. They were still in the darkness, wet and cold and all alone.

“Derpy, how long until we reach the bottom?” the weak filly asked, coughing blood and bile.

“We'll be there in a minute,” the other filly answered monotonously.

They walked forward, Raindrops close by Derpy's side. The grey pegasus followed Twilight's hope, Raindrops would have said stupidly, but as she looked at herself, she found that her own legs were guiding her well into the same direction. She was trailing along, of course, just following her big, strong sister.

She kept to a pony stronger than herself, that's what it was. Raindrops was far too young for her own path, anyway and the water felt good and cold against her face.

In the end, the path led them away from the wall as the small river trickled into the lake and suddenly they stood on the edge of it, beneath the crystals that lit up the dark cave.

For a second, she lost herself in the marvel of the sight and thought of a distant sky which had looked so very similar. They still moved, water at their hooves, but not too deep.

“A bit farther, we need to get out of the water,” Twilight whispered.

Then the walls were gone and they halted, on a tiny patch of land in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't anything but a bit of sand to stand upon and yet Raindrops jaw dropped as she drank the sight, for they were in the center of the universe.

There were stars all around them, their luminescence the brightest spot of hope. A gazillion stars, Raindrops thought and she heard a whisper in the wind. A song a filly had once sung.

Even the sounds of the waterfalls were distant and for one single moment, Raindrops stood in the middle of an absolute nothingness, with even her thoughts leaving her. And then they heard it, slowly dripping into the water. They heard the breath and Raindrops felt a cold chill running down her spine.

Subconsciously, she turned back to from where they came and Derpy did so, too, so quickly that Twilight slipped and fell into the water.

The brown filly rose up on shaking legs, tears mixing in with snot, vomit and blood, as she, too, looked at that thing.

Its coat had the color of a brilliant aquamarine and it closed in on them with every movement a display of obscenity and cruelty to the corpse it wore. Black liquid ran down its ruined and dead face and it had a horribly twisted smile on its face.

“F-” it said. “F-Fa-F-f. …”

It sounded like it tried to gag, like the letter was biggest trouble it'd ever had. Raindrops blinked and wondered what it was trying to say, or whether it was Lyra. Was she still alive, was she still in there?

FALL!

They shout shattered her ears and her innards felt like they turned around themselves as she stepped away, fell and vomited and bit her tongue. She closed her eyes, but opened them immediately again. Her whole world was spinning, a ringing went through her head and her heart was pounding like a hammer on an anvil. All just from one word.

It sounded like Lyra and Octavia, both crying out in a pain that Raindrops was unable to imagine and yet could grasp so very easily. It was another filly's vision, one where her parents burned and she was at fault for it. Stones had hit her, she'd bled and she'd wept.

The beast cackled and laughed, creating a sound like two metal saws rubbing against each other as hard as they could until they would break.

Raindrops didn't know whether it was happy at its own attempt at forming a word, or whether it just enjoyed seeing them all stumbling about in horrible agony. She felt how the strength left her body, felt her bladder relieve itself, and the adrenaline surge through her body as every part of her mind told her to run.

She was scared, scared to death and scared to motionlessness. If there had been any strength remaining, it was gone now and she didn't even wanted to stand on her own four legs anymore. It was over, everything was. It was a sad truth, but it was absolute, right?

Why was she still trying so hard to hear the voice anyway?

The trance of fear was broken as Derpy yelled something out, a battle cry of sorts and Raindrops turned towards her.

“Cadenza!” Derpy cried out and the kind pony who had been as close as a sister to Raindrops jumped forward.

Dumbfound, Raindrops found herself watching as Derpy's wings spread themselves and she launched herself towards the monster that had once been Lyra. For a split-second, she even spotted the anger in the grey pegasus' eyes, it and the pain and the fear. She didn't blink, didn't dare to.

She watched Derpy crash into Lyra, throwing her on her back. It wasn't even in the blink of an eye, however, that the black liquid solidified itself and shot up from the carcass like lances, stabbing Derpy through arms and legs and wings. She cried out in pain as the beast lifted her from the ground, the spears it had created from itself digging themselves through Derpy's flesh.

Lyra rose, her face shattered where Derpy had hit her. It looked more like broken porcelain than anything alive.

This was all far too surreal for Raindrops, who could do nothing more but sit there in her own filth, too scared to catch a breath.

She wished any other filly would take her place that moment. Raindrops was scared, so very, very scared.

The creature had no shape, but the black void of its being still rose out of every crack in Lyra's carcass and became bigger and bigger as it revealed its terrible self before Derpy, who was reduced to sobbing and screaming without anymore words. Red eyes stared at her, two orbs of a gleaming madness.

Even now, however, she didn't try to get out of this by apologizing.

Raindrops could only look at her beloved sister and tears fell from her eyes. She was so scared, far too scared. A child, a filly, just a baby, that was what she was and nothing more. She wasn't meant for adventures or seeing her friends die.

Trixie was above ground, and Octavia and Lyra, too. Derpy was there with muffins and Hugh and Madame, too. Everypony was waiting and she needed to get back.

Raindrops rose to her legs.

There would be her blanket and her mobile and a nightlight to keep all the terrors of the night away.

She turned around, because those things were the truth. All of this, right here, right now, was just a bad dream. Raindrops needed to get away from here, away from all the pain that she wasn't meant for. The foal made her choice and took flight.

Part 2: Chapter 12 ~ I Will See You Again Pt. 2

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With a beat of the wings, the air started to press against her face, washing all the noise and all the feelings away. Cold drops ran down her face and fell into the water beneath. Each drop made a ripple, but to her it was so small and unimportant. There was only the rush, only the flight. Nothing else mattered.

I need to go home, Raindrops thought, eradicating all other thoughts.

If she reached back home then everything would end up fine. Up above, everything was okay. Up above, nothing bad had happened and all of this would turn out to be just a bad dream. Everypony was fine, everypony needed to be fine. There was just no other way. There had to be happy ending here.

There was no way she heard Derpy's screams, her beloved sister's screams.

She felt a wetness on her hooves, from when she stomped through the water.

It feels like mud, she thought. Actually, it all felt rather similar, only this time it was her wings that were carrying her away. There was no other filly here, as everypony surely was above ground. Magia wasn't there, Twilight Sparkle had made it back to the hospital and everything was fine.

One orb shifted from its original position, fixing itself on the pony that flew away. If Magia had any thoughts at all remains unknown; but from the cascading dark, from the abyssal shadows of its existence, a mouth formed, frothing and raging, fretting and screaming. It was not a mouth for words, filled with a thousand teeth, like daggers and swords, both rotten and too sharp for any creature to bear.

Raindrops didn't hear it, however, and she certainly didn't see it. Because she needed to fly away, she needed to go home.

Her eyes fixated themselves on the highest hole, the one that was the farthest away from her and she thought of happier times. A smile formed on her face, for she knew she would make it back. Because she only needed to reach that hole, that place. Then everything would be okay.

Then the pain came, a sting that went through her limbs and wings and pierced itself through her lungs. For a moment, she felt herself stopping, wondering what was going on. Her breaths stopped coming and instead blood rose up from her lungs, running out of her mouth with a cough. She looked as the drops fell down and saw the black lances, then. They had reached her.

The girl wanted to turn her head, just as the horrible lances lost their consistence and the goo fell down into the water. Raindrops felt her own weight dragging her down, even if she wanted to rise up. She was turning as she fell, tried to move her muscles, but not a part of her body would respond.

She was falling and her surroundings weren't clear anymore. Her friends were gone and then, with the splash of water, she went down and down and deeper down, still.

Raindrops blinked and there were stars around her. Crystals in the walls, she knew, but to her they looked like stars. The filly closed her eyes, then, wondering if she'd get to see everypony ever again. Here, in an ocean of a gazillion stars.

The filly finally remembered how it looked. It was so clear, now that she opened her eyes. The land was green beneath the stars. From the southern horizon to the Windswept Mountains it was like that. She remembered it, because there had been lots of grass and it was always wet with dew in the morning. Its taste was so rich and fresh that her mother would sometimes weep as they ate it.

Tears had come easy for her mother, who had worn her emotions like a piece of jewelry. Her smiles came just as easy and whether she laughed or cried, she was always just true to herself.

The filly remembered now. Her mother, on the grass and the grass had been everywhere and she had seen it from the hill with the tree.

In the distance, however, to the north, there were mountains, grey with white tops. They rose from the earth and hid away the end of the world. They were the Windswept Mountains and the griffon lords held court at the very spires of them, while their peasantry lived and worked in the valleys beneath.

From the hill, she'd seen them and there had been waters in the far east and waters in the far west.

“There is an ocean,” She had told her, “and if you follow it to the farthest west, you will reach another land, green and brown, with cities, rich and poor and there is a land there, where all the other ponies live.”

Equestria was the name of this distant land, the filly now remembered. Raindrops remembered, because that was her name and she knew this land, because She had been there with her.

She had told her of this land of grass, this land with the lush green hills and the long rains during the spring and summer seasons. Yet she remembered how it felt on her coat and she remembered how, for the shortest of times, the land wasn't green anymore.

Blue and red and yellow and orange, violet and pink and turquoise and white, colors that could not be described in their richness and difference to one another would show themselves and the fields became more colorful than a rainbow. She remembered that, and she remembered her father taking flight and showing her the lay of the land.

She remembered the flowers lining up perfectly, to a point where it seemed almost unnatural. But the filly had loved it nonetheless. It was sad that so few remained that cared about these plains. She'd known even back then, that the flowers would stop to bloom, for the griffons were coming south. And with them came agriculture and cities and an end to her home. They were the last who cared.

That wasn't always the case, though. A long, long time ago, the pegasi had called this place their home, back when the magic was still wild, the dragons ruled the sky, the earthen gods still roamed the lands and the Equestrian Unification was still centuries away.

The green lands with the ocean of flowers had been part of their kingdom, but the pegasi had lived somewhere else. That's how it was, back then. The pegasi still manipulated the clouds and built from them their homes. Storms did not ravage their homes back then, for they controlled the storms and the lightning and the thunder.

Back in those days, the numbers of pegasi had been uncounted and they had not known of earth ponies and unicorns. In fact, they knew only very little of the creatures who dwelt on the earthen ground and couldn't have cared less about them. They were warriors, with a pride and fierceness none could match.

None but the grim folk that had made their home in the Windswept Mountains. Even back then, the griffons had been divided into great houses. They were names, old and powerful, with many retainers at their disposal. Yet, they respected the pegasi and the pegasi respected them. For their values were very similar.

Both believed in the honesty of war, and both believed more in the weight of the spoken word than scriptures and written laws.

Old, powerful, and rich with tradition, those were the words the father used to describe the northerners, and they had hardly changed by the time Raindrops had emerged from the waters. Magic had fallen by then. There were no more cloud cities and most pegasi had abandoned their home country for the milder climate and richer industry of Equestria.

The ones who'd remained became subservient to their old enemies, or, as a griffon might say, their only worthy opponents.

Alongside the unicorns and earth ponies, that got there as prisoners of war, the majority of pegasi on the continent lived out their days as slaves and servants to the griffon lords. If they didn't, they were freedom fighters who waged a guerrilla war against the oppressors. A futile one at that.

Well, all but one herd. They had always remained in the fields, even after magic went away from the world, even after the clouds dispersed and even after the pegasi became bound to rock and dirt. Even then, they decided to remain in the fields of grass. This one group roamed the green lands for centuries now, hoping that one day, their old country would be restored and the sky would again be filled with the laughter of their children. They dreamt of mock battles with griffons to honor the wars of the past and feared the slave hunts that drove the arrogant lordlings south.

It was a lone tribe, one that shrouded its path in myth and legend.

She told her daughter all of this, there beneath a carpet of stars, lying on a field of grass. The filly remembered that and once more she stared wide-eyed at her mother, just like back then. Even now she couldn't grasp it all, couldn't understand all the words and didn't see how grand of a history it was.

“Are we this herd?” Another filly had asked and Raindrops also looked at the mother.

“Yes,” that one answered. Her mane had been black, but her coat was deep brown. “We've always been that group and one day, so I hope, our roaming ends and we will sleep in beds of clouds again.”

She blinked and loved to think that this idea would become true. It made her as happy as the thought that her mother would always stand by her side and nopony would ever think of hurting her.

Now that she thought about it, she had been happy back then, and she had laughed a lot. Unlike Old Stone Heart, who would always look at her with an angry expression, but she had looked like that at anyone who was content with their lot in life. It was a sign of good luck in the herd if Stone Heart's frown followed you.

Forest Mist told that to me and not another filly, right?

She'd played with Forest Mist a lot, back then. The grumpy guard must've been friends with her father before she'd been born. He had always been somepony who'd have a new, fun idea for a game up his sleeve.

“Looks like somepony has grown a little more,” he would always say on her birthdays. “Now you're a filly big enough for this one game I know. ...”

It was his smile that stuck with her, because when he smiled, she would be happy too. Because she had grown a little more and would play games meant for a big filly, somepony who was almost recognized as an adult.

She remembered somepony else.

Passion, another pegasus. She wasn't a pony who'd been happy with her lot in life. She'd always been sad and everypony called her “Slimy Git”, because to them, she was a thief and a liar. She always swore and insulted everypony, even though saying hurting things hurt her more than those she directed the vile words at.

The filly knew that, because Passion was always kind to her and never hurt her. She had decided from early on that she liked Passion well enough.

She had liked everypony in this group, this herd. It had been her first family, after all, and back then, the only family she'd thought to ever have. So she always smiled, until one sad night, when the stars had been clear in the sky, her father turned to her and told her; “We will sell you to a griffon slaver. With the money, we're going to Equestria and make a new, better life for us.”

And they had called her ugly and a disease for the group, but the filly didn't understand why they suddenly hated her. Suddenly they were throwing stones and all she could do was cry as they wounded her and made her bleed.

It was instinct that made her run and it was instinct that made her hide beneath that rock. Blood mixed with tears and she cowered there in the darkness, until she heard someone step closer. As she looked up, she saw her father. His coat had been black, just as his mane, and his violet eyes had been full of hate and sadness.

“Don't come out. No matter what happens, not ever. We'll sell you for profit and I despise you. I do.”

He spat at her, but she saw the tears on his face as he burned. Somewhere in her memory, he'd sat there with her, beneath the tree, together with the mother. She remembered the songs he had sung so often. They even rung through her head right now, as the mad griffon lord's underlings set her home ablaze and burnt her family on a stake. She remembered how one of them cackled as he put her mother to the torch. Erdenbrand they had called the boy and he had been some griffon youth, like all the rest of them.

She felt the fire and saw the faces and heard the screams, but she remained under her rock and quietly sang a song to herself, so that she would beat away the sound of burning ponies.

On wings of light

With wings to the night

We beat against the sky

And our songs will never die

As Pegasi we reach out

To scatter all the fears

To bring out all the joy

As we sing through our tears

Of the skies we conquered

On wings of light

With wings to the night

We beat against the sky

Heaven will hear us cry

As our wings swing about

We scatter around the clouds

To cry out loud

For we are the ones to fly

To every conquered sky

On wings

Of light

With wings

To night

And then she remembered that there were tears in her eyes and the flames flickered all around her. She was sobbing loudly and couldn't stand it anymore. It was then that a claw grabbed her and she looked right into the griffon girl's face.

It was a crow's head, all white with sad eyes but her claws and beak were as black as the filly was.

She remembered her breathing and looking around nervously. Then, the griffon gulped and took the dive.

“I'll get ya outta here,” she said, but the filly didn't remember, because she didn't know why she was there to begin with.

Some other filly's parents had burned to a horrible, horrible death and that filly had been there with them. But she was alive, she was with this griffon girl. White feathers, brown fur and a black beak, that had been her colors and she had held the filly in her arms.

They were flying through the sky and moon was still whole above her.

“What're ye called?” the griffon girl then asked and the pony looked to the sky.

It was nighttime, still, but the stars had vanished not longer after her father had declared her hatred for her. No, before then even, that night hadn't been with stars at all, had it? She couldn't even see the moon.

A smile escaped the filly as she realized that and then she closed her eyes. Her whole world became filled with a feeling, a small warmth against all the icy cold around her, one she felt as she leaned on the griffon who carried her to an unknown destination, wings beating against the coldest wind.

“Raindrops,” the filly finally answered and let them wash over her face.

She remembered, it was then that she'd decided that another filly had died beneath the rock that day. She was lying horribly burned, there beside her parents, but she was together with them, still. As Raindrops drifted to sleep then and there, she heard their songs beat the silence of death with the happiness of their great lives lived to the fullest.

And then she woke up and everything felt like it was spinning. “Uargh,” she exclaimed loudly.

She closed her eyes and waited for a moment or two, and opened them again only once she was sure the world wasn't going in a wild roundabout around her. What she found, however, wasn't the world, but just the golden eyes of a white filly.

“Lyra?” She asked, as groggy as she was careful.

“Get up sleepyhead,” the filly with the bright smile answered. “We're going to the museum!”

Octavia plucked the strings of her cello in some unmelodious way that nopony really got, not even she herself and Lyra was standing there with a huge smile. Raindrops rolled her eyes, sighed and pushed her away, only to look at the mobile above her head. The stars and the breezies were still turning around the moon, carried by a breeze only they felt. Lyra found herself looking at it, too.

“You know those are for babies,” she said. “Why do you keep one anyway?”

It reminds me of another filly's home. I've seen it once and it was beautiful.

She thought that, but decided to say something else, something more defiant. “Having your sandwiches cut is something for babies.”

“It's also something nobleponies do,” Lyra said, throwing up her arms defensively.

“Then nobleponies are babies,” was the flat response to that.

Lyra's reaction was comically grim and she bulged her eyes out way too much to be taken seriously. Octavia still only plucked that cello of hers.

“You know,” she heard a voice behind Lyra, who quickly turned around, only to be picked up by the larger pony. “From my perspective, you ponies will always be my little babies.”

Hugh said that with a grin on his own as he put Lyra to the ground and blew a raspberry on her stomach. She was laughing and crying at the same time. If Raindrops would've described how the other pony looked, the only word that came to mind would have been, alive.

Then, Hugh raised his head and looked into Raindrops' eyes. “Come on now. The museum awaits!”

She looked at the mobile one last time, wondering about what she had dreamed. The filly shrugged, jumped out of her bed and into the museum.

Or rather, the café close to the museum, and Octavia sat opposite to her. Raindrops didn't look at her, however, but at Lyra, who smiled gleefully as Hugh cut her sandwich in pieces of a size appropriate for her tiny mouth. It made her wonder how much of a big filly Lyra was, or any of them for that matter.

She then decided to look around, twisting herself on her chair.

The museum was huge and there were many exhibition pieces from the the different ages of Equestria and Ponykind in general. There were things from the Discordian Antique, some artifacts from the Imperial Age and the “oldest” piece was a reconstruction of earliest documented pegasi armor.

Back in the first days, the armory of the skydwellers had still been forged from dreams and stars, it was said, but that was a myth to the Equestrian Ponies. Raindrops remembered a mother telling a child about them, though. Of course, the knowledge of how to make armor like this was lost, but the reconstruction was painted to at least invoke the look of the old starmetal barding.

“That's your history, right there. Is it not?” Octavia asked as they found themselves standing in front of it.

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean, indeed?” Octavia said with a sad sigh. “Let me rephrase my question: Why do you think that running away will solve anything?”

The eyes of the filly were on the barding, but she shook her head. “I still need a nightlight to sleep,” she told herself more than anypony else.

“Really? Is it the fear that draws you to the light? Or is it because you don't want to let the light die. You always had a million stars to guide you through the night, so you could never let it go, no matter how much smog was in the sky. You are probably the only one remaining who still sees the intent of the stars as it was once truth.”

“No!” Raindrops shouted and looked at the barding, denying it with her very being. “I'm just scared of the dark. I'm a little filly. I can be scared and I don't need to have any responsibilities. I don't need to understand what you are talking about.”

The other one might've smiled, or she might've wept. Raindrops didn't know.

“Your mind has so little left of the filly that lived with Hugh Jelly and Madame Hooves. You deny it, but that filly was born through circumstance, because you didn't want to acknowledge what had happened to you. You made the falling rain that filly's first memory. You ran.”

Raindrops shook her head again. “Tavi wet the bed when she started to live with us and everypony said it was fine. It happens to ponies her age. That's what I mean. We're children, we're allowed to be weak because we're not strong. The winds may carry adult pegasi, but the little ones are carried by the adults.”

“You are so much wiser than that.”

Raindrops blinked, then took a breath before she finally turned her head. She looked at Octavia, the one who was not, and she looked directly into her eyes. Those cyan eyes which seemed to belong to a person as old as the world itself, filled with the emotions of a thousand years and the longing of a person who was still waiting, yearning even for something she long stopped believing in.

“Tell me child, if you are so weak, if you need to be carried, then why? Why are you trying so hard to hear my voice?”

Cyan eyes were fixed on her, so she turned her gaze away.

Open your eyes, the whisper said.

But Raindrops didn't.

You will make a decision down the line, whether it will be right or wrong only time will tell. Right now, however, you need to open your eyes.

It was a kind whisper and so Raindrops did open her eyes. The filly found herself nowhere and only the stallion was with her. She felt the breath stopping in her lungs, felt herself grow distance from her body, as her eyes widened in disbelief. Her mouth was open, too, but no words came out, no sound was left to be made.

It was a lie, it couldn't be. She recognized this pony, this stallion, who sat there with the old smile, the remnants of a song stuck to his lips. She recognized his shape, she recognized the color of his coat, of his mane, of his eyes. It was impossible, however, and so she shook her head.

He only smiled, and it was a smile that she knew well. Then, he spoke, and it was with a voice that had once beaten against the silence all around them, for every night of her short, happy life.

“Hey, kiddo.”

Tears welled up from inside, it was as if she'd reached the end. Had she died against Magia? Was she finally able to return to them? Her herd?

“Dad,” she wanted to say, but no sound wanted to come out.

He understood, nonetheless.

“How're you doing?” he asked.

She looked at him, his broad shoulders, his face soft and kind. She understood that it was him and yet she didn't. No, it was him. She was there with him. Water was rolling down her cheeks and it felt real. This was real.

“I,” what could she say though? “I found another family.”

He looked at her curiously.

“Derpy's a glutton, but she called me sister the day I moved in. Tavi's play of the cello is untrained, but soothing. Lyra's jokes are terrible, but I never told her. Trixie's going to be a stage magician and I think she'll be famous one day. And then there's Twilight, she's a friend, but I kinda like her.”

“That's good, isn't it?” he asked and she noticed that the tears didn't stop.

She wasn't happy. She wasn't happy at all, even though she finally saw him again.

“I'm losing them, dad,” she admitted, more to herself than to him or anybody else.

As she broke down in sobs, she didn't know what she wanted anymore. Where was her home? A burning field or a house with falling walls? Was she the only one who'd have to stay behind in the darkness? Was she truly unable to run away now?

She felt his wings around her, pulling her into a hug, and she felt his soft breath against her head. His hooves stood all on the ground, he looked almost regal to the filly's eyes. It was only a moment and then the rain fell on her face.

“You're still asleep, kiddo. Nopony's losing anypony.”

“You're a liar,” she said between sobs, burying herself in his chest. The dark was all around them and right now, she could only see him, only his light. “You burned and you're gone.”

“When you were told of the Lunarium, what did you think it would do?”

He felt warm, but his heart did not beat.

“It's going to bring you back. It'll make everything okay, everypony will be okay. It was going to be awesome and we'd be beneath the stars again. I could be her again.”

He smiled, for sure. “Let me tell you something important, kiddo,” he put his hoof to her chin and raised her head, so that she saw his eyes. They were violet, like hers.

“Magic isn't meant to bring back the dead. Not this one, anyway. All it can do is bring the dead the rest they yearn for. It's not just me and your mother, Stone or Passion. It's everyone. We're all still in this world, lingering in the pain of our deaths. We're all ghosts of the chaos that is destroying the world. Do you understand that? You can't bring back the past and the Lunarium will not help you get us back.”

She felt his hoof, the cold of a nonexistent ground against her chin. His feathers touched her back, they were warm and fluffy. She knew, however, that everything he said was true. He didn't look like he was lying, for there were no tears and his smile was honest.

“But if we reach the Lunarium, you'll leave forever? I don't want this moment to end. I don't wanna find the Lunarium. I just don't want you to go again.”

He snickered. “If I were you, I'd probably say the same thing, but kid? This moment will end, no matter what we want, and all dreams die once you wake up. This isn't even where you want to be, not truly. Your sister's alive, your friend is alive and the moments you shared shouldn't end anytime soon, right?”

She closed her eyes then, wanted to unsee him, make him stop saying those things. But she only opened them once he spoke up again.

“Remember your heritage, kiddo. Remember who we are and that we are pegasi!” He almost shouted the last word and she remembered, because her mother had taught her all the stories and he had sung the songs.

They were beneath the tree in the middle of a green field, small lights were buzzing in the air.

“We gave you your name because of that, I told you that. You will be a light in the darkness, you will be the one to protect everything you have. We gave you our strength for that and if you can keep those of around you alive, then, my daughter, you will find the truth.”

“You lied because you wanted me to hate you, why?”

“Because harmony died and we knew that, we knew that you needed to survive and you needed to be strong. That's all we wanted. One of us needed to live, the youngest, the strongest, our best. I'm sorry, my daughter. You are everything we dreamed of and so much more.”

How much time passed? Maybe an eternity, maybe not even a second. The warmth was there and she'd keep it like that. This long, sad story, she would keep it. Now, Raindrops smiled. She could let go of her dream. She could stop running.

I will see you again.

And so, the other filly vanished and the only one who remained opened her eyes. She looked at the mare who was as dark as the night and had a mane, like a carpet of stars.

The princess smiled. Are you ready?

Twilight lifted herself up. There was little strength left in her legs. Well, it was none, actually, but that couldn't stop her! It wasn't like she was cared about her own lack of strength and her own illness anymore. Derpy was screaming and needed help. I'm not going to lose another friend, she thought and clenched her teeth so hard that they jaw started to hurt.

Never again would she lose a friend.

She looked at it, at the dark abyss of its horrible form, at the blackness and swirling madness of the orbs it tried to pass as eyes. She felt no fear this time, no, it was the purest hatred. It was an anger that seethed through her entire being and that rage became her strength. She would kill this thing, no matter what it cost her. Yes, she would even use it's own cursed gifts against it.

She tasted the blood and the bile still in her mouth, felt how her own vision became blurry and the world shifted so slighty. Almost, Twilight stumbled and the question came as suddenly as the answer. What's going on? She was at the end of her rope. This was it.

This can't be, she thought and tried to hold herself on her legs, at least. Derpy was still crying, but Twilight could barely stand. What of Raindrops? What of the filly who'd ran? Could she survive at least? Barely holding on, Twilight Sparkle turned. There was nothing there, no sign of Raindrops. Was she gone?

No, Twilight thought. It couldn't be. She tried to look around, but felt herself stumbling. No, no....

But Raindrops was gone.

She looked to the water. It seemed so calm, like the world didn't care that it was dying, or maybe like the world itself had already given up. Everything had accepted their lost, just not she. What a tiny, sickly fool she was. The darkness pulsated, and the orbs, pearls of pure madness swirled in the air, staring at her. She almost let herself fall, blinked. This was it.

Yet, as she opened her eyes she saw something a new. The black lake, and a piece of light within. She blinked once more and then it appeared to have grown bigger. Was she seeing things now? Twilight blinked again, thinking that her vision was really failing her, but as she looked again the blot was only bigger then before. And it was growing quick.

“What the–“ she started.

With a bang! the water erupted in an explosion and a blaze of light and fire rose from it. Magia turned around, its eyes gazing at the brightness and the blaze, but Twilight shielded her eyes with a hoof. There was a warmth coming from the light, soft and kind and unyielding to the killing presence of the horror she came so close to yield to.

She still tried to get a good look at what was going on and as the water rained down on the little island on the edge of the cave, she saw the center of the light. The silhouette of a pegasus, wings beating against the air with the elegant proficiency of a veteran flier.

Purple eyes looked at the monster and for a moment, nothing was there but the sound of rain hitting the ground and water as the fire and the light receded. Then, in the blink of an eye, the pegasus shot down and landed a kick right between Magia's eyes.

Its rotten teeth shattered, its black body splattered into all directions as the kick connected, but before it could even try to reform, the pony landed on the ground, and forth came another flash of light and flame, one that Twilight could only stare at as it washed over her. She screamed something, maybe a line from a song. It sounded nice and it made Twilight feel something again. She felt hope.

The pegasus smiled as the black goo around them burned. “Thanks, dad,” she said. “I meant it. I will see you again when I, too, reach that place.”

She sounded sad, but also not.

The orbs flew back and the rest of the darkness that had followed them now shot towards the pegasus like an arrow, but as it did so, it also twisted itself into a wild cascade of horror and screams, of blades and teeth. The laughter of a thousand children could be heard, both condescending and terrifying. But as it did, she didn't appear scared, instead positioned herself between Twilight, Derpy and the shot.

“I'll make sure,” she said, and Twilight felt the very heat of her soul, “you will never hurt my friends ...”

Her wings spread as the black spear closed in her heart. She reared up and the amulet around her neck glowed with a blaze.

“Again!” she screamed against all her fears and then the last light erupted and the flames burned away the dark.

The laughter of the beast turned into a cry that could only come from the pain it felt as its very form dissolved. The crystals around them turned the darkness of the cave into a light that was as bright as the sun itself. Twilight covered her eyes again.

After a few seconds, she put her hooves back on the ground, only to notice that she felt much stronger than before and like there was no pain anymore. Twilight looked down and spotted that her hooves were purple and she could stand on them without a problem.

“What?” she asked flatly and looked around.

The entire cave was filled with the light of a warm, harmonious magic so powerful, she could scarcely believe it. This wasn't even Magia's power, or at least it didn't even feel remotely like it. This light, this warmth, it belonged to the pegasus, the one who so quietly had come along with them and run away at the last second. This very pegasus seemed as tall as a giant to her now, even though there wasn't that much of a height difference from before.

The pegasus was of a rose color and her mane was blue.

“R-Raindrops?” Twilight asked, unsure.

The pegasus smiled at her with a cocksure smile. “Yeah, about that. I lied about that, actually. It's a long story, so I'll make it short: I'm from a distant land, my family got killed. I wanted to think it didn't happen to me, but it did. I am me and my past never changed. But we can change the future, right?”

“What?” Twilight asked.

The pegasus laughed. "Firefly. That's my name and it should've been that from the start."

She didn't know what to say. All Twilight could do was look at this stranger with wonder. Raindrops, no, Firefly, merely smiled at her before she turned towards Derpy. “You okay?”

The other filly lay on the ground and the wounds were gone from her body. She smiled at Firefly. “It doesn't hurt anymore and I can see clearly now that the rain is gone,” she answered feverishly.

Firefly laughed. “Yeah, I know, and there isn't going to be anymore rain. I promise.” She reached out her hoof. “And I apparently saved you lot. So some thank yous would be nice.”

“This is all impossible,” Twilight said.

Firefly shrugged.

The impossibilities have finally ended. An Element of Harmony has been unleashed near the Lunarium and I can finally see you outside of the sleep. You need to move quickly now, follow the path to the other end of the caves, the trail of stars and then the river. Follow the sound of my voice, for you are close.

“Okay, the whatness just increased ten-fold,” Firefly said and turned her head, looking around. "That's the pony from my dreams!"

“Princess Luna?” Twilight asked, dumbfound.

Don't dawdle, if Magia wasn't aware of what was happening before, it now is. The monsters, this piece of it? They were an afterthought. There will be no more apparitions, no more beasts and no more corpses to be abused. It will deal with you personally. All its terror will soon be unleashed upon us, so hurry. No sacrifice will be forgotten and the whole world needs its heroes to finally stand up. Run, my little ponies. Run!

Part 2: Chapter 13 ~ And Then A Night Will Come, Long And Dark And Without The Stars To Guide Us Pt. 1

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Spiralling around her, there was water. Moving towards a distant surface, there were bubbles. There were, she thought or hoped, but her world remained all black. A cold went through her very being and it stung her coat and flesh, cut deep into her every bone. That's how it was, she thought or dreamed.

If she was aware of it, it had to be only faintly, for there wasn't enough strength in her body to move. Well, even if she could have put some strength into her muscles, she didn't want to anymore. Breathing, too, felt like too much a hassle. She decided not to try, decided not to move or breathe, or do anything at all, since nothing would help her anyways. That's how it was and the blackness was all around her. She knew and needn't open her eyes to see.

No, all she needed to do was let herself be carried by the water, to where no more bubbles would rise and no more waves would splash. Down and down and deeper down still.

The chill grew stronger with every second. It was almost funny, because it was the only thing she felt now. She found herself unable to determine where exactly it came from, since she couldn't do anything against it anyhow. No, she didn't want to think of why she was so cold. It was too much of a bother and she could just let herself drift even farther.

Only a part of her wondered to where she was floating, another part knew that it would be somewhere else. She thought this good enough.

“You'll try to leave again?” Rarity asked and then the bubbles, the water and the cold were all gone.

She remembered it, because it had been the last time she had seen the most generous filly she had ever known. They sat on the bed and their eyes were fixed on one another. Trixie remembered her to be white and that the warmest of smiles adorned her haggard little face.

“I know you don't like it here, but mum and dad really are trying their hardest,” Rarity said and pretended to mean it.

In the beginning, Trixie had thought that, unlike everypony else, Rarity never felt the brunt of the force the caregivers were dishing out. That had been wrong. She wore the same bruises as everypony else, for her parents treated her like any of the orphans. Or maybe they treated the orphans like their own.

As her friend smiled at her, Trixie was still unable to figure that out.

“Certain spells work only at certain times,” Trixie told Rarity with confidence.

She remembered it, now that she drifted into the darkness, that there had been neither rain nor snowfall that day, just a few white clouds scattered on the blue sky and the sun shining from the zenith. It had been her last escape attempt, before they would sell her off to her new parents.

Rarity spoke up then.

“Spells won't work. Magic won't work. Trixie, you've got to see that. Magic doesn't exist, if it ever did.”

The words of doubt stung, but this was Rarity and Trixie knew that she would see.

“I'll make them work. I'll bring back magic and make all the spells work again!”

Trixie remembered the eyes of the filly. They reminded her of how her mother had looked after life had faded from her, because there was no light in them. They were looking at a place so distant and wonderful, but were so dulled by the abyss between her and that place. Rarity had long since given up on making it out of this place, Trixie knew, but she always listened to her nonetheless.

“You can't,” Rarity told her, shaking her head. “You won't. I know you'll try to run away again, but they'll find you and hurt you.” Tears were falling from her eyes.

Trixie always ran, always tried to reach the horizon, to go out there and learn magic. Somewhere in the distance a place had to exist where she could do that. Somewhere far, far away.

“I don't want to see you like this anymore. I don't want to see you get hurt anymore.”

She had been generous, shedding her tears for Trixie. Nopony had done that before, so Trixie laid her hoof on the filly's head and rubbed it.

“Every day I wake up in a world without magic, Rarity,” she told her, “but I'll find it. I'll find magic and then I'll make everything better. Just you wait.”

She had forgotten that she said those words. She had forgotten and now she was drifting through the darkness. The memory of Rarity embracing her thereafter lit a fuse, but it was like it was extinguished only a second later. For a moment it burnt, and for a moment she felt the entire strength of the cold swallowing her.

The water was a cascade, dragging her farther into the depth, where the earth farthest from any light awaited. There was no use fighting its call, no use trying to move.

Of course she had run away, of course she had been found and given away.

Her new parents, she remembered them. Their punches and kicks still stung, because she clung to the gifts her parents had given her, both the hat and the cloak.

Sometimes, she would need to go to the hospital and they would tell the doctors that Trixie had fallen down the stairs, that she had gotten into a fight with other kids, that she was a unicorn and they did stupid things more often than other ponies. They never said the truth and they told her to lie, too.

In the end, she'd been able to keep the gifts and all she needed to do to keep them was to endure. A fair trade, for these two garments were the last link to that tower by the cliff and two magicians who had raised her to be as great and powerful as they had been.

Maybe she could have done it, too. She had thought herself talented and could bring smiles to others. She hadn't doubted herself, but now she wasn't so sure anymore. In the short time she had lived, she had never given up and not once had she taken a step back. Not once had she even thought that she could have been wrong. So what if she was?

She remembered herself, running away from those new parents, only once. She remembered herself, huddled up in an old warehouse that was filled with stuff thrown away and forgotten by everypony. There she was, wrapping herself in the cloak, and then she put the hat on. Both had been to large for her, and the hat especially kept falling down on her face.

After what had to be the fifth or sixth time that happened, she hadn't bothered pulling it back up again and instead just looked at the darkness inside of it. No bubbles had been there and the cold didn't sting, she knew, and it was a dark she hadn't been scared of.

“You got a nice hat, are you wizard?” she had heard the pony say then, the unicorn who had lost her horn and hope, the one who had long since given up her dreams of music and magic.

Lyra was her name and she had told Trixie that magic didn't exist, while also trying to convince herself that wizards might give her hands and make her something that didn't exist. Trixie had always thought that it had been her way of mocking other unicorns, but now she wasn't so sure anymore.

She wasn't sure of a lot of things anymore.

Nurse Redheart had told her about another filly, one she could maybe talk with.

Trixie'd been in the hospital because her father had been mad. At her, his wife, his work, whatever suited him. It wasn't like she couldn't understand, because she was mad, too.

But then she had met that filly, the one called Twilight Sparkle and she had read books. Trixie saw that she'd been sick and Nurse Redheart had told her sad things about her. So all Trixie had wanted to show her had been a world filled with hope and magic.

Yet it had been Twilight who had shown her how the world could twist and change and what horrors could come from the dark.

Maybe that was what magic truly was?

Or had everything until now just been a bad dream after her head had been whacked one time too many? If so, Trixie would've loved to wake up by now.

Or maybe all the destruction and all the suffering around her had been some sort of test. Maybe, but she didn't know.

I don't even care, she thought.

No, she thought about her home and her mother's words. If there was anything left, then it was only one question. Only one thing truly meant something to her at this point and only once that would be answered, only then could she leave the cold and the darkness of this horrid world forever.

Is all magic truly gone from this world?

Drifting through the endlessness, the question rang through her head, begging her to let go of her worldly pains. The chill was so cold that it felt like a fire, burning through her entire being. It was a flame so cold, she would've never believed something remotely like it to exist. Yet it did.

Trixie had known cold. Back in the orphanage she had felt it many times, but there had always been a fire lit. It had been a warmth where sometimes all the children would huddle up in front of it, and a generous pony had shared every such moment with her.

Right now, she needed to end it. It was dark and cold and lonely here and the fire had gone out. Trixie felt the water against her coat, if only faintly, and she thought of every time she had tried to create a light, every time she had tried to give some of that generosity, some of that kindness back to the world.

She had waited by her mother's bed until the strangers came to take her to the orphanage. She had tried against all circumstances and she had failed.

Every day she had woken up in a world without magic, but Trixie had never stopped dreaming.

Yet her heart slowed and the dream was at an end. Her friends were gone and dead, just like she herself. Everything she had ever hoped to achieve was impossible now, Trixie understood. Nightmares and eldritch terrors would haunt the equestrian plains forever and the thing she had believed to be magic would never come to exist.

What she had hoped to be, the light in the dark, the spark that would set the flame ablaze, she wasn't that. She could never be as her parents wanted her to be. Yes, for Trixie, it was over.

It had all been just a childish hope, a funny dream to be forgotten. That's all there was to it in the end. Just like Lyra, who had hoped her laughter to be real. Just like Octavia, who had thought her play honest. Just like Derpy, who always aspired to be as kind as her parents. Just like Raindrops, whose hopes she'd lost in a place Trixie had never seen. They were all coming to nothing in the end.

As sad as that was, however, Trixie admitted that she felt content with that realization. It felt like she had grown up a bit. Maybe she could tell her parents and maybe they'd smile and tell her that she did a good job nonetheless. She thought of them and gave in.

Not yet, a voice within her said. It was not one belonging to a stranger, but rather her own.

As she finally thought of leaving it all behind, Trixie realized that she didn't really feel like giving up just yet. This wasn't all for nothing, Trixie was sure of that. If she could still try, she could still get back up, back to the light, back to where a new day awaited her. Trixie could still be helpful.

For one moment the cold and the darkness still lingered, and then a strength rushed through her body as she willed herself awake. It was the sort of might that she needed to leave the hopelessness behind. What strength remained in the depths of her, she woke it up and forced herself to do everything she could do.

Trixie opened her mouth and inhaled the air that wasn't there to begin with. It tasted of lemons.

She threw open her eyes.

“What the–“

Trixie stood atop rainbow-colored grass and the ground of chocolate cracked beneath the weight of her hooves. For a split second, she had to wonder where she was, but then she remembered. She, Twilight and Lyra had been to this place once before. A guard had been killed and thereafter they'd stepped into this world without even noticing it.

And once more she found herself here where it'd all begun. Trixie remembered it, for the memories were still young.

For a moment she wondered how she'd gotten here again? The sweetly sour taste of the air felt good against her tongue, proving wherever this was to be a real place. Yet it was only for a moment that she stared in wonder. Soft drops of water started to rain down on her already drenched coat and Trixie looked to the sky.

And she blinked at the very sight that was all around her. Trixie gaped at it, because the sky wasn't there. What she saw wasn't dark or black or anything like it. It was just, well, Nothing.

There was a void, an emptiness that barred any description and as Trixie stared at it, she felt like it gnawed at her, tried to swallow her whole.

It was like she was blinded by it and the sheer strangeness of how it felt kept her from looking away. Moments passed like that and the dark began to surround her once more.

The taste faded from her mouth, the smell from her nose, the feel from her hooves, the sound from her ears and the sight from her eyes. Everything vanished and then it was there, in the farthest of distances. Something moved, ugly as sin, dreadful as death itself. She only caught wind of it for that smallest piece of time, because a voice from behind her shook her awake once more.

“Do not stare for too long, Trixie Lulamoon, these heavens were long since destroyed by Magia and all that is left is an egg from which The Silence And The Dark may spawn once more,” it told her, ever so softly, both elegant and tired.

Trixie jumped forward in shock and immediately turned around. What she saw wasn't anything she'd expected and so the filly left her jaw open, trying to produce a sound that wasn't even ready to enter her throat.

The one who approached her had a mane like the starry night and a coat of the deepest blue. She sat before Trixie and was tall like a giant in the eyes of the young filly, with cyan eyes that told the story of a thousand years. The alicorn didn't smile, but merely looked at the one before her with little to no expression on her face.

“So,” the alicorn spoke. “What brings you here?”

“Who are you?” Trixie asked back, having a guess, but not believing it.

“Oh,” the alicorn said and shook her head without using any strength, “right. Etiquette is not something I practice still, so forgive me for not introducing myself. I am Luna, and I am the princess of night and dreams, whatever that may mean in these times.”

No thoughts came to Trixie's mind as she stared at the one before her and only a voiceless and mindless comment escaped her. “You're dead.”

Luna sighed half-heartedly and looked right at the little filly, or some place far, far behind her.

“Let us settle on “should be” rather than “am”. It is quite the complicated matter, just like that thing,” she pointed to the distant horizon.

Where once a black, swirling void of pain and horror rose, a bright tear now ran through the blinding dark. Like a hole in a wall, glittering in the strangest colors amidst the blackest darkness, sickingly bright and horrifying to behold. Trixie felt an unease surge through herself, because the dark appeared to drag itself into the light, creating an surreal flicker on the edges.

It was like she looked into the sun and at the same time stared into the blackest of pits. A swirl of light and shadow, an endless ocean of nothingness. Trixie felt her mind starting to tear at itself in hopes of understanding what she gazed at.

“As I said; do not stare for too long at what lies above the ground, Trixie Lulamoon. Nothing in this place is meant for mortal eyes and the sky is the egg of a force mightier than even Magia,” Luna said gravely.

The filly averted her eyes, looked to the ground. For a moment the colors seemed more bright, more lively and more fluid. She felt how dizzy she was, how weak she stood on her legs. Trixie felt how keenly aware she was, how honed all of her senses felt, it was almost too much to bear.

The longer she waited, however, the stranger the feeling In her body got. It was like something in the back of her head was telling her that something was wrong. Not with the sky, not with this world, but with herself. It was the most minor of pains, but persistent in its whisper.

She frowned. All of this was far too much for her, and so she looked to Luna. Maybe she hoped to find answers with the alicorn, maybe she just hoped for protection.

Princess Luna looked at the breach in the sky as if there was nothing wrong with it, or as if she'd grown tired of the sight.

“Everything Magia does is for a higher purpose. It is not a beast of death and silence, but of madness and fear. It is the original horror, the King of Nightmares. It may well be the origin of every fear we have, maybe calling it a god would be prudent. Yet what it wants is not just to swallow the world whole, but to recreate something within the dark it brings, something that is far beyond my understanding of the world. Trixie,” Luna said and turned her head back to Trixie. “It is all coming to an end and I have but one simple question for you: Do you still think that you do dream of magic?”

Trixie blinked, repeated the words in her mind. She had heard them, but didn't grasp why they could be important.

“Why do you want to know that?”

“I have no plan, only a faint hope and this hope is meant to be tested. You are meant to be tested. You, your friends, all of you are destined to make a certain decision. It is not bound to a trinket or a mere characteristic, but rather only to what you wish to be.”

“My … decision?”

Luna looked so strong and proud, she was quite the sight for the young filly. Yet the voice she carried and the eyes that gazed at her both told a very different story. The mare before her was old. So old, in fact, that it sent cold shivers down Trixie's spine.

Strangely enough, her thoughts turned to the princess of love, who'd lived and died, and to Celestia, who had gone to her grave just as magic had left the world. She remembered all the stories, even the one of the princess who had vanished, maybe even died away from her sister. Was this truly her?

Luna's eyes went up and she gazed at the blackness itself. “Maybe I should help you. You know naught of magic, do you? So how about I tell you all I learned of it, so you may choose where you will go next?”

Trixie didn't know what to say, so she only nodded.

And Luna cast down her gaze and mumbled wordless whispers, before the strength in her voice rose and she told Trixie the story the filly needed to hear.

“Magic died a long time ago and we died with it. I am the last of the alicorns, the last piece of an era long gone. The dragons died, the gates of Tartarus vanished and the world lost everything that made it itself. But now a piece of its original form has returned, the very first piece of magic.”

Trixie knew what Luna meant. “Magia?”

Luna nodded and closed her eyes. Her horn began to glow and an ethereal wind went over their coats, lifting the grass up into the air and then, all of a sudden, a black cascade was above and all around them. The wind that touched her coat and skin went down to her nerves like knives' edges and she felt a cold burning like a fire deep within her as she gazed at the swirling nothingness.

For a moment she wondered what was going on, but then she saw them, two tiny spots of red in the middle of a dark eternity. All Trixie could do was look at it with a fearful fascination. She knew what it was, for she had seen it once before and it had nearly killed Twilight.

Part 2: Chapter 14 ~ And Then A Night Will Come, Long And Dark And Without The Stars To Guide Us Pt. 2

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Spiraling around her, there was a darkness unending and claws tried to strike at her. That was what she dreamed. Tendril-like appendages tried to grab her legs, tried to take a hold of her body, or so she thought. Quickly, she moved closer to the princess, but as dark thing should have touched her, its essence went through her without leaving a mark.

Two orbs of glowing red stared at her, but then she realized that whatever they gazed at was far behind her, because in that thing's eyes, she wasn't even there.

The princess' voice struck through the silence with a calmness like a warm summer night.

“I believe that our world was never supposed to harbor any force beyond the natural. It was meant to be a world without magic, one which should have grown by mere chance and without the intervention of things divine or supernatural.”

Her eyes turned to Trixie. “But it took notice. From whence it came, we can only speculate, but it came to our world, gripping it with its claws, baring its fangs at the denizens, hoping to achieve a goal that has long eluded me.”

Trixie dared to look closer at the orbs, those distant things. They were perfectly round, but within them was a swirl of violent colors, red and shades of it, some darker, some brighter. Cracks of white appeared for split-seconds, only to break away again, while shards of black tried to crack the brutal sea open, only to fade into obscurity again.

The filly could feel her brain start to hurt, the longer she looked.

“You should start to listen, Trixie Lulamoon. When I said that you should not stare for too long, I meant it,” the princess commented dryly. “There are greater things to see in this realm than Magia its madness.”

With that, the princess turned around and Trixie followed suit. It happened as she turned, the swirls of shapeless claws and virulent blackness dissipated, making way for a new scenery.

The two stood on a field of grass, green and untouched. It went on for a while, but in the dark of night, Trixie couldn't make out just how far. A full moon rose up in the sky and the stars shared what little light they could give. Trixie looked up at the moon, it was white like snow.

“There is what I want to show you, the discovery I made shortly after I started my work on the Lunarium,” Luna said and pointed forward.

Trixie's eyes followed where the princess pointed at and she raised an eyebrow at the sight. There were shapes lying amidst the grass, all huddled up, with none looking up. The filly took a step forward, hoping to get a better look, while Luna merely stood there and watched.

“Ponies,” Trixie said aloud as she saw what these things were.

“Yes,” Luna answered.

It was an entire herd, fast asleep. None had horns or wings, they were all earth ponies, as normal as they could be. Their colors ranged from black to brown, without a single deviation. It wasn't the sight Trixie had expected, but somehow it felt like something was amiss.

They were sleeping without fire or houses, they weren't living in tents nor was there any sign of civilization. That made Trixie frown and she looked around, hoping to find an answer. Only grass was there and so she turned back to the princess, hoping she might be able to fill her in on what was going on.

She merely gave a nod in the direction of the herd and Trixie turned around again, rolling her eyes as she did. Yet, as she looked back at them, a shiver went down her spine. Tendrils moved up from the dark beneath and black claws enveloped the ponies. They caressed the bodies softly.

The way they moved could've been likened to a mother stroking her child's mane, ready to kiss the forehead of her beloved. It made Trixie feel all fuzzy and warm, and at the same time, she was sickened and horrified by the sight. It was just like seeing a saw cutting into living flesh.

There was something inherently wrong about the way the tendrils moved atop the ponies' bodies and then the animals began to stir in their sleep. First, one's nostrils flared up, another's tail whipped across the ground.

Legs started to move, kicking against ground that wasn't there and soon everypony in the herd was moving without waking, whinnying and flailing around. They kicked each other, some hoofs met heads and jaws, chins and backs. Soon bones began to crack and blood spilled onto the ground.

She couldn't take her eyes off it as the ponies' lives ended beneath a starry sky. “What is this?” she whispered.

“This is what the dawn of magic looked like,” Luna said, trying her best to keep her voice firm.

“But magic's the thing that'll save us,” Trixie said hurriedly, turning around to Luna. “Can't you save them?”

Luna shook her head and used the chance to look at the ground. “This but a memory of someone else, someone who watched the scene unfold. It might have been the first incident or just one of many. Magia, it came with ill intent to this world. Mind you, it was not an invasion, not truly. However, its reasons do not matter, for its mere presence,” she lifted her hoof up to point at something at Trixie's side, “changed everything.”

A lizard lay in the grass, looking wide-eyed at the sight that presented itself before it. Luna noticed that its green color shifted and it, too, shook. Not just from fear, but from something else, too.

“This world, these ponies and everything from the heart of the world to the stars above, all things woke up from their natural slumber.”

Trixie looked back at Luna. “What do you mean?”

“I'll show you.”

With that, the princess' horn began to glow ever so slightly and around it, the world shifted. Trixie's vision blurred for a second, leaving her to blink and then, everything was different.

No longer were they on a field of grass, but rather they stood amidst crystals and trees and mushrooms and flying squirrels.

“Wha–“ was Trixie's vocalization of her feelings.

They stood in what might've been a cave or a canyon, she didn't know. Crystals grew from the ground and mushrooms grew from the crystals. From them, twines, flowers and bushes spread out. There were branches of wood and crystal growing all around them, with animals running across them. Squirrels with wings like birds, a squid with a moustache and many other things.

She looked around, turned around, tried to grasp what in Tartarus' name she was looking at. Only Luna stepping forward brought her back to reality, or whatever this was.

The princess moved forward, clearly relaxing just looking at the color of this place. No, not just that. The chirping of birds, the squeaking of small mammals and so many other sounds mixed themselves together to a symphony, both ponies welcomed readily.

They walked through branches and leaves, ignoring the laws of physics. Luna led them towards a light, it seemed. A strange glow of as many colors as the rainbow. Trixie almost didn't want to go. With what little experience she had gathered, she pretty much knew that the peace of this place couldn't last.

And then they reached a glade.

Or something like that.

Trixie's eyes widened as she looked upon the center of this strange place. A river was flowing through it, lifting itself up into the air right in the middle. It parted itself into shapes and figures, several tracks with loops and an upside-down miniature waterfall, before going back into its normal shape as it left the glade.

Fireflies of many colors flew through the tracks and glowing fish raced across them. There was fire, dancing around the water and the animals, following the rhythm of the world around it.

At the very center, there was a being. It stood there, lifting its arms in strange motions, its eyes following the many things around it. With each motion, the path of the water changed, another branch would grow, an animal would change. A fish got pelt, a lizard started to tap-dance. The thing laughed at what happened around. It sounded so happy and so mad.

The magician looked as strange as his surroundings.

His head was like a horse's, with a mane like one, too. An antler and a horn rose from his head.

Then, there were his eyes. They also looked weird, for the pupils had different sizes. The creature's mouth possessed one long fang along with a snake's tongue, and a goat's beard grew from his chin.

Arms and legs belonged to different animals. The right arm was a lion's paw, the right an eagle's claw. The scaled leg of a lizard and the furry goat's hoof were crossed over one another atop one of the tree branches.

And to all of that, the creature also had wings, one like a bat's, one like a pegasus'. His tail was like a dragonesque snake's tail with a white tuft.

Trixie had but one thing on her mind. What am I even looking at?

If she wasn't sure to be dead, her breath would've certainly stopped at one point or another.

The creature itself stared at its hands like they belonged to somebody else. He seemed as astounded by himself as Trixie was. Then he tried to stroke his beard. The attempt was slow, as if touching it would result in an uncomfortably long lasting sequence of stabby pains or something.

Trixie quickly found herself cheering him on as he learned how his own limbs worked.

“Magia spread out fear through the Night Terrors and with the fear, a madness came onto the creatures. Some turned insane in their minds, others were twisted by the new influence. They learned of emotions like they had not known before, so strong that they could shape their very surroundings with them. Creatures who could do that became the first true magic users and we called them the dragonequui.”

Trixie looked at the princess, who smiled at her.

“They were good?” Trixie asked, thinking it fun to look at this one.

“They were born from fear and insanity and thus became avatars of chaos. They spread their new gift around the world, the five of them, and each defined the beings around it with how it saw magic and the world. Whether they were truly good or bad is lost to the ages, for as I and Celestia came upon this world, all but one were gone.”

The dragonequus lifted his claw and snapped his fingers. A cloud appeared above him and suddenly it started raining frogs. They fell to the ground and then jumped away as quickly as they could, utterly perplexed at how they had come to be here. Some clung to branches, others croaked angrily at the beast that had summoned them. He just laughed in amusement.

“We called him Discord and he used the influence of Magia for his own gain. He was a person who thought everything a joke and he took over our Equestria with that sort of mindset. Well, he had good intentions, but many bad people do. In the beginning, he only used his gift to spread magic itself, however.”

Trixie frowned. “So, he was one of the first magicians?”

“Yes,” Luna said, “and probably the first to teach others how to actively use magic, though everyone forgot about that, just as they forgot the other dragonequui. He did not have an interest in telling others about his story, either, because everything was one huge joke to be exploited. As a joke, he taught rabbits a language they could call their own and tried to make a hamster archmage.”

Luna giggled and shook her head. “He was weird, and that hamster archmage project failed, but with every spell he and his ilk cast, the power we call magic solidified more and more in this world.”

“And Magia didn't care?” Trixie asked.

“I do not know, but it did not do anything against the dragonequui. I assume it was because magic was Magia's own power, so it grew stronger the more creatures were touched by it. Maybe it thought that everything went well and its own plan could be fulfilled with the aid of some foolish pawns.”

The horn started to glow and Trixie's sight became blurry once more.

“Well, Magia did become more entwined with the world, but then something happened in another herd of ponies.”

They stood on the water of a lake in the middle of a forest. The horizon was brightened up by the rising sun, while most of the sky still remained dark. Shadows stalked between the trees and then a mare came forth from the dark. She was looking horrified and stopped by the water, mumbling to herself as she looked at her own reflection. She had a white coat with a green tint to it and her mane was green as grass.

Trixie noticed the horn immediately.

“What is going on?” The pony suddenly said, the words strangely intoned, the pronounciation off.

It was like she didn't know what was coming out of her mouth, like she didn't understand her own words.

Luna got down to Trixie's height and told her with a smile; “This is the first unicorn pony, Trixie Lulamoon. The first equine like you and me.”

Trixie's eyes widened as she looked at this pony who didn't know what was happening to her.

“They later called her Dreamcatcher and from what I learned, she convinced the dragonequui to help her banish Magia from this realm. There are no memories in the world of the event itself, so I do not have any imagery I could conjure up.”

Trixie seized the chance to ask the question that'd been bugging her now. “How do you know all this?”

The princess ignored the question, much to Trixie's dismay. “She and the five dragonequui shared a bond, apparently, and that bond became strengthened though magic. It was a bond given shape in the form of a tree, one from which I and my sister would smith the Elements of Harmony and use them against Discord.”

Then came a pause.

“They banished Magia, but we misused their legacy and killed this world. Magic vanished and the decay began.”

“What do you mean?”

“Magic as we know it was born from insanity and fear, which were gateways for emotions, emotions which helped the dragonequui to shape the reality around themselves. The dragonequui spread their way and we learned to harness the good in us to use magic. The Tree of Harmony was the very center of that, and we forged it into the Elements, destroying the tree in the process. When we destroyed Discord, we effectively ended the last thing that had kept the tree alive. All the positive energy started to fade and the wall that barred Magia from entering this realm crumbled. What good there was in the world started to vanish and the original force behind our magic began to grow stronger. Malice and discontent, alongside fear and madness started to rule the world.”

Trixie was happy that she was a spirit here, otherwise her head would've probably started to hurt by now. All of this was a tad-bit too complicated for a little filly like her.

“But Magia's back now,” she heard herself say. That meant the fear came back and maybe all the good things, too.

“Yes,” Luna answered, smiling bitterly. “And this time it will end the world. Its force was twisted and used against it, banishing it for a while. It would have come back eventually, but I and my sister foolishly ended Discord prematurely and thusly would drive this world faster towards its doom. However, in my long life I learned one thing about Magia.”

“What did you learn?”

“Magia's defeat back then allowed something new to be born. I found that piece of information amidst the thousands of memories this world harbors. Trixie, this might be the most important piece of information, the one why I told you everything I know.”

Trixie stared right into those eyes, those old, sad eyes. Then, Luna moved her hoof a bit and Trixie turned her gaze.

There was a light and suddenly a crowd of hundreds of thousands erupted in jubilee and five dragonequui far above them cheered loudly as they all looked at a gate of marble stone, opening far. The light itself came not from the sun, but rather from a balcony everypony was looking at.

Trixie used the chance to orientate herself. It looked like a palace, the architecture, however, was strange, without walls or pegasi towers.

Then she heard something and looked at the balcony, as a large silhouette stepped out into the open. A shiver ran down her spine as even the memory of that pony held a presence like none other.

Trixie couldn't make out much, naught but that she was an alicorn. There was a strand of red hair and a smile like the dawn of a new day.

“This is what I wanted to show you. An alicorn is always something new and first came Magia's defeat and the hope that the world would grow restful. Warmth filled the day after Magia's defeat, but like any dream, all days end and then comes a darkness, so scary and with a cold much like a blazing flame.”

Then the scene changed again. A house flew past them, upside down and then the earth shifted and divided. It rained chocolate frogs and fire was kindled with water. Chaos ruled and Trixie looked upon a world without sense or reason.

“Even before the old Empire in the north fell, Discord remained as the last dragonequus, as I already told you. He was a mad demi-god whose thoughts of mischief had ultimately turned him back to his originaly madness and his actions sent an entire continent down in madness.”

She saw him amidst it all, cackling like the devil, roaring with laughter as the cascade of destruction spread all around him.

Then it was all gone and she was in the middle of nowhere, her gaze locked onto Luna's.

“You defeated him with the Elements, forged from the Tree of Harmony. The tree which grew thanks to him and his friends, right?” Trixie asked. “That's rather sad.”

“Trixie?”

The tiny filly looked up at the giant of a princess, the grass plain all around them again. Dark clouds were gathering above them and she felt the first drops of rain touching her head.

“Yeah?”

“Me and my sister, Discord, the first alicorn, the dawn of magic, they are all linked to one being.”

“Magia,” Trixie answered immediately, remembering the rainbow-colored grass and how the world had tumbled down all around her.

“Discord and the rest of the dragonequui were the first who could make use of how Magia's arrival shifted reality. As such, their abilities were part of the King of the Night Terrors. Discord spread it across the world and used his abilities to teach others magic. He may even have been in involved in Dreamcatcher learning her own magic. Even if not, her powers can be traced back to the arrival of the Night Terrors, too.”

Trixie wondered where she was going with this, her mind thinking about everything she had just been told. The dragonequus had waved with his hand at the world had bowed to his will.

Her eyes widened. “Wait! Are you saying that magic doesn't just come from Magia, it IS Magia?”

“The beast itself cannot do the same things we can. It cannot bring forth light, it cannot create things the way dragonequui or unicorns could. It is a singular-minded husk of power, like a cloud of rain falling down on everypony, drenching them with water. That is how it does things. It pours down, seeps into your being and when it is done, it drowns you.”

“For what purpose?”

The rain went down, heavier and heavier by the second.

“Maybe for its own amusement, maybe it tries to wake The Silence And The Dark, a beast much older than Magia. I dare not tread the paths I need to tread in order to understand what it wants to do, because all I ever saw was it corrupting my home from the beginning of history. Many things happened, some good, some bad, but this story is a tragedy written by the feather of Magia.”

“What happens at the end?” Trixie was afraid of the question, but asked it nonetheless.

“Twilight Sparkle will fail and the darkness will envelop the world. Then a night will come, long and dark, and without the stars to guide us. Everything will die a slow, agonizing death, filled with the worst horrors they can imagine. Magia has no need of a link anymore. It is powerful enough to manifest a large portion of itself in our world and soon it will wreck everything we know.”

Trixie felt cold, felt the water go through her every bone, like a fire made of ice. She smiled nonetheless. “It's fine then,” she said, “That I'm gone, I mean.”

Luna shook her head. “No,” she told the filly. “No, because if you do leave now, then you can't see it, the dawn of a new age. The age of my little ponies, of a new magic.”

The alicorn looked at Trixie and there was small glimmer in her eyes, a small hope, strengthening her enough to suddenly smile. The filly wondered what she meant with those words, but lucky for her, Luna decided to stop speaking too complicated gibberish at that point.

“I waited for one thousand years. I worked on it, I guarded it, protected it. Now there is need for a pony who can make the Lunarium work. Trixie, I might be the princess of night and dreams, but I couldn't do it. The Lunarium is magic and what I need are ponies with a talent for it. You, Twilight, Lyra, Octavia, Derpy and Firefly all carry a gift you cannot even begin to imagine. Even if its not obvious at first, all of you carry the flame of magic within you and the unyielding will to better this world. I know of your doubts and you may have them, but they do not change that all of of them, and especially you, you dream of a world filled with magic.”

Eyes, old and tired looked at Trixie, but in that very moment, Luna looked so alive and so young.

Then, Luna looked up and Trixie noticed how wet she felt. Only then did she notice that the water was up to her neck. She didn't even react, instead her eyes remained on the alicorn.

Luna, calm as ever, turned towards her again. “It appears the time has come. You have two possibilities. You know them both, but remember well, an alicorn is always something new. You can do it. I trust you.”

Then there was nothing except the water that slowly rose and the rain that relentlessly struck at her from above.

Magia would end this world, and they were merely six fillies who stood against it. Any idiot could see that she should just close her eyes and start to leave.

The cold burned within her, the water reached her chin, bits of it got into her mouth. The taste woke memories within her, but not a single one of them fond. She had been insulted, beaten and violated. Her mother had died and her father had taken his own life, worse yet, she had been useless thereafter.

She had achieved nothing and wouldn't achieve anything, she was sure of that. Trixie found herself reaching a conclusion and then the filly closed her eyes, finally.

“I‘ve seen you a few times is the truth,” she had said, “and you‘re always looking off into the distance. I don‘t think you‘ve seen much, if anything of Canterlot. So, I want to take you somewhere wonderful and maybe show you a thing or two. I‘ll even bring you back whenever you want, okay?”

What the hay am I doing? She asked herself.

And then she decided again, this time, against the odds. She opened her mouth and started to breathe in the air that wasn't there. She threw open her eyes and looked towards a light that didn't exist and didn't matter. Water was all around her, a black swirl that threatened to take her into a deep, unending darkness. A cold flame was burning in her body and she couldn't feel anything anymore.

She didn't care about that anymore, because she needed to go against the stream. Trixie would fulfill the promise she had made, even if it wouldn't bring her parents back.

She was drowning and kicking and screaming and swimming, but the strength left her all too quickly.

No, she screamed in her mind. No, no, no, no, no!

Her left front hoof rose up, to where she thought the surface to be, and maybe she even cried a tear into the water. Trixie didn't want to die, she wanted to fight and live. She tried one last stroke, but her legs didn't move anymore. Losing what little hope she had mustered up, she didn't know what to do anymore.

Then she felt something grabbing her hoof. In the darkness was a small figure, winged and with a horn. A single, glowing green eye stared at her, but she could only make it out for a second, because then her sight faded. The last thing she felt was an embrace and before the blackness came onto her, she firmly decided not to die.

Part 2: Chapter 15 ~ Here Is Where The Night Won't End

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The pain was a much familiar one. As someone twisted her arm, fixated it with something, it was all too familiar. They're gonna ask you how you got your arm broken. You're a unicorn, so, if you don't want to get hurt worse, just tell 'em that you fell down some stairs. Be a good filly, at least once in your life.

She opened her mouth.

There was no sound, only the familiar pain. Maybe if she opened her eyes, but they didn't want to.

Feels weird.

Are you leaving us? Somepony asked in the silence. She wanted to tell them it was for the better, but then they'd caught her and nothing had been better. She was in the darkness and someone twisted her broken arm.

She allowed it to happen.

Look, somepony told her in the darkness. She wanted to open her eyes, really she did, but they were too heavy. It's snow. And soot, and the scent of the factories.

She remembered, and opened her eyes, remembering that she always liked the sight of the snows that seemed to fall so often here. It made the whole world seem so much calmer. When she was sitting together with Trixie, Rarity would agree, although she preferred winter because pony fashion got so much more elaborate during this season. Fashion was a hobby for Rarity, although she wasn't the type who could answer why. The dresses were pretty, the hats look fuzzy, and ponies wore little boots over their hooves. Little! Boots! Trixie never cared much for it.

“Look here,” Rarity would say and show her pictures from magazines, point to ponies visiting the orphanage, a big smile on her face. “That's an haute-couture,” Rarity told her friend, eyes glittering like stars.

There seemed to be stars in the darkness, too.

Looking at Rarity now, hearing her words again, Trixie found herself not caring for what she talked about, but for how much Rarity bloomed when she could talk about it. The way she threw words around neither she nor Trixie understood let the piebald filly be awe-inspired. I'm thinking that she knows what she's talking about, she remembered.

You're a unicorn, you're less than us. You feel not the caress of the wind nor do you hear the beating of the heart of the world. You're less than us.

Somepony said those words way back, but Rarity talked over them, using big words that made her look like a big pony. Trixie felt proud of knowing Rarity. I'm treasuring you still.

Rarity's parents weren't big on orphans. They never had been, they never would. Even now, though they may be dead. Trixie remembered how they always made them feel bad about it, how they told them that they were weak and small and how they laughed at everything they did wrong.

Her time in the orphanage had taken its toll, but, despite the darkness, she still felt Rarity close to her. Most orphans despised Rarity, even though she wasn't anything like her parents, and maybe Trixie was the only friend she had in the orphanage. Trixie, even back then, had always wondered how it could be that she was the only one noticing Rarity's kindness. As a matter of fact, even though Rarity was bruised just as much as the rest of them, they thought she was her parents' favorite. She tended to laugh at that. “Whether it's us kids or themselves, they need someone they can hurt.”

She remembered the sound of the laughter, she had heard it so often, and always in the same place. The nightsky was filled with grey clouds and snow was falling softly, in her memory and right now. Trixie sat here again, in her old spot, as she always did, however, this time she was alone with her thoughts. The other orphans were sleeping and Rarity, too. No laughter, no whispers, no fashion, but Trixie still liked to imagine that her friend dreamt of dresses and galas to visit. To the back of her, the fourth bed to the right of the door, that was where her bed was. She turned towards it, but couldn't catch a look at the small box she kept her things in. Her imagination shifted, to roads and towns she might visit, a wagon of her own. In her own dreams, she was a wandering magician who moved from one place to the next, putting on shows for the ponies to enjoy, showing them flashy tricks and bringing smiles to their faces.

You're a unicorn. You're less than us.

“I don't care,” she whispered to herself, down on her little windowsill.

Yet, it would never happen the way she dreamed. She was stuck here, in this place, this orphanage, with nopony ever asking where she had come from or who her parents had been. Nopony except Rarity, who had been so delighted to hear about them being magicians. There's one who cares, she thought. The windowsill was cold.

Trixie looked at the falling snows outside. There were crystals in the dark sky, slowly being eaten away by the darkness between the stars. And the windowsill was growing too small for her. I need to take a walk, Trixie thought and looked towards the door.

She was four or five years on this world as she took that choice, couldn't be much older, for they still hadn't managed to beat the intrigue, the curiosity for all things around her out of her. They never could, Trixie remembered, thinking about her mother smiling and a tower by the sea.

On silent hooves she snuck across the room. Hornblower was snoring, Merry Mistle was whispering to herself in her sleep, Luminosity was running away from something. None noticed her and she opened the old door with a slight creak. The youngest of them–was it Pitchy?–woke and asked what was going on, Trixie told them that she was going to the toilet, so that one mumbled something and went back to sleep. She closed the door behind her, then, but remained for a second.

She hated the guts of some of them, but others had been fun to be around. She put her hoof against the door again and said something. Not back then, right now, something she'd never gotten to tell them.

“Sleep well,” she said and turned around, walking along the corridors of the orphanage. They were without light, but she could navigate them without a problem. There was the door to the toilet, one that led to the kitchen, to the the room where they ate, the one that would bring her to the cellar. None mattered, none but the only door that looked well kept and welcoming, the front door. She didn't even want to put on her boots, instead simply stepped through the door and into the white.

As she took her steps, for one moment, she saw a spot of green, glowing in the dark. The monster's breathing, someone said, but Trixie ignored it, walked farther and then stopped, looked up, allowed the snow to fall onto her body, covering it lightly. Nopony else was here right now and nopony else was coming. I'm alone, she thought.

The orphanage behind her was a ruin and there were no more orphans in their beds. Rarity was gone, just as her parents. Trixie, however, remained.

“Might I Confess something?” she asked the sky. Her voice sounded so hollow, so hesitant. How strange that must've looked, after all, it was just Trixie and the night here.

A mass of grey cut her off from the stars. Later, Raindrops would talk about blue skies, about the stars and all that lay beyond the clouds. Now, maybe there was nothing beyond that anymore. The dark was still eating, after all, especially now that only Trixie was left.

She began to move and the snow fell off her body. Her path led her to the rusty old front gate of the orphanage. She remembered how the sign above it looked, but instead of welcoming visitors now the giant metal letters spelled out something else.

DON'T GO TRIXIE

But why would she? Nothing was left, so she left the ruins of the gate behind and let the world around her orphanage die forgotten. Her steps carried her towards Canterlot, that ugly city she called her home. Snows were still falling.

We need to move, a voice said, perhaps agreeing with her.

The road to Canterlot had been the most beautiful road in the world, back when the sisters ruled over the Equestrian realms. Trees stood by its side, colorful flowers around them. Birds chirped their most gorgeous melodies from high above and beyond them, beyond Canterlot and beyond the mountains lay towns where ponies lived their lives happily and without know of the misery to come. Walking down the road, on her own, every road she knew that led to Canterlot and from it was ugly. Acid rain had long since killed every plant that grew along the mountains and what trees remained were hollow with branches twisting without leaves, falling down once even the lightest of touches hit them. Snows were falling, even in this dead land and Trixie marched down a road dimly lit by lanterns, feeling the pavement beneath her hooves. The city was in front of her, nothing behind her, and she wanted to cry at what she saw.

The road to Canterlot had been the most beautiful in the world and she really would've liked to see it as that.

Are you leaving, again? Rarity asked and Trixie was gone.

She walked the streets of the city, right through the industrial district. On every roof it looked like there were a dozen chimneys, big ones, small ones, some even medium sized. For once, however, not a single one of them was emitting the black smoke she always saw when she thought back to Canterlot. It was so strange, and even the streets were empty.

She stopped before another gate, another place she knew, remembered, and peeked through it. There were still the furnaces, as she'd seen the last time she'd been here. In her memories there were workers, big, brawly, stallions and mares and along them little, miserable fillies and colts that worked the same load, but got naught but angry gazes in return. Last time she was here, there was one of them, seeing her and giving her a curious look. A colt of some strength, also noticed her and gave her a court nod for a greeting. From behind him there came another one who also noticed her, with the greenest eyes Trixie had ever seen. Her mane was blonde, her coat brown. Bones left their mark beneath her skin, like there was close to no flesh between them and the filly's hide, and she shook beneath the weight of the coals she carried. Still, her brother gave her a look, a mixture of pity and annoyance, and urged her own, saying some words, nuzzling her and whispering something with a kind expression. After their working hours she'd met them, when the sun had long since set and the streets got dangerous for young ponies like them. She met them on the street that led to the train station and somehow they had ended up in a conversation.

It couldn't have been too long ago.

They were heading back to a town called Ponyville, where they lived on the remnants of an old apple farm, now in too bad a shape to be a viable business. They needed money to get through the day, both their parents were in bad shape. Their mother was pregnant, their father sick from the fumes. The little filly, the one who called herself AJ, told her all that and her brother only ever nodded in stoic agreement.

“You know what? Whenever ya find yerself close to Ponyville, ya should come around the Sweet Apple Acres, soon we'll have another good harvest with the best apples in all of Equestria.”

Trixie had answered that one day, she would. And that was the last she ever saw of AJ and her brother, for they hadn't come back to the factories again, but she heard rumors and she knew all the storiers. Ponies talked about how both the young and the old frequently died during their work here. How the fumes were poison, how nopony who worked there ever truly grew up, how their bodies grew weaker and weaker with the years.

Are you dead? Are you alive? I hope you're well, AJ, cause this district is cold without you, Trixie thought. The snows were still falling and she decided to continue her walk, to wherever it would lead.

The old marketplace was next. Here, the orphans were lead to one summer day, to visit an office of sorts. Rarity's parents hadn't taken one–Merry Mistle laid in her bed, struck over the head with a bottle, weeping and fearing the time they'd return–but all others were present. It was along the road that they were allowed to look at the booths, mayhaps even to buy something from the few pennies they'd made for themselves. Trixie took to the booths together with Rarity and Whistleblower, but he got distracted by a band of youths he needed to impress and Rarity got stuck with a filly from town she knew and their talk of dresses bored Trixie, so she continued on through the marketplace on her own.

“Pie's rockfarm products! We have the most glorious gems! The most rotund rocks! The most solemn stones!” A man yelled and while he sounded enthusiastic about it, his face was much like the products he sold, an unmoving rock.

Trixie approached, curious, earning dirty looks from the rest of the family as they tried to sell their wares. She didn't look like she had the money, but still she looked. The rocks and gems they sold were of all sizes and colors. Some were worked into figures, others remained as mined. Some had a clear purpose, others eluded Trixie entirely. She decided that she could afford a single pebble made of a rare stone found only by the eastern coast.

I bought it and gave it away. But to whom?

The one who sold it to her was a particularly sad and tired looking filly close to her own age. She had a fine, straight mane combed to hide half her face, a half Trixie instantly noticed to be bruised, but still managed to smile as she saw the pebble Trixie picked up.

“That's a good one. It was the quietest, Maud told me, didn't cry when we took it from its home. It always wanted to see the world.”

“How do you know?”

“Maud can talk to rocks,” the filly whispered into her ear. Her hidden side had taken more than a punch, was battered by some violence.

Everypony looked at them, but her father, sighing, dismissed his daughter if she wanted to play with the strange child. He knew I was a unicorn and he didn't frown at me because of it. He didn't like me because I had no money and liked me because I spent all I had on his shop.

Pinkie told her, trying to jump onto the well's edges; “It's sad how everypony doesn't know how to smile. Maud doesn't know how, and that's fine, but most of them know but don't want to. Papa says money's better than joy, but I'd rather be happy than rich, but laughter can't buy you food.”

Trixie wondered why she couldn't have both. “Life's rocky enough as it is, you don't need to be stone cold for the majority of it.”

“Well, diamond dogs manage, I wonder if we could be diamond dogs. ...”

It went from there, if only for half an hour. First it was just the two of them, then Rarity and her friend joined, Mistle, Heart Joy, so many ponies. They played a game, first they were just Diamond Dogs, then they were town guards, then they played robbers.

Then Pinkie's mother broke it all off, grabbed her daughter by the ear, smacked her on the behind, yelled at her for disgracing her family, for filling other ponies' heads with her nonsense. The filly had told her, as she saw her mother approach, that she had fun, that she wanted to play again someday, even though she knew what the old mare would do to her. “Can I tell you something? Life's dull enough as it is, but fun's better than sad. Let's do this again.”

Now, the snows were falling and she'd never seen Pinkie again. She had known laughter, and maybe Trixie should've laughed more thereafter. It was getting cold now, however, and she decided to move on, a sad little smile on her face.

Pain ran through her left arm one second, then in the next second it was gone. Be careful, Chrys, a voice told the darkness and the darkness apologized.

The world around her grew black and white and nothing else. Lanterns stood by the side of the road and as she went past them, they started to flicker and once they left her sight, the darkness ate them. Stairs led upwards before her and she took each step. Nobody was here with her, she always avoided this part of the city. Yet, and she didn't know why, when she reached the very end of them and saw the gates of the palace, she decided to turn around. Trixie witnessed a sight that she knew should've been glorious, yet all she could see was a graveyard, a dead city that lived long past its time. Its colors were ugly greys and browns and even the snow could never fix its malicious look. Stories told of Canterlot as a hub of art and craftsmanship, but if it ever was, nothing remained by the time Trixie had been born. Now, there was naught of worth in this place. Now, Canterlot was no more.

The darkness heard and accepted. Only the stairs remained. The stairs, the ruins, the snow and the darkness.

As she walked through the gate, the remnants seemed endless. Were it not for the snows covering up the majority of them it might've looked like a labyrinth. An old, wrecked labyrinth, yet, even with the destruction, the main building of the palace still looked to be intact. Trixie moved towards it.

There was naught else. Stone and wood, splinters of glass and splatters of blood and bone were all spread across. The corpse of a guard cowered by a pillar, a guard she knew. He had seen his comrades die in the dark.

“Why isn't it over?” The corpse asked her.

The heart of the world calls us all, you and me and her too.

Whether she should answer the corpse or the voice in the darkness, Trixie didn't know, so she turned away and continued on her path towards the palace.

Another gate, grand and glamorous, with burnt doors and rotten banners. The path led along marble walls, where empty pictures hung of ponies she had known, adults who had claimed to be her parents, who beat her and told her to be quiet and proud. She was a unicorn worthy of their attention, to be dragged out of the mud with stick and stones and broken bones. Yet, now that they were all gone, were they okay?

Then came the last door, she knew. It was small and led into a tower by the cliff. It smelled of salt and it creaked in the wind. Are you leaving, Trixie? Rarity had asked and with one more breath, one more step, she left.

She walked across an indigo carpet, through a room with no roof. The snow was still falling, white powder on white stone. The pictures were of ponies she knew. Of Rarity, of Raindrops, Derpy, of Lyra and Tavi and then there were only two pictures flanking the grand throne of Celestia. There was a rope, a hat, and a million million memories.

“I want to go on,” she told the throne as she sat down. “But I also don't.”

Nothing alive ventured through these halls, which kind of made her happy. “Mostly, though, I want to sleep, but … I know I can't. I fell, everything hurts, I feel it. I know I'm not awake. When I wake, I will regret it. And even if I could walk again, what about everypony else? They're probably dead. I'm sure of it, and I couldn't do anything about it. I thought I protected them, but that thing followed us and we can't fight that.”

She felt a gust of wind, the warmth of the sun touching her heart despite the cold of winter and the darkly night. It was like the inside of the entire throne room lit up with the day's sun. The summer heat spread across the room, melting all the snow away and the light grew ever brighter. Wings spread out from the heart of it and one gently wrapped itself around Trixie. The mare's coat was a white as pure as a pearl, her mane was many colored and ethereal.

The alicorn looked at the throne, too, and the smile she bore was awake, alive. Trixie herself only could gape at her, how clearly she saw the mare she knew so well from pictures and stories. In front of her, ever so clearly, the sun in winter could not have been a more welcoming sight.

“You're. ...” was all she managed to say as the princess smiled down upon her, a kindness in her dull eyes that almost made her look alive.

Then, Princess Celestia spoke and her voice resounded throughout every corner of the dream. But a remnant of a memory, Trixie Lulamoon. I have died a long, long time ago and only the thoughts of my sister kept a part, maybe my best or worse, in this world. She sat right by the side of Trixie and though the snow melted she just felt a warmth to her that reminded her of a time she knew neither pain nor sadness. Oh little Lulamoon, we all lost so much to Magia and all that happened left our Equestria to a fate that seems hopeless, does it not? The city outside, the ponies you met, they and what became of them may just be a product of the influence of it. Her expression changed, she looked sad, tired, for but a moment,then, the princess of the sun looked towards the sky. Still, I trust. There is a chance to fix the world.

Her voice spoke softly and her smile was benign, trusting. They might have not been in the throne room anymore, maybe they'd never been. It didn't matter, Trixie focused on Princess Celestia.

“I've lost so many. I don't wanna lose anypony else. I want to go home,” the tower by the cliff, “I want to go to the orphanage,” left behind by me and Rarity. “I don't care about magic anymore,” because everyday I wake up, I'm still no wizard.

A part of you, yes, but you went forward despite that part. You walked away from the orphanage, from Canterlot and you didn't want to go back to the tower.

Trixie didn't know whether she should turn away, but then did, looked towards the door. The wing was still there, but she could see it. A tower, an orphanage, a thousand hating faces. She could leave, she could have left, she knew that. She could have just gone somewhere else anytime she wanted, but she never did. She'd gone to a place with blueberry muffins once, but this wasn't it. Why had she come here, then? Why, of every place she knew had she gone to the place where she and five other fillies had taken the dive.

Loyalty, Trixie, like every other piece of harmony, we believed to be gone from our world. I remember the days when ponies cared mostly about each other, and less their own happiness. There are pieces of remnants remaining, always. But now, after our demise, it only grew worse and worse. The child, Cadance, could not fix it, and we witnessed her attempts. After that, ponies lied to each other, used each other only to gain advantages. You are a victim of this, maybe moreso than most others. Yet you, little Lulamoon, possess a loyalty in your heart few others do. I know a part of you wants to leave this world, but all dead souls wish for that. What is important is that you know that that part is wrong. There are still ponies who are need of you, are there not?

Two ponies sat before the Day's Throne, a relict lost to time itself, a throne built after the happenings of an ancient legend, after the defeat of Discord himself, to celebrate the new-founded monarchy of Equestria.

“I know I already lost something and when I wake up, I won't be what I was before. Princess, will there be more sacrifices?” She asked, her body cold, her heart unwilling to make a movement.

The princess, her smile unmoving, turned towards the throne. There are always more sacrifices, little Lulamoon, but in the end, it will be worth it. For there will be laughter, kindness, loyalty, honesty, generosity returning to the hearts of the many. Above all else, though, there will be magic, there will be harmony.

Thinking back to Luna's long monologue, she was sure that this was right. After all, this wasn't yet over and if she really wanted to help the others, if she really wanted to save this rotten world with all its sunforsaken denizens, then she couldn't just lie down and die. There were many ponies in this world whose lives were worse than hers, many ponies whose lives she could still fix. If she held no hope, then why had she spent so much time dreaming of a better tomorrow?

She's moving, a coarse voice said in the distance, moving ever close.

“Princess?” Trixie asked, her voice growing in strength, as if she took in the air for the first time in a long time.

Her heart began to move within her chest.

Yes, Trixie Lulamoon?

She felt something touch her, someone saying something to somebody else and then bidding her to wake up.

Trixie rose, walked up to the throne. The snow was falling, Rarity nodded at her, accepting. Her mother smiled upon her deathbed and her fireworks whirled around her father as he finished up a magic trick for his daughter. Then, at the foot of the throne, Trixie felt life surging through her. Outside the dream, her eyes moved and the breath of a dog reached her nose.

Inside the dream, she turned and bowed before the alicorn named Celestia, first princess of Equestria and bringer of days. “Thank you. I'm gonna do my best.”

The dream ended, Celestia was gone and Trixie returned to the world of the living with surges of pain that almost sent her back to sleep. Yet she willed herself to stay awake. Before her eyes, in the dim light of a fire, she saw directly into the eyes of a diamond dog. Brown coat, young, mangy, his breath foul and his teeth either rotting or missing.

“Hi,” he said, and suddenly another head came in sight from the other side.

This creature was small and haggard, her skin chitin-like and ravaged with scars and claw marks. Her mane wasn't quite like real hair, with holes in it, hanging from her head like old seaweed. Her one eye was glowing green and a small smile was on her face. “She's life.”

“Where am I?” was Trixie's first question, as her sight got blurry again.

The dog smiled. “Here is where the night won't end.”

And in the distance, in the farthest corner of her eye, the darkness began to move.